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Because right now,Garyis still a creature of potential.
And it feels like some of these things, some of the time.
Gary, given a name by Mac, has been rescued from a deadly cameo inTitus Andronicus.
There, as an anonymous clown, he was arbitrarily sentenced to death.
After the kind of bloody coup that ends the story ofTitus, somebody has to clean up the dead.
Now, armed with pail and mop, that somebody is Gary.
Best first day on the job that ever was!
Ya think this is me first massacre?
irascible, twitchy-eyed Janice growls at her new workplace associate.
Ya think I sad around idle on the Ides of March?
he finally explodes at Janice.
Gary dreams of becoming a Fool a clown with ambition!
and over the course of the play develops into an artist-figure not unlike Mac himself.
Hed rather make theater with the corpses than clean them up.
Thats plenty to chew on, so why doesntGaryfeel more satisfying?
Crucially, its comedy isnt always expertly calibrated, and its arguments often feel padded and repetitive.
Before Carol shows up, Gary and Janice spend a long time simply butting heads.
One thinks X, the other thinks Y, and thats about all there is to that.
Nielsen and Lane are both superb performers, but theres something missing in their interaction.
Unlikely as it may seem, Lane may not be the actor Macs play actually wants driving it.
Its not his fault its his nature.
Lane can easily summon up Garys ebullience and intellectual spark, but then, everything he does feels easy.
It wants a rebel.
It wants, like its hero, to attack complacency with creativity and irreverence, honesty and joy.
Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicusis at the Booth Theatre.
