The Thing About Men enters final weeks at Horizon

The Thing About Men, a musical comedy at the Horizon Theatre, is now in the last two weeks of the production.

This show, created by Joe DiPietro and Jimmy Roberts, who were behind the off-broadway hit I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change, has definitely been worth going out for.

The story-line focuses on a middle-aged married couple, Lucy and Tom, who the audience immediately discovers have a hard time remaining faithful to each other.

Tom quickly realizes that Lucy truly is the woman of his dreams when she kicks him out of the house because she is unwilling to give up her other lover.

The truly hilarious part begins when Tom grabs himself a pseudo-name and becomes his wife's lover's roommate. Tom struggles between hating the guy that stole his wife, and actually really liking him.

As the jealous ex-husband, Tom's escapades trying to break the lovers up and not get discovered by his wife had me and the rest of the audience doubled over in laughter.

The cast is incredibly small. It consists of just the three leads and then one man and one woman who each play a number of tiny, but entertaining, parts.

As actors, everyone is easy to watch and believable as his or her character, especially Jeff McKerley (Tom). McKerley brought a Steve Martin aspect to the show and it was his character who got to deliver almost all of the slap-stick jokes.

Brandon O'Dell and Abby Parker both shined as the man and the woman. They transformed seamlessly into the endless number of quirky roles they had.

There was even one time when Parker changed herself so much (with the help of a wig and costume of course) that I was sure it was another actor.

The singing, on the other hand, was not the highlight. The songs were fine during the show since they helped to tell the story. But alone I would never listen to them. I can't even think of one that was worth noting.

The same goes for the voices of the cast. They were all able to sing the melodies and hit the notes, but none of them really shined in the vocal arena.

As for the venue, the Horizon Theatre is located in a restored building in Little Five Points. The theater is extremely small, seating about 175 people, so there was not a bad seat in the house. Plus the audience was obviously filled with loyal patrons of the theater, who immensely enjoyed the show.

I guess it's always a gamble to go see relatively unknown shows at even less known hole-in-the-wall theaters. But trust me, this gamble is definitely worth taking.

Those interested in purchasing tickets should go to the theater website, www.horizontheatre.com. Reservations can be made online, and student discounts are also available.