At Home Plate

Broadway Play Review: Take Me Out

Broadway Play Review: Take Me Out
Written by Richard Greenberg
At the Walter Kerr Theatre
219 E. 47th St. NY, NY

This play is definitely not for everyone but is an outstanding play about baseball, its archetypes, its history and the challenges of today. The story centers on the superstar of the New York Empires (who any real fan will recognize as the Yankees), Darren Lemming (actor Daniel Sunjata), who has signed a $106 million contract, and admitted to the media that he is gay. Homosexuality is something that for the largest part has been kept in baseball’s closets, but this brash ballplayer who is above so much, feels he needs to tell the media and the world so that he can be true to himself.

While Lemming is the central character in the story, he is not the storyteller in this dramatic but comedic romp. That honor falls to another baseball archetype - the clubhouse brain Kippy Sunderstrom (actor Neil Huff). Sunderstrom tells us the story of a team in turmoil, while embattled in the playoff hunt and eventually through their World Series appearance. As he narrates we watch games unfold, action in the locker rooms, behind the scenes problems, and how Darren Lemming’s admission has affected the team and Lemming’s friendships.

However even Sunderstrom does not know the whole tale and off the field, outside of Kippy Sunderstrom’s comprehension, is a romance in the form of a developing crush by financial advisor Mason Marzac (actor Dennis O’Hare) for his client Darren Lemming. However it’s also about more than that – it’s about Marzac not falling just for Lemming but for the game of baseball and getting swept away with it to such an extent that it becomes a defining feature in the man’s life. Perhaps one of the play’s best monologues comes from Marzac when he exclaims, “Baseball is better than democracy - at least democracy as practiced in this country.”

The main focus of the play however centers around acts which any baseball historian will recognize, just as they will recognize the outfield wall of Yankee Stadium in the set, or a number of the actors themselves several of whom were either chosen or groomed to look like major league counterparts (Jeter, Torre, Nomo, Carter, Randy Johnson). The acts include a variation on John Rocker’s famous tirade in which closer Shane Mungitt (actor Frederick Weller), a mentally limited character from somewhere down south, goes off about “spics, gooks, niggers” and even the “faggot” he has to shower with after the game and parallels to events like the beaning death of Indian Ray Chapman by Yankee pitcher Carl Mays.

The author can be excused from a little poetic license in things like imagining that the commissioner’s office has enough power to do things like ban players and/or suspend them without the players union having something to say about it as they did during the Rocker incident several years ago. The reason perhaps is that it really advances the plot and allows the story to proceed from one dramatic moment to the next.

As the season progressed the international flavor of the game, the small mindedness of some players, and the simpleness of others became apparent. This was because the audience was invited into the dugout, showers, and behind the scenes of the story being told.

All in all, the story is written into a beautiful tapestry showing how the disparate pieces, lives, and players are all woven into the game of baseball. How it changes, inspires and even drives some to their wits end - often at the cost of friendship, truth, and sanity, is all there for the viewer to see and figure out. Where at the end, the allegorical death of the season it can be looked at and paraphrased as “a tragic season” even when you win.

With that being said it is a greatly enjoyable show which will leave you smiling and laughing most of the time and leave you thinking about the characters, their lives, thoughts, and the underlying social issues which are really being brought to the fore by the play. It gives you a lot to think about and definitely provides some mixed feelings that leave you wondering about your real reactions to this play.

As I said, some people will not like the show. They will be those who themselves perhaps cannot handle the openness, the issues, and facts that there are gay players in the game. Or can’t handle the stereotypes of ignorance that comes with some ballplayers - no matter where they are from. The only caution I make other than that - is that there is a lot of male nudity in the play and it might be too much for younger audience members - though many in the audience, especially some female non baseball fans seemed to really enjoy it.

I went to this play with a female friend who honestly can’t stand baseball - who even now tells me how much she loved the play - personally I think she just likes seeing athletic men in the altogether.

However between her and I we both thought this play was very well done - and a little disturbing. We’ll give it 3 of 4 balls and recommend it for tackling a thorny issue which seems to be more of an issue than it really should be.

Our Rating System is based on a four ball system as follows:
One Ball: Average. It has something to say but is nothing special.
Two Balls: Something men usually have - also means its a cut above average, and worth reading/owning.
Three balls: Stands out from its peers and is highly recommended.
Four Balls: More than just what two men have when hanging out together, it means it is an exceptional book that truly earns a walk - straight to the local book store to get a copy.

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