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It’s not for nothing that Darren Lemming, the fictional midfielder for a team called Empires, is also at the center of Richard Greenberg’s gay fantasy on national entertainment, “Take Me Out.”
Said to be “a five-instrument player with incredible grace that makes you suspect a sixth instrument,” Lemming surpasses even Derek Jeter, whom he epitomizes to some degree—in the type of versatility, determination, and arrogance: he adds to the charisma that stems from perfection. He’s a natural star for baseball and a natural irritant for drama when he decides to come out as gay.
In the best way, “take me outOpening with a beautiful revival at the Helen Hayes Theater on Monday, ” is a five-act play. (1) funny, (2) quite serious, and (3) (4) an unusually high intensity of laughter for a cerebral thread without weakening the emotion. I’m not sure if (5) counts as a tool or a lot, but “Take Me Out” gives a steered cast of roles in this Second Stage Theater production starring Jesse Williams as Lemming and Jesse Tyler Ferguson as fanboys. operator.
True, dropping a few flies along the way and throwing some crazy pitches—forgive the baseball metaphors that the game indulges in a whirlwind of transformation—makes “Take Me Out” a little confusing in some parts. It’s not the kind of work that makes much use of post-game analysis that reveals flaws in construction and logic. But in performance, now no less than 2002, when it premiered in New York at the Public Theatre.mostly enjoyable and provocative. Maybe it’s a useful remedy against the feeling of being kicked out of a necessary sport, especially for gay men.
By this I mean not baseball itself, but the study of masculinity through the lens. In “Take Me Out,” Lemming’s announcement that he is gay, unprovoked by no scandal and containing no lovers, is essentially a pretext for an investigation into masculinity. What they find in the dressing room where Empires change, shower, throw towels and argue is as hopeless and hopeful as what they find on the field.
The Lemming that connects them is a divine figure of mystery. Aside from his purely technical skills, he’s the kind of person who doesn’t “flow” from chaos as his teammate Kippy Sunderstrom (Patrick J. Adams) so pompously describes him. Lemming assumes that whatever he does will be for his own good and unlike most people who think that getting out is so important, his homosexuality will be just one of the “irrelevances” in his life, such as being handsome and bi-racial.
What he doesn’t calculate is the path for his teammates, revealing cracks in his less perfect airtight psyches as the revelation darkens his aura of perfection. Their nudity feels different to them now, so viewers are asked to think about it too. (But not the wider world; it’s the users’ phones. Yondr bags To avoid photography.) A man who wears nothing, no matter how well-built, is vulnerable by nature.
As a result, Empires, which was previously on its way to the World Series, begins to lose cohesion and soon games. Homophobia springs from the dark places of other men’s souls; Even Lemming’s best friend, Davey Battle, a religious man who plays for the opposing team in more than one way, is unaffected. And with the arrival of Shane Mungitt, a junior pitcher called up, confusion erupts in a shockingly violent move.
But “Take Me Out” isn’t just about landing that chaos on the playing field; it’s also about the uplifting of spirit in the same space in the story of business manager Mason Marzac. Marzac is the kind of gay man who feels he has no place in the straight world or even the gay community — “I’m outside of them. Probably underneath them,” he says – rejoicing when his new client, Lemming, comes out. In this act, he sees the possibility of reintegrating into the mainstream of Americanism and soon develops a frenzied interest in the game.
The fact that her newfound fandom is often a way to channel an impossible love doesn’t make it any less meaningful; this kind of glorification can indeed be an unspoken aspect of many sports crazes. Ferguson makes this feel legit with a softer, less biting approach than the Tony Award-winning brilliant Denis O’Hare does for Marzac. 2003 Broadway production. Ferguson brings out Marzac’s wound in an extraordinarily detailed comic book performance that is nonetheless filled with longing and unexpected enthusiasm.
But if Lemming and baseball pull Marzac out of his protective shell of pessimism—one of the many meanings embedded in the title’s grand-slam pun—Marzac also pulls Lemming out of his shell of distance. Oddly enough, it’s this element that feels most believable on stage, most fantastical in real life, and only partially because the locker room drama with too many obvious stretch devices and too many morons collapses slightly as the story unfolds. . A scene added late for this production between Lemming and the two cops doubles that problem.
But since Lemming and Marzac bond—not romantic, but not affectionate either—Greenberg’s ideas of juggling about integration into the ballpark and integration of the psyche fully pay off. A novice on the stage but long-time star of the television series “Grey’s Anatomy,” Williams highlights how the lure of the talented can keep them from being full of life; maybe the apparent effortlessness of his own career gives him an idea of the downside of too much convenience.
Under Scott Ellis’ confident and visually underwhelming direction, the other actors become excellent supporting actors, quickly moving between highlights and background work as members of the crew. In particular, Michael Oberholtzer as Mungitt seems to get lost in his damaged self when he’s not spewing weird biographical tidbits or hate. And Brandon J. Dirden as Battle, “Skeleton crew” is a perfectly etched performance at the other end of the spectrum, finding a sacrament in his faith that even replaces love.
In fact, it is Battle who inadvertently sets off the intrigue, telling Lemming that in order to become a full human being he must “want to be known”. Ultimately, “Take Me Out” is about the danger that challenge poses to some people – a danger that others know nothing about. Yet Greenberg shows us that it is crucial to happiness and not just for gay men, even if it brings great challenges. A game doesn’t have to be perfect to win.
take me out
At the Helen Hayes Theater in Manhattan until May 29; 2.com. Working time: 2 hours 15 minutes.
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