Theater Thursday: The Commons of Pensacola

Last summer, before their house sold and before my mom had her operation, my dad got a bunch of theater tickets for December. One set was our family Xmas gift for Annie.  We loved seeing Annie with the kids, I forgot how much I enjoyed that show.

The other tickets were for more serious plays for him and my mom.

But then the house sold and the move was planned for right after Christmas. And then my mom had her operation. So Hot Guy and I have been taking turns accompanying my Dad into the city to see plays. It's rough, let me tell ya. 

Anyway, a few weekends ago I got to see The Commons of Pensacola starring Blythe Danner and Sarah Jessica Parker. 

broadwayworld.com

It was at the Manhattan Theater Club, which is a fantastic venue - small, but with excellent seating. I love not having to worry if a tall person sits in front of me. Anyway, so now I've seen Sarah Jessica Parker and Blythe Danner up close. I don't know if they've had plastic surgery or use some magical cream or are just incredibly genetically blessed, but damn they look fabulous. I realize that has nothing to do with the show, but I just had to let my gossipy side out for a minute. 

Oh, also, I thought it was sad that Sarah Jessica left her best movie, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, out of her theater bio. When I remarked upon it, the guy next to me (the one that wasn't my dad) totally agreed with me. Don't forget where you came from, SJP! 

The play itself has some really brilliant lines. Amanda Peet (from Something's Gotta Give and Bent and The Good Wife) can definitely write dialogue. And her premise, about the a holiday gathering of the family of a Bernie Madoff-like con man, is solid. But I wanted more. I felt like the ending was just tacked on to give it some kind of ending, that the play  started slow and built momentum that just disappeared in the last third. 

There was no intermission, I believe the whole thing was not much more than an hour. So I felt like she could have had more time to finish the story, if she wanted. Hot Guy used to do these plays and musicals at a nearby university, where the entire point was for the author or authors to see where the flaws were and tweak them to make a better production. Workshopping. One of the plays Hot Guy did eventually became a movie, even. I think the Commons of Pensacola would have benefited from a lot more workshopping. 

This is probably the part where a real theater critic would then specify exactly why the play didn't work as well as it could have, but I'm not a real theater critic. Obviously.