In recent years, the romantic comedy genre has had several hits on screen, but few on stage. The musical version of “Pretty Woman” and the original First Date had short runs. Defying this trend, Douglas Lyons’s non-musical Table 17 at MCC Theater’s Off-Broadway space is currently packing in audiences and might make the leap to a commercial run. Lyons’s only previous Broadway playwriting credit is the sitcom-ish Chicken and Biscuits, but Table 17 is a deeper and more satisfying dish.
The premise sounds a bit too close to numerous TV tropes. Exes Jada and Dallas are getting together two years after their painful breakup. Is their dinner rendezvous a date? A civil reunion? A settling of old scores? Thanks to Lyons’ sensitive insight and the layered acting of Tony winner Kara Young and Biko Eisen-Martin as Jada and Dallas and Michael Rishawn as all the other male characters, this three-hander goes far beyond the expected easy yucks and delivers a moving and truly funny, not just silly, map of the rocky road to love.
Before the play starts, the audience gets the idea they are in for something different. A portion of the attendees are seated at tables in Jason Sherwood’s clever set, creating both a swank eatery and a theater setting. The program includes a menu which features a note from the author to feel free to speak up and offer advice to the characters when it is solicited. After the lights dim, Young as Jada is discovered modeling an outlandish outfit for her encounter with Dallas (Devario D. Simmons created the stylish and fun costumes.) She asks the audience for their thoughts on her attire and if it’s the right look for meeting an ex-lover. This ploy could come across as a gimmick, but Lyons wisely uses it sparingly so that it draws the theatergoers into the story without overwhelming it. He mixes direct address to the audience with dialogue scenes skillfully, sometimes switching from one to there in seconds to comic effect. Zhailon Levingston’s rapid-fire direction and Ben Stanton’s quick-change lighting combine for dazzling hilarity.
Lyons takes his basic set-up—the preparations for the meeting, then the “date” itself at a popular restaurant and a final resolution to the relationship—and manages to stretch this potentially thin outing to 90 minutes without appearing to pad his storyline. There are numerous flashbacks to Jada and Dallas’s first meeting, moving in together and bumps in their relationship as Dallas pursues a music producing career while working as an auto mechanic and Jada feels neglected. She eventually turns to her attractive co-worker Eric for solace which precipitates the break-up. By the play’s ambiguous conclusion (no spoilers here), we feel we know these two. There are plenty of sharp laughs along the way, but they never dominate the proceedings.
All three performers are exemplary in juggling the lighter and darker moments. Young again demonstrates her prodigious comic flair which she exhibited with such élan in last season’s revival of Purlie Victorious. Her Jada does not take any nonsense, but she has a hard time when called on her own. Young captures her brittle wit as well as her vulnerability. Eisen-Martin holds his own, conveying the conflicted emotions of Dallas, simultaneously pulling back from and being drawn to Jada. Rishawn completes the ensemble perfectly, displaying versatility as attitude-dripping host-server River, Jada’s amorous colleague Eric, and a macho bartender. It’s important to note that Rishawn could have made the gay River into a swishy stereotype, but Lyons didn’t write him that way and Rishawn avoids playing him like that. He has as many romantic needs as the principals. In this and his savvy depiction of Jada and Dallas’s tumultuous relationship, Lyons and company go beyond rom-com to a believable portrait of modern dating and connections. The playwright, director, and cast have cooked up a filling and tasty meal.
