Middle of the Road

party's over: Doug Anderson's autobiographical one-man show will be revived for the Fringe.

by David Anthony Fox

Center stage is not by reputation a welcoming arena for middle-aged homosexuals. (Well, really — what is? Palm Springs?) For cute young ones, sure. But oldsters are encouraged to stay far from the footlights.

This season, though, Philadelphia theatergoers who have known the tragic transition from boy bar to wrinkle room have cause to smile. In Take Me Out, dweebish Mason Marzac celebrates his first love affair. OK, it's with baseball, but that's better than nothing. And in Isn't It Sarcastic, chorus boy emeritus Doug Anderson confronts the life cycle with exceptional — and sometimes very funny — in-your-face-ness.

Sarcastic offers us Anderson's life as one man's odyssey-in-progress — and he doesn't mind letting us know that, so far, his experience has been decidedly mixed. There was, for example, his career as a stage star, which never happened, and his search for a boyfriend, which is ongoing. These plot threads provide some juicy material, including a coyly phrased interlude about a Theater Luminary with whom Anderson dallied. There's also a riff on Anderson's brief affair with a born-again Christian who left him high and dry.

Anderson is a gangly and likeable guy. But Sarcastic, written by and starring the once aspiring Broadway star, feels like an out-of-town tryout. It's a promising idea, and the setting — a sad apartment full of the detritus of a celebration that never happened, including a single martini glass — feels horribly right.

But as a performer, Anderson stumbles over his own text, and can't seem to find the right tone. Humor, anger, bitterness — there's room for it all, but this kind of one-person show stands or falls on the ability to manipulate the audience with impeccable timing. That's not yet at Anderson's disposal. Too bad, because some of the script is truly funny, and the potential is there for a lot more of it to work. Let's hope he takes some time to polish Sarcastic before it returns in September for the Fringe Festival. There's room to be hopeful.

ISN'T IT SARCASTIC Returns Sept. 15, Society Hill Playhouse, 507 S. Eighth St., 215-923-0210