Review: "SPINOFF" at the Neo-Futurist Theater.
The deadly allure of television sitcoms is, among much else, their enduring sense of stability. With a few narrative exceptions along the way, the TV sitcom provides comfort, familiarity, and a sense of ease, with the same characters in the same environments week after week. They may continue to get into a series of ever-elaborate misadventures, but they always find a way to get back to stasis by the episode's end.
Boy, if life were only like this.
SPINOFF, written by Alé Ramirez and directed by Abby Pajakowski, is the latest Neo-Futurists Mainstage production that continues to propel the Neo's particular brand of expelling personal histories through theatrically-minded productions of varying success. For a company built upon shows that explore the varied truths of their ever-expanding ensemble of artists, the Neos Mainstage shows can often feel rather structurally similar, their particular brand of oscillation between absurdist humor and contemplative monologue threatening to create a monotonous familiarity to an style that should be anything but.
Ramirez's piece largely sidesteps many of these worries, their particular vehicle of choice - the sitcom deep dive - providing various variations on traditional performance and narrative that becomes wholly their own, no doubt aided by Pajakowski's quick-witted, focused direction. Certain scenes consist of live actors mirroring televised scenes from "Frasier" - Ramirez's comfort sitcom of choice - while other scenes creates original moments by aping the language and style of the sitcom with a delirious, winking grin. This is all aided by the production's visual language that feels like an OK Go music video twisted inside out, manic ingenuity and hand-crafted aesthetics pulsing with an infectious beat. Ramirez acts as our noble emcee of the evening, guiding us through the parallel journey of their own story, as well as the ins and outs of the "Cheers" spinoff that is the misadventures of Frasier Crane.
Alongside a committed ensemble of Neos and outside performers (Jasmine Henri Jordan, Julia Rowley, aussie b, and Evan Morales), Ramirez stands center stage as themselves, navigating a new life where they have moved back home to take care of their ailing mother, a moment in their life that eerily mirrors the catalyzing events of the "Frasier" pilot. Such mirroring continues, with Rowley giving a droll and rip-roaring performance as Ramirez's Sibling, giving a better "Niles" impression than I could've ever imagined. Morales beautifully inhabits Ramirez's "Parent," presenting both "Martin" and Ramirez's mother as a composite figure of parental grief and stubbornness. Scenes of Ramirez and Morales struggling to connect are often the most emotionally impactful in a show that threatens to let goofiness guide us astray, but always lands on its earnest feet.
You certainly don't need to be a "Frasier" expert to access the highest highs of SPINOFF (I've always been more of a "Seinfeld" person myself, if that dichotomy even exists), as the universality of the TV sitcom as a concept transcends the specifics of this particular Seattle-based psychiatrist. Through it all, I'm grateful, if anything, that, unlike the TV sitcom, Ramirez, Pajakowski, and co. are providing something meaningfully unfamiliar, yet comforting all the same.
“SPINOFF” runs an estimated 80 minutes, and performs at The Neo-Futurist Theater (5153 N. Ashland) through May 16th 2026. Tickets are available HERE.
