I'll admit I should've been way more proactive about seeing The Explorers Club at Manhattan Theatre Club. One, it stars some of my favorite performers, and two, it was written by a woman and has a strong female lead! Wasn't I just complaining about that?! I've become part of the problem instead of the solution! Grrrrr. Well, anyway, I finally got myself over to City Center Stage 1 last night and enjoyed myself IMMENSELY. 
The Explorers Club is just a delightfully silly good time - I laughed more than I have in months, truly. It's an enchanting farce, sending up the eternal power struggle between men and women, set in a previously-all-male enclave (man cave?) of scientists who aren't quite as clever as they think they are. Playwright Nell Benjamin has put together quite a witty story, but one that also juggles a lot of subplots smartly. The entire cast has chemistry to spare and the direction by Marc Bruni really highlights that chemistry. The photo at right is of the wonderful set by Donyale Werle. I took the photo before the show started - they said I could. There was a sign in the lobby saying we could take a set photo before the show. I didn't have to read that twice... 
The fun gets started when Lorenzo Pisoni, as the temporary president of the Explorers Club, invites a woman to speak about a lost city she has discovered. He wants to propose her for membership, while the other men, most especially John McMartin (an archeo-theologist), think she doesn't belong. But she does come to speak and brings a native of the lost city back with her, played by Carson Elrod. Other members of the club include a snake-loving-but-bad-at-charades herpetologist, a zoologist who designs experiments for guinea pigs, and the dashing but dumb explorer Harry Percy, played with delicious pomposity and brio by David Furr. Other plot-turning characters arrive as the play zooms forward and many farcical situations ensue, many stemming from the fact that the lost city native has accidentally slapped the Queen across the face. Whoops. I have to admit I was especially tickled by John McMartin and his character's insistence that he has found the Lost Tribes of Israel. I don't want to spoil where he found them, though. 
Oh, heck, I was tickled by everything. The physical humor was delicious (there's one gag that's worth the price of admission) and the fun the cast was having was very infectious. The play may have sagged a tiny bit before we got to the delirious conclusion, but that's ok. Everything made perfect sense in the world of this play, and though the ending may have been more or less expected, how we got there certainly was not.
I'm just going to list everyone in the cast because they were all fantastic. Seriously fantastic work. I have stolen pictures of their fantastic work from the internet. All of these terrific photos are by Joan Marcus and my standard disclaimer applies. Thanks to Brian Ayers, Max Baker, Steve Boyer, Arnie Burton, Carson Elrod, David Furr (who is quickly becoming one of my very favorite actors), John McMartin (who always has been one of my very favorite actors), Lorenzo Pisoni and the captivating Jennifer Westfeldt, who is the straight woman, as it were, around whom all this silliness swirls, but she is a strong center and brings quite a bit of her own silly when necessary. :)
Thumbs WAY up from me on The Explorers Club. I only wish I had seen it sooner so I could go again, and so I could get more people to go with me. It closes next Sunday, I believe, so do yourself a favor and get a ticket - and be prepared to laugh at a very fun, perfect-for-summer, show.
Seat neighbor report: the couple behind me are frequent theatergoers, if my eavesdropping is to be believed. However, they are also outdoor-voice-talkers, especially when they were reading each other the entire Playbill. Not highlights, not titles here and there, but entire bios. Out loud. In their outdoor voices. Sigh. The couple next to me was young, which is generally a good thing, especially in a subscription house, but they weren't quite as tickled by the play as I. These sullen hipsters kept looking at me quite askance when I laughed loudly (I thought the girl's head would swivel off when she swung towards me as I rather howled at the HMS Pinafore reference). Now, I don't think I was one of those 'look at me' loud laughers. I was just continually laughing out loud. Hello, I found the show extremely funny! Oh well. Oh, and my generally concealed snobbery came into play as well with regards to them: at intermission, they discovered the gal sitting in front of them was going to their alma mater. So, they waxed rhapsodic about their semesters abroad, their sororities and their private dining clubs. It's naughty of me, but that kind of priviliged chatter turns me off. Good thing I got a text from a handsome chum, with a video attached, so I could put on my headphones and watch an adorable toddler for a few minutes and blot out the seat neighbor noise. Thank you, handsome chum.
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