| I'm a local New Yorker with a lot of houseguests throughout the year, and I saw this production off Broadway, and the original version on Broadway. When I saw the recent production, I remembered what a well-written play it was, but I agree with Michael, in the post above, that Urie was wrong for the role. He couldn't come off as unattractive or insecure, and he feels so MODERN. You need to understand, or at least get a sense of, an earlier New York and gay scene for the play to resonate, and Arnold needs to be genuinely vulnerable. But at the same time, when I saw it, the audience was engaged,and the play was enjoyable. To my point about my house guests,last year they were, for the most part, straight, theater-loving friends who were going to see Angels, and were seeing or considering The Boys in the Band...but nobody was interested in Torch Song. Nothing about it held appeal for them, really. I agree with the poster above--it didn't have the event status or stars of the other two plays I mentioned, and how many plays on gay themes do straight theater goers want to see on one visit to NYC? I say all this to say that my many guests are always my litmus test of what's working or not. I could have told you: this play will never run. |
