by Deirdre Donovan

 

 

The real reason to see Martin Sherman’s new play Gently Down the Stream, directed by Sean Mathias, is to see the one-and-only Harvey Fierstein back on a New York stage.  The Tony Award winning actor-playwright teams up with another Tony Award winner, Gabriel Ebert (Matilda), and Christopher Sears at the Public Theater in a work that is a tender love story that doubles as a tour through Gay Culture past and present.

 

Set between 2001 and 2014, the plot revolves around the 61 year-old ex-patriate artist Beau (Fierstein) and the 28 year-old lawyer Rufus (Ebert).  The play opens in Beau’s quaint London apartment in Shepherd’s Bush, where Beau and Rufus have just had sex for the first time.  Yes, it’s a classic autumn-spring romance, with that unspoken question hovering between them of whether theirs is true love or mere infatuation.  Yes, the two men are totally enthralled with each other.  Beau is attracted to Rufus’ youth, energy, open-mindedness, and good looks.  Rufus, in turn, is fascinated by Beau’s genuine sophistication, his artistic bent, and his elusive mystique.  Rufus wonders about the details of Beau’s private life like how he became so close to the great Mabel Mercer?  Or crossed paths with the literary lion James Baldwin? Or why this evidently very sociable older man so coolly shrugs off his marriage proposal early on in the play? 

Gabriel Ebert and Harvey Fierstein

 

Unsurprisingly, Beau and Rufus’ relationship changes as the plot unfolds.  Rufus falls in love with Harry (Sears), a guy closer to his own age and somebody willing to tie the legal nuptial knot with him.  But how will Beau react to Rufus’ change of heart?  And would he be their best man?  And the real zinger:  Will Beau accept the role of being a sometime baby-sitter for the couple’s new infant?  Dollars to donuts, you will be delightfully surprised by the capacity of these three men to rise to the dramatic moments in this play.  If Sherman’s play isn’t a play for the ages, it sure is a piece for the here-and-now, when same-sex marriage is becoming de rigueur in New York.

 

Gabriel Ebert and Christopher Sears                                                        photos by Joan Marcus

 

Fierstein plays his urbane character Beau to perfection.  Fierstein’s Beau is the personification of the been-there-done-that older gay man who’s lived through all the crises—and vicissitudes--that gay men have had to pass through in recent (and not-so-recent) years.  What makes Fierstein particularly fascinating in the part, of course, is that he’s a true bellwether for Gay Rights and has carved out a real niche for himself in theater history with his distinctive performances (think Torch Song Trilogy, Hairspray), not to mention his screen credits and celebrated writing (La Cage, Aux Folles, Torch Song Trilogy). Indeed, the moment we see Fierstein make his entrance as Beau in the opening scene, and hear his distinctive cackle, it seems as if the whole stage tilts with his gravitas.

 

Yes, there are other actors in the play.  Ebert acquits himself well here as the young lawyer Rufus, as does Christopher Sears playing Harry.  Ebert and Sears never try to upstage Fierstein with their acting, which is the real key to their own effectiveness on stage.

 

If there is a tragic undercurrent to Sherman’s play, it is Beau’s gradual realization that he’s a gay man who can’t altogether forget the injustices that society has imposed on him as a gay man (and others) over the years.  Yes, times have changed.  Same-sex marriage has become legal in many American states, in England, and other countries.  Still, there’s a deep-seated wistfulness in Fierstein’s Beau.  In fact, in the poignant final scene when he croons “Row, row, row, your boat . . .” to Rufus and Harry’s mewling infant who’s under his temporary care,  it’s as if Beau can see and touch the Brave New World of Gay Culture materializing before his eyes.  But, alas, he was born in a different generation—and will never partake of it fully.

 

Through May 21st.

The Public Theater, 425 Lafayette Street, East Village.

For more information, phone the box office at (800) 513-7540‎ or visit www.publictheater.org

Running time:  90 minutes with no intermission.