• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Towleroad
  • Towleroad on Social Media
  • Privacy Policy

Towleroad Gay News

Gay Blog Towleroad: More than gay news | gay men

  • Body
  • Daily Resist
  • POLITICS
  • Travel
  • Music
  • Theatre
  • Film
  • TV
  • Sports
  • Business
  • Men
  • Marriage Equality
  • Space
  • Trans Rights
  • Books
  • Science
  • Gay Iconography
  • TowleREAD

Matthew Broderick, Nathan Lane and Stockard Channing Open in ‘It’s Only a Play’ on Broadway: REVIEW

October 14, 2014 by Naveen Kumar

ITS_ONLY_A_PLAY1

BY NAVEEN KUMAR

Anyone who thinks theatre people are a bunch of eccentric, egotistical, navel-gazing kooks will find little to prove them wrong in the starry Broadway premiere of Terrence McNally’s 1982 comedy It’s Only a Play, which opened last week at the Schoenfeld Theatre. Directed by Jack O’Brien, the backstage farce meets drawing-room play takes up with a team of show folk anxiously awaiting reviews on opening night.

It's only play 3If you’re determined enough to snag tickets to the nearly-sold-out run, you’ll find its crowded marquee of big names, including Matthew Broderick, Nathan Lane, Stockard Channing, Megan Mullally and F. Murray Abraham, preening around the opulent interior of an upper east side townhouse, wringing their hands over the trials of mounting a play and goosing the audience with an exhaustive litany of de rigueur insider jokes and name drops.

The bedroom of this lux abode (lavishly designed by Scott Pask) belongs to theatre producer Julia Budder (Ms. Mullally), and tonight it’s doubling as a coat room for the opening party of her first big Broadway venture. Peter (Mr. Broderick) wrote the play’s lead role for his friend James (Mr. Lane), who turned it down to continue his stint on a mediocre sitcom and has flown in to make sure he didn’t pass on a hit.

It's only play 2The play’s leading lady Virginia (Ms. Channing) is a pill-popping star out on parole (complete with security anklet) and its British director Frank (Rupert Grint) is prickly, bizarre and apparently brilliant. A predatory critic is also on hand to generally antagonize all (Mr. Abraham), and the coat check boy (an aspiring actor, of course, played by Micah Stock) is charged with the running gag of schlepping outerwear for increasingly outlandish guests (Shia LaBeouf! The cast of The Lion King! Lady Gaga!).

Lane and Channing are both a delight, incidentally as caricatures of their own profession. Mr. Lane’s animated ease and precise comic timing make light work of his many rapid-fire one-liners. Ms. Channing is spot on as the industry-weary grand dame, all sharp-tongue and taut-face.

With a mild southern drawl and coiffed wig, Ms. Mullally doesn’t cut quite as extreme a figure as some of Broadway’s more eccentric producers. And while charming, Mr. Broderick seems a bit dazed—even as a playwright facing reviews on opening night. He’s also saddled with thanklessly delivering McNally’s sentimental odes to the art form, the sincerity of which seem stodgy and out of place.

It's only play 4In updating the original script for this production, McNally has packed it to the gills with jabs and winks aimed at celebrities big and small—with audiences invited to listen in on the fun (show people sh*t talking behind the scenes!). But like most opening night parties this one is relatively uneventful, aside from people waiting around for reviews to come in and reacting when they do. The rest of the play is taken up with the artists’ neuroses (at their most stereotypical) and these often backhanded zingers.

Much of McNally’s humor is low-hanging fruit (spoiler alert: the cast takes a group selfie), and much of the story (such as it is) gets buried in it. Though often funny, the players in McNally’s satire are gleefully narcissistic—and no more sympathetic than the critics they delight in vilifying. The play (like the play within the play) is obsessed with its own critical reception, though it's hardly clear why when the names above its title are enough to ensure box office gold.

Recent theatre reviews…
‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time’ Opens on Broadway: REVIEW
Political Sex Scandal Comedy ‘Tail! Spin!’ Opens Off Broadway: REVIEW
James Earl Jones and Rose Byrne Open in ‘You Can’t Take It With You’ on Broadway: REVIEW
Mia Farrow and Brian Dennehy Open ‘Love Letters’ on Broadway: REVIEW
‘Bootycandy,’ Brassy Comedy About Black, Gay Experience, Opens: REVIEW

Follow Naveen Kumar on Twitter: @Mr_NaveenKumar (photos: joan marcus)

Filed Under: New York, News Tagged With: Matthew Broderick, Nathan Lane, Naveen Kumar, New York, News, Review, Theatre

Recent Posts

  • Biden Slams Trump for Refusing to sign COVID Relief Bill: ‘The Abdication of Responsibility Has Devastating Consequences’

    Biden Slams Trump for Refusing to sign COVID Relief Bill: ‘The Abdication of Responsibility Has Devastating Consequences’

    16 hours ago
  • FBI Investigating Whether Person of Interest in Nashville Bombing Was Paranoid About 5G Technology

    FBI Investigating Whether Person of Interest in Nashville Bombing Was Paranoid About 5G Technology

    17 hours ago
  • Michael Alig Dead, Nashville, L.A. COVID, Lindsey Graham, 737 Max, The Queen, Roger Stone, Joe Exotic: WEEKEND HOT LINKS

    Michael Alig Dead, Nashville, L.A. COVID, Lindsey Graham, 737 Max, The Queen, Roger Stone, Joe Exotic: WEEKEND HOT LINKS

    2 days ago
  • Ben Sasse, Stella Tennant, Gautam Raghavan, Andrew Yang, Kirk COVIDiot Cameron, Emma Corrin: HOT LINKS

    Ben Sasse, Stella Tennant, Gautam Raghavan, Andrew Yang, Kirk COVIDiot Cameron, Emma Corrin: HOT LINKS

    4 days ago
Previous Post: « Lorde Takes South Park Ribbing In Stride, Calls Sia Out For Impersonating Her – VIDEO
Next Post: Take A Look Inside ‘Wonderkid,’ A Short Film Aimed At Tackling Homophobia In Sport: VIDEO »

Primary Sidebar

  • Biden Slams Trump for Refusing to sign COVID Relief Bill: ‘The Abdication of Responsibility Has Devastating Consequences’

  • FBI Investigating Whether Person of Interest in Nashville Bombing Was Paranoid About 5G Technology

  • Michael Alig Dead, Nashville, L.A. COVID, Lindsey Graham, 737 Max, The Queen, Roger Stone, Joe Exotic: WEEKEND HOT LINKS

Recent Posts

  • Biden Slams Trump for Refusing to sign COVID Relief Bill: ‘The Abdication of Responsibility Has Devastating Consequences’

    Biden Slams Trump for Refusing to sign COVID Relief Bill: ‘The Abdication of Responsibility Has Devastating Consequences’

    16 hours ago
  • FBI Investigating Whether Person of Interest in Nashville Bombing Was Paranoid About 5G Technology

    FBI Investigating Whether Person of Interest in Nashville Bombing Was Paranoid About 5G Technology

    17 hours ago
  • Michael Alig Dead, Nashville, L.A. COVID, Lindsey Graham, 737 Max, The Queen, Roger Stone, Joe Exotic: WEEKEND HOT LINKS

    Michael Alig Dead, Nashville, L.A. COVID, Lindsey Graham, 737 Max, The Queen, Roger Stone, Joe Exotic: WEEKEND HOT LINKS

    2 days ago
  • Ben Sasse, Stella Tennant, Gautam Raghavan, Andrew Yang, Kirk COVIDiot Cameron, Emma Corrin: HOT LINKS

    Ben Sasse, Stella Tennant, Gautam Raghavan, Andrew Yang, Kirk COVIDiot Cameron, Emma Corrin: HOT LINKS

    4 days ago
  • Trump Appoints Anti-Gay Conversion Therapy Practitioner and Christian Extremist Marcus Bachmann (Husband of Michelle) to Advisory Panel

    Trump Appoints Anti-Gay Conversion Therapy Practitioner and Christian Extremist Marcus Bachmann (Husband of Michelle) to Advisory Panel

    4 days ago
  • Paul Manafort Issues Bootlicking Tweets, His First in 4 Years, After Trump Pardons Him Along with 25 Others

    Paul Manafort Issues Bootlicking Tweets, His First in 4 Years, After Trump Pardons Him Along with 25 Others

    4 days ago
  • ‘Sex and the City’ Reboot, Miley Cyrus, Nicholas Cage Swearing, Dr. Birx, Ellen’s Mask, John Thune, Jerry Falwell Jr: HOT LINKS

    ‘Sex and the City’ Reboot, Miley Cyrus, Nicholas Cage Swearing, Dr. Birx, Ellen’s Mask, John Thune, Jerry Falwell Jr: HOT LINKS

    4 days ago
  • How Many Christmas Movie Parodies Can You Count in Edmund Bagnell’s Holiday Classic? — WATCH

    How Many Christmas Movie Parodies Can You Count in Edmund Bagnell’s Holiday Classic? — WATCH

    5 days ago
  • Palm Springs Gay Clothing-Optional Resort INNdulge is Up for Sale

    Palm Springs Gay Clothing-Optional Resort INNdulge is Up for Sale

    5 days ago
  • Buffalo Gay Bar Open Since 1974 Facing Closure After Being Rejected for  COVID Relief Grant and Owner Wonders if LGBTQ Businesses Were Excluded: WATCH

    Buffalo Gay Bar Open Since 1974 Facing Closure After Being Rejected for COVID Relief Grant and Owner Wonders if LGBTQ Businesses Were Excluded: WATCH

    5 days ago

Most Commented

  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Towleroad
  • Towleroad on Social Media
  • Privacy Policy

Footer

Copyright © 2020 · Log in