Second Stage is currently offering a fascinating dual perspective on the gay experience in America. Broadway has a powerful revival of Richard Greenberg’s Take Me Out, while off-Broadway, at the Tony Kiser Theater, a totally different view of the gay scene is presented with J.C. Lee’s To My Girls, a comedy about a group of friends sharing a Palms Springs AirBnB after the devastating COVID crisis and sexual betrayal. The former play is a complex chronicle of our attitude towards gayness, sports, masculinity, and even religion. The latter is a silly sitcom about trivial stereotypes. In fact, To My Girls has all the depth of an Instagram post.
J.C. Lee’s basic plot is familiar from similar iterations such as Mart Crowley’s The Boys in the Band and Terrence McNally’s Love! Valour! Compassion! A group of gay friends gather for a weekend celebration and to trade gossip, quips, and bitchy insults as they wrestle with the difficult questions of body image, promiscuity, wokeness, and which Britney Spears album is the greatest.
Curtis (seductive and self-pitying Jay Armstrong Johnson) is worried that he’s losing his looks as he approaches 40. Castor (funny Maulik Pancholy) masks his inferiority complex with non-stop queen-y gags as he pines for Curtis. Leo (solid Britton Smith) deals with low self-esteem by living his life on social media. Pick-up Omar (attractive and intelligent Noah J. Ricketts) romps in his underwear, providing eye candy and a source of conflict among the friends. Host Bernie (amusing Bryan Batt) who is a Trump supporter drops by to provide a different perspective. Jeff (a nice cameo by Carman Lacivita) pops in near the final curtain for a last-minute plot complication.
Director Stephen Brackett and the cast gamely attempt to inject subtext and pacing into Lee’s shallow script, but the characters all talk as if they were reading magazine articles out loud, and their characterizations don’t go beyond stereotyping. There are some funny moments here and there, but even the ridiculous drag dance the housemates put on for a goof fails to raise more than a mild smile. Arnulfo Maldonando’s set is gorgeous, though.
