Comedy Center Asylum Theater Hosts a Play Battling Political Correctness
We’re more than halfway into this two-hour no intermission musical marathon…
Singing from a book titled Women Good, Men Bad, letting every character discover their truth of sexual and gender identity, with a running gag about the special needs of the neurodiverse, and slaying the sacred cow that equates nazism as THE definition of evil— these are just a few of the low hanging fruits consumed con gusto in this musical. Even the likes Dave Chapelle could learn a thing or two from Slam Frank about making third rails funny— or at least musical. SLAM FRANK has a LOT of great music— some shoplifted (e.g. from Hamilton) but all with driving beats that keep us alert and happy.
Who is Slam Frank For?
It could be that the ushers who seat everyone play close attention to seating white males in the 18 - 35 demographic in seats surrounding the stage just for the one fleeting line when pansexual diarist Anita (née Anne) Frank confesses a need to speak to this grouping.
Or it could be that the deeply tickled constantly loudly laughing rows of late 20’s/early 30's white guys on display surrounding the small stage, just as much as the cast ,ARE the demographic par excellence that Composer and Lyricist Andrew Fox and Book writer Joel Sinensky consciously or unconsciously seem to most target. From beginning to end THE non-stop gag is a lampoon of our times’ political correctness that puts White Cis Men on notice.
That said, we ALL smile when the female characters sing in the Herstory segment—
“… We have brains.. We have holes.. We are miracles…”
But who is laughing the loudest???
You too may feel that Slam Frank is like so many Hollywood films that seem to have 13 year-old-boys-of -all-ages in mind.
Throughout, the music pulls us in. There are engaging talents on stage bringing the musical to life— with this writer making an especially strong mental note to be on the lookout for future gigs of talented actress/comedienne Austen Horne, who plays Anne (Anita) Frank’s Black mother.
SLAM FRANK is a Rorschach Test With Great Tunes
Backtracking, the launch point of this work was a REAL WORLD!!! 2022 Twitter post posing the question of whether Anne Frank — yes, the very one whose life ended in Bergen-Belsen— had sufficiently acknowledged her White Privilege. The promise of a musical taking on that insanity is too much to miss—agreed?
Be aware though that even when the story dips its toe into the real world for a relative instant, it is quick to remove it back into the frame of NO POINT OF VIEW ON PURPOSE. Is this cowardly? Or is it so exquisitely circa now?
In the play’s promotional materials we learn of the very diverse audience this Internet sensation play has drawn— from survivors of the 2023 Nova attack to Pro-Palestinian activists.
Not able to resist sampling fellow patrons waiting for the subway, this reviewer chatted up a random sampling. Two were fresh faced 20’s somethings (?) White men who posited that an older person who wasn’t “plugged into today’s culture” probably couldn’t get the show. As it turns out, they were Israelis who were concerned that Slam Frank didn’t sufficiently convey the complexities of the war in Gaza.
(NOTE: They did not use the word genocide).
The third interviewee was a young woman of color who was seeing Slam Frank for the third time. She adores the music and laments that there isn’t a cast album. She also feels that there just aren’t any politically serious plays being performed other than Slam Frank.
This is serious theater???
Indeed, Slam Frank is not only a work open to interpretation, it is a Rorschach Test on reading our times.
WHEN:
NOW THROUGH December 28th, 2025
WHERE:
Asylum NYC
123 E 24th St
NYC
TICKETS:
$60+
For more information and tickets visit the Asylum NYC website.
Photos by Jasper Lewis Photography
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About the Author: Amy Munice
Amy Munice is Editor-in-Chief and Co-Publisher of Picture This Post. She covers books, dance, film, theater, music, museums and travel. Prior to founding Picture This Post, Amy was a freelance writer and global PR specialist for decades—writing and ghostwriting thousands of articles and promotional communications on a wide range of technical and not-so-technical topics.
