Red Light Winter (!!!)

FANTASTIC - this is probably the best show I've seen all season (yeah yeah, it's been a weak season, but this is truly great). It's a new show, first staged in Chicago at Steppenwolf. Now it's come to NYC at the Barrow Street Theatre, with the original cast fully intact. It's written and directed (masterfully) by Adam Rapp.

I'm going to explain the plot now, so if you haven't seen it and are planning on it - skip this!!

ACT I - So the show starts out in Amsterdam, where a guy is sitting alone in a really awful hotel room. He takes off his belt (and because of the sexually explicit notice - I thought something would happen right away but..) and loops it into a noose. He proceeds to put it around his neck, hang it on the coat rack and tries to end his life - unsuccessfully. The minute he does this, his friend Davis walks in. Let me just say that this guy has fantastic comedic timing - both of the male leads are hilarious - but Davis is really spectacular. So he goes on and on, ranting and raving, and then introduces Christina - who we learn is a prostitute that he has brought home for Matt, the guy who's just tried to kill himself. Right - so Christina has become pretty attached to Davis - and there is much deception going on here as she admits to "making love" with him - while he won't admit it at all - and pretty much lies about it. Meanwhile, Matt finds himself drawn to Christina as she bats her eyes when he tells her about the play he is writing. She goes out of the room and Davis and Matt talk about what's about to happen. So let's jump forward - Matt and Christina have very quick, very awkward sex (thus the explicit sexual situations disclaimer) and she runs out of the door - leaving a couple of items behind, purposefully.

ACT II - set in the East Village - Matt is pining away on his computer - showing the audience how he is still in love with Christina - and there's a knock on the door - guess who? Right, Christina, now Christine, now Annie. So - they talk - she doesn't remember him at all - he's crushed but defiant as he launches into this brilliant monologue about his obsession for her (this is after she's told us she has AIDS and no money - when Matt jumps in to save the day). She's taking it all in, and Matt leaves to get food - well, who shows up? Davis. Some seriously disturbing things take place as pretends to not remember her at all. We're left with a situation in which all three of them have pretty much been crushed by the circumstances - a pretty seamless ending. There's so much I've left out of this plot summary. Adam Rapp really twists some details in the story and I don't want to give every little thing away.

All in all, the play is so well written and the laugh-out-loud moments so pervasive, that I found myself really enjoying every moment. I think it's a show that will stay with me for a very long time - the kind of subject matter that really gets in your head. I say try to go before a great review comes out from the NYT and it sells out for a while.



All right, this is Kevin finishing Lydia's post. I just wanted to put my two cents in. Also LOVED it. I was a little like, 'ugh, is this going to be cliche..' at points, but then it all worked out to be great. The writing is tremendous. It's the type of hilarious, witty, slightly pretentious dialogue floating between Ivy Leaguers jabbing at each other that I love. But it was so moving at the same time. You see these three extreme characters and how they interact. You can sort of guess what's going to happen, but you don't really know where it's going to go. It's powerful and hilarious and really plays with the idea of falling in love with people who could really care less about you. In terms of sexuality, I thought it was going to be a lot more explicit and graphic and stunning and 'edgy,' but it was like whatev. The nudity was minimal compared to "Bug" or some other shows. Also quite interesting, according to my friend, Adam Rapp apparently based the play on some real instances (at least with the first act), where he was kind of in the "Davis" situation. Pretty surreal.

Go see it.