After the Night and the Music
Elaine May's Brilliant insight into the Human Condition
Elaine May confirms her position as one of America's most gifted humorists who consistently delivers brilliant insight into the human mind and interpersonal relationships. Her return to
Broadway with the clever and thoroughly enjoyable After the Night and the Music represents a much-needed infusion of original light comedy theater to the New York stage. With the
television sitcom in a funk of laugh-track required unfunny one-liners, and Broadway humor dependent on huge musical-comedy spectaculars or Noel Coward and W. Somerset Maugham revivals, Elaine May
gives hope that subtle nuances of the human situation can still provide source material for contemporary humor.
May's three one-act scenes, the ten-minute Curtain Raiser, 35-minute Giving Up Smoking, and one-hour Swing Time each offer completely original, contemporary and funny insights into the human condition. From her early work with Chicago's Second City
and popular comedy routines with partner (and first husband) Mike Nichols, May has proven the equal to Woody Allen in creating characters that are completely unique yet everyman. In their first moments on stage, her characters are completely familiar, yet full of depth and surprises. In her second scene, Giving Up Smoking, each of the four characters begin their monologues with the same line, "Here's why I'm not
depressed." As the lives of each character unfolds through monologues and brief telephone conversations, we understand how deeply depressed each is. There are so many lines that are at once classic ("The other thing about getting older is that you finally know life has no meaning, and I don't say that in a depressed manner." "If Heathcliff were alive today, he'd be on
Zoloft." "Men are young until they're wheeled into the sunset.") and several monologues that will offer a treasure trove for auditions for years to come.
Each of the three scenes offers tribute to the trials and tribulations of relationships, the reality of loneliness, and our ceaseless efforts to find solace and comfort from friends, family and total
strangers — at the same time reaffirming the only real source of happiness and self-esteem comes from within.
Jack Myers Entertainment Report's entertainment rating system is based on a maximum of five jacks and a minimum of zero jacks. 0 = awful; 1 = pretty bad; 2 = okay
but don't go out of your way to see it; 3 = reasonably good but not special; 4 = very good and worth paying
attention to; 5 = exceptional. Opinions are based on my own likes, dislikes and preferences.
