I'll take a Bobbie who can't sing over a Bobbie who can't act, and I think Lenk can do the first fine and the second wonderfully. She plays it frightened, on the verge of an irreversible loss of self, but not quite there yet, which I think works better with Furth's zany (and often shallow) script than the dirgelike Doyle revival where Raul Esparza was basically walking around the stage shaking a big bottle of barbiturates. The juxtaposition of nightmare visuals (harkening back better than any of the other revivals I've seen to Aronson's original kaleidoscopic set), sitcom comedy, and the gradual slide into a sort of Cassavetes-esque breakdown.
It's part of why, up until now, my favorite revival was the NPH version, which was underrehearsed and a little too light but was also the first version I've seen where you really understand the final scene. I also really liked the switch here, where instead of Joanne suggesting she'll take care of Bobby as a kind of kept man, Joanne suggests Larry will take care of her as a kept woman, and it's just a beautifully nasty jolt that underlines the fury of Ladies Who Lunch. You can't really go alone, certainly not in this economy.
Anyways, I think this revival is a gem, and as A Gay it's really fun to see a version where I really get (cough) why she would fool around with the three lunkheads.
edit: also, Bobbie coming through the little tiny door to her little tiny apartment right before the last scene has entered my brain library as an iconic Broadway image.
Updated On: 12/10/21 at 06:45 PM
