I wanted to let “The Inheritance” settle after seeing it in November. I was concerned that because I had been following Matthew Lopez’s career for a while I would be overly enthusiastic about his latest effort. That concern may have been warranted, but my respect for Mr. Lopez’s accomplishment - and the accomplishment of the cast, under Stephen Daldry‘s direction, has only increased.
I appreciate how Mr. Lopez has written from his own experience without making the play specifically about himself. That experience can be both deeply positive and deeply negative, and the deeply negative parts (mostly in Part 2) were difficult for me to watch. But, as I processed my reactions, I realized that they were just as essential to the experience as the positive ones.
I find it interesting that the only portion of “The Inheritance” that I thought was directly comparable to “Angels in America” was the concluding scene in each. Each is a product of its time and its author; both bring the cast together to reaffirm the relationships among them. “Angels” ends with a call to action that “The Inheritance” does not have, but each is, for me, enormously satisfying in its own way.
I may not be back in New York before “The Inheritance” closes, but if it is still running when I return, I would seriously consider doing something that I never do with my limited theatre-going time: I’d see it again.
Bill, in San Diego |
