Terrence McNally's Some Men is a completely mixed bag. A gay history play spanning from Stonewall to civil unions and everything in between, it reaches for too much and regrettably falls short. There are moments that exhibit McNally's brilliance, but they are few and far between. His circular storytelling hurts his narrative; once the audience becomes genuinely interested in a character, they are relegated to the sidelines while yet another plot point is introduced. The actors are all very fine, though, with several standouts: Don Amendolia is touching as both a gay doctor during the AIDS epidemic and the father of a dead soldier who couldn't come to terms with his son's lifestyle; and Kelly AuCoin and Romain Fruge are both phenomenal as a long-time gay couple, the former having left a wife and family to discover his true self. So, while I was never bored, I was also never enthralled, and that's a problem.
2 comments:
I just saw the show last night and liked it a lot more than you did. Although, truly, the narrative is lacking, we get many vignettes that are interesting and for the most part, very well written. And there is narrative, it's just a bit hard to follow since most of the actors play many parts.
It's a very funny show with lots of laughs, and the audience was really enjoying it. The house was packed.
The cast, without exception, is excellent. I have nothing negative to say about it at all. I predict it will move to Broadway.
I highly doubt it will move to Broadway, but I do agree with and respect most of the points you bring up. The ensemble is superb. It just left me cold. I seem to be in the minority, though, as my friend who saw yesterday's matinee raved to me about it last night.
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