Lobby Hero (2018)

BY TARANEH APRIL 7, 2018 IN REVIEWS, THEATER

To See or Not to See: Lobby Hero



In Lobby Hero, playwright Kenneth Lonergan presents us with everyday, working class people who all are, at their cores, decent human beings; they all, however, make morally questionable decisions.

Jeff (Michael Cera) is a night shift security guard for a New York City apartment building. He’s trying to get his life started after some rough patches, including debt and a Navy discharge, but has been without much ambition so far. His boss, William (Brian Tyree Henry), is the opposite. He is a stickler for the rules as he makes the rounds each night checking in on his staff of guards around the city. He constantly needles Jeff, trying to provoke him into taking charge of his life. Then, there’s Dawn (Bel Powley) and Bill (Chris Evans). Dawn is a new, young cop whose partner, Bill, is a seasoned and well-respected veteran on the force; Dawn is, of course, in love with Bill. Over the course of a few night shifts, their four worlds collide and all of their lives are changed.

Lonergan’s dialogue is fast, funny, and makes you think. With cocky, self-assured Bill, we see how devoted to his brotherhood of cops he is and how he does care for the people around him; we also see the inherent misogyny of a predominately male field. With Dawn, we see how as a female cop, she struggles with sexual harassment and power plays. There’s also a bit of police brutality in there when she has a moment defending herself a little too harshly. With steadfast William, we see societal truths about race and the broken prison system when he is faced with his moral quandary about a quarter of the way into the play. As William says to Jeff, ” All right, let me ask you something, Jeff. Suppose somebody who’s supposed to be near and dear to you was accused of doing some kind of terrible crime, and was trying to use you as an alibi. What would you do, for example, if it was a false alibi?” And, with Jeff, loyalty and truth are put to the test.



Director Trip Cullman does a fantastic job of keeping the ensemble of actors tightly woven together while making the themes of the play come alive in a simply (yet gorgeous) set design by David Rockwell. And, let’s talk about those actors. Each of them found the balance between comedy and gravitas. It is a testament to their work that, as an audience, you both want them to keep their secrets for their own sakes and expose them for the greater good.

Chris Evans inhabited Bill so well that, in a sometimes impossible task, you forgot he was “Chris Evans, a movie star.” Bel Powley did a fine job as Dawn, and, while it took me a bit to warm up to Michael Cera as a former Navy-man, his bumbling persona worked quite well for Jeff. The most stand-out performance, however, was Brian Tyree Henry’s. His ability to channel toughness and ambition along with human fallacy and vulnerability is wonderful.

In short, Lobby Hero is a well-executed, well-acted, and well-written production that is not to be missed.

Patti LuPone: I don’t need to see film actors on stage


Broadway and West End star Patti LuPone has criticised untrained Hollywood stars who attempt to tread the boards, as well as the American enthusiasm for “cheap” standing ovations.

The Olivier, Grammy and Tony Award winner, who will return to London for a revival of the Stephen Sondheim musical Company, delivered some scathing opinions on the state of modern theatre at the launch of the new production, in which she will star opposite Rosalie Craig and Mel Giedroyc.

The American star said: “I don’t necessarily need to see film actors on stage, because they can’t.

“Not in my country they can’t. Can I just say, Uma Thurman in The Parisian Woman, anybody see it? Holy shit! I’m sorry, I’m sorry.

“I’m not sure there is a stigma any more (about film actors doing theatre), perhaps there should be.”

She later added: “I have to qualify that – there are a lot of film actors that have made their career in film that come to the stage and are brilliant.

“One of the examples of that is Lobby Hero right now on Broadway with Chris Evans and Michael Cera, and there is a British girl in there, Bel Powley, she’s fantastic, they are all incredible.

“Chris Evans has never been on Broadway before, he’s making his Broadway debut. The stage presence, the command, the diction was incredible, but then there are people for some reason who feel they need to come to the stage and I don’t know why, because they don’t have the theatrical ability.”

She continued: “It’s hard work, so I want you to understand that I have nothing against Uma Thurman, but you want those people to come to the stage for the right reason and that is to honour the stage, honour the theatre and not be in for themselves, and I’m not saying that Uma was.”

Speaking about casting a Hollywood star who might not be equipped for the part, she added: “You also lower the standard, and that seems to be happening in the world with everything.

“We are not answering to our nobler instincts, and so I don’t want to be compromised that way. I don’t want it in my life, in my entertainment, I want to be elevated.”

LuPone also criticised the regularity of standing ovations, especially in her native US, and said she stays seated in protest.

She said: “Ovations are cheap in America; it’s almost as if they stand because they have spent so much money.

“It’s almost as if ‘I’ve spent this money, I’m forced in my head to think it’s good and I’m going to stand to cement it, because I’ve spent that much money’.”

She added that she had stayed seated after watching the Olivier-winning play The Ferryman the previous night, even though she thought it was “fantastic”.

She said: “I don’t stand. In protest, I stay seated. I am in protest of standing ovations, I stay seated and I’m just making my point. It’s too cheap to stand now.”

However, she added: “I stood for Hamilton, I flew out of my seat for Hamilton.”

Company, directed by Marianne Elliott, will run at the Gielgud Theatre from September 26 to December 22 2018.