Theater review
THE KNOWN
70 minutes, without a break. In Studio Seaview.
In the first season of the NBC sit-com “Will & Grace,” Sean Hayes’ character Jack created a cabaret show called “Just Jack.”
Almost 30 years later, the actor-turned-podcaster finally has one attempt at real life – David Cale’s “Unknown”. However, the play, which opened Thursday night at Studio Seaview, can be called “Okay.”
A suspenseful drama, intent on transcendence, moving at a fast clip while you’re not sure where it’s going, it’s like a confused newcomer in the setting of the story – Manhattan’s twisted West Village.
Actually, that nabe twist is more fun than this game. At least you might end up somewhere.
In a trip to the usual taut, heart-racing genre, “The Unknown,” directed by Leigh Silverman, starts off tense, loses its bearings and sputters to an open ending.
Hayes plays Elliott, a lonely playwright. That’s a simple tee-ball setup if ever there was one. Needing inspiration, Elliott heads to his friend’s remote house, where one night he hears an eerie song in the distance.
It’s called “I Wish You Wanted Me” from a song he wrote years ago. Surprisingly, he cannot find the unknown crooner in the forest.
Meanwhile, in the theater seats, our uneasy feeling comes from the fact that the song is almost like “Sing our weird song with me again!” in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “The Phantom of the Opera.” The good thing is that there are no large chandeliers to crash in Studio Seaview.
When Elliott arrives at his apartment on Bank Street, the first of several gasps arrives: A note with the words “I wish you wanted me” written on it is taped to the front door. Are you triggered? And – a lamp! – is this scary scenario the perfect idea for the script he needs to write?
Already the “Unknown” is starting to appear. A character who willingly puts herself in great danger while trying to solve a mystery for the sake of a good yarn is clearly “Nancy Drew” to me. And, even though it’s called a thriller, this game is too fun and detailed to make any viewer sweat, let alone jump. Scary, isn’t it.
Hayes, surprisingly, does better with humor and witty observations than paralyzing fear.
The actor won his first Tony Award in 2023 for playing the brilliant pianist Oscar Levant in “Good Night, Oscar,” which made the most of his comedic (and musical) strengths.
Cale’s game forces the actor to reduce his ticks and tricks.
Of course, the theater appeared in several roles this time, including the narrator, his friend Larry, Larry’s soft-spoken wife Chloe, a Texan gangster named Keith whom he meets at Julius’ bar and others. But Hayes is admirably calm and doesn’t behave like he was on Broadway.
That said, his choice of words for non-Elliott parts can raise eyebrows.
For example, Larry, his friend who once had his feelings, gets a brogue in Walter Cronkite’s throat. Who has the hots for Walter Cronkite? And his otherworldly British manner gives Dick Van Dyke a new reason to hold his head high.
Still, Hayes is good enough, and ticket buyers love him. The game is a problem. The side characters are lifelessly written, and the plot doesn’t add or reinvent the scraps of airport paper it’s built from. Oh, look, the thief is sitting on a chair in the dark. Where have I seen that before? All over!
Cale, an often overachieving naturalist, has become the latest James Patterson, who likes to read after pleasure as the quality declines. In 2017, his “Harry Clarke”, about an American man pretending to be British, was a start and satisfying.
And his daring semi-autobiographical 2019 show, “We Only Live a Moment,” hinges on one of the most shocking revelations I’ve ever experienced on any stage.
Next to those, “Unknown” is a completely residential place, periodically renewed by the presence of its star.
Perhaps one could argue that Cale’s latest, in which impersonation and stolen identities play a large part, is impersonal by design. The conclusion may suggest that the game itself may be borrowed from others. I even wonder if that repeated “I wish you wanted me” was made to sound like “Phantom” on purpose.
Is imitation the highest form of flattery? It is possible. But “Unknown” is just flat.
