Some Girl(s)

The Lucille Lortel Theater in the West Village is the perfect spot for this wonderful Neil LaBute play. And sitting in the front row, within a few feet of this interesting group of actors made it even better. You can't fake it when you are that close to your audience.
Brooke Smith faked it. She was the "acting" so hard that it was hard to concentrate on what she was saying. I want to see her do something else, because I hear she is a very fine actress. Not obvious here.
Judy Reyes of Scrubs fame was the real surprise. She was sweet and adorable. Irresistible. I never paid much attention to her on TV, maybe the Scrubs role is not the best one on the show, but here, she is totally "on". Her laugh, her boobs, her diction, all perky.
Fran Dreshcer, wow, so much fun watching her on stage. She stripped to her bra and panties (looks great) and delivered a spotty performance. Not a trace of Fran Fine. I think her linguistic coach made her too self conscious. It seemed like she was thinking too much about trying not to sound like her nasal Brooklyn self so hard, that she forgot to act. Since this is previews, maybe she will settle in to it and eventually give a more nuanced performance.
Maura Tierney I expected to be great. And she was. Natural, mature and experience. It showed. She was the strongest of the 4 women.
Eric McCormack played straight Will. That voice is so ingrained that too often I was distracted by Eric McCormack working a few feet away. I lost the play a few times. He is a terrific physical actor and completely natural, but now he is in our heads, in our culture and it is hard to separate the two. Don't get me wrong, he was excellent. But he is a charecter now. Like Lucy, or Fran Fine, or Jerry Seinfeld, or Karen Walker. It must be very hard to put so much of yourself into a role, finish that role, and then expect schlubs like me to believe them in anything else. Unfortunately, I didn't buy Eric's "Guy".