"Show People"

Last night I saw the off-Broadway play, "Show People," written by Paul Weitz, who wrote/directed the movies, "About a Boy," "In Good Company," and the upcoming "American Dreamz," as well as writing "Antz" and "Nutty Professor: The Klumps," and producing "American Pie."  The play was about a pair of aging (and unemployed) Broadway actors who get hired by a man to play his parents, and come visit his house to meet his girlfriend.  Hijinks ensue.  The play had a high-concept and very, very funny first act, which set up the potential for even more fun after intermission... and then it sort of fell off course and didn't quite wrap things up in a very satisfying way.  Still entertaining, but at intermission I loved it... and by the end I was sort of frustrated.  Admittedly, I couldn't come up with any better ways to have it play out... but it was this great concept and some great twists in the first act -- and then it lost momentum.  The acting was superb -- Lawrence Pressman (who played Dr. Canfield in "Doogie Howser, MD" on TV) and Debra Monk (a Broadway actress who I'd seen in "Chicago" a few months ago) play the parents, and the man and his girlfriend are played by Ty Burrell (who stars with Henry Winkler in a show I've never seen called "Out of Practice") and Judy Greer (who stars in another show I haven't seen called "Love Monkey" and is also recognizable from all sorts of movie roles, including a pretty big part in "What Women Want" as the depressed office worker).  Henry Winkler was actually in the audience, which was kind of cool.

Anyway, the play is really funny, and well-written, and worth seeing despite the potential that doesn't quite get taken advantage of.  It did leave me thinking and talking afterwards, and I was engaged in what was going on throughout.  Most things I see on stage, I like a lot less.  You could do worse than to check it out, if you're in the market for an off-Broadway play.