This season of Broadway plays includes "August: Osage County," "The Seafarer" and "Rock 'n' Roll." Back in 2004, New York prices bought you Stephen Belber's "Match." My, how far Broadway drama has come in less than five years.
That thought kept rattling around my head as I watched Apple Tree Theatre's revival of this second-tier thriller. For reasons of fiscal and spatial necessity, Apple Tree has been embarking on a lengthy tour of plays with very small casts. Some results have been delightful. This one makes you crave more bodies to watch.
It's not that "Match" is a terrible play. For the first act, at least, it's a slickly penned and reasonably involving affair with a plot-driven mystery that slightly recalls "Sleuth" or "Deathtrap," expect that the undercurrent of the drama is concerned with relationships. I'm not going to write much about what happens -- the only unambiguous pleasure on offer is the kind of suspense that would be spoiled by outlining anything more than the basic setup.
So here it is. Tobi (Mark Douglas-Jones) is a veteran Julliard dance teacher and former European dancer who now lives alone in an unfashionable but affordable New York neighborhood. One fine day, two folks come a-calling.
Lisa (Michelle Courvais) claims to be a graduate student who wants to interview Tobi about the dance community. But she brings along her husband -- a grim-faced Seattle cop named Mike (Raymond L. Chapman). Pretty quickly, it's clear there's more to the interview than a simple dissertation.
There is one blistering piece of acting on offer in
Steve Scott's production. Chapman, who plays the wound-tight Mike, is positively terrifying. After one of his sudden moves toward intermission, a woman seated near me jumped, shrieked and literally threw her arms into the air. Chapman takes this play deadly seriously and turns in a spectacularly intense performance.
But this is Tobi's show; his dilemma -- and by extension, I suppose, the artist's dilemma -- is at the core of Belber's intent. And at the final preview I saw, Douglas-Jones hadn't become comfortable with his lines. He wasn't close to ready Friday, and it seemed to throw off Courvais, a proven talent in better circumstances.
"Match" strikes out toward the end. Belber creates a gripping little mystery for the first half of the night, but once the central question is resolved, the play mostly limps to a predictable close. This is the textbook example of what used to be thought of as the only kind of new play with commercial potential. Producers now know better.
"Match"
When: Through April 6
Where: Apple Tree Theatre, 1850 Green Bay Rd., Highland Park
Running time: 2 hours, 30 minutes
Tickets: $38-$48 at 847-432-4335
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cjones5@tribune.com
