Review: BOY BAND BRUNCH at The Green Room 42

Sunday Brunch is a time-honored tradition in Hell's Kitchen. It's a time to reconnect with friends and complain about the week just past and dread the one that's about to begin. It usually comes with an inflated check, a long waiting line, and a four-alarm hangover. But the Green Room 42 has come to the rescue. Every Sunday since their re-opening in April, they have offered BOY BAND BRUNCH, a great show featuring The Boy Band Project. In addition to the show, everyone in the audience gets a $10 voucher for food and drinks at the Green Fig restaurant, on the terrace adjacent to the theatre.

The Boy Band Project are four amazingly talented friends who met while performing Off-Broadway in Altar Boyz. Group leader, Travis Nesbitt didn't see any reason for the fun to end just because the show closed. So he created The Boy Band Project, a loving tribute to, and a sly send-up of, all the 1990's boy bands we loved, lusted after, and laughed at. They lovingly cover tunes by NSYNC, The Backstreet Boys, One Direction, Boyz II Men, 98 Degrees, and Hanson. Even older groups like The Beatles and The Four Seasons get the satirical treatment here. All the performers are veteran Broadway singers/dancers with an impressive array of credits among them. Their shows include not only Altar Boyz, but also Wicked, Mamma Mia, Hairspray, The Book of Mormon, and Rock of Ages.

Each one of the four guys has styled himself after an iconic boy band legend. And each one gets a Tiger Beat-style moniker: "The Sporty One" ( Schyler Conaway,) "The Boy Next Door" (Michael Fasano,) "The Bad Boy" (Kevin John Murray,) and "The Sensitive One" (Nic Metcalf.) The show croons through some of the biggest boy band anthems like "I Want It That Way," " Playing Games With My Heart", "The Right Stuff," "The Story of My Life," "Mmm-Bop," and, of course, "Bye, Bye, Bye." These guys do the choreography better than the original groups, and their wardrobe deserves a show of its own. The show cleverly incorporates video footage of the period to whisk you back 30 years, to a simpler time when boys from the suburbs had street cred and a whole lot of emotions.

There's very little banter. Bad Boy, Kevin John Murray, does most of the talking. But this satirical confection isn't about talking. It's about singing and dancing and as much spectacle as can be crammed into an intimate cabaret space. BOY BAND BRUNCH excels at that. It feels like a much bigger show than its space or its hour-long duration would seem to indicate. These guys work harder than any brunch server in the city.

BOY BAND BRUNCH performs at 2 pm every Sunday at the Green Room 42, with brunch on the terrace of Green Fig restaurant immediately following. Don't miss it. It's more fun than bottomless mimosas.

To learn more about The Boy Band Project, visit @boybandproject on Instagram or theboybandproject.com. To make a reservation for BOY BAND BRUNCH or other shows at The Green Room 42, go to greenfignyc.com.

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