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Sex with Jake Gyllenhaal and Other Fables…

nytheatre.com review by Amy Rhodes
August 15, 2005

Sex With Jake Gyllenhaal... and other fables of the Northeast Corridor has received quite a bit of FringeNYC buzz based on its catchy title. However, the play is not about Jake Gyllenhaal, or his sex life. In fact, Jake Gyllenhaal is only mentioned in the show once, and briefly at that.Yet, just as US magazine devotes several pages a week to the on-again off-again relationship between Gyllenhaal and actress Kirsten Dunst, Anthony Giunta’s play explores the ups and downs faced in the search for true love.Through a series of vignettes, spanning the years from 1962 to 2019, the play creates several self-contained stories about relationships and the inherent human desire for connection. The stories range from a woman reuniting with her grade school crush, to a woman who shares her secrets with a model on a billboard, to a gaggle of geese flying south for the winter.As a writer, Giunta does little to connect the characters or stories in each vignette, making Sex With Jake Gyllenhaal... feel like an evening of disjointed acting class scenes more than a play. Each scene contains so much exposition and, often, seemingly out-of-left field plot twists (e.g., a young girl's confession that her father raped her) that the vignettes becomes maudlin.However, the cast of four, each of whom plays several parts, save the play from its melodramatic writing. Jason Alan Caine has a natural ease onstage, and Laura Walczak brings spunky energy to her roles. Tara D’Antonio is a gifted young actress who gives her characters an engaging vulnerability. Oliver Ralli is a standout. Ralli is a versatile actor who effortlessly moves between dramatic and comedic moments, creating characters that are sympathetic, endearing, and witty. In addition, director Mark Harborth does a nice job of keeping the show moving. And Jerry Mittelhauser’s costumes add much to the production by giving life to the era in which each scene takes place.Sex With Jake Gyllenhaal..., a play about missed connections, is hit or miss itself. However, the show’s actors may just one day give the actual Jake Gyllenhaal a run for his money in Hollywood. If so, a word of advice: pass on “The Day After Tomorrow Part Two” and keep your indie cred.