A Dangerous Game Played By All-Star Cast

Oh, the games people play, at least in plays Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? The boys are in the band And now, Shit. meet. a fan.the world premiere of Robert O'Hara's black comedy opens tonight Off-Broadway with a brilliant, hard-working cast of acclaimed actors including, for the uninitiated, Garrett Dillahunt, Neil Patrick Harris, Jane Krakowski and Debra Messing.

These names — along with Constance Wu, Trammell Tillman, and Michael Oberholzer — can't help but raise expectations that are largely unmet, which is disappointing. In other words, the Shit has a close connection with the fan.

Inspired by the 2016 Italian film by Paolo Genovese Perfect strangerswith some significant changes in personality, Shit. meet. a fan. The film takes place in real time when a group of old friends decide to play a dangerous game: They place their phones on the table, and each agrees – some more reluctantly than others, all fueled by booze and some by cocaine – to let the others read or hear every message on their phone. Party orbit. Secrets will be revealed, true (and bitter) feelings will emerge, and the bonds of marriage and friendship will be strained to (and perhaps beyond) the breaking point.

Given MCC Theater's gorgeous production featuring a sumptuous, beautifully lit New York City loft set (designed by the ever-reliable Clint Ramos) that truly amounts to real estate porn, Shit. meet. a fan. He brings together a group of old friends—most of them wealthy, almost all of them white, and all of them with secrets—for a lunar eclipse viewing party that, more importantly, will also serve as an introduction to a new arrival: Logan (Tillman), the only black friend. He brings his new girlfriend to meet the family, as it were.

That the girlfriend doesn't show up, and Logan seems a bit nervous about it, is a sort of hint O'Hara is offering (Slave play) delights. Some evidence-dropping pays off, some doesn't.

The gathering takes place in the massive, luxuriously appointed Brooklyn apartment (the script accurately describes it as “Feng Shui Ed within an inch of her life”) of Rodger (Harris) and Eve (Krakowski), an attractive, professional couple. (He's a plastic surgeon and she's a therapist.) Although they bicker over their 17-year-old daughter, Sam (Genevieve Hanelius) — the mother is particularly concerned and critical of the teenager's new sexual awakening — the couple doesn't seem particularly George and Martha, at least not at first.

The group of friends about to arrive consists of Rodger's old brothers, their wives, and their girlfriends. (It's best not to dwell on the 20-year age span between the actors – there will be many lice to be picked over the next 105 minutes.)

Characters: Brett (Dillahunt), a lawyer about to face charges in a mysterious and fatal car accident; Claire (Messing), Brett's alcoholic and deeply disaffected wife; Frank (Oberholzer), the handsome and irascible paramedic and brother of the brothers; Hannah (Wu), Frank's new bride and the guest least committed to the group's long-standing dynamics; and Tillman Logan, a white middle school coach whose race apparently wasn't an issue with his old friends.

Anyone who has seen playwright and director O'Hara Slave play He will suspect that superficial racial harmony hides some serious oppression and outright dishonesty. Telephone Game – created by the passive-aggressive Eve (the equivalent of this play The boys are in the bandParty host Michael) will no doubt explore whatever bigotry, racial and otherwise, has been lurking in this group for years.

while Shit. meet. a fan. It certainly has a fair enough share of laughs to at least somewhat offset the ugliness (including, but not limited to, an unreliable barrage of homophobic slurs). Without giving away too many spoilers, the secrets that rear their heads during the evening include extramarital affairs, an undisclosed pregnancy, a plot to put an old lady in a nursing home, a lowly lover, a talking vagina app video, and a video. An idol or two.

It's anyone's guess why the parties are still in the game while these skeletons come dancing out of the closet, even though they're late. Deus Ex Machine The twist serves to clarify matters (don't watch Genovese's film if you want to be surprised). Some loose threads remain loose though. How can an ambulance driver and a school coach afford expensive ski vacations? What's the deal with a quick glimpse of her S&M tendencies that's never mentioned again?

O'Hara's somewhat perfunctory direction does his play no favors, though he does get great performances from his talented cast. Messing, in particular, signs up for a failed comedy show, and Oberholzer — a late replacement for Billy Magnussen, who dropped out for health reasons — will be remembered by anyone who saw his Tony-nominated performance in Get me out How strong an actor he is. Wu subtly demonstrates how her Asian character likely has more in common with Logan than the white majority gathered here, and Harris and Krakowski effectively tap into their sitcom roots while adding some sinister undercurrents — a description that pretty much applies, when we think about In it to the play itself.

address: Shit. meet. a fan.
place: Off-Broadway MCC Theater
Written and directed by: Robert O'Hara
ejaculate: Garrett Dillahunt, Genevieve Hanelius, Neil Patrick Harris, Jane Krakowski, Debra Messing, Michael Oberholzer, Trammell Tillman, Constance Wu
Operating time: 1 hour 45 minutes (no break)