To My Girls

D+

Since I had not seen a play in almost four months, I really hoped that my return to theatergoing would be an auspicious one. Alas, it was not to be. This alleged comedy, which somehow made it to Second Stage's Tony Kiser Theater, is a dud. If JC Lee (Relevance) set out to write a "Boys in the Band" for the 2020's, he missed the mark. A group of five 30-something gay men who have not seen each other since before the pandemic have rented a home in Palm Springs for the weekend from Bernie (Bryan Batt; Forbidden Broadway), an older gay man who lives just down the street. Curtis (Jay Armstrong Johnson; On the Town) is an aging cute white boy. Castor (Maulik Pancholy; Grand Horizons) is his motormouthed South Asian friend whose love for Curtis has gone unrequited. Leo (Bretton Smith; Be More Chill) is a black friend from New York, a character who remains frustratingly underdeveloped. Jeff (Carman Lacivita; Marvin's Room) and Tom are a couple whose arrival keeps getting postponed. (Tom may be the smartest of the lot -- he never arrives.) Castor brings home Omar (Noah J. Ricketts; Frozen), a superbly built, exotic younger man he meets at a bar. Underlying tensions rise to the surface. Amidst the bitchy one-liners, a few of which are quite funny, we are subjected to monologues on generational differences, white privilege, the privilege of good looks, the corrosive influence of social media, and the effects of living through the age of MAGA. Judging from this group, despite all the changes of the last couple decades, including same-sex marriage and greater LGBT rights, the emotional life of American gay men has not improved. The final message seems to be that there's no problem a lively drag number can't fix. Under the direction of Stephen Brackett (Be More Chill), the action moves fitfully. The deliberately (I hope) hideous set by Arnulfo Maldonado (A Strange Loop) is a tribute to bad taste. The transition between scenes is marked by garish colored lights, courtesy of Jen Schriever (A Strange Loop). The costumes by Sarafina Bush (Pass Over) are appropriately over-the-top. Honesty compels me to report that much of the audience seemed to be having a very good time. To each his own. Running time: a long 90 minutes without intermission.

Heroes of the Fourth Turning

C-

Before you look it up, The Fourth Turning is the title of a book about historical cycles much admired by Steve Bannon. The four Catholic conservatives at the center of Will Arbery’s (Plano) new drama at Playwrights Horizons hope to play a leading role during the coming era. They are gathered in Wyoming to celebrate the inauguration of a beloved professor as president of their alma mater. I looked forward to gaining some insight into the conservative mind, but I left mostly disappointed. The protagonists are a motley crew; not one of them is someone I would want to have a beer with. Justin (Jeb Kreager; Oslo), who is about ten years older than his former classmates, was married and in the military; he is teaching at the college but is having doubts about his present life. Kevin (John Zdrojeski; Before We’re Gone) is a feckless underachiever given to self-pity over not having a girlfriend and, when we meet him, very drunk. Teresa (Zoe Winters; White Noise) is a hard-edged assertive Bannonite who works in media in New York. Emily (Julia McDermott), enfeebled by a mysterious illness, is the daughter of Gina (Michelle Pawk; Hollywood Arms), the new college president. When Gina puts in an appearance to greet her former students, she does not give them the pat on the back they crave. In a post-performance talkback, the playwright revealed that, as I suspected, the characters are based on actual people. Unfortunately, he does not present them in a way that makes them easy to care about or to explain the origins of their points of view. 

The play manages to violate three of my theater commandments:

1. Thou shalt not shine bright lights in the audience’s eyes. Rather have a scrim over the stage, the production prevents you from seeing the stage beforehand by dazzling you with very bright lights. If you have a seat near the front, I advise you be seated as close to curtain time as possible so you won’t be assaulted by the lights.

2. Thou shalt not startle the audience with sudden, very loud noises. Three times we are blasted by a horrendous sound, the source of which is never revealed.

     3.  Thou shalt not run for more than two hours without an intermission. 

I might have been more willing to forgive these sins against the audience if the play had been more enlightening. 

Laura Jellinek’s (The Treasurer) set is so dimly lit that it is hard to make out. The costumes by Sarafina Bush; Pass Over) are apt. Director Danya Taymor (“Daddy,” Familiar) does not succeed in turning dross to gold.

Running time: two hours, ten minutes; no intermission.

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