You're like an animal in a trap trying to gnaw your own leg off.— Adam, as he watches Luke desperately trying to "de-gay" their apartment in anticipation of his father's unanticipated visit. Though Luke does want to get out of the trap that keeps him from coming out to his father, it remains a next fall I'll do it resolution.
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Patrick Heusinger as Luke & Patrick Breen as Adam
(Photo: Carol Rosegg)
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Remember the Gilbert and Sullivan refrain about things never being what they seem and skim milk masquerading as cream? Well, Geoffrey Nauffts'
Next Fall starts off appearing to be an interesting but somewhat facile comedy about a gay couple's various incompatibilities. Despite a heavyweight situation — a serious accident — that assembles the victim's nearest and dearest in a hospital waiting room, the smart repartee suggests that grim as this setting is, it's a variation of the drawing room associated with light comedies.
Nauffts' play is indeed buoyed by a good deal of laughter but it ultimately takes you completely out of yourself and leaves even the most hardened theater goer with a tight throat and a knot in the stomach. It certainly had that effect on me.
While the central plot situation revolves around the conflict filled romance of two gay men, their main problem being the issue of religious faith,
Next Fall, unlike the gay-themed plays dominating this season's theatrical landscape, speaks to the big issue of how we all, regardless of sexual orientation, deal with death. But even this big, genre transcending theme, wouldn't be enough to move a play to Broadway without a big name cast, author or director if the characters and their problems weren't so compellingly dramatized by the author and poignantly interpreted by these actors.
Mr. Nauffts not only juggles all the issue mentioned in Elizabeth Ahlfors' review of the original production, but never allows them to drift into debate. He has you sympathizing with even the characters you may feel most out of synch with and makes you suspend the credibility stretching aspects of the aptly named Adam (Patrick Breen) and Luke's (Patrick Heusinger) staying together despite their vast personality differences or paying the rent on an upscale apartment. The wrenching scene that has the gruff but pious Butch's (Cotter Smith) literal and metaphoric fall from grace and the non-believing Adam breaking that fall evokes a painterly image that takes your breath away. By grabbing you by the heart strings and leaving it up to you to interpret the powerhouse ending, Mr. Nauffts achieves what all good theater does: It leaves viewers thinking and talking about the play long after they've left the theater.
Fortunately the play has moved with the outstanding cast intact, and Sheryl Kaller on hand to see that the shifts from present to past and from the hospital room to various other locales are as fluid at the Helen Hayes as they were at the smaller original venue. Therefore Elizabeth Ahlfors' excellent review is reposted below to fill you in on plot, character and performance details.
Original Review by Elizabeth Ahlfors
Whether the tricky economics of Broadway theater will enable this play to enjoy the success it deserves, is as much an unanswered question as how Adam ends up on the belief issue. Hopefully, the
August Osage factor (an original play that did succeed despite elements to the contrary) will kick in.
Production Notes
Next Fall by Geoffrey Nauffts
Directed by Sheryl Kaller
Patrick Breen (Adam), Maddie Corman (Holly), Sean Dugan (Brandon), Patrick Heusinger (Luke), Connie Ray (Arlene), and Cotter Smith (Butch).
Sets: Wilson Chin
Costumes: Jess Goldstein
Lighting: Jeff Croiter
Original Music and sound by John Gromada
Stage Manager: Charles Means
Running time: 2 hours 20 minutes, including intermission
Reviewed by Elyse Sommer at March 6th press matinee
Closing 7/04/10F after 26 previews and 132 regular performances.
Original Review by Elizabeth Ahlfors
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