Well, today I finally caught it. Director Jack Cummings III has cast some of my favorite New York actors, including David Lee Huynh, who plays the town sheriff, Will Masters. The play takes place in a small town about 30 miles west of Kansas City, and the appropriately named Masters aims to make sure no trouble happens when the passengers on a bus to Topeka have to stay over at the town diner due to bad weather.
One of those passengers is Dr. Gerald Lyman, a drunken former professor played by the wonderful Rajesh Bose. Lyman avoids the sheriff but flirts dangerously with a young waitress, Elma Duckworth. Delphi Borich, a powerhouse talent I saw on Broadway in Into the Woods, plays Elma's naive optimism with believability and charm. When she refuses to believe anything bad about Lyman, it's hard to want her to change her mind, even as ever-greater warning signs emerge.
Elma's boss is the middle-aged waitress Grace Hoylard, played by Cindy Cheung. Married, but with a husband who disappeared and is hardly missed, she deftly manages a tryst with the bus's driver, Carl, played by David Shih. The two think they're being subtle, but they fool no one. Their careful navigation of mutual consent for their rendezvous upstairs contrasts sharply with the bickering couple Cherie and Bo, played by Midori Francis and Michael Hsu Rosen respectively.
Francis has the unenviable task of playing the role made famous by Marilyn Monroe in a 1956 film adaptation of the play. Admirably, she holds her own, particularly in tender scenes with Virgil Blessing, the best friend of the man who wants to marry her. Today, Inge is widely believed to have been a closeted homosexual, and it's difficult to imagine how Virgil could be interpreted any way other than gay, particularly as he is compassionately played by Moses Villarama.
Bus Stop is only running until Sunday, so catch it while you still can.
