A coming-of-age tale of a teenage boy in the theater. It's a popular concept, and when the teenage boy later becomes a successful playwright, Douglas Carter Beane, attention must be paid. And when Patti LuPone is cast in a flamboyant thunderbolt of a role, attention is definitely paid.
In Shows For Days, a semi-autobiographical memoir, the one-liners are zingy, LuPone flounces about in gold lamé, and engaging Michael Urie plays Car, the 14-year-old, while waiting for a bus, stops in a community theater and finds here is his métier. “This story isn’t the truth." he says. "It’s the only way I know how to tell the truth, which is through fiction.”
In 1973, the Pennsylvania town of Reading is downtrodden and its community theater, the Prometheus, is threatened by a collapsed economy and political chicanery. LuPone, using every swish of sparkling caftan, plays Irene, artistic director of the theater troupe. She sees Car and decides to put him on stage that night in a Philip Barry play. Dedicated to saving the Prometheus and making it thrive, Irene proves that she is not above getting down into the mud herself. A cast, a crisis, a splashy star-turn -- how can you lose?
The problem, however, lies with the play. Beane has a sharp touch for spiky dialogue and fascinating characters and indeed, the dialogue is sharp and some characters multi-layered. However, the humorous scenes, and there are many, wrestle against the problems of the theater's survival and the depth of the political angles. The role of community theater is showing wear-and-tear but not enough of this theme is examined. Directed by Jerry Zaks, the pace feels uneven as it leans towards the jokes, and the narrative ends up sketchy with pauses for laughs and some clumsy love angles.
Obviously Beane remembers that period in his life with real affection. Car serves as the likeable boy and also as a charming narrator, a reminder to focus on these people who played such a vital part in his life. This is a playground for LuPone, who can be over-the-top hilarious and down-in-the depths heartbreaking without breaking a sweat. Watching her on stage is always exciting. As charismatic Irene, she is based on Beane's own early mentor, Jane Simmon Miller. Her advice to her company, “Open strong, close solid, and they’ll forgive you for everything in between! Sell it!”
Her committed company includes the lead actor, Clive, played with camp by Lance Coadie Williams, Maria (Zoë Winters), a dithery ingénue, and self-described "bull dike," Sid (Dale Soules) portraying the stage manager with wisecracks and empathy. Damien (Jordan Dean) is a pretty-boy romantic lead who looks especially pretty to the much older and married director, Irene. He also looks pretty good to Car, who now admits he is gay and falls deeply in love with Damien. Soules, like LuPone and Urie, is a standout by showing the heart of her character as well as her wit.
Like William Ivey Long's spot-on costumes, set designer John Lee Beatty's theatrical paraphernalia is packed at the rear of a shabby spare stage. Roll-on/roll-off props leave room for a rundown community theater and its hard-working company to work the space. Still, despite these efforts, Shows For Days comes out strong on style but iffy on substance.
