Theater Thursday: It's Only A Play

 We were given a complimentary link to stream It's Only A Play for review purposes. Any and all opinions expressed here are our own.

What: It's Only a Play

Where: Streaming at georgestreetplayhouse.org/

Who: Teens and Up

When: Through July 4, 2021

It's Only a Play is the last production of the George Street Playhouse's 2021 streaming season. It's also the first play of their season to actually be produced in their theater at the NBPA building. Just seeing the stage and thinking about being able to return and see live theater performed on it (hopefully soon although no announcement has been made yet) makes your heart beat a little faster.

The show itself is a comedy written by the late great Terence McNally, and there is something very fitting about the George Street Playhouse ending their season with a play of his. His memory and his plays will go on and so will we. The show was last produced on Broadway in 2014 with an All-Star cast which included reuniting The Producers stars Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick. Here it's produced with a cast of lesser-known performers the most well-known of whom is probably Julie Halston. Despite this the performers are well-cast and all do a good job in their roles.  The cast also includes Andy Grotelueschen who was nominated for a Tony for his role in Tootsie in the last full season of Broadway. 

The show is about a group of people associated with a play:  playwright, director, producers, actors, etc. at a party on the opening night of their show waiting around for the reviews. Accordingly, there is a lot of inside theater humor in the show. It's funny even if you are not a theater insider, but likely it would have been even funnier sitting in an audience sharing it with a theater full of people. That doesn't mean the show isn't enjoyable and worth seeing even online because it definitely is. However, it's just that we are so ready to be in the theater with the cast as they are actually performing watching plays like their meant to be live.

And that's our view. For more information or to purchase a ticket to stream It's Only a Play, visit georgestreetplayhouse.org.

Tune in Sunday for this week's Sunday Scoop.

Photo credits: All It's Only a Play production photos by Michael Boylan