A Marriage of Convenience

The given title is one thing. The actual experience is more like an evening of torture. I had high hopes for a play with the subject matter concerning a sophisticated good looking gay man looking to run for political office but having to compromise and marry a woman (who also happens to be a lesbian) to be "accepted" win the post. I'm not saying I had to run away laughing much as I did after another politically charged play this winter, November. However, my hopes of an entertaining evening were indeed dashed quite early on.

Turns out Normal Beim wrote and directed a train wreck on 43rd Street. The actors that he (or someone else) cast all had those mildly affected tones in their voices - - you know the ones who all seemed to learn English in a finishing school in the south of France and forgot how to speak normally? The lead character, Senator Gary Vincent, played by Todd Reichart seemed to be the worst offender (the others were right behind him). Every sentence seemed to be overly dramatic, overly emotional, accusatory, defensive, or simply outright pompous.

The show proceeded to go beyond the concept of the "marriage of convenience" in act one into the world of political maneuvering and took a turn into the toilet with the lead character Senator Vincent by the end of act two. Again, disappointing. Perhaps that was Mr. Beim's intention, and I cannot fault him for writing it - but I think Mr. Beim had many options in front of him when crafting his ideas and simply made the wrong choices in the characters' development along the way. He pays the price with the results he achieved. Thumbs down.