Second Stage is currently offering a fascinating dual perspective on the gay experience in America. Off-Broadway, To My Girls is a silly sitcom of trivia stereotypes, but on Broadway, at the the company’s Hayes Theater, there is a powerful revival of Richard Greenberg’s 2002 Take Me Out, which focuses on a major league baseball player coming out of the closet. It’s a complex complex chronicle of our attitude towards gayness, sports, masculinity, and even religion.
Twenty years have passed since Take Me Out premiered at London’s Donmar Warehouse, played the Public Theater Off-Broadway, and then transferred to Broadway where it won the Tony Award for Best Play. But the issues it raises are still sadly relevant. In the two decades since its debut, there have been no openly gay major sports figures, and though acceptance is on the rise, there are still homophobic voices raised and laws passed to stop gay topics from being raised in the classroom. Legislation has also been adopted in many states to prevent trans athletes from participating in school sports.
The fictional Darren Lemming of Take Me Out remains an outlier. When the stellar player comes out, it causes discomfort in the locker room and questions about masculinity and tolerance among the general public. The public viewpoint and that of the gay community is provided by Darren’s money manager, Mason Marzac. When racist pitching phenom Shane Mungitt joins the team, the discomfort erupts into a firestorm as a deadly series of events disrupts the unflappable Darren’s world.
Scott Ellis’s muscular production maintains Greenberg’s sharp take on attitudes about manliness and the vital role of baseball in American life. Mason’s monologues on his growing love of the game are beautifully delivered by Jesse Tyler Ferguson. Jesse Williams brilliantly delineates Darren’s journey from smug self-assurance to self-doubt. You can see the cracks begin to appear in his seemingly invulnerable facade.
Michael Oberholtzer is intense and believable as the hillbilly pitcher, not just settling for a cliche of ignorance. Patrick J. Adams ably serves at the narrator Kippy, Darren’s intellectual teammate. Brandon J. Dirden delivers a layered performance as Davey, Darren’s religious friend and baseball rival. An all-star team for a home run of a play.
