I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: October 15, 2014] The Understudy

I feel like we haven’t been attending as much live theater this year (this year was more about concerts), but I was happy that McCarter was showing this comedy (they just showed Antony & Cleopatra which I just was never quite in the mood for).  I got good seats and off we went.

I didn’t realize this was a preview performance (and what exactly that means I’m not sure–we saw a preview performance of Spamalot on Broadway and it was wonderful).  With our programs was a survey of things we liked/didn’t like or suggestions we might have about the show.  I though the show was wonderful and wouldn’t change anything.

The premise of the play is fantastic, especially if you like plays about the theater and acting.  The story is that one of the lead actors and his understudy are going to have a rehearsal of their upcoming play.  There are only three characters: the lead, the understudy and the stage manager.  Any behind the scenes type of story is bound to be funny, and so this was.  But what elevated this story to levels beyond a simple behind the scenes comedy was that the play the the actors are rehearsing for is a recently uncovered play written by Franz Kafka called The Man Who Disappeared.

The play is looking to be a huge success (Broadway loves Kafka!) especially since it stars two movie stars (there’s jokes about movie stars being on Broadway).  The main lead of the Kafka play is never seen, but we learn that he makes $20 million per picture.  The second lead is Jake–his recent film made $68 million in the first weekend and he is considered a major draw.  The understudy is Harry, a down on his luck artiste who is really happy to just get paid, even if he will likely never go on.  The third character is Roxanne.  She is the stage manager and she has a very compelling back story that is slowly revealed.

The fourth “character” is Laura. We never see Laura, but she is in charge of the lights and set during this rehearsal.  She is apparently high and is constantly causing trouble–missing light cues, bringing down incorrect sets.  For a nonexistent person, she is a highlight of the show.Okay, but so what is this all about.  Well, the show opens with Harry (played by Adam Green, about whom more shortly).  He comes out on stage and talks to us (he’s the only one who talks directly to us).  He talks about being the Understudy to Jake.  In fact, he recently saw the movie that Jake made and thought it was terrible–a stupid thriller with no artistic merit.  He’s especially bitter because he tried out for the movie and didn’t get a part.

When Jake enters the scene (frightening off Harry) we hear him talk to his agent about this play and his upcoming movie deal–he is on the verge of breaking big, and this play should help that.  Roxanne comes in (she is loud and blustery, a woman in command of everything around her) and wants to get things moving.  But when she sees Harry (whose name is something else in the casting call–long story), she freaks out.  Because in fact, they knew each other many years ago and they clearly have a history together.  This adds terrific dramatic tension.

So the play is basically the two actors running lines.  Harry has a lot of ideas about how things should be done (pretty good ideas, actually).  Of course, Roxanne wants nothing to do with his ideas.  He doesn’t seem to realize that a) he is a lowly understudy b) the stars call the shots and c) he will never go on–even if one of the stars drops out, they will find another star because no one wants to see him in the play.  The unfairness is really palpable.

And that’s where Kafka comes in.  I admit that I don’t know all that much Kafka (I keep meaning to read his novels but have only read Metamorphosis).  Although I do know the names of his works and the basic premises of them.  So I’m not sure if the “found” play is actual quotes from Kafka’s books (there is a detective named K, there is a castle) or if it just riffs on Kafka’s works.  Of course, since it is a Broadway play, Kafka’s play contains a lot of sight gags and a dance number, but the themes are pure Kafka.

And what Theresa Rebeck has done is created a situation of hopelessness for The Understudy which mirrors the characters in Kafka’s play (there is even some repeated dialogue).  And so it is dark but funny but dark and all in all, kind of depressing.  But funny.  It’s very well written and was very well acted.

The main character, Adam Green, was in the Figaro plays–the last thing we saw at McCarter.  And he was fantastic in this was well. He does comedy, he can really pull out the drama, and he’s excellent at talking to the audience (there was one moment when I wasn’t sure if he was actually breaking up from laughing or if it was acting-laughing).  In fact one of the hardest things to know when watching a play within a play is if the mistakes are genuine or part of the “play.”

Speaking of part of the play, Roxane’s “location” was in the fifth row.  She had a stage manager table and light in the row and she spent much of her time there.  As Roxanne, Danielle Skraastad was great.  She begins as a kind of unpleasant character and morphs into a sympathetic person, dealing with so many adults who need their hands held.  And finally, JD Taylor as Jake was also great.  He is initially portrayed as a stupid actor who can only shout “Get in the truck!” but as the play progresses we see that he actually understands the Kafka better than Harry the artiste.  And when he and Harry run lines in the Kafka play, they really bring the drama–so that when one of them breaks character, you really feel the tension drain away.

And the 4th character of Laura was great–the lights sound and effects are really fantastic in their failures.

I enjoyed this play very much.  It not only made me laugh a lot, it also made me want to read Kafka, and maybe even dance at the hopelessness of it all.