The New Century: Paul Rudnick politically incorrect play is a laugh filled evening
Oscar E Moore from the rear mezzanine for Talk Entertainment.com
There is no denying the fact that Paul Rudnick is a very funny writer. Or that he supports gay rights. One-liners are shot out of his characters mouths like a .50 caliber M2 machine gun in quick succession at a rate of several hundred jokes per evening. I haven’t counted, but it seems that’s a good estimation.
If you don’t believe me, get yourself to The Mitzi E. Newhouse theatre at Lincoln Center where Mr. Rudnick’s, THE NEW CENTURY, is now being performed by an expert cast under the expert direction of Nicholas Martin. It’s a laugh filled evening. But be forewarned. It is hardly politically correct. And I adore Mr. Rudnick for his bravado and bravery in bringing up such topics as sexual bondage, multi nationality trans gendered marriage, scatology, Nellie queens, terrorism, aids, bad taste, the famous Chinese Siamese twins, “devoted companion” read gigolo and last but not least full frontal and rear gratuitous nudity. All done with tongue firmly placed in cheek. You decide which one.
Impeccably dressed and coifed, with impeccable comic timing Linda Lavin as Helene Nadler from Massapequa Long Island starts us off with PRIDE AND JOY. She’s got three children. All gay. Various aspects of gay. And she is the all loving, all forgiving, all amazing mother of them all – of all time. This performance is stellar and I wonder if another actress could get away with some of the things that Mr. Rudnick has her saying and doing. It really gets edgy and over the top, but somehow Linda Lavin manages to keep even the most shocking of subjects, tasteful and light. And, without doubt, extremely amusing.
In MR. CHARLES, CURRENTLY OF PALM BEACH we meet Mr. Charles (Peter Bartlett) – a very fey relic of old gay culture, who has a show (Too Gay!) on public access television in Florida. It is here that we meet Shane – his devoted companion (wonderfully played by Mike Doyle) who has a gorgeous body and is required to prance around in his birthday suit much to the delight of the audience. Mr. Charles answers letters much in the style of Dame Edna – without Dame Edna’s bite. One of his goals is to eradicate bad taste the other to keep Shane safely under his sheets. His receptionist, Joann Miderry (Christy Pusz) has a baby boy that Mr. Charles passes a spell over, hoping that the little boy will grow up to be just as colorful as he is.
CRAFTY, stars the wonderfully comic and touching Jayne Houdy Shell as Barbara Ellen Diggs – a crafts person from Decatur, Illinois who is showing off her wares - which includes a crocheted tuxedo cover for her toaster and hand made sock puppets to cheer up kids in the hospital (she hangs them on the IV) all the while slowing baring her soul and torture over the loss of her son Hank, who died of aids in a New York Hospital. Mr. Rudnick can have you hysterical one minute and then bring you down to the harsh realties of gay life the next and then take you someplace else completely unexpected. That is his joyous gift to us all.
In the final play, THE NEW CENTURY – all of the characters we have met previously converge in the maternity ward in a Manhattan hospital. This is an extremely clever theatrical device that works wonders at pulling all of these people from various parts of the country and with completely different backgrounds together. The one thing that they all have in common is dealing with homosexuality on many different levels with the remarkable humor and sarcastic wit of Paul Rudnick supplying their dialogue.
But beneath his humor there is a seriousness. Frustrated and impatient over the lack of understanding and acceptance of those who are gay, Paul Rudnick has his characters deal with these problems in a way that makes us all laugh. And think. Thank goodness Lincoln Center understands and has produced this provocative and outrageously amusing evening of theatre.
04-15-08
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