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A CurtainUp Review
Getting Home
By Julia Furay
| Everyone in the world falls into one of three categories: gay, closeted or ugly.--- Tristan |
Marcy Harriell & Manu Narayan
|
The four-part story focuses on three characters: Tristan, Nalesh, and Jan (wonderfully performed by Marcy Harriell, Brian Henderson and Manu Narayan). They're young New Yorkers with all the usual neuroses and hang-ups who narrate a series of Indian fairytales as they attempt to find love and meaning in their lives.
What makes these fairy tales feel fresh? To begin with, they're flat-out funny. Anton Dudley's fast-paced dialogue is replete with current-day wordplay like "Oh my gmail"l and "No fenging schway!" When this begins to get cutesy, Dudley's inventive storytelling and characterization saves the day. There are unexpected twists and turns in Jan's story; Tristan's gay-centric worldview is consistently hilarious; and Nalesh's story veers engagingly into the realm of the fantastical and weird. There's also some engaging experimentation with the theatrical form itself as the characters break the fourth wall (over and over again, actually), and the actors, switch instantaneously from one role to another (each plays at least two parts).
Getting Home is not a perfect play. Dudley tries too hard to relate the fairy tales to the characters' lives and there are times we feel as if we're being clubbed over the head with The Meaning of The Play -- as when Tristan repeatedly reminds us that he's taking a class called "Fairy Tales and Their Contemporary Urban Parallels in Reality." (How's that for obvious?).
David Schweizer is to be commended for imbuing the production with warmth and energy and the playwright for filling almost all of its 85 minutes with interesting images and words.
| GETTING HOME
Playwright: Anton Dudley Directed by David Schweizer Cast: Marcy Harriell, Brian Henderson, Manu Narayan Set Design: Andrew Lieberman Costume Design: Erin Chianani Lighting Design: Aaron Black Sound Design: Ryan Rumery Running time: 85 Minutes, No Intermission McGinn/Cazale Theatre, Broadway at 76th Street (above the Promenade), 212-246-4422, www.secondstagetheatre.com From 6/12/06 to 7/1/06; opening 7/14/06 Mon to Fri at 8pm, Sat at 2 and 8pm Tickets: $30; advance youth tickets (age 25 and under) are $20; Student rush tickets are $10 (available 30 minutes prior to curtain). A 2-play subscription (to Getting Home and All This Intimacy later this summer is available for $50. Reviewed Julia Furay based on June 14th performance. |
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