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

The Inheritance - Part One

The Inheritance - Part One

Ethel Barrymore Theatre

December 23, 2019

Photo courtesy of The Inheritance

Matthew Lopez has written a profound and stunning piece of theatre.  Part One of The Inheritance opens the door to an immensely compelling and emotional journey.  Mr. Lopez examines the need to know where we came from in order to understand who we are.  He tackles large social and political issues, then narrows the focus on the personal stories of his characters.  These characters are intelligent, complex, and inquisitive.  They are flawed, unsure, and fearful.  They are vulnerable, searching, and human. 

A group of young men assemble with their laptops.  They are writing their stories.  One steps forward and admits he does not know where to start.  He turns to a book by E.M. Foster for inspiration.  Morgan (played by Paul Hilton), who is E.M. Foster, steps forward to guide him.  The story begins.  Eric Glass (played by Kyle Soller) lives in an apartment on the upper west side of Manhattan.  It is rent controlled, left to him by his grandmother who lived there for decades before she passed.  His whole life has been spent in that apartment.  It is a record of his personal history.  He now lives there with his boyfriend, Toby Darling (played by Andrew Burke).  Toby is a writer, far more pretentious than Eric, and unaware that Eric has been served with a notice of eviction.

Kyle Soller, Samuel H.Levine, & Andrew Burke
Photo courtesy of The Inheritance

Eric and Toby’s story deepens as they befriend Adam (played by Samuel H. Levine), a very attractive, young actor, who manipulates himself into being cast in the lead role of a play Toby is writing.  When Toby and Adam are out of town for rehearsal, Eric runs into a wealthy, older acquaintance, Walter (played by Paul Hilton).  Walter and Eric spend time together and become closer.  Walter tells Toby about how he met his partner, Henry (played by  John Benjamin Hickey) thirty-five years ago and the home they bought north of the city.  They used it to escape the sorrow of the AIDS crisis in the 1980s.  It was an oasis for them.  When Walter cared for a friend who was dying of AIDS in that home, Henry felt betrayed.  He gave the house to Walter and never returned.  Walter continued to take in friends and acquittances who needed his care.  Many spend their final days in Walter’s home.

Toby realizes he has fallen in love with Adam and breaks it off with Eric on the same night that Henry delivers news that Walter has passed away.  Walter left his house to Eric.  Henry decides to keep this a secret, even as a close friendship grows between him and Eric.  When Henry finally agrees to take Eric to see the house, Eric has a life changing experience.

Jordan Barbour, Darryl Gene Daughtry Jr., Kyle Soller,
Arturo Luis Soria, & Kyle Harris
Photo courtesy of The Inheritance

This cast is phenomenal.  They work as one, portraying funny, multi-dimensional characters, while creating raw and honest moments.  Director Stephen Daldry keeps this three hour and fifteen-minute play moving at a great pace, until the final scene when Eric arrives at the house Walter left him.  It is transformative.  The lights shift, the space softens, and we viscerally know the truthful and significant journey of these characters has only just begun.  It is a prolific and emotional moment, leaving the audience yearning for Part Two.

The Inheritance is playing at the Ethel Barrymore Theater.  There will be more to come after I see Part Two later this week.

Domenick Danza