Forbidden Fruit is alternately hilarious and frustrating. Written and directed by Jeff Bedillion, it features an appealing cast, a plethora of witty one-liners, and refreshingly quirky staging choices. However, the show -- with a running time of close to three hours -- is bogged down by too much exposition, an unoriginal plot, and several song-and-dance numbers that simply don't work.

The central characters are Christian (Joel M. Peterson) and Brian (Josh Berresford), a gay male couple first seen at Brian's art exhibition opening at the top of the first act. Most of the ensuing scenes are flashbacks that chronicle the lives of the two men prior to their first encounter. Christian's narrativ[...]