Broadway Review: reasons to be pretty

Neil LaBute's reasons to be pretty (intentionally left all lower-case by the author) is the best new play on Broadway since last season's August: Osage County. It opens with Steph, played bitterly and sarcastically by Marin Ireland yelling at her boyfriend Greg, played by Thomas Sadoski in a tirade that would peal paint. The cause of this fracas is the fact that Greg, in a moment of male bonding at work with his best friend since childhood, has referred to Steph's face as "regular." Certainly sounds innocuous. Unfortunately, another co-worker who just happens to be the wife of Greg's friend and a friend of Steph's overhears this. She has made it her job to let her friend know what her boyfriend has said.

My last experience with Mr. LaBute's work was his 1997 film "In the Company of Men," a film I found unbelievably distasteful due to the misogynistic characters. Not long into reasons to be pretty I thought to myself, oh no, here we go again. But that sense of dread left me during the second act. There was something to these characters. As the lights came up at intermission I turned to a friend and wondered aloud what Mr. LaBute's relationship with his mother must be like.

Greg's friend Kent, played by Steven Pasquale is an atypically macho Neil LaBute character. He is married to Carly, a security officer in the warehouse where the two men work humping pallets of groceries. Kent is a distasteful character who is cheating on his wife (who we later learn is pregnant) and asking his best friend Greg to cover for him. This ultimately comes to a head with a fight between the two men in the second act. Carly is played by Piper Perabo in a performance both stoic and emotionally revealing.
These are such well written characters and their dialogue, though mundane in the fact that these people are leading hum-drum lives is absolutely compelling. In reasons, Mr. LaBute has written a work that is easily accessible by anyone. We all know these people in real life and in fact, they may even be ourselves. The universality of relationships is profound evident in this play to anyone who has ever been in a relationship.

You could see from watching Mr. Sadoski's face as he was screaming back at Steph that this man had completely inhabited this role. He makes this character his own. You actually learn that Greg, though perhaps a bit lost in life, is the kind of guy you would want as a friend. The entire cast is brilliant.

The play is directed by Terry Kinney with a brisk pace. Unfortunately, the fight scene in the second act staged by Manny Siverio seems far from realistic. Granted, sitting in the fourth row of the orchestra you are bound to see the minor flaws in what really is the equivalent of theatrical slight-of-hand. The set by David Gallo recreates the interior of a Costco or BJs around the perimeter of the stage. This portion of the set never moves or changes and is a constant reminder that these are men trapped by their career and life choices.
This is the kind of show that could get lost in the shuffle of a spring season that is seeing a record-breaking number of new openings, particularly plays. Don't let that happen. This is a compelling evening of theatre and I suggest you don't miss it.

See detailed show credits from IBDB.com

Read more Broadway reviews at TheAndyGram.com