Angst ridden Max (Max Crumm) and mildly unstable Elanor (Lucy DeVito) are soul mates. They have revealed every crazy and embarrassing quirk to each other which has only brought them closer. However, there is one issue that Max is holding onto. Elanor has discussed her ex-boyfriends with Max. Max hasn’t quite mentioned his. Hot Mess proves that sometimes in order to find yourself, you have to get lost.

A romantic comedy with more than just the usual misadventures and misunderstandings, Hot Mess, now playing at the Jerry Orbach Theater at The Theater Center, offers us so much more baggage. Young lovers Elanor (Lucy DeVito) and Max (Max Crumm) are just starting out their relationship and in the course of getting to know everything about each other, they willingly divulge details of their past relationships. As the tag line goes: Elanor discusses her past boyfriends, but Max hasn’t quite mentioned his. Skilled playwrights Dan Rothenberg and Colleen Crabtree have captured a sticky moment that might play out in any new love story with sheer honesty and absolute delight. Rather than going for cheap laughs, Rothenberg and Crabtree allow realistic conversations in a realistic scenario to stew in their own natural comic juices. Lucy DeVito plays failed comedian/wannabe magician Elanor with naivety and fervor and high energy angst; she deserves all the cheers and applause she gets from the audience after a particularly zestful scene conveying one of her mental “crashes.” Max Crumm as Max gives an equally impressive performance as stand-up comedian Max who through the play’s duration eventu …Read more