A brief note about the world premiere of
Martin Sherman's play,
Gently Down the Stream, directed by
Sean Mathias, and starring Harvey Fierstein, Gabriel Ebert, and Christopher Sears:
Gently Down the Stream brings us yet another history of the gays. I know that sounds dismissive and insensitive; I mean to be dismissive and insensitive toward the play, not the subject matter. As the play began, and Ebert's Rufus asked Fierstein's Beau questions about his past, I thought it was just DJ Exposition, but then Beau proceeded to directly addressed the audience (ostensibly in a testimonial), and the play turned into a prolonged history lesson. What was it all for? Apparently the purpose of slogging through the first 90 minutes of the 100–minute play was to get to the ending: row, row, row your boat gently down the stream / [sometimes not so] merrily you get to a point where you realize your life's dreams. Frankly, I found it trite, and like a poor adaptation of
The Heidi Chronicles—with no urgency. If you like
Harvey Fierstein (
Casa Valentina), then you'll like his performance and, perhaps, you'll find the content engaging. If not, he's just a drone, a bad vessel for the message. He's playing himself, it seems, whereas his scene partner,
Gabriel Ebert (
Matilda,
Preludes) is playing a dynamic character. (
Christopher Sears's Harry serves a function, and is more of a caricature than a character.)
Gently Down the Stream is a boring history lecture masquerading as a play.
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