Bleakness for laughs …

… The Anthem :: EDGE New York City. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

All the heady "isms" that crowded my mind as I went into this first-ever Ayn Rand musical -- also billed as influenced by Suzanne Collins’s "The Hunger Games" -- faded away like cheap makeup the moment the surreally gorgeous cast took the stage, jaw-dropping physiques clad in one sensational costume after the next. While adhering to most of the story’s basics, this Anthem trades Rand’s sober, Plato’s Cave feel for a social-media crazed, raucous tone resulting in 2 hours and 20 minutes of pure entertainment.