So I caught my pal Frank Anthony Polito's play "Another Day on Willow St." on Tuesday night at the Players Theatre. I realize that I'm kind of a weirdo about this, but I generally try to avoid going to performances of people I know as I find it very difficult to separate the friend from the performer, and then I wind up being either too tense or too embarrassed to enjoy myself. That being said, I haven't known Frank very long and he invited me to his entry in this year's Fringe Festival, so I decided to take a chance, got the evening off from work and took my friend Jay to see if my buddy Frank could write and/or act. What a relief! I'm no theater critic, but I know the difference between good and bad -- and this was good. The dialogue was smart, witty, entertaining and most importantly believable. The cast -- including Frank's real-life boyfriend Craig Bentley. Fred Backus and Pamela Sabaugh -- was tight, skilled and played nicely together. The subject matter -- two bickering couples in Brooklyn trying to sort out their damaged relationships -- was compelling, if not a little too painfully realistic at times (not necessarily a bad thing, I swear!). The play is not perfect -- Jay and I both got lost a number of times between real and imagined events and the 9/11 undertones seemed a bit unnecessary to me -- but I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed the show and had no problem believing the people on stage were their characters -- even the dude I kinda know. The play has two more performances so if you're looking to Fringe Festival this week -- and who isn't? -- I sincerely recommend "Another Day on Willow St."
UPDATE: I'm not the only one who liked this play.
If relationship drama isn't your cup of tea, perhaps seeing Priscilla Barnes -- aka Terri from "Three's Company" -- as Hillary Rodham Clinton (talk about typecasting! Oh, wait ...) in "Hillary Agonistes," a play about the future president's dealing with the sudden disappearance of 65 million people worldwide (including her own husband), is more your speed. Somehow the idea of seeing Nurse Alden try to pull off Hillary sounds far more anxiety-inducing than seeing my friend's own production, but like I said, I'm kind of a freak. (NYT)
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