For a few weeks now I have been wanting to share with you the details of a play I recently saw. I have been thinking about it for weeks — to say the least. I’m afraid that writing about it will only bring out controversial topics — and my light-hearted food/lifestyle blog is anything but controversial. But, I’m going to take a chance with it and tell you about this play — because it is one worth seeing, actually it is probably my favorite play on Broadway I have seen so far.
Going to a Broadway show isn’t something that even the locals do all that often; tickets are very expensive and it’s just not something that is done on a weekly basis like happy hour or a night out with friends. The last play I went to was in the late winter of 2012 (maybe February or March?) to see “Death of a Salesman”. This play was long — brutally long — and brought back lots of High School memories from when I read it the first time. At least my boyfriend loved it. I, on the other hand, admired the acting but my attention span led me to doze in and out. The highlight of my night might have been when I stood in line for the bathroom and spent a few minutes chatting with Kate Burton (formerly known as Ellis Grey from Grey’s Anatomy — now, she plays Vice President Sally Langston on ABC’s hit show, Scandal).
But I’m not here to tell you about “Death of a Salesman” — I want to tell you all about “Grace”. Instead of using my own words to jump-start my thoughts on the play, I am going to share with you what the website says:
“Grace examines those elusive paradoxes: Believing vs. Knowing, Love vs. Loyalty, Coincidence vs. Fate.”
These words hit home on exactly what “Grace” is all about. Starring Paul Rudd, Michael Shannon, Ed Asner, and Kate Arrington — the play has a cast of actors that truly found their characters in the most intense and impressive ways! Without getting too into the controversial topics of the play — I wanted everyone to know the basis of the play. It’s about a husband and wife who move from Minnesota to the sunny state of Florida where they are hoping to open a chain of Christian motels. Their lives collide with their rocket scientist neighbor who just went through a devastating loss in his own life. Knowing you have small-town Christian couple interacting with a depressed scientist who questions almost everything in life, you can imagine the many ways believing vs. knowing, love vs. loyalty and coincidence vs. fate all come into play throughout “Grace”.
Through the acting you could feel the different types of pain every character was experiencing, you could feel their passion for what they believed in and you could feel their eagerness to live a happy life (and for each character a “happy life” was defined differently).
My thoughts keep going back to Paul Rudd’s character — he’s a hard-core Christian, a bit creepy, and on a constant Christian sort-of high — in a nutshell, he lives in an alternate reality. The word “brainwashed” is a quick and easy description for his character as well. After all, the play opens up to a murder and suicide scene — so you realize instantly, within the first 2 minutes of the play, that you’ll be watching a play with a character who has very twisted thoughts.
Ultimately, “Grace” was a play that kept me thinking for weeks after I saw the play. Overall, I owe a major Bravo to the actors and the writer who did a phenomenal job executing this Broadway play.
I encourage you to browse the play’s website and read a few reviews on “Grace”. If anything, it should intrigue you to question some of the topics listed above in your own life.
