The Play's the Thing...

I've been reading a ridiculous number of plays lately.  In the winter months when it's dark and gloomy, they're the perfect thing to pick up because most are super short, and you can finish one (or two, or three...) in an afternoon.  Also if you're the type that can see everything that's happening in a book in your mind, a play is even better for you to read.  Plays set the scene for you already, so you've got a jumping off point.  All that's left is for the dream-casting to begin and away you go.

I'm not a person that actually sees a lot of plays, though.  I love musicals and see them regularly but for some reason, I never get up to NYC for specific plays, even though there are tons that I've always wanted to see - Angels in America, Laughter on the 23rd Floor, Love! Valour! Compassion! You get the general idea, I have a list - honestly, when don't I have a list?  

Anyway, one I did see fairly recently, was one that I read this week for the first time - "Boeing, Boeing." A few years ago, they revived the farce for Broadway with an unbelievable dream cast: Bradley Whitford, Mark Rylance, Gina Gershon, Mary McCormack, Katherine Hahn and Christine Baranski.  Unfortunately, Christine Baranski's understudy was on the day we went to see it, but everyone else was on the top of their game.  I've never laughed so hard in a theatre in all my life! It was most definitely in my top 5 theatre experiences of all time.  The fact we were in a small theatre about 10 feet from the stage didn't hurt either. So obviously, while reading this one particular, I couldn't help but imagine all the players I saw. 

However, when you read a play you haven't seen, you start to dream-cast.  Ok, maybe I start to dream cast.  In this case, the play - another farce full of mistaken identities and slamming doors - was "Don't Dress for Dinner." Hilariously funny and I highly recommend it!  The play revolves around 2 men and 3 women.  The women were hard to cast in my mind. Megan Hilty was definitely playing one of the women, but the other 2 were hard to peg.  The men on the other hand - one straight man, and one funny man - were simple.  You need a great comedy duo.  Nathan Lane or Matthew Broderick would have worked perfectly, however I kept seeing Brian d'Arcy James and Christian Borle.  They so would have been perfect for the roles!

So the unfortunate part of all of this, is that I'm not sitting here just waiting for the right producer to revive this amazing play, just so I can hope they'll cast my vision.  It's a bit of an issue.  But all of this is beside the point.  The whole point of this was to say - Plays are awesome and you should totally read them : )