''After the Night and the Music'' is a one-act play in three parts, written by
Elaine May
Elaine Iva May (née Berlin; born April 21, 1932) is an American comedian, filmmaker, playwright, and actress. She has received numerous awards including an Oscar, a BAFTA, a Grammy, and a Tony. She made her initial impact in the 1950s with her ...
. It opened in 2005. May derived the name of the play from the
Howard Dietz song "You and the Night and the Music".
Plot
The aptly-titled ''Curtain Raiser'' is set in the bar of a dance hall where a grim woman and an
overweight
Being overweight or fat is having more body fat than is optimally healthy. Being overweight is especially common where food supplies are plentiful and lifestyles are sedentary.
, excess weight reached epidemic proportions globally, with mo ...
former dance instructor connect. The grim woman attempts to deflect any advances by the man, telling him that when dancing she can only lead. In response, he teaches her how to improve her technique as she leads.
''Giving Up Smoking'' introduces us to Joanne, a lonely, middle-aged woman waiting to hear from Mel, her date for that evening. We are also introduced to Joanne's best friend Sherman, a lonely, middle-aged
gay man waiting to hear from potential new boyfriend Gavin and Sherman's
cancer-ridden but brightly optimistic mother Kathleen. One further introduction includes the guitar-strumming Mel, whose policy is to dump a woman before she becomes emotionally demanding.
The four characters discuss hopes and dreams, reminiscing about happier days in monologues that each character delivers from a separate area of the stage.
In ''Swing Time'', Mitzi and her husband Darryl are preparing for the imminent arrival of old friends Gail and Ron. The nature of the evening is revealed when highly-strung Mitzi bemoans the fact her bra and panties don't match. The two couples are slowly easing themselves into the intended purpose of the evening when the phone rings and Mitzi refers to "the private line". Her friends' indignation at not being given the number, and Mitzi's increasingly complicated reasons why they weren't given said number, disrupt the evening's plans in May's typically comic fashion.
Production
After 39 previews, the
Manhattan Theatre Club production, directed by
Daniel Sullivan and
choreographed
Choreography is the art or practice of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which motion or form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A choreographer is one who cr ...
by
Randy Skinner, opened on June 1, 2005, at the
Biltmore Theatre. Being hampered by mostly lukewarm reviews, the play ran for only 38 performances. The cast included
Jeannie Berlin
Jeannie Berlin (born Jeannie Brette May; November 1, 1949) is an American film, television and stage actress and screenwriter, the daughter of Elaine May. She is best-known for her role in the 1972 comedy film '' The Heartbreak Kid'', for which sh ...
,
Jere Burns,
Brian Kerwin,
J. Smith-Cameron,
Joanna Glushak
Joanna is a feminine given name deriving from from he, יוֹחָנָה, translit=Yôḥānāh, lit=God is gracious. Variants in English include Joan, Joann, Joanne, and Johanna. Other forms of the name in English are Jan, Jane, Janet, Janice, ...
,
Eddie Korbich
Eddie Korbich (born November 6, 1960) is an American actor, singer and dancer. He was born in Washington, D.C. but grew up in Shamokin, Pennsylvania.
Career 1980s
He graduated from the Boston Conservatory with a B.F.A. in acting in 1983. In ...
, and Deirdre Madigan.
References
External links
Internet Broadway Database listing
{{DEFAULTSORT:After The Night And The Music
2005 plays
Broadway plays
Plays by Elaine May