When I was first invited by the team supporting the production of Another Shot, written by Spike Manton and Harry Teinowitz, I was both honored and then a bit annoyed. There was some pushback to my limited availability and originally, I was set to see the show with my colleague and dear friend from TYSA, a coalition made up of 75 providers on Staten Island dedicated to substance use and mental health prevention and education, Makeda, on Wednesday, November 20th. Thinking the show would be open until January 4th, 2025, I didn’t feel an urgency to see the play. I had just seen The White Chip for a second time during the BigVision benefit and had just finally finished my backlog of reviews on #QUITLIT, all 23 of them.
Unfortunately, I awoke to an email on Monday informing me that the show is closing down this Sunday, on November 17th. So, with the urgency and FOMO eating away at me, I was able to move around my calendar to see the show. Prior to the show, I grabbed a cup of coffee with my new friend, playwright, and New York Times bestselling author, Michael Levin. We briefly chatted about our favorite shows and shared a mutual love and admiration for Stephen Sondheim.
When I arrived at the theatre, my heart started to swell, the rush of excitement I get from seeing the poster for the show on display and the anticipation of seeing a new show energized me. I met up with Makeda, made my way over to will call, and then we took our seats. We both were surprised at how intimate the theater felt. It gave off the vibe of a church basement. The Signature Theater is your typical black box theater with seating 180 degrees around the stage. The stage was setup to look like a typical rehab center with the floor tiles cracked and showing signs of wear and tear, which is something as a costumer designer I appreciate, I hate the trend of things that should look worn in being brand new. It was a nice touch by the set designer, Beowulf Boritt.
As the lights dimmed the show began with a flash of lights and a news cast to bring you into the world of Harry, who has just entered rehab for the first time after being arrested for a DUI. And while I appreciated the lighting design, done by Mextly Couzin, by and large, the show seemed to suffer in terms of scene changes, pacing, and hitting the emotional mark. I understood the intention of having different voices speaking and sharing their recovery stories in an off screen format to aid in the scene changes, but with some of the scene changes being so short it became jarring and redirected the emotion, in some cases cheapening the emotional pull of the message at the core of the show.
The performance given by Dan Butler, who played the lead, fell short for me. At times I felt like he was trying to be across between Jason Alexander’s George Costanza, from Seinfeld, and Josh Radnor’s Ted Mosbey, from How I Met Your Mother. I knew I should probably feel sympathetic towards Harry, but I often felt frustrated by him, especially as he forced out jokes that I’ve heard a thousand times over.
Overall, I appreciated the diversity of the cast especially when it came to Gregg Mozgala, who played Isaiah, an actor and disability rights advocate living with cerebral palsy. The two stand out performances of the night were given by Portia, who played Barb, a Alcohol and Substance Abuse Councilor. She reminded me of a few friends of mine who work as providers and gave a believable performance. The moment when she self disclosed about being a person in recovery, took my breath away. It was one of the most powerful moments of the show.
But overall, each time Chiké Johnson, who played Vince, entered the stage, he stole the show. Vince’s character was on his second stint in rehab and offered some sage advice. His character deeply resonated with me, reminding me of the old adage “check in with your friend who seems to have it all together, for they may be weathering a storm you know nothing of.”
I had an opportunity to talk with Chiké after the show, who shared how his cousin served as an inspiration who has been in recovery for a number of years. He was drawn to the character of Vince because he is deeply human. Chiké’s performance definitely reflected the connection with the character.
I would be remiss if I didn’t include my critique on the costuming. Costume design for the show as done by Alejo Vietti. The costumes started off strong with shoes that looked destressed and lived in, and then gradually required the audience to suspend their disbelief when the clothes looked fresh and new. Perhaps the characters went on a shopping trip since they could freely come and go from the center? It unfortunately detracted from the show for me.
The book for the show was written by Spike Manton and Harry Teinowitz, with Harry inserting himself into the narrative as the lead character. The show is heralded as a comedy however, at most I did as comedian Bo Burnham once perfectly put it in his song, Are You Happy, is “if you watched this [show], you probably didn’t laugh but maybe a few times you exhaled out of your nose”. For me the play felt at most like a dramedy with a mixture of attempts at comedy and dramatic moments. The ending pulled together the entire show for me and left me deeply moved.
Overall, I give Another Shot 3 out of 5 Sobees. You can read our Founder’s promotional article of Another Shot here. If you are looking for something to do this weekend, give Another Shot a shot, it runs in The Pershing Square Signature Center until Sunday, November 17th, 2024. Tickets currently range from $48-68.
Sobriety in the City Sobees Score: 3 out of 5
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