Reviews of shows from the New York International Fringe Festival will appear on ArtsBeat through the festival’s close on Aug. 25. For more information, go to fringenyc.org.
Don’t feel like using a sick day to wait in line for cronuts? Chef Michael Denardi might still have some of his muffnuts kicking around.
Scratch that: The muffnuts were discontinued due to a lack of demand. But there’s still plenty of hummustard and guaclava if you’re interested.
These foodstuffs don’t actually exist, thank heavens, but Chef Michael Denardi is a living, heavy-breathing, karate-kicking, grudge-holding, self-loathing, sweaty hot mess in the fitfully amusing “Recipe for Success With Chef Michael Denardi.†Written by and starring the actor Peter Grosz (“A Kid Like Jakeâ€), who has some of Anthony Weiner’s ectomorph-with-an-edge intensity, this innocuous comedy takes aim at some admittedly large targets: TV cooking shows and the absurd wish to join their ranks.
The set is a long table filled with all the ingredients for Chef Michael Denardi’s wannabe signature dish, baked ziti burritos, plus a few stray items, including a yucca. (Chef Michael Denardi likes it for its similarity to a sword.) A little more than an hour later, these ingredients - including uncooked rigatoni - have found their way into a pot. Free samples are not offered at the end.
It’s all part of the chef’s attempt to get his own cooking show, one sprinkled with his own dubious life lessons. (“Take everything personally. That’s what makes you a person.â€) Like seemingly every motivational speaker in pop culture, he is an insecure train wreck deep down, and “Recipe for Success†frequently risks a dip in momentum by reducing its star to the human equivalent of flop sweat.
Even if these bits and the occasional one-liner have a warmed-over quality, though, Mr. Grosz’s go-for-broke fanaticism could sell you almost anything. Except guaclava.
“Recipe for Success With Chef Michael Denardi†continues through Aug. 24 at SubCulture, 45 Bleecker Street, East Village.
