All That I Will Ever Be

I'm certainly glad I didn't leave after Intermission. The first act of Alan Ball's new play is insufferably bland, and, so far as I can tell, exactly like The Little Dog Laughed, minus all the entertaining monologues and wry humor. However, the second act brings us deeper into Omar's skin, and Peter Macdissi, who plays the role, manages to let go of the facade that I hated so much in Act I to reveal the pained individual underneath. There are plenty of glib moments in this play that seem written to dazzle rather than impress, and there are a lot of scenes that are never followed up on, specifically between Dwight (Omar's boyfriend) and his father. There's also a lot of falseness in the actors, though it's an intentional device meant to show how little we really give of ourselves. I'd like to hope that we will be more than we are today, and even though Ball's play is sloppy, there's truth spilling out all over the place in it.