Sometimes there is a reason something is 2-for-1.Such was the case with The Philanthropist.
When entering the American Airlines Theatre for a night of Broadway frivolities, my party of four was quite happy to join me as the tickets were cheap to begin with and two-for-one to boot. However, they were more than a bit less joyful when we left. Further, they were even less amused when they found out that my seatmate had been surreptitiously passing me M&Ms and I had been hoarding them to myself. Not only had I made this social faux pas, but when I finally was successful in secretly opening my bottle of Fuel: The 7 Hour Energy Shot (in my pocket for most of the second half of the play; I got skills...) and fake yawned to take a swig, I did not share this either, even though my guests were nodding off around me. Of course, by the time I was able to consume said bottle the play ended five minutes later, hence why I am awake now writing this musing.
But I meander....(kind of like the play).....
The Philanthropist is a play about a British English professor in the Seventies during (I guess?) a few days in his life...when things happen. If you want something deeper than that you should probably ask the playwright (or an English Professor), because that's all I got out of it.
To begin with, the characters spent far too great of time in the discussion of rhetoric, such as hyperboles and anagrams. The only time my ears perked was during a digression regarding cunnilingus and even then the subject was not dissected to my full satisfaction. The highlight of the play was when a gentleman in the audience a few rows ahead of us found something mundanely funny and chuckled so loud and boisterously that we couldn't stop our tittering for a full two minutes.
Further, I think the philanthropic thing would be for the Theatre to hand out free flasks of sherry or scotch for the audience to slowly swirl in their mouths during the play (at least it would entertain most of them). This play, like scotch, is best enjoyed after a full dinner, when one is relaxed and would rather leave the talking (and quite possibly the listening ) to someone else and quite frankly, is a bit in the bag (like the gentleman a few rows ahead of us).
Overall, it was not, how shall we say this...my cup of tea.
However, one thing I've learned from life is that the more disagreeable something is the more likely you are to encounter it. This will be the case when I accompany my tourist guests to what I advertised to them as “Ferris Bueller on Broadway” with non-refundable tickets to this play this coming Saturday. However, this time I won't worry about having that extra glass of wine at dinner and I won't forget my flask (and maybe a few more to share).
NOTE: There is no notice in the theater, but within the first ten minutes something quite violent happens that includes brain/blood splatter on the white wall behind one of the actors (you can let your mind meander). Therefore, anyone who cares not to see this, should turn their head away.
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