The prospect of Idina Menzel in a non-musical was something I had a hard time wrapping my head around since her powerhouse voice is expected when you see her perform live but, I happy to report, she did not disappoint.

Skintight, playing Off-Broadway at the Laura Pels Theatre follows Jodi (Idina Menzel), a recently divorced mother of two in her mid-40's, who has just flown across the country to surprise her father, Elliot, (Jack Wetherall) for his 70th birthday. She has invited her 20 year-old son, Benjamin (Eli Gelb), who has been studying abroad in Hungary, to join in the festivities. When she arrives to discover that her father is "partners" with a younger man, Trey (Will Brittain), who is the same age as her own son, tension can't help but build.

The piece takes on the concept of the modern family but plays out like drawing room play, where Jodi is forced to navigate this new man in her father's life and where exactly she fits in. The conversations mostly revolve around age and beauty, both topics that affect us in our daily lives, but given our current political climate, seem trivial. Playwright Joshua Harmon keeps the story simple as to be able to touch on many topics he can between these characters. He is great at writing relatable characters since these people he writes are flawed, but we still root for them and the dialogue between them sounds authentic. With Jodi being the only female principal character, there were some quibbles with the female perspective and I felt that he missed the mark a bit on the complexity of her emotional state. Luckily, Menzel brought depth and clarity to a role that could easily be villainized amongst all men in the show. Her comedic chops are in check and felt reassured that she didn't need her powerhouse voice to carry her performance and her acting alone held her own. Another note, something that I love about Harmon's work is that he often writes characters that are gay but doesn't use their homosexuality as a plot point, which is taking a step in the right direction. I wanted to mention the performances of Stephen Carrasco and Cynthia Mace as two of the best examples of physical comedy I have seen. I don't mean physical comedy in a slapstick way, but just in the way that they would have the audience laughing without even saying a word.

As superficial as focusing of age and beauty can be, there were some really poignant and refreshing conversations had in this piece on those topics. Although there were missed opportunities with the character of Jodi, having men discussing things often given to women was a different and appreciated.