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''Bad Habits'' is a play by
Terrence McNally Terrence McNally (November 3, 1938 – March 24, 2020) was an American playwright, librettist, and screenwriter. Described as "the bard of American theater" and "one of the greatest contemporary playwrights the theater world has yet produced," ...
. The play premiered Off-Broadway in 1974 in a
Manhattan Theatre Club Manhattan Theatre Club (MTC) is a theatre company located in New York City, affiliated with the League of Resident Theatres. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Lynne Meadow and Executive Producer Barry Grove, Manhattan Theatre Club has g ...
production, and then transferred to
Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
.


Overview

The
comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...
is composed of what originally were written as two one-act plays set in a nursing home, or
sanatorium A sanatorium (from Latin '' sānāre'' 'to heal, make healthy'), also sanitarium or sanitorium, are antiquated names for specialised hospitals, for the treatment of specific diseases, related ailments and convalescence. Sanatoriums are often ...
. In ''Dunelawn'', a doctor allows his patients to indulge in all their bad habits as means of finding happiness. In ''Ravenswood'', a serum is used to provide a cure. The cast of eight actors (6 male, 2 female) all perform in each act, albeit as completely different characters.


Production history

The play premiered Off-Broadway in a
Manhattan Theatre Club Manhattan Theatre Club (MTC) is a theatre company located in New York City, affiliated with the League of Resident Theatres. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Lynne Meadow and Executive Producer Barry Grove, Manhattan Theatre Club has g ...
production at the
Astor Place Theatre The Astor Place Theatre is an off-Broadway house located at 434 Lafayette Street in the NoHo section of Manhattan. The theater is located in the historic Colonnade Row, originally constructed in 1831 as a series of nine connected buildings, of ...
on February 4, 1974 and closed on April 28, 1974, after 96 performances. Directed by
Robert Drivas Robert Drivas (born Robert Choromokos; November 21, 1935 – June 29, 1986) was an American actor and threatre director. Life and early career Drivas was born Robert Choromokos in Coral Gables, Florida, the son of Hariklia (née Cunningham-W ...
, the cast featured
F. Murray Abraham F. Murray Abraham (born Murray Abraham; October 24, 1939) is an American actor. Known for his roles on stage and screen, he came to prominence for his acclaimed leading role as Antonio Salieri in the drama film '' Amadeus'' (1984) for which he wo ...
,
Paul Benedict Paul Benedict (September 17, 1938 – December 1, 2008) was an American actor who made numerous appearances in television and films, beginning in 1965. He was known for his roles as The Number Painter on the PBS children's show ''Sesame Street ...
(as Dr. Jason Pepper) and
Doris Roberts Doris May Roberts ( Green; November 4, 1925 – April 17, 2016) was an American actress whose career spanned seven decades of television and film. She received five Emmy Awards and a Screen Actors Guild award during her acting career, which bega ...
."Listing, 1974"
Internet Off-Broadway Database, accessed August 24, 2015
The production transferred to
Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
at the
Booth Theatre The Booth Theatre is a Broadway theater at 222 West 45th Street ( George Abbott Way) in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1913, the theater was designed by Henry Beaumont Herts in the Italian Renaissance ...
on May 5, 1974 and closed on October 5, 1974 after 177 performances. The Broadway cast was joined by
Cynthia Harris Cynthia Lee Harris (August 9, 1934 – October 3, 2021) was an American film, television, and stage actress. She is best known for her roles in the television series '' Edward & Mrs. Simpson'' and the sitcom ''Mad About You''. Life and career C ...
.''Bad Habits''
playbillvault.com, accessed April 18, 2014
A revised version of the play opened at the Manhattan Theatre Club on February 27, 1990 and closed on April 13, 1990. Directed by Paul Benedict, the cast starred
Nathan Lane Nathan Lane (born Joseph Lane; February 3, 1956) is an American actor. In a career spanning over 40 years he has been seen on stage and screen in roles both comedic and dramatic. Lane has received numerous awards including three Tony Awards, ...
(as Dr. Jason Pepper),
Kate Nelligan Patricia Colleen Nelligan (born March 16, 1950), known professionally as Kate Nelligan, is a Canadian stage, film and television actress. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for the 1991 film ''The Prince of Tide ...
,
Robert Clohessy Robert Clohessy (born June 10, 1957) is an American actor. He is best known for playing Correctional Officer Sean Murphy on the HBO prison drama '' Oz'' from seasons 3–6, in addition to playing Officer Patrick Flaherty on the NBC police pro ...
, and
Faith Prince Faith Prince (born August 6, 1957) is an American actress and singer, best known for her work on Broadway in musical theatre. She won the Tony Award as Best Actress in ''Guys and Dolls'' in 1992, and received three other Tony nominations. Life ...
. This version switched the names of the sanitariums to the arrangement mentioned above and added an extra scene to the beginning of ''Dunelawn'', along with numerous other minor changes. ''Bad Habits'' won the Obie Award as Distinguished Play for the 1973–1974 season and Robert Drivas won the Obie Award for Distinguished Direction. Doris Roberts won the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Actress.


Plot summary


''Dunelawn''

Wheel-chaired marriage counselor Dr. Jason Pepper treats his patients in a country club setting complete with a clay tennis court and freely flowing cocktails. Roy and April Pitt arrive as the play opens; they are recently married movie stars who are already seeking couples therapy because of their frequent bickering. Anal-retentive Harry Schupp has been at Dunelawn for three months, and on this day his wife Dolly decides to drive up to encourage him to come home. Hiram and Francis are old friends of questionable sexuality who have been at Dunelawn since it opened years ago, content to stay indefinitely courtesy of Francis' family fortune. Meanwhile, manservant Otto mixes the drinks, carries luggage, and keeps the grounds. Over the course of the play the various couples meet, interact, argue, and even wrestle, with Dr. Pepper encouraging them to do whatever feels good. Very little has changed by the end of the day, except that Harry has decided to return home while Dolly is going to check in.


''Ravenswood''

A day in a rehab centre that deals with various "bad habits". The three patients that are introduced through the dialogue are an alcoholic, a drag queen and a perverted sadistic deluded man. Doctor Toynbee, the man in charge of the centre, is described throughout as a great man, a saint, revered by everyone in his presence. The doctor has developed a “serum” that is meant to help get rid of his patience's flaws and worries. However, it lasts momentarily and the effects don't seem to eliminate any amount of the patients’ previous bad habits as a sign of gradual elimination of their bad habits. The play is over the course of a sunny afternoon at the centre. Bruno, a worker who helps out Ruth Benson and Becky Hedges, the nurses, and tends to the garden, brings the patients out one by one, where the nurses are giving patients serum, some sun and some fresh air. As he goes back and forth, he “leers” at Hedges, attempting to seduce her. As they wait for Bruno to bring along the next patient, we learn about the two nurses, their own bad habits, past lives, regrets and their striving for reformation. We learn of the trigger for their quest: men; at least in Ruth Benson's case, one man: Hugh Gumbs.


Critical reception

Mel Gussow Melvyn Hayes "Mel" Gussow (; December 19, 1933 – April 29, 2005) was an American theater critic, movie critic, and author who wrote for ''The New York Times'' for 35 years. Biography Gussow was born in New York City and grew up in Rockville ...
reviewed the 1974 Broadway production for ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'', writing: "This comedy has no problem of adjustment. It fills the Booth Theater with laughter... The attitude is cynical, but the author's humor is tonic rather than toxic... Mr. McNally's needle is right on target - particularly in the first play...a subcutaneous probe of contemporary manners."
Frank Rich Frank Hart Rich Jr. (born 1949) is an American essayist and liberal op-ed columnist, who held various positions within ''The New York Times'' from 1980 to 2011. He has also produced television series and documentaries for HBO. Rich is curren ...
, in his ''New York Times'' review of the 1990 revival wrote: "...the show has little of the zing audiences rediscovered in the equivalent Joe Orton comedy, the 1967 ''What the Butler Saw,'' revived by the Manhattan Theater Club last season. What survives in ''Bad Habits'' is not so much a focused evening of theater as a pair of overextended burlesque sketches that live or die from joke to joke... Mr. McNally is incapable of being completely unfunny, and, in his better moments, he imagines a Dr. Feelgood whose unctuously whispered words of wisdom are babytalk and a skirt-chasing gardener whose libidinal urges are written all over his anatomy, not to mention his face."Rich, Frank
"Review/Theater; Revisiting the Humor of Smoking and Cholesterol"
''New York Times'', March 21, 1990


References


External links

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{{OBIE Plays 1974 plays Broadway plays Obie Award-winning plays Plays by Terrence McNally Off-Broadway plays