The play Gently Down the Stream<\/a><\/em> (through January 9 at New Conservatory Theatre Center)\u2014making its West Coast premiere\u2014opens with a scene familiar to many-a-rom-com-viewer: \u201cthe morning after.\u201d As George Gershwin\u2019s \u201cRhapsody in Blue\u201d plays, the lights come up on a stylish London flat to reveal shirtless young Rufus (Daniel Redmond) and silk-robed Beau (Donald Currie) hours after one of those \u201cI don\u2019t usually do this\u201d kind of nights. There\u2019s awkward discussion and acknowledgement of the age difference between the two, but there\u2019s little doubt to a well-versed audience that this is just the start for these two.<\/p>\n It\u2019s all mostly well-done, but one can\u2019t help but wonder where they\u2019ve seen this scene before. That\u2019s the main problem with the play: It smacks of over-familiarity. As written by Martin Sherman (playwright behind the landmark 1979 play Bent<\/em>), this 2017 work feels like its author wanted to make a middle-of-the-road contribution to an already overcrowded genre, as if he were trying to channel Wendy Wasserstein\u2019s sharp and generous observations, but fell short. Even in its narrative device of jumping ahead in time several years (the play begins some point in the \u201890s and ends sometime in the 2000s) to follow the evolution of this gay relationship, one is reminded of Terrence McNally\u2019s 2007 play Some Men<\/em>, which played at NCTC in 2009.<\/p>\n There\u2019s nothing wrong with an author wanting to tell a familiar story, so long as the author can make it their own. Unfortunately, Sherman\u2019s play is less populated with characters than it is with character traits. Chatterbox Rufus is defined by his neuroses (which the play suggests may or may not be the result of bi-polar disorder) and his affinity for \u201cold\u201d things. The New Orleans-born Beau is defined by his being the product of a bygone era: Where once this accomplished pianist rubbed elbows with the likes of James Baldwin and Nina Simone, he\u2019s now befuddled by the strange sorcery known as \u201ce-mail.\u201d<\/p>\n What\u2019s more, the relationship between the two is so eager to jump ahead that it doesn\u2019t really evolve naturally. We go from the opening scene of Beau, victim of several heartbreaks, wanting to keep the attractive Rufus at a distance only to have the next scene find them living together years later. At least, we think it\u2019s years later\u2014there isn\u2019t much to indicate the passage of time other than the occasional line of dialogue here and there. Mind you, Kuo-Hao Lo\u2019s intricate set, with its post-Victorian tapestries, Dorothy Parker-esque writing desk, and modern fridge in the distant kitchen, is beautifully decorated and a fine showcase for the designer, but it never changes over the course of the story.<\/p>\n One is tempted to think that\u2019s the point, but Beau and Rufus do change over the course of their multi-year relationship. Each goes back-and-forth between wanting and not wanting kids; each changes their mind about their job (Rufus works in a firm, Beau is a cabaret pianist), and each has medical concerns through which the other must help. During all of this, we\u2019re occasionally privy to video testimonials Beau allows Rufus to record. The point of the recordings isn\u2019t all that clear, but given the way Rufus also wants to convert Beau\u2019s VHS collection to DVD, perhaps there is something to the idea of Beau\u2019s apartment representing his inability to fully move forward?<\/p>\n Sadly, the other hindrance keeping one from being fully immersed in the story is a pair of production choices that muddle things a bit. The first is the casting of Redmond as Rufus. Previous productions had both characters white and that\u2019s all the more apparent when Beau talks of his old jazz days. After their first night, Beau remarks about how Rufus (Redmond is Black) reminds him of James Baldwin, which suggests a fetishization on Beau\u2019s part that\u2019s never addressed. In fact, race isn\u2019t brought up at all\u2014only how Rufus \u201cdidn\u2019t fit in\u201d as a youngster because of his affinity for older generations. It\u2019s nice that the NCTC went for a diverse cast, but doing so raises questions that the text doesn\u2019t answer.<\/p>\n The other technical problem is the performances. As directed by Arturo Catricala, both Redmond and Currie stay on the same note throughout the entire show. Redmond\u2019s Rufus is grating, high-pitched, and scattered, like a four-year-old on a sugar-high; Currie\u2019s Beau is the opposite, subdued to the point where his occasional angry outburst seems out of character. When actor Sal Mattos later joins the show as Harry, the belated third member of Beau and Rufus\u2019s relationship, his drag performance of \u201cThe Man I Love\u201d (also by Gershwin) is appropriately showy, but he doesn\u2019t quite have a firm grasp on the British accent.<\/p>\n There are a great many stories like this already and there will be more to come. In fact, NCTC just recently produced a great one<\/a> with Plot Points in Our Sexual Development<\/em>. It\u2019s fair game for an author as renowned as Sherman, but the play will likely be nothing more than a side note in his career. The NCTC\u2019s take on it gets the technical down pat, but the thin text and off-key performances make it too gentle by far. <\/p>\n GENTLY DOWN THE STREAM<\/em><\/strong> runs through January 9 at the New Conservatory Theatre Center, San Francisco. More info and tickets <\/em>here<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/48hills.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/NCT-GentlyDownStream-prod-046-12_21-5x6-hi-res-1024x853.jpg?is-pending-load=1\")
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