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The meta-conversation about theater how does it actually get made?
How do we consume it?
has been on many of our minds lately.
But does that tizzy actually serve a purpose?
Does something strange happen to admiration when it turns into fandom?
You couldnt writeWhich Way to the Stagewithout being a fan yourself.
If you dont know what theyre talking about, good luck and if youdo,take notes.
Theyre demonstrating the good parts of obsessive engagement: the way it heightens perception, experiences, friendships.
She is normal life set on fire!)
They return again … and again.
You thought a show about Broadway would have bright lights and tinsel?
Be grateful there arent rats.
Theyre in the game, too.
Both Jeff and Judy feel that they own un-ownable things.
Mark becomes something else to covet.
WhereStagegets a little unsteady is when it turns its attention from fandom to the art form itself.
The play that has been so keen-eyed about sentimentalizing the industry starts to sentimentalize a little towards the end.
And a lot rests on the show-me-what-youve-got moments, like Jeffs drag act, which dont deliver.
Yet as anyone who sawIf/Thencan tell you, great performances have their own logic.
Goldberg and Jenkins, both excellent individually, are frankly incredible as a duo.
Which Way to the Stageis at the Robert W. Wilson MCC Theater Space through May 22.
