Sean Hayes stars in a lazy off-Broadway thriller…
Theater review
THE UNKNOWN
70 minutes, with no intermission. At Studio Seaview.
During the first season of the NBC sit-com “Will & Grace,” Sean Hayes’ character Jack created a one-man cabaret show for himself succinctly called “Just Jack.”
Nearly 30 years later, the actor-turned-podcaster finally has a solo effort in real life — “The Unknown” by David Cale. However, the play, which opened Thursday evening at Studio Seaview, might be titled “Just OK.”
It’s a suspense drama, in intent more so than impact, that strikes at a speedy clip while being extremely unsure of where it’s going, very like a confused newcomer to the story’s setting — Manhattan’s twisty West Village.
Actually, that nabe’s twists are more enjoyable than this play’s. At least you may wind up someplace cool.
In a departure for the sometimes taut, heart-racing style, “The Unknown,” directed by Leigh Silverman, begins out tense, loses its bearings and sputters to an open-ended finale.
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Hayes performs Elliott, a lonely, single playwright with author’s block. That’s a tee-ball-easy set-up if there ever was one. Needing inspiration, Elliott heads to his good friend’s distant nation home, where one evening he faintly hears an eerie music in the space.
It’s called “I Wish You Wanted Me” from a musical he’d written years earlier. What’s spooky is that he can’t find the nameless crooner in the woods.
Meanwhile, in the theater seats, our uneasy sensation comes from the fact that the melody carefully resembles “Sing once again with me our strange duet!” from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “The Phantom of the Opera.” Good factor there are no giant chandeliers to come crashing down at Studio Seaview.
Sean Hayes performs Elliott and others in “The Unknown” off-Broadway. Emilio Madrid
When Elliott arrives back to his condo on Bank Street, the first of a few half-gasps arrives: A piece of paper with the phrases “I wish you wanted me” scrawled on it’s taped to his entrance door. Is he being stalked? And — lightbulb! — is this horrifying state of affairs the proper thought for the script he wants to write?
Already “The Unknown” begins to unravel. A personality willingly placing himself in excessive peril while making an attempt to resolve a thriller for the sake of a good yarn is frankly a bit “Nancy Drew” for me. And, though dubbed a thriller, the play is just too capering and sparse on particulars to make any viewer sweat, let alone bounce. Scary, it’s not.
Hayes, unsurprisingly, fares better with jokes and humorous glances than paralyzing dread.
The actor received his first Tony Award in 2023 for enjoying witty pianist Oscar Levant in “Good Night, Oscar,” which took full benefit of his comedian (and musical) strengths.
Cale’s show forces the actor to pare down his ticks and tips.
True, he theatrically pops into a number of roles this time, including the narrator, his good friend Larry, Larry’s soft-spoken spouse Chloe, a ahead Texan named Keith he meets in Julius’ bar and others. But Hayes is admirably calmer and less mannered than he was on Broadway.
Elliott’s author’s block is cured by a potential stalker. Emilio Madrid
That said, his chosen voices for the non-Elliott elements may be somewhat brow-raising.
For occasion, Larry, the pal he once had emotions for, will get a throaty Walter Cronkite brogue. Who has the hots for Walter Cronkite? And his British accent for another particular person provides Dick Van Dyke newfound cause to maintain his head high.
Still, Hayes is sweet enough, and ticket consumers like him. The play’s the issue. The aspect characters are lifelessly written, and the plot doesn’t add to or reinvent the airport paperback cliches it’s constructed from. Oh, look, an intruder sitting on a chair in the darkish. Where have I seen that before? Everywhere!
“The Unknown” begins out tense, slackens and sputters to an open-ended finale.
Cale, the normally glorious monologist, has grow to be a James Patterson of late, penning thriller after thriller as the standard descends. In 2017, his “Harry Clarke,” about an American man who pretends to be British, was a lot more unique and satisfying.
And his courageous 2019 semi-autobiographical solo show, “We’re Only Alive For a Short Amount of Time,” hinged on one of the most surprising revelations I’ve ever skilled on any stage.
Next to those, “The Unknown” is an altogether sedate sit, sporadically livened up by the presence of its marquee star.
Perhaps one might argue that Cale’s latest, in which mimicry and stolen identities play a major half, is devoid of persona by design. The ending would recommend that the play itself is likely to be borrowing from others as nicely. I even questioned if that repeated “I wish you wanted me” tune was made to sound like “Phantom” on goal.
Is imitation the best type of flattery? Maybe. But “The Unknown” is solely flat.
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