I can't recall this much cheering and all-around continuous excitement about a Broadway play since Angels in America. I'm not talking about pre-show hype or media attention, I'm talking about in the theater itself, as a truly enthusiastic audience watches Richard Greenberg's utterly captivating comedy-drama keep trotting the bases. Yes, it's a new curve on an old theme - a gay play, with copious male nudity to boot - but the writing is so fresh, the point of view so varied, the plot so clear and gripping, Greenberg and director Joe Mantello have us in the palms of their gloves from the first pitch. Not that it hurts to have the gorgeous and commanding Daniel Sunjata playing Darren, the cocky baseball idol who thinks it'll be no big deal to publicly come out of the closet. Nor does it hurt that the play has an unforgettable villain of sorts: backwoods Shane Mungitt (Frederick Weller), bullied into revealing inbred racist feelings that may - just may - have been better left unsaid. And in a supporting-actor turn for the ages, Denis O'Hare plays Darren's financial advisor-turned-baseball nut with such hilarious mannerisms, by the second act we're already waiting breathlessly for every next word out of his mouth.
One locker room scene, showing the stress of losing and the isolation of ballplayers from different countries, feels forced and writerly, but otherwise, Take Me Out is a monster home run.
