Susan Granger’s review of “Next Fall” (Helen Hayes Theater, 2009-2010 season)
It’s not star-studded. There’s no music, no dancing. But “Next Fall” was produced by pop star Elton John and his companion David Furnish, and it turns out to be one of the most touching comedic dramas to open on Broadway in years. Spanning an intimate, angst-ridden, five-year relationship between two gay men in Manhattan, it resonates emotionally.
Luke (Patrick Heusinger) is a hunky, young cater-waiter/aspiring actor who’s a devout fundamentalist Southern Christian, viewing his own homosexuality as a sin. Older, neurotic Adam (Patrick Breen) is an acerbic, hypochondriac agnostic who works as a salesman in the candle shop run by his best female friend, Holly (Maddie Corman).
After Luke is taken, seriously injured, to a hospital after being hit by a taxi, Adam and Holly are joined in the waiting room by their ‘closeted’ friend, Brandon (Sean Dugan), along with Luke’s divorced parents: his chattering, stereotypical “Steel Magnolia” mother Arlene (Connie Ray) and bigoted, mucho-macho father Butch (Cotter Smith), who has no idea that his son is homosexual and can’t understand why Adam is there.
Playwright Geoffrey Nauffts subtly, sensitively and non-judgmentally explores the often hypocritical religious divide between right and left, while director Sheryl Keller keeps the transitions between the jumbled timelines running smoothly and the breezy banter sounding spontaneous. Walter Chin’s sparse set is, nevertheless, evocative, particularly -.in one of the funniest scenes – when Luke frantically tries to “de-gay” the flat he shares with Adam before his unsuspecting father arrives from Florida. Kudos also to Jess Goldstein’s costumes, Jeff Croiter’s lighting and John Gromada’s original music and sound, as “Next Fall” moves from Playwrights Horizons off-Broadway to the Helen Hayes Theater.