RACE WINS THE RACE

That’s if the race we are discussing is the one to the TONYS.

But let’s backtrack. We are like the US Mail. Neither rain, snow, sleet or lack of cabs could keep us from getting to the Barrymore last night to see David Mamet’s latest offering, RACE. The only negative of last night’s awful weather is that we knew the empty seats in the theater could only have been from people who could not make it into the city because of the storm. They really missed something and if they are already living outside of the city (we feel so sorry for them!) they need to get an SUV.

Turned out to be a very easy commute to the theatre, dinner in a rather full Italian restaurant and once again an audience comprised mainly of hard core New York theatre goers. What fun, including the non (or barely) English speaking couple who mistakenly took our seats (on the aisle, of course), the too tall chatty guys behind us, the water, chocolate & wine hawker who knew everything about theatre (and was quite surprised that we knew more), not to mention Concetta Tomei sitting a few rows behind us, never off her phone during intermission.

RACE is a tight, smart show. There are no wasted moments, words or gestures. The curtain opens and the audience is thrust into the midst of a discussion between four characters. And this is one of the most perfectly cast shows we’ve seen in a long time. When you see plays with very small casts, even one misstep is glaring but this was really just right. Kudos to Mamet for both the play and the taut direction. David, did you cast it yourself too?

James Spader is the current front runner in our vote for Best Actor in a Play. He understood the play and his role as if it was written for him and the interplay with also-wonderful David Alan Grier was nothing short of energy charged. It took us a little while to understand the "tightness" behind Richard Thomas's character portrayal. As soon as we understood his interpretation of the very tight-assed, formal client, we were with him 100%!. This was Kerry Washington’s Broadway debut and we welcome her with open arms and a “what took you so long to get here?”. The drained look on her face at the well-deserved standing ovation was reminiscent of the cast of BLOOD BROTHERS after every performance.

RACE is a trim hour and 40 minutes and it flew by. The topic is both timely and timeless and Mamet’s dialogue, vulgar as is his style, really kept this play moving along at a very rapid pace.

When we walked out of the theater we realized both how much and how little have changed in respect to how we view the historical issue of race relations. Seeing RACE and being in the presence of such fabulous acting was the best history lesson we’ve had in a long time.