For the Love of a Glove (Review)

Design: Ellen G.

Full disclosure: Almost 15 years ago, I fell in love with another theatrical tour de force penned by Julien Nitzberg, the writer, lyricist and director of For the Love of a Glove, running now at the Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan theater in L.A.’s Echo Park. That show, The Beastly Bombing, was an operetta about would-be terrorists (yes, operetta) and so brilliantly inventive and funny I returned to the theater the next day to offer my meager talents to the production as a volunteer. I was not a born assistant propmaster, but the effort was well worth it. I never tired of watching the show night after night because Julien’s lyrics were incredibly witty and each time I heard them, I appreciated some bit of wordplay I had somehow missed before.

When I was first told about For the Love of a Glove by one of the producers, Betsy Zajko, I knew it was going to be hysterical, edgy and astute because Julien is all of those things; plus the premise is pretty much genius. Five alien brothers from a funky musical planet crash-land in Gary, Indiana in 1968, and are saved by none other than Jermaine and Michael Jackson, very much pre-fame and pre-talent…