REVIEW: I Wanttt a Unicorn Frappe!!! is a colorful satire with a dark twist

Catherine Weingarten's funny piece will make you reconsider your next coffee order

Molly Serenduke

Catherine Weingarten's I Want a Unicorn Frappe!!! is a funny, vibrant satire about addiction, love, marriage and societal expectations in today's zany world.

We start in a Starbucks. The director Alex Tobey and the design team do a nice job using the intimate Tank space to amplify the stylized, kooky world of this play. Our protagonist Jenny (played very nicely by Rachel Lin) bumbles along, getting high as hell on hyper-sugar frappes, tripping and falling down a non-love disaster of a might-be wedding. The absurdities of expectations set on women in today's marriage arena are at the center of this play that keeps you laughing and wondering what relationship-ism is going to be highlighted next.

The play showcases the contemporary pitfalls of mother-daughter relationships, and the pressures put on women regarding love, sex, success and the American dream. It makes statements in ways that are not preachy, and this is a strength.

Photo credit: HanJie Chow

Snappy, engaging dialogue and strong storytelling make this an interesting night at the theater. The humor in this show is essential. The play is funny. Sometimes, it's very funny.

However, there is a darkness to this play. Is Jenny so addicted to her frappes that she's blind to herself and who she actually loves? Is she speeding towards a cliff that could end in death? Even though the darkness of this play is an interesting element, it's a bit underdeveloped. When the laughs are over, you're left with hallucinations that may or may not be real and a sinister outcome that may or may not be clarified.

In the beginning, I found myself wondering how the show was going to pace and sustain itself, and its ability to do so had very much to do with Weingarten's talents as a writer and Lin's talents as an actor. This play is a colorful, bright, thought-provoking evening with a shot of glitter and two pumps of melancholy.