‘TAKE ME OUT’: The cast. Photo: Joan Marcus.

TAKE ME OUT
Written by Richard Greenberg
Directed by Scott Ellis
Through May 29, 2022
The Hayes Theater
240 West 44th Street
(212-541-4516), www 2ST.com

By David NouNou

Take Me Out is a show that is enjoyable while watching, but mind-blowing long after leaving the theater and pondering the different subject matters it tackles. I admired the show in 2002 more as a voyeur and missed out on the multiple layers upon which it is built. The central subject matter is the coming out of a beloved baseball player, who is at the top of his game, to the media, unbeknownst to his fellow teammates and without any cause or a personal relationship. Although it might have seemed a breakthrough for a major league athlete to come out as gay in 2002, just think where we are in 2022 and the alarming “Don’t Say Gay” Florida law that was just signed, banning the word “gay,” and other states trying to undo same-sex marriages. It is mind-numbing to see how far we are regressing, which in turn makes Take Me Out more progressive and relevant today.

The catalyst, Darren Lemming (Jesse Williams), a biracial center fielder for the fictional Major League team the Empires, beloved by the public as well as himself, has just announced he is gay for no apparent reason other than to free himself of the secret he’s carried on a daily basis. Now that his sexual orientation is in the open, he must navigate through life with the slings and arrows that are hurled upon him. Everything now comes under scrutiny—from an ordinary shower after a game to dealing with his teammates on a daily basis. He has the support of his teammate and friend Kippy Sunderstrom (Patrick J. Adams), who is also the narrator of the play. However, his best friend Davey Battle (Brandon J. Dirden) who plays on an opposing team, The Larks, is a holy man and revolted by what he considers Lemming’s “deviation” and “depravity.” This is the proverbial line in the sand that has been crossed.

Later, Darren Lemming also acquires a new accountant, Mason Marzac (Jesse Tyler Ferguson). The last one we are to believe has retired. Marzac knows nothing about baseball, but is enthralled that Darren has come out and has new interest in the game. Marzac has learned “that baseball is absolute. It works better than democracy. It has a definite winner and a loser.” Here is another layer for us to peel: in a democracy who wins an election and who loses?

Due to Lemming being in a slump and losses piling up, a dimwitted, racist, homophobic relief pitcher, Shane Mungitt (Michael Oberholtzer), is brought in from the minor leagues. He happens to be an orphan due to his father killing his mother and then killing himself, and is either from Arkansas or Tennessee. Now that the team begins winning, Mungitt is wanted for a press interview where he expresses his displeasure with “colored” people and having to shower with a “fa**ot.” This places Mungitt on suspension.

Due to the suspension, the team goes into a slump again. An apology letter is written and released to the public. Public sentiment wants Mungitt back, against Lemming’s feelings. With Mungitt back, this creates new revelations and consequences that will affect the lives of many. Please unravel the revelations and consequences for yourself, it will be more fulfilling. So many things come into question here, and I’m sure each viewer will have their own interpretation

Although this looks like an ensemble piece, there are four standout remarkable performances; Jesse Williams is an Adonis with a command of the stage that is riveting. His every stance, move and interaction is poetry in motion. Patrick J. Adams as friend and narrator anchors the play in his sincerity. Michael Oberholtzer as the outsider can he heartbreaking once you realize he will always be a failure in life and will always get himself in trouble.

The joker in the deck is Jesse Tyler Ferguson as Marzac, a role that won Denis O’Hare a much-deserved Tony Award in a supporting role. Where Mr. O’Hare was an introverted, nebbish “Mr. Cellophane” who blossomed while loving baseball, Mr. Ferguson is never a milquetoast but a lonely, self-deprecating accountant who falls in love with baseball once he meets Darren Lemming. As his friendship with Darren evolves, so does his flamboyance, giving the show its much needed levity.

My sincere hope is that Take Me Out will be extended beyond May 29th. With so many tourists coming to New York this spring and summer, this would be the one solid play I would recommend people to see. Its poignancy is harder hitting today than it was in 2002.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published April 7, 2022
Reviewed at April 6, 2022 press performance.

‘TAKE ME OUT’: Jesse Tyler Ferguson & Jesse Williams. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘TAKE ME OUT’: Jesse Williams & Brandon J. Dirden. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘TAKE ME OUT’: Michael Oberholtzer & cast. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘TAKE ME OUT’: Jesse Williams & Ken Marks. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘TAKE ME OUT’: Patrick J. Adams & Jesse Williams. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘TAKE ME OUT’: Jesse Tyler Ferguson. Photo: Joan Marcus.

The post ‘Take Me Out’ revival even more topical today appeared first on StageZine.

EXQUISITE ENSEMBLE: The outstanding Julie White & Carolyn Braver, with (background) Scott Jaeck in ‘Airline Highway.’ Photo: Joan Marcus

AIRLINE HIGHWAY
By Lisa D’Amour
Directed by Joe Mantello
Samuel J. Friedman Theatre
261 West 47th Street
(212-239-6280), www.AirlineHighwayBroadway.com

By Scott Harrah

Take every misfit plagued with misfortune from such Tennessee Williams plays as Vieux Carré, set the scene in modern-day, post-Katrina New Orleans and you have Lisa D’Amour’s innovative, beautifully acted but ultimately contrived Airline Highway, which recently opened on Broadway after a successful run by Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre Company. This drama full of colorful, down-on-their-luck characters has a lot going for it, but the problem is we have seen variations of these Big Easy personalities and their sad lives before.

Set in the parking lot of the seedy Hummingbird Motel, on Airline Highway in New Orleans (hence the show’s title), the story centers on a group of people gathering for a funeral for burlesque club grande dame Miss Ruby (Judith Roberts). Miss Ruby is gravely ill but isn’t dead yet, and her friends want to throw her a high-spirited funeral party/wake before she passes.

Nearly all the characters are stereotypes, but are exquisitely acted regardless. The standout is Broadway veteran Julie White as Tanya, an aging prostitute who lives in the rundown motel (along with many others). Tanya is the quintessential “hooker with a heart of gold,” and Ms. White portrays her with a raw sincerity that makes the character truly heartbreaking.

Equally exemplary is K. Todd Freeman as Sissy Na Na, a spunky African-American drag queen who is wise and lovable. Included in the ensemble are Krista (Caroline Neff), a stripper; Wayne (Scott Jaeck), the motel manager; Bait Boy (Joe Tippett), a former New Orleans resident who has returned from Atlanta (where he’s shacked up with a rich sugar mama) to pay last respects to Miss Ruby; and Bait Boy’s girlfriend’s teenage daughter Zoe (Carolyn Braver), a high school student working on a sociology project on subcultures.

Act One moves along briskly, as characters prepare for Miss Ruby’s funeral later in the day and talk about their troubles. Scott Pask’s lifelike set—showing everything from trash strewn everywhere to glimpses into the motel rooms (complete with cartoons on TV sets and people in the shadows smoking, etc.), and a sign advertising rates as low as $34.99—captures the decay of the surroundings well. At times, several characters talk at once, so we see multiple conversations going on simultaneously. While this adds a remarkable sense of realism, it also becomes distracting to the audience, and that’s a problem in a play this unfocused.

By Act Two, things start out lively, with everyone sporting Mardi Gras beads and grooving to jazz music, but the show soon takes a predictable turn. Characters get drunk and high, eat junk food, and truths are revealed. The dreary tone becomes repetitious, but director Joe Mantello makes the most of things with the talented cast.

Like the Tennessee Williams plays playwright Lisa D’Amour emulates, Airline Highway has lots of florid, poetic dialogue, including a rambling, philosophical soliloquy by Miss Ruby herself (she doesn’t come onstage until well into Act Two). Unfortunately, the crisp dialogue and first-rate performances are not enough to make us overlook the overall feeling of dramatic déjà vu and the timeworn sentimentality of the play.

YOU GO, GIRL: K. Todd Freeman & company of ‘Airline Highway’. Photo: Joan Marcus

NEW ORLEANS MISFITS: Caroline Neff & company of ‘Airline Highway’. Photo: Joan Marcus

PARTY GIRLS: A scene from ‘Airline Highway.’ Photo: Joan Marcus

CATCHING UP WITH PEOPLE FROM THE PAST: (left to right) Caroline Neff, Joe Tippett & Carolyn Braver. Photo: Joan Marcus

GREAT ENSEMBLE: The cast of ‘Airline Highway.’ Photo: Joan Marcus

TANYA, THE PROSTITUTE & MOTEL MANAGER WAYNE: Julie White & Scott Jaeck. Photo: Joan Marcus

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published April 27, 2015
Reviewed at press performance on April 26, 2015

The post ‘Airline Highway’: Down and out in the Big Easy appeared first on StageZine.