Daddy

We’re back in New York for a short trip but we’ll still manage to squeeze in a half dozen shows.  It would have been seven but, thanks to the magic of live theater, today’s performance of Gary, A Sequel To Titus Andronicus was canceled.  Last week, Andrea Martin, who was to be paired with Nathan Lane, broke 3 ribs and had to drop out of the show.  They canceled a couple of previews but this afternoon was supposed to be the first.  Guess they weren’t quite ready because I got an email around noon that the 2 pm matinee was canceled.  Still want to see it because, well, Nathan Lane - rebooked for early June.

This evening we headed over to the Signature complex to see Daddy, a joint production of our friends at Vineyard Theater and The New Group.  As soon as you walked in to the theater, it was clear why it took two non-profits to do this one.  The play is set in the backyard of an ultra-modern LA house with a 4-5 foot deep, 12x30 (or so) swimming pool!!  Not a set piece to look like a pool - an actual swimming pool taking up roughly half of the stage that the actors could and did jump in and swim around!!  OK, I was intrigued.

The play is about an LA art collector, played here by the terrific, if slightly creepy, Alan Cumming, who forms a relationship with a young black artist played by Roland Peet.  Tiny spoiler alert - as the lights come up at the beginning of the show, Peet emerges from underwater and climbs out of the pool in his speedos.  He’s a strikingly beautiful man.  It doesn’t take long before the speedo disappears and we get to know Peet and Cumming pretty well.

Have to say this play is really, really strange.  It bounces from deadly serious to absurd; it includes a gospel trio, occasional singing and several religious soliloquys.  The artist’s religious and demanding mother shows up and a tug-of-war for the artist begins between her and the collector.  Everybody’s relationships turn seriously weird as the artist works out some major (no surprise, given the title) daddy issues.  The acting is extremely intense with an especially strong performance from Charlayne Woodard as the artist’s mother.

Frankly, I’m not sure what to make of this play.  At times it seemed pretty ridiculous; at others just brilliant.  Have to say, though, that it completely held my attention for almost three hours.  This one is going to take days to think through which, I guess, is a sign of a pretty good piece of theater.  And, it had a swimming pool on stage!  On a 1-10 scale, this one is somewhere between a 2 and 9!  I’ll figure it out in a week or so.