Next Fall
This play was seen in July 2010 in the Helen Hayes Theatre Midtown NYC: I heard that this play had lost its funding and had wanted to see it before it ended its run. I was lucky enough to get tickets and see it before the stage went dark. Prior to seeing this play I could not have imagined that a writer would be able to write a stage production in a series of flashbacks. But, having now seen this done, the writer did an amazing job taking you from the present day, in the waiting room of the hospital, to the past, when our main characters Patrick Heusinger, as Luke and Patrick Breen, as Adam, first met. In the hospital waiting room our semi-closeted gay man, Luke?s, two worlds collide when he is suddenly taken ill and has to go to the hospital where his homophobe parents meet his partner. Sadly the conversations between actors just did not ?flow? as it normally should, if you were talking amongst friends and family. The cast brings quite a bit of experience both on and off the screen so I don?t think that it was the actors as much as it was either the writing or the chemistry of the group. There was one gay kiss in the play which seemed real but all other scenes between the two gay partners, even the hugging scenes, seemed to be forced and lacked sincerity. The play could have taken on very controversial and current topics like: family only visitations in the hospital excluding ?partners?; right to life decisions falling to parents instead of partners and the need for health-care proxy?s; death of a ?partner? which, without a will, gives all inheritance to the parents; and the church excluding homosexuals and condemning homosexuality. But it chooses not to. All in all the play was very good with content that NEEDS TO BE TOLD. But the acting lacked any warmth. The play is worth your time 2:20 with intermission and worth the cost of admission and it certainly will give audience members plenty to talk about after the show is over but expect only mediocre acting at best, which was disappointing in a cast that brings such experience and talent to the stage.

Reviewed by OV26492745 on Wednesday, Jul 28th, 2010

Next Fall
Surprising, witty, moving, perfectly staged and acted. See it, youll be glad!

Reviewed by Trainor on Thursday, Apr 22nd, 2010