A Very Common Procedure

A Very Common Procedure is a new play that opens tomorrow from MCC, running at the Lucille Lortel theatre. I have to admit, I didn't have terribly high expectations walking in to the theatre - but I walked away thinking this was a really solid play, which made me think about a lot of things I haven't really considered before.

Essentially the show is desribed as "a husband, his wife, and her doctor take a crash course in the workings of the human heart. Carolyn Goldenhersch begins an extra-marital affair with Dr. Anil Patel that takes them from Indian restaurants in Queens to Jewish delis on the Lower East Side."

Well, reading that it doesn't sound terribly interesting - but add in the fact that Carolyn and Anil met in a hospital after he had just performed unsuccessful heart surgery on their infant, it throws the show into a whole new direction. The climax of the story (as the three characters all finally come together and confront each other) is really powerful, and I felt quite anxious as I was watching it - a feeling I hadn't gotten in a while. Despite being incredibly sad at moments the show is also quite funny - laugh out loud funny. The men, Amir Arison as Dr. Anil Patel, and Stephen Kunken as Mr. Goldenhersch, are fantastic and both very comfortable with their characters. Lynn Collins as Carolyn is a bit less comfortable - partly due to her terrible wardrobe (really, whose idea was it to put this woman in a low-cut black dress, black stockings, and ugg-like boots?...see photo). As the show progresses, she grew on me - but I still preferred the two guys.

All in all though, a good solid play - something that doesn't happen all that often in theatre. I'll be anxious to see what the reviews say.

(photo - Sara Krulwich, NYT)