Two's a Crowd

C

If you are seeking light summer entertainment and aren’t too fussy, you might enjoy this fluffy, dated comedy with music starring longtime comedian Rita Rudner, now at 59E59 Theater A. The intermittently funny book is by Rudner and her husband Martin Bergman, who also directed, and the serviceable music and rather leaden lyrics are by Jason Feddy, who also serves as singer and guitarist. Rudner plays Wendy, a 60-ish wedding planner from Cleveland who has come to Vegas to distract herself from her husband’s recent infidelities. Robert Yacko plays Tom, a recently widowed contractor, also from Cleveland, who is in Vegas to forget his sorrows by playing in a poker tournament. A computer glitch puts them in the same room in a completely booked hotel. They instantly dislike each other but, of course, get past their first impressions. We also meet Louise, the assistant manager, and Lili, the chambermaid, both played to the hilt by Kelly Holden Bashar. Brian Lohmann plays a few roles, including Wendy’s husband Gus. The hoary plot has few surprises. There are two types of songs, those sung by the actors which, during the first act, stop the action and contribute little, and short songs sung by Feddy between scenes. As of intermission, I would have said that the show would have been better off without music, but that changed during the second act when the songs were much more artfully integrated into the action. Lohmann, as Gus, gets a lively number that was the evening’s musical highlight. The dialogue has many snappy lines, as one would expect from Rudner. On the more serious side, there are some observations about the difficulty of being a woman over 60 today and even a few detours into the philosophy of Marcus Aurelius. The shamelessly tasteless final song provides an appropriate ending for an uneven evening that is not quite ready for New York. Nevertheless, it was fun to see Rudner, who is looking very good indeed. I think I would have enjoyed an hour of her stand-up more than this show.

Running time: one hour 50 minutes including intermission.

Question: Is there any theater in New York that attracts a more homogeneous audience than 59E59 Theaters? I could count the number of people too young for Medicare on one hand. In my many visits there, I don’t think I have ever seen a person of color.

Handbagged

B

This diverting comedy by Moira Buffini (Gabriel) is the latest offering in 59e59 Theaters’ annual Brits Off Broadway season. Although the play indeed originated in London and won an Olivier Award, this production is actually an import from Roundhouse Theatre in Washington. The titular handbags belong to none other than Margaret Thatcher and Queen Elizabeth and the play is a fictionalized version of their prickly relationship. Each of them is represented by two characters, a younger version who experiences most of the events and an older version who comments on them. The Prime Minister is portrayed by T (Kate Fahy) and Mags (Susan Lynskey); the queen, by Q (Anita Carey) and Liz (Beth Hylton). Most of the time, all four are onstage. The cast also includes Actor 1 (Cody Leroy Wilson) and Actor 2 (John Lescaut), who play a variety of roles — husband, cabinet members, opposition politicians, Rupert Murdoch, and President and Mrs. Reagan, among others. Wilson is quite a sight in Nancy’s red suit. I thought that the play offered, in a flash, more insight into Murdoch’s influence on British life than the entire play Ink. The informative but playful script takes us through the Thatcher years, with emphasis on conversations between the two — or, in this case, four — figures. The queen is portrayed as a sympathetic figure who tries, mostly without success, to establish rapport with the rigid, dogmatic Thatcher. You might want to brush up your knowledge of that period, including the Falkland War, the coal strike, allowing the US to use UK bases in Libya, the poll tax and other arcane matters. It would have been helpful if there had been a few notes in the program. The playwright includes several metatheatrical devices such as frequently breaking the fourth wall and having Actors 1 and 2 argue over who gets which parts. For the most part, the playwright successfully blends entertainment and information. However, the play shows a few stretch marks from turning what was originally a one-act play into a longer work. The mostly American cast (only Fahy and Carey are British) is fine. Kate Fahy’s strong physical resemblance to Thatcher is uncanny. Mr. Wilson is a born scene stealer. Richard Kent has designed an elegantly simple set with black walls surrounding an all-white floor with a faint outline of the Union Jack on it, a pair of white chairs and a small table; his costumes are spot on. Indhu Rubasingham’s direction is assured. While I enjoyed the evening, I caution that those who did not live through the Thatcher Era or are not interested in it may be bored. Running time: two hours including intermission.

The Waiting Game

F

It’s only mid-February, but I have already suffered through what I expect will be a strong contender for the worst play I see this year. I was drawn to this 59E59 Theaters production of Charles Gershman's (Free and Proud) play after reading that it won the Best Overseas Play award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. If this won the prize, I shudder to think what the competition must have been like. The four characters are 30-something gay men who look like they spend a lot of time at the gym. Paolo (Marc Sinoway; Adam Minus Josh) and Sam (Ibsen Santos; The Wild Heart) have been married for ten years. A year ago, Sam went into a coma after a drug overdose and is basically brain dead. For a year before his overdose, Sam was carrying on an affair with Geoff (Joshua Bouchard; One Lieutenant Too Many). Meanwhile Paolo has been seeing Tyler (Julian Joseph; Bridesburg) but has been emotionally unavailable to him. As his husband, Paolo has control over Sam’s care, but Geoff wants him to sign over conservatorship to him, claiming that he was the one whom Sam loved toward the end and the one who knew his wishes about end of life care. To add a bit of mystery to the proceedings, Paolo seems to be getting online texts from the comatose Sam. This situation may sound promising, but the action is as comatose as Sam. Paolo may be sexy, but his drug use and mistrustful manipulative personality make him so unsympathetic that it is difficult to care about him. Geoff seems a decent sort who wants to do right by Sam. Tyler clings to the hope that Paolo will get over Sam and be nicer. We see poor Sam mostly as a figure walking slowly across the stage behind a scrim. Each character is waiting for something that never happens. After 65 long, long minutes, the play grinds to a halt. The set design by Riw Rakkulchon (Loose Canon) is minimalist to the nth degree. There is a rectangle chalked on the floor. The actors remove props from some onstage cubes and line them up on the floor just outside the rectangle. Clusters of words from the script are occasionally projected on the scrim. No costume designer is credited. The actors are convincing in their roles. For some reason they perform barefoot. Nathan Wright directed. Unless seeing four hunky men is enough to make your evening, you can skip this one. Perhaps it has some value as a warning to put your end of life wishes in writing.