Review
Based on A Totally True Story
Manhattan Theatre Club- Stage II
April 16, 2006
Morgan Wycks
mwycks@nyconstage.org
The problem with plays about people who are totally self-absorbed is that one must spend time with them, and if those characters are of an artistic bent, it's totally the worse. Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa's play, Based on a Totally True Story, is just such a play; and though it's nice that Mr. Aguirre-Sacasa can work out his totally self-absorbed problems in this totally true story, why should an audience be so totally subjected to it ?
A playwright, Ethan, who makes his living writing comic books, and an aspiring novelist, Michael, meet cute in the gay atmosphere of a Chelsea coffee shop and the dialogue is fast, furious and ultimately totally cloying, certainly not unlike many a conversation one might overhear in a Chelsea coffee shop. They quickly become a couple and move in with each other. When Ethan is given the opportunity to turn one of his plays into a movie, this young self-obsessed, on-the-edge-of-charming man becomes a not so charming creep of monstrously self-absorbed proportions. Granted, he has one batty, but slick, self-absorbed producer goading him into the insanity that is Hollywood, but when it comes right down to it, the boyfriend, Michael, is just as self-absorbed but in less obvious ways. How long can it be before "you don't share yourself with me and pay enough attention to me" becomes a whiny and plaintive broken record ? When Ethan's Dad complicates matters by intending to leave his loveless marriage for another woman, Ethan's reaction is again one of pure selfishness.
To witness a young writer of Mr. Aguierre-Sacasa's evident talent working at the problems of his life through his play is to be a party to "been there, done that". The certain air of mystery that all writers should possess is worth much more than a candid airing of one's laundry. As the producer warns Ethan, "Honesty is an over-rated virtue".
Carson Elrod as Ethan goes for the speedy, wound-up top interpretation for his character which is appropriate but exhaustingly trying. Pedro Pascal's Michael could have been less the neglected hausfrau and more the confused and frustrated lover, but frankly it feels like Mr. Aguirre-Sacasa never really saw this character anyway. Erik Heger scores in a number of parts and Michael Tucker as Ethan's Dad gets the world-weary attitude and Philadelphian accent just right. It is Kristine Nielsen as Ethan's producer whom one always waits to return. We've seen this performance of Ms. Nielsen's before but it still works wondrously well. Michael Bush's direction could have totally softened the central issue so that we might have cared more. As it is, I was, though not totally, put off by these youngsters who are sure the world spins around them. Gosh, I sound like my mother.
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