Midnight at the Never Get
Wow. It would be notable, praiseworthy, amazing, etc. if Mark Sonnenblick’s musical did nothing more than conjure up a collection of original songs that might believably have shown up in — well, if not the Great American Songbook, then at least the Good American Songbook, and perhaps more importantly, the Gay American Songbook — and then give them a plausible, meaningful setting: an underground ‘60s NYC gay bar, the only place in town that will host a retro show devoted to camp-free romance between a piano player and his manteuse/muse. See, the piano player has this idea that the way for gays to integrate with polite society is to be polite, to make them want to listen to you. Hence his attachment to the sweet songs of yesteryear, and his horror at the angry homos in the streets.
And that brings us to Sonnenblick’s second achievement: making those songs tell the history of a decidedly complicated love affair. Trevor, our singing narrator, informs us excitedly at the outset that the piano player has just died; maybe that helps explain why the set looks way too pretty (and the band sounds way too good) for a grotty back room. He is a man who right away tells us that he is “at the mercy of love” — always a dangerous position to be in, moreso when your love is socially problematic. And as the show shifts almost imperceptibly from to giddy to grim, we learn just how dangerous. Lead Bryan Banville seems to age before our eyes as the political insists with increasing force on becoming the personal, and vice versa. And while the ending first struck me as simple and false, a little reflection suggested it might be as complicated as what came before.
When
Ongoing until Sunday, November 10, 2024
Hours
| Sundays, 2pm |
| Thursdays, 7pm |
| Fridays, 8pm |
| Saturdays, 8pm |