Gossip Girl.

Roland Griffith

24 February 2010

Jennifer Ehle, as his wife, tries gamely to match his zeal, milking each line and vamping her way round the stage. Mister and Missus Fitch is the title of a Cole Porter song that first appeared in the 1932 musical Gay Divorce. The track tells of two rubes who struck oil and moved to Manhattan with their new wealth, where they became the toast of the city. As the play opens, Mr Beanes pair of Fitches are fearing a corresponding fate, though their currency is their column, not their money. When Gay Divorce was scheduled to open, he said the hoax, gathering some nice hoopla for the show and some nice PR for himself.

the present Mr and Mrs Fitch do the same"they invent Jamie Glenn, a handsome young so-and-so"and with the same result : Glenn becomes famous, and the Fitches find themselves once more in with the in crowd. Life is a banquet, they crow Mame -ily on their way out the door to a party, and most poor boys of bitches arent invited. End of Act I. As Act II starts, the Fitches are riding high"Jamie Glenn is popular ; they're well-liked. I just looked down to destroy the crust of my crme brle, and when I looked up"ten attractive N. Y. Residents I wasnt watching out for were cluster-fucking me. ). But the tale doesn't go on to especially ratchet up the stress, or the farce, and it does not show much in a fascinating way about the existing media climate. Its also clear where this is going : Their creation will turn on them, their scheme wont work, theyll finish up working on that novel. But Mr Beanes book, with its non-stop, if often brilliant, witticisms, is however only jokes : there is you may say, no there there.

Playwrights Horizons produced the 2 best Off Broadway plays of the decline : Annie Bakers Circle Mirror Evolution and Melissa James Gibsons This. With Claybourne Park, the considerate, affecting and well-made dark comedy by Bruce Norris that opened there Sun. night, the Corporation has now brought us a leading contender for best Off Broadway play of the spring. Most noteworthy, and terribly funny, is Christina Kirk, who in 1959 plays a very cheerful homemaker with a certain undercurrent of rage, and in 2009 plays a plausibly ditzy barrister with a certain undercurrent of steel. Mr Norris manages to identify that that defense doesn't work"that just jokes still hurt"even while getting us to smile at the jokes.

Its a bit stunning, a lot funny and a brilliant bit of playwriting jujitsu.