November 13, 2008
Got a chance to see the hottest play in New York City. Bad weather got me the last ticket. Farragut North is play loosely based on experiences of working on the Howard Dean and Hillary Clinton campaigns of 2004.
The play starts in a bar couch with two political hacks, their assistant and a New York Times reporter. Just what you would expect to paint the scene of back office politics. Chris Noth ( you know from Law and Order and Sex and the City) is the senior hack. Broadway star John Gallagher Jr. plays the hotshot Stephen. Stephen has the press in the palm of his hands. The banter goes back and forth. Noth takes up most of the space as the guy as gained a considerable amount of weight, he is much bigger than you may remember from TV. The chemistry doesn't work. The actors seem forced. Gallapher dominates the scene, Noth doesn't seem comfortable with that. Nevertheless, the scene works, because characters and conflicts are set up.
Everyone leaves except Stephen. Two things happen that set the story in motion. Stephen meets Molly. Molly is an attractive 19 year old intern. I wish that she wasn't an intern. I mean you know where this is going. An intern, come on! Molly is played by Olivia Thirlby. Olivia Thirlby couldn't look less like Monica Lewinsky, but her shadow is all around this character.
The second thing is that Stephen gets a phone call from the opposition in the Democratic Race. He meets this guy and doesn't tell his boss Noth. Stephen is asked to jumped ship. He told that the polls have been manipulated, and Stephen's candidate is not way ahead but in fact way behind. Stephen is conflicted and gives a tenuous "no!" Stephen goes back to the bar and screws the intern.
The next day, Stephen realizes that he has committed mutiny and confesses to his boss (Noth).
Stephen tries to make amends for his action, but things have changed. Shortly, knowledge of Stephens meeting is leaked to the New York Times reporter. He is confronted by the reporter. Now Stephen knows he in deep trouble. He tries to find out who screwed him. It seemed obvious to me that it was Noth. However, in the play, Stephen laboriously confronts everyone else but Noth. Until the lastly, Noth spills the beans.
This is a very good scene. Stephen is being a whinny little bitch. Noth plays it perfectly. He is the man. Watching the play you wonder what women see in Noth. He just looks an old fat guy. Here, though, he shows that he is a man's man.
Stephen goes backs and begs for the job on the other team, but they won't hire him. They just wanted Stephen out of the game. Either on their side or just out. It would look bad to hire him at this time under this heat. They knew that Noth was big on loyalty so they figured they would get Stephen or Noth would fire him. Stephen has just been screwed again.
He returns to his hotel room drunk and Molly, the intern, enters. After almost beating her. Stephen call the New York Times reporter from Molly's phone, and tells her about Molly and Noth. So, now everyone gets screwed.
In the very end, Noth is fired too, because of the scandal with the intern.
The play has excellent acting. A smart script full of bad words and fast double talk. The play obviously has more relevance before the Election. It does lack in overall story. It is a little predictable. Except for Noth's character there wasn't much character development. Olivia Thirlby plays exactly like she does in every film I have ever seen her in; that and the fact you never her face the audience directly was very disappointing. Still, it is very good, but it could have been much much better.
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