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Its all youve ever wanted all the years of your privileged yet unremarkable life!
Women always feel they are underqualified.
If you find (e)All of the abovehilarious, then get yourself to New York Theatre Workshop.
And sometimes it is.
But often, underneathMerry Mes fizz, theres an off-putting tartness.
With such a taste in our mouths, the laughter shrinks in our throats.
There will be a cornucopia of jokes along the lines of I am straight!
Let me internalize my self-hatred so it can manifest in secret taboo sexual behavior.
But before any and all of the above, the angel has to set the scene.
Welcome to our play,Merry Me, says Wilson at the top of the show.
Written by Hansol; directed by Leigh.
David is Aga Memnon, Cindy is Mrs. Memnon … She lists the cast.
As with his classical namesake, a higher power has hindered him on his way to war.
In the absence of war, sexy-times reign.
No merries for Shane.
Merriesis the plays twee slang for orgasms, so the title is Shane Hornes quest.
But Jung doesnt just borrow the plot herself; she has her protagonist do it consciously.
Thats a good line, and the thunder and lightning that crash after it make it even better.
But then we get a dose of dutiful realism.
Shane, says Jess soberly, gay conversion therapy is not a real thing.
Its a dangerous, dishonest, and violent practice discredited by modern medicine …
I could lose my medical license.
The crowd responds with a profound, agreeing Mmm.
Moments like this pop up frequently inMerry Me.
Its not that they arent hard facts of course they are; thats the point.
That hardness is supposed to bring us up short, a kind of extra-serious but seriously, folks.
Yet the vibe in the room is too knowing for us to receive anything as a real gut punch.
But self-consciousness, both political and theatrical, isMerry Mes idiom.
Shane Horne knows shes in a play and also making one.
That source isTwelfth Night.
Instead, its the one in disguise who here gets to say, breathlessly, What would you do?
Villamil and Jouley drop into themselves, funny and vulnerable, hungry and tender.
I will be king, sings Horne, this time wonderfully oblivious of whom shes stealing from.
And you … you will be king, also.
The B plot is cribbed from Kushner and is the most theater-insider-baseball of the three.
Oh, interesting, look at that, she ponders.
The extra space isnt really doing anything for my merries or my rage.
Funny how that is revealed to us now.
A massive perspective shift a hard, humane one is contained in this line.
Merry Meis at New York Theatre Workshop through November 19.
