The production, an emotional adaptation of the couple's correspondence and writings by Deborah Girdwood, shows the pair in a series of short sketches, constantly stepping up to two microphones to vent sullenly like a couple of indulgent, talented coffeehouse poets. Hook makes this conceit work by capturing both the pain and the fleeting pose behind the Fitzgeralds' romantic tragedies. Michael Chick as Scott is so wired and nervy that he often gets ahead of himself, and Megan Murphy's gloomy Zelda can be monotonously Long Day's Journey into Night , yet both performers work with an intelligent presence of mind that becomes increasingly compelling as the scenes unfold. Murphy, in particular, creates an oddly sympathetic character from Zelda's feathery distraction, highlighting the morose vulnerability that kept her struggling just a beat behind her famous husband.
Energy zings all over the stage with a reckless gusto that occasionally plays without focus.
The production has a scrappy fragility that, much like its titular subjects, makes it difficult to dislike. They'd be right. Not long after her entrance in Shut Up and Love Me , she's playing with her nipples and gyrating in the faces of audience members, and soon after that she's vindictively detailing her sex life. What doesn't seem to have reached the public, however, and what the uninitiated may find to his or her surprise, is that Karen Finley is, well, so likable and flat-out funny. Nothing is exceptionally revelatory where Finley is concerned, and thankfully, neither is anything sacred.