Bright Colors and Bold Patterns
Soho Playhouse
Snapshot Review: Never Laughed So Hard
Jane Dentinger, Reviewer

Be you straight, gay or somewhere in between, you know someone like Gerry, the one man motor who drives Bright Colors and Bold Patterns. He’s the guy who shows up at the party over-wound, over-medicated and over the top. The guy who will suck every cubic inch of air out of the room, even as he asks you how you’re doing. The guy you’d happily strangle except for the fact that he’s too damn funny to kill.

Drew Droege, who wrote and stars in this one-man show directed by the crafty Michael Urie, is that guy. His Gerry is both hysterically funny and just plain hysterical as he arrives at the Palm Springs home of Neal, his ex-flame. They are gathering for the wedding of their dear friend Josh–whom Gerry thinks is swell, to Brennan–whom Gerry thinks is duller than dirt.

Can Gerry keep his opinions to himself? Nope! No more than he can when he meets Mac, Neal’s new 23 year-old boy friend. “He’s a whole Abigail Breslin younger than us!” Gerry hisses when Mac is out of the room.

But what really maddens Gerry is the wedding, invitation, which stipulates that the guests wear ‘no bright colors or bold patterns.’ Huh?! Gerry has no intention of going gently into that taupe good night. He rages against the dying of gay life, as he has known it. Between too many cocktails and too much cocaine, he wonders: “When did we get caught in this crazy race to be normal?”

Michael Urie has mounted a very smart show here with the aid of Dara Wishingrad’s colorful set. But it is really Mr. Droege’s triumphant. I’ve never seen an actor do a better job of populating a scene with unseen characters. And I’ve never laughed so hard. In Bright Colors and Bold Patterns, he creates a wry and wacky comic rainbow.

Running Time: 82 minutes (No intermission)

For more information, visit the website of Bright Colors and Bold Patterns.

© Copyright 2017 by Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Ubuntu Linux.