After the Night and the Music
Someone called me to re-up our membership at one of the theater clubs in NYC. He asked me if I had enjoyed the season. I said some were great, some were not so great but you can’t expect anything more than that. He was delighted. He said no one has ever said that before and it is so true.
You go to theater and every once in awhile you are absolutely blown away or extremely delighted that you went or not that thrilled with the entire performance. That’s how it goes. It can’t all be fantastic. It is impossible. You can’t make great theater without making bad theater.
We went to see After the Night and the Music at the Biltmore Theater, one of the Manhattan Theater Club performances this year. This goes under the not so great.
This was 3 separate short plays, 2 before intermission, one afterward. The first one was actually not bad. 2 gay women in a bar, one having a good old time on the dance floor. The other very bummed, drinking at the bar. A man approaches her, begs her to dance. Not a very attractive man, he begs, please one dance, no one will dance with me, I can teach you to be a better dancer. I was an instructor. She finally caves and they dance. He teaches her how to lead and how to follow. They are really fun to watch and he is hilarious. Then all the friends come back to watch and all the women now want to dance with him but he refuses because he already has a partner, her. That’s it in a nutshell. Not that interesting but the dancing was great and it was a little slice of life moment.
The second act was mainly about a single NY’er and talking about why she isn’t depressed. Hanging by the phone waiting for a man to call her for a date while being interrupted constantly by her best friend, who is male and gay. The neurosis that follow after the calls and waiting for the calls. At one point the supposed male caller comes on stage and so does the mother of the best friend. The performances were good, some of the lines were quite funny but all and all do I need to watch 4 neurotic people discuss their angst at length?
We went outside for the intermission. I asked the guy who worked there what the 3rd act was about. He said it was about 2 couples having dinners discussing their insecurities. We decided we could do that on our own.
Alas, not the best, but I absolutely resigned up for next year’s performances at the MTC because who knows there might be a true winner amongst the crowd.
Comments (Archived):
The 3rd act was the only reason to see the first 2 acts…It was one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen. The description you got from the guy working at the theater was so vague because he didn’t want to give anything away. BTW, it was about two couples who agree to have dinner with each other and then swap partners for sex. OK…maybe you don’t want to see this with another couple, but it was very funny, IMO.