DON’T GET HUNG OUT BY MISSING THIS MASTERPIECE
Blimey, friends, you only have two more weeks to see my favorite play on Broadway. And not only my favorite, but the best. Martin McDonough’s thrilling comedy Hangmen contains incredibly well-drawn characters played by jaw-dropping performers, many of whom came from the West End. Additionally, it is my favorite set of the season (Anna Fleischle). However, this Olivier Award-winning, New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award-winning, and 5-time Tony Award-nominated new comedy sadly must close in two weeks on Saturday, June 18, 2022. DO NOT MISS IT.
A tense and very funny, well-directed (Matthew Dunster) prologue has British executioner Harry Wade (David Threlfall, who can steal a scene with a slow burn) hanging a man who falls to his death proclaiming his innocence. We move from 1963 to 1965 to a small pub in northern England where owner Harry living with his wife, Alice (Tracie Bennett, a fantastic turn by the erstwhile Judy Garland), and his fifteen-year-old daughter, Shirley (the amazing Gaby French). Harry is known as the second-best hangman in the land, but today the abolition of hanging in Britain is upon him. The pub is filled with his usual customers, some cronies, some sycophants, and one fairly quiet police inspector (Jeremy Crutchley).
A journalist has arrived to interview Harry about the abolition; after much protestation, Harry takes the journalist upstairs and gives him an extensive interview, complete with disparaging remarks about the number-one hangman in England, named Pierrepont. Then, a smiling but menacing stranger named Mooney (the creepily fun Alfie Allen from Game of Thrones) comes to the pub and stirs up some trouble, causing tension in the bar. Mooney wants to let a room, but when Alice tries to call his references, Mooney explodes and becomes threatening. In a particularly wonderful scene, Mooney slimingly flirts with Harry’s daughter.
Tickets ($59 – $179) are available at Telecharge. The schedule is as follows: Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday at 7PM, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday at 8PM with matinees on Wednesday and Saturday at 2PM. Monday, June 6 will be at 8pm.
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