Sharing the Place
Two gay couples face different eras together
By Steve Parks
STAFF WRITER
November 2, 2001
REVIEW
108 WAVERLY. World premiere of a musical play.
Book and lyrics by Dan
Clancy, music by Lynn Portas. Director, Sam Viverito.
At Queens Theatre in the
Park's
Studio Theatre, Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, through Nov.11. Seen opening
night, Oct. 25.
BRIAN AND MATTHEW are lovers. So are Robby and Chris. Although all four hang
out in the same Greenwich Village apartment - a one-bedroom, fifth-floor
walk-up - the two couples have never met.
How can that be? For the very good reason that the first gay partners came
to
"108 Waverly" seven decades before the second.
That's the conceit of this new play by Dan Clancy, who has collaborated with
Lynn Portas to turn it into a musical. The same- place/different- time
juxtaposition creates a warp that folds one couple's relationship into the
other's.
Clancy's talking, singing narrative explores love and acceptance in
consecutive lifetimes. While the stories of each couple overlap, composer
Portas stylistically brackets the songs in time: "Waltz Me Around the
Apartment" and an old-fashioned ballad ("Love, You Have Stolen My Heart")
for
the '20s; an angry folk-rock solo ("Mr.Backlash") and an up-tempo ode to gay
adoption ("What a Great Daddy You'll Be") for the present.
Rather than time-splitting the apartment, set designer Michael Hotopp
incorporates props from both eras into a somehow coherent, if strangely
eclectic decorating style. The 1928 couple, Brian and Matthew, ignore the
laptop, while we assume Chris and Robby have a taste for antiques.
Nor does director Sam Viverito feel the need to rush one couple offstage to
make way for the other. Brian, a schoolteacher, continues correcting papers
as Chris, a novelist- wanna-be, reads aloud a passage from his
work-in-progress. The device contributes to an impression that little has
changed in attitudes about homosexuality in 70 years. And in some ways,
little has - as when Brian and Matthew argue about a gay bashing after Robby
completes his "smash, bash, crash" riff in "Mr. Backlash."
But then, in 1928, it would have been fantasy for Brian and Matthew to talk
about adopting a child.
Chris Weikel as Brian and Jamie McGonnigal as Matthew make a likably
plausible couple. Weikel presents a bold Brian, comfortable with his
sexuality and unafraid to display affection, while McGonnigal earns sympathy
for Matthew with his need to remain in the closet. "We're safe on this side
of the door," he sings sweetly, sadly.
Robby, played as a hyperactive young adult by Daniel Cooney, can't get out
enough, while Jason Cicci plays Chris as a domestic wallflower. But this
characterization seems too much of a cliche. Just because Chris wants to
adopt shouldn't make him reluctant to go out at night.
Both duets handle the conversational give-and-take of the lyrics with
flawless timing and modulation, careful not to overproject. But it takes a
while to be drawn into the relationships. As a result, the opening songs
seem
forced. But as the frank dialogue and sexual tension begin to play out -
there's more male-on- male kissing than in all six hours of "Angels in
America, Parts I and II" - the songs flow with refreshing honesty.
A suggestion: If "108 Waverly" has a future beyond this Equity showcase,
producers should consider an intermission. There's a lot to digest for a
musical play that runs just over 90 minutes.
Copyright © 2001, Newsday, Inc.
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