Entertaining Mr. Sloane

I've been pretty happy with the selection of shows at the Laura Pels. I liked Mr. Marmalade, and I liked Entertaining Mr. Sloane. Even if they're not great, I like their edginess (e.g. The Paris Letter), and they move at a nice pace for plays. The Laura Pels itself, however, is a little annoying. They start their shows at 7:30, which means everyone gets their half an hour late, thinking they start at 8:00. And since Roundabout does this General Admission thing, people get booted from their seats at intermission, and it's annoying. But I digress. Back to the show.

Entertaining Mr. Sloane was a very entertaining evening of entertainment, I thought. The plot basically revolves around a brother and a sister who both fall for this young male, who has some prior connection to their lives via their father. It's pretty fun. It's basically a show that plays on the hormones of two undersexed (or oversexed? I'm never sure how to use those words. I basically mean: does not get enough sex, although has very high sex drive) old people. Which is a pretty great concept. The cast was great. Jan Maxwell was hilarious (if you recall, she was the one that made Chitty Chitty Bang Bang watchable. Or, if you are normal and chose to skip Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, she was pretty much the best thing about it). Alec Baldwin was great, I think in large part because his character kept reminding me of him as the scoutmaster in that SNL Cabin Boy skit with Adam Sandler, which I think is one of his finest, most memorable screen roles to date. Only Chris Carmack, who played Mr. Sloane, wasn't as aptly able to hold my attention during his monologues, but I think he definitely looked the part.

So the play was pretty fun. It moved really fast, on top of the fact that it was pretty short, so it was a nice little jaunt to the theater. I think I would have liked a bit more character development on all counts, but in general I wouldn't say the show was heinously lacking in anything in particular. Except for the set. I wasn't a huge fan. It didn't use the space well. Okay, yeah, so I'd say this is a pretty recommendable show, better than a lot of the stuff that's out there now.