Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane lead an all-star cast featuring F. Murray Abraham, Stockard Channing, Megan Mullally and Micah Stock in the Broadway comedy about the comedy of Broadway: It's Only a Play. Written by four-time Tony winner Terrence McNally and directed by three-time Tony winner Jack O'Brien, this is a celebration of theatre at its best- and theatre people behaving their not-so-best.
It's opening night of Peter Austin's (Matthew Broderick) new play as he anxiously awaits to see if his show is a hit. With his career on the line, he shares his big First Night with his best friend, a television star (Nathan Lane), his fledgling producer (Megan Mullally), his erratic leading lady (Stockard Channing), his wunderkind director, an infamous drama critic (F. Murray Abraham) and a fresh-off-the-bus coat check attendant (Micah Stock in his Broadway debut).
It's alternately raucous, ridiculous and tender- reminding audiences why there's no business like show business. Thank God!
...when [McNally] writes about the theater, as he does in It's Only a Play...he knows what he's writing about. That's the great pleasure of it, and perhaps the great problem. It's the kind of show, filled with sly references and oversize personalities, that used to be called a back-stager or a love letter. But it isn't quite either. For one thing, it's more of an off-stager, set at the opening night party for a disaster-in-the-making called The Golden Egg...But having assembled a lifeboat of extreme personalities, McNally doesn't let much happen...Rather, what McNally offers, mostly in chop-chop joke format...is a comic rumination on life in the theater...If it's a love letter at all, it's a love letter to what theater has become, which is to say a horrible business filled with insane people, vindictive critics, and Tommy Tune.
In essence, this is a commercially attractive package deal for theatergoers eager to relive their memories of Lane and Broderick in 'The Producers' and indulge in what looks like a dizzying laugh fest commanded by stage pros...While act one offers plenty of silly, lightweight fun, the play essentially collapses in the self-indulgent, overly sentimental act two. At an overall length of close to three hours, one can't help but wonder why it wasn't seriously cut. Director Jack O'Brien could have done a better job coordinating the broad performances offered by the cast into a cohesive, farcical whole. Lane is relaxed and altogether terrific, and Mullally, Channing and Abraham have their moments. Less successful are Grint, who looks amateurish in his heavy makeup, and Broderick, who throws everyone else off with a labored performance.
1986 | Off-Broadway |
Off-Broadway |
2014 | Broadway |
Broadway Revival Broadway |
Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
---|---|---|---|
2015 | BroadwayWorld Awards | Best Featured Actor in a Play | Rupert Grint |
2015 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play | F. Murray Abraham |
2015 | Drama League Awards | Outstanding Revival of a Broadway or Off-Broadway Play | Terrence McNally |
2015 | Theatre World Awards | Theatre World Award | Micah Stock |
2015 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play | Micah Stock |
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