Next Fall revolves around a gay couple, but those promoting the show, including Elton John and his life and business partner David Furnish, have gone to great lengths to let everyone know that it’s not a “gay play.” They want it to be known that the themes are universal. They are mostly right: the fact that the main couple is gay is simply a passage into the central conundrum of the play, which really has nothing to do with homosexuality.
Geoffrey Nauffts had a big hit off-Broadway last year with the new play. Next Fall was a critical hit, and sold out for three extensions. The transfer to Broadway retained director Sheryl Kaller and the entire cast.
The story begins in a New York City hospital, where Luke (Patrick Huesinger) is in a coma after getting hit by a taxi. We are introduced to his mother Arlene (Connie Ray) and two friends, Holly (Maddie Corman) and Brandon (Sean Dugan).
Luke’s father, Butch (Cotter Smith), later enters the waiting room, as does Adam (Patrick Breen), who we eventually learn was Luke’s lover. We are later introduced to Luke and his relationship with Adam through a series of flashbacks.
Most of the play revolves around the religious faith, or lack thereof, of the couple. Luke is a devout Christian and Adam an atheist, which means that Adam sees Luke’s spirituality as directly contradictory with their sexuality.
One might think that Luke doesn’t believe in that specific teaching of his church. On the contrary, he simply believes it is a sin and sees homosexuality as his personal vice. “We’re all sinners,” he says.
There are plenty of gay religious people in the world, a fact that seems to be largely ignored other than a throwaway line by Holly late in the play. Luke’s friend Brandon is also gay, and doesn’t see any problems with having sex, but “choosing the lifestyle” is where he draws the line. Adam, of course, finds it ridiculous that sex is ok, but love is not.
It’s the gray areas in how some people reconcile their faith with beliefs that their particular religions condemns or with another’s faith that is ripe for discussion. The gays that Holly mentions in passing would have made far more interesting subjects for a play.
Therein lies the biggest problem of Next Fall. There are two polar opposites placed against each other, where there seems to be no room for compromise or even the slightest thought by the other that their way isn’t the only way.
So you get the narrow-minded Christians (Butch denounces a magazine that discusses evolution as “porn”), who denounce homosexuality--even the ones who are gay! And on the other side, the narrow-minded atheist, who not only is not open to experiencing any sort of spirituality, but takes great pride and pleasure in mocking every aspect of it.
That’s not to say people like this don’t exist, but I don’t think many of them are couples, and if there are any, the grand total must be floating around a half dozen. The play doesn’t speak to a greater theme other than if one person in a couple is really religious and one is an atheist, they may have disagreements. This isn’t exactly revolutionary or thought provoking.
The cast is working an uphill battle with the material, but they do little to rise above it. Ray and Smith, as the conservative Christians, are clichés and that’s how they play them. Dugan plays Brandon as a boring, unnecessary character, which he is. Breen is essentially the star of the play, but he talks too fast and comes across as very self-conscious and predictable.
For a while, it looks like Huesinger might be the saving grace of the cast, but as his scenes go on, he seems to fall in and out of his accent and alternate between semi-masculine and wildly effeminate. Corman, as the self-proclaimed “fag hag,” is the closest to giving a realistic and believable performance.
There are some interesting parallels between Next Fall and Thornton Wilder’s Our Town, a play in which we hear two or three times that Patrick performed. But any semblance of subtlety is lost near the end when Arlene says she can’t remember what Our Town was about.
Holly then goes on to give Arlene a simple and quick version of Our Town’s over-arching theme; Nauffts assumes his audience didn’t get it so he bashes you over the head with it.
There’s a great play here buried somewhere, but as it stands, Next Fall isn’t funny, emotionally engaging, or dramatic.
Nowadays, it seems most non-musical productions on Broadway need a Hollywood movie star to make any money at all. One would certainly want a play like this, a non-revival with no stars, to succeed.
But is Next Fall really one of the best new American plays that anyone could find to put on Broadway? If so, it’s a telling and depressing sign.
Who knows when we’ll see another great new American play? Oh well--maybe next fall.
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Next Fall plays at Broadway's Helen Hayes Theatre, located at 240 West 44th Street (betwen Broadway and 8th Avenue).
Two hours prior to the start of the show, a limited number of student rush tickets may be available for $26.50. Limit two tickets per valid student ID.
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