The Inheritance - Part Two

The Inheritance - Part Two

Ethel Barrymore Theatre

December 26, 2019

Photo courtesy of The Inheritance

Part Two of The Inheritance picks up exactly where Part One left off.  Playwright Matthew Lopez expands on his Part One examination of how we need to know our past in order to understand ourselves.  In Part Two he has his strongly established characters face the pasts they have long denied.  They make choices during the course of story that take them to a place where they are unable to avoid it any longer.  Mr. Lopez makes the statement that the only way to heal a hurting heart is to continue to risk.  He takes these characters to the edge of their hurt, forcing them to plunge into the danger of their own selves.  The actors portray these journeys truthfully and viscerally. 

Photo courtesy of The Inheritance

Henry and Eric’s relationship has deepened.  Henry asks Eric to marry him.  Henry’s conservative,  Republican point of view does not mix well with Eric’s friends, but he says yes to the proposal.  Toby shows up at their wedding with Leo, a young boy he has attached himself to, who is identical to Adam (and played by the same actor).  They are both drunk and high.  Leo recognizes Henry as one of his regular clients.  A physical fight breaks out as Eric’s friends try to protect him.  Henry later admits that he has used Leo’s services on a regular basis.  Eric realizes the truth of the situation he has gotten himself into. 

Lois Smith & Samuel H. Levine (as Adam)
Photo courtesy of The Inheritance

Eric returns to Walter’s house.  This time to care for Leo, who is HIV positive and in failing health.  We meet Margaret (played by Lois Smith), who is the caretaker for the now vacant house.  She tells Eric and Leo of when Walter called her because her son Michael was there, under his care and with only days left to live.  She arrived in time to share his final moments, and stayed to help Walter with the other men in need.  There were over two hundred who died in the house from complications due to AIDS.  She verifies Eric’s initial experience when he entered the house for the first time at the end of Part One.  It is in that house that Eric spends the rest of his life.  He comes to understand how the past brings us into the present, which allow us to welcome the future.

Playwright Matthew Lopez

Mr. Lopez has crafted mesmerizing monologues in his play.  The characters tell their backstory in numerous scenes throughout both parts.  These sections are skillfully written and masterfully directed by Stephen Daldry.  Each cast member who has the privilege of performing one of these monologues finds richness in every moment. 

The ending of the play goes full circle as the young man who stepped forward in the opening scene of Part One is identified as one of the main characters.  The story flows to a resolution that will open your heart.  You become a part of The Inheritance as you fully engage in the experience.  The magnitude of the story is built on a solid structure and surpassed only by the theatrical manner in which it is told.  It is a profound and inspired production.   

Domenick Danza