Charles Addams is no longer the only macabre cartoonist co-opted by the lively arts. Now Edward Gorey (he’s the one who does the opening animation for TV’s “Mystery” series) gets another off-Broadway revue (Gorey Stories came previously), with musical numbers derived from his mildly nasty ditties.
As a visual presentation, Amphigorey works splendidly; powder-faced actors (many with huge, darting eyes) cavort on the ink-on-white set, walking at odd angles, striking eccentric poses, and truly getting into the spirit of sepulchral comedy.
But all falls to naught because the material itself lies just an eyeshade above brainless. Tom Lehrer was adaptable to revue form because he wrote real songs with breathtaking wit. Allan Sherman injected known tunes with cute puns and haimische warmth. Excepting the witty warning, “when someone’s tongue reaches your lungs, it’s time to use your knee,” Gorey in song form barely musters a giggle, and the music (by Peter Golub) runs from atonal-intolerable to forgettable barbershop quartets and jingles. Three times do we get a mock advert for a product called “QRV,” and thrice does it strike out.
“The Inanimate Tragedy” is the title of one of the better pieces, a story of pins, thumbtacks, and four-hole buttons doing themselves in, but one could use the same moniker to describe this whole anemic exercise.
