An iconic jingle? Certainly. An unmatched partnership? Without a doubt. But no matter how iconic, the injury-law firm Cellino & Barnes wasn’t meant to last forever, a lesson made delightfully clear in Cellino v. Barnes, a new off-Broadway parody currently debuting at the downtown venue Asylum NYC. Envisioned through the lens of a clever group of theater makers, this creative two-hander hilariously illustrates the genesis of the legal pair, whose practice disastrously but famously broke apart.
Penned by Mike B. Breen and David Rafailedes, this retelling, in its off-Broadway premiere, has the benefit of being anchored by central performances from veteran actors Eric William Morris and Noah Weisberg, whose deep dive into this theatrical assignment succeeds on every front. Under the joint direction of Wesley Taylor and Alex Wyse (who as actors and writers have similarly delivered), the play takes off from its first moment, when Ross Cellino (Morris) and Steve Barnes (Weisberg) first become acquainted, leading up to the outside-the-box (and sometimes unethical) ways in which their firm achieves success.
This version of the real-life law partners’ story lovingly colors outside the lines. Morris and Weisberg’s leading attorneys are a perfectly matched silly duo who balance the right dose of over-the-top comedy with grounded seriousness. While Morris’s Cellino is (joyfully) not the brightest of the partners, his slickness keeps the audience in on the joke. Weisberg’s Barnes is the more introverted of the two, a nerd at heart who is won over but eventually deceived by his compadre.
Underscored by original music from Max Mueller, with veteran comedy creators Taylor and Wyse (of the series Indoor Boys) at the helm, Cellino v. Barnes speeds strategically through its brisk 80-minute running time. The play’s design team — scenery by Riw Rakkulchon, costumes by Ricky Lurie, sound by Chiara Pizzirusso and lighting by Aiden Bezark — meets the script point by point with a simple, crisp climate in which the comedy unfolds.
Joining the success of recent parodies like Oh, Mary! and Titanique, Cellino v. Barnes expands upon the scope of a genre that, until recently, had largely been missing from New York’s post-pandemic stage. In setting out to create a frothy play that allows theatergoers to escape the doldrums of the headlines and float away into a universe of goofiness, Cellino v. Barnes prevails.
