As you have read, lately I've been grappling with why plays are revived and when. So going into Lobby Hero, the Kenneth Lonergan play receiving a revival at the brand new Helen Hayes Theater (now owned and operated by Second Stage), I couldn't help but ask, "why?" Why revive this now, seventeen years after it ran at Playwrights Horizons? Why did Second Stage make it its maiden voyage on Broadway? Why did it attract stars like Michael Cera and Chris Evans?
I'm still not really sure of the answers to those questions. Theater is a living, breathing organism. And the beauty of it is that plays and musicals can be revived over and over again, hopefully with new insight. No two productions will (or should) be alike. So I guess judging by that there's always a reason to revive a play, right?
I honestly could've lived forever without seeing Lobby Hero on Broadway, or stage, ever again. It's a fine play that doesn't quite succeed as either a slice of life or a character study. (For a successful example of those, please see Annie Baker's masterpiece The Flick.) The first act has very little conflict, or well, very little to make a case for the play itself. Jeff is a twenty-seven year old white security guard at a New York City building (Where? I don't know. What kind of building? Not sure.) He's also trying to get his life together after being dishonorably discharged from the Navy and running up some gambling debts. So basically he's every male Lonergan character, right? But we never get a sense of him really falling on tough times; his brother paid his debts and is letting him live with his wife and family. I got the sense that things were always going to be okay for Jeff because he's a straight, white guy. He'll always land on his feet.
This is important because both race and gender come into play later on the script. Dawn, a rookie cop, faces extreme sexual harassment from her partner (another straight, white guy) who is blackmailing her after she exercises a little too much force on the job. It's clear her problems are not going to go away as easily as Jeff's. There's also William, Jeff's boss, who is black and is torn between corroborating with his brother's false alibi or letting him face charges for a brutal murder he most likely did do. So as you can see, Lobby Hero is even more relevant today than it was in 2001 (although it's interesting to note that it's set in 1999) with the #metoo movement and the ongoing fight against systemic, institutional racism and the legal system. The major conflict in the play revolves around Jeff's anxiety about doing what he thinks is right (admitting William's brother's alibi is a lie to the cops) and retaining his relationship with William, who he apparently looks up to as a role model. No matter what Jeff does, he will come off unscathed, and ultimately, he does. As you might expect, it's Dawn and William who will really feel the repercussions of the events of the play. (Even the fourth character, Bill, who is the villain of the piece, doesn't really get his comeuppance for being so vile. Sure, he won't make detective for a little while longer but it's safe to assume his job and marriage are still intact.)
At intermission I was like, "where is this play going?" but by the end, I enjoyed myself. But it's still no great shakes. Yes, Lonergan does a great job of putting a mirror up to white, male privilege but I'm not sure he goes any deeper than the surface. The only thing that is apparent that over the last nineteen years, we're still in the same place when it comes to race and gender. The only difference is that more people are standing up to it, exposing it.
It's disappointing Second Stage chose this for their Broadway debut. It would've been nice to see Tracy Letts' Mary Page Marlowe on stage instead (it will open at their off-Broadway space in the summer.) A play with Michael Cera and Chris Evans would do well in a commercial run. It didn't need a non-profit one.
I'm still not really sure of the answers to those questions. Theater is a living, breathing organism. And the beauty of it is that plays and musicals can be revived over and over again, hopefully with new insight. No two productions will (or should) be alike. So I guess judging by that there's always a reason to revive a play, right?
I honestly could've lived forever without seeing Lobby Hero on Broadway, or stage, ever again. It's a fine play that doesn't quite succeed as either a slice of life or a character study. (For a successful example of those, please see Annie Baker's masterpiece The Flick.) The first act has very little conflict, or well, very little to make a case for the play itself. Jeff is a twenty-seven year old white security guard at a New York City building (Where? I don't know. What kind of building? Not sure.) He's also trying to get his life together after being dishonorably discharged from the Navy and running up some gambling debts. So basically he's every male Lonergan character, right? But we never get a sense of him really falling on tough times; his brother paid his debts and is letting him live with his wife and family. I got the sense that things were always going to be okay for Jeff because he's a straight, white guy. He'll always land on his feet.
This is important because both race and gender come into play later on the script. Dawn, a rookie cop, faces extreme sexual harassment from her partner (another straight, white guy) who is blackmailing her after she exercises a little too much force on the job. It's clear her problems are not going to go away as easily as Jeff's. There's also William, Jeff's boss, who is black and is torn between corroborating with his brother's false alibi or letting him face charges for a brutal murder he most likely did do. So as you can see, Lobby Hero is even more relevant today than it was in 2001 (although it's interesting to note that it's set in 1999) with the #metoo movement and the ongoing fight against systemic, institutional racism and the legal system. The major conflict in the play revolves around Jeff's anxiety about doing what he thinks is right (admitting William's brother's alibi is a lie to the cops) and retaining his relationship with William, who he apparently looks up to as a role model. No matter what Jeff does, he will come off unscathed, and ultimately, he does. As you might expect, it's Dawn and William who will really feel the repercussions of the events of the play. (Even the fourth character, Bill, who is the villain of the piece, doesn't really get his comeuppance for being so vile. Sure, he won't make detective for a little while longer but it's safe to assume his job and marriage are still intact.)
At intermission I was like, "where is this play going?" but by the end, I enjoyed myself. But it's still no great shakes. Yes, Lonergan does a great job of putting a mirror up to white, male privilege but I'm not sure he goes any deeper than the surface. The only thing that is apparent that over the last nineteen years, we're still in the same place when it comes to race and gender. The only difference is that more people are standing up to it, exposing it.
It's disappointing Second Stage chose this for their Broadway debut. It would've been nice to see Tracy Letts' Mary Page Marlowe on stage instead (it will open at their off-Broadway space in the summer.) A play with Michael Cera and Chris Evans would do well in a commercial run. It didn't need a non-profit one.
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