‘come and knock on our door/We’ve been waiting for you . . .” Although the names have been changed, the premise of the new off-Broadway show “3C” will be familiar to anybody with a passing knowledge of a certain popular 1970s sitcom. You know, the one about the three roommates?
But don’t expect a straight-on re-enactment of “Three’s Company” along the lines of “The Real Live Brady Bunch,” or a “Saturday Night Live”-style spoof. David Adjmi’s “3C” has a more complicated agenda. His play’s very funny, sure, but also very weird and ultimately unsettling.
Briskly directed by Jackson Gay, “3C” transports us back to 1978 Santa Monica, where ditsy blonde Connie (Anna Chlumsky, the chief of staff on HBO’s “Veep”) shares an apartment with sensible brunette Linda (Hannah Cabell). To make the rent, the girls get a new roommate — a vet named Brad (Jake Silbermann) — who says he’s gay so the cranky landlord, Mr. Wicker (Bill Buell), will let him stay.
As in the TV series, this setup launches contrived coincidences, dumb-blonde jokes, pratfalls, sexual innuendos and misleading conversations. Linda and Mrs. Wicker (Kate Buddeke) are horrified when they overhear Brad complain, “Connie, it’s too tight. We’ll never get it on.”
But it’s not long before we realize things are way off. Linda is self-loathing. Mr. Wicker is a homophobic lech. Brad, who really is gay, is tormented by his playboy friend, Terry (Eddie Cahill, a k a Don Flack on “CSI: NY”).
The pitch-perfect production aims a bright light into those dark corners. Oana Botez’s vintage costumes — tight and heavy on the polyester — scream 1970s, and John McDermott’s beige set is an impressive duplicate of a sitcom living room. Songs by Giorgio Moroder and Musique underscore the disco-dancing sequences, choreographed by Deney Terrio, who trained John Travolta for “Saturday Night Fever.”
The period verisimilitude underlines how black the humor is, a streak evident in Adjmi’s “Elective Affinities,” about the genteel face of fascism.
In “3C” he shows us the misery behind the canned gags. Explaining why she’s going to a Peter Frampton concert with a guy she’s just met, Connie says, “I just get lonely and needy,” adding, “Oh well, hope I don’t get raped!” Good thing there’s no laugh track for this one.