Harbor

I went to the matinee performance of the play Harbor today at the 59E59 Theater.  The play is about a married gay couple, Ted and Kevin, whose seemingly perfect life in Sag Harbor is disrupted by an unexpected visit from Kevin's sister Donna.  Donna, a single parent who arrives at her brother's doorstep with her unhappy teenaged daughter Lottie in tow, is pregnant again and tries to convince her brother and his husband  to adopt her unborn child and raise it as their own.  But, while Kevin secretly wants children, Ted, his husband, does not.  I almost didn't see this play because the reviews for it weren't great and I thought the tickets were a little pricey for off-Broadway.  (I paid less for Pippin!)  Thankfully, Theater Mania offered discounted tickets, so I gave in and bought one...and I'm glad I did.  Harbor was great.  Critics be damned!  The dialogue was smart and funny and the actors did a good job.  I really enjoyed watching Ted (played by actor Paul Anthony Stewart) grapple with the discord in his home during Donna's visit.  His growing frustration with Kevin and Donna finally boils over when he tells Kevin that he doesn't want a child because he always has one...Kevin.  Ouch!  Kevin, the younger man in the marriage, the one who can't seem to finish the book he's been writing for years, the one who can't seem to hold a job, the one who is almost as irresponsible as his flighty sister, is like a child to his own husband.  Ted cares for Kevin, emotionally and financially, and the stress of it all finally surfaces.  Aside from the performances, it was good to see Randy Harrison (who played Kevin) performing.  I remember watching him as Justin on Showtime's Queer as Folk years ago.  Although he's 35 now, he still looks like a 25-year-old.  During the play, I kept thinking that he was too young to have been in a relationship with a guy for 10 years, but, truthfully, he isn't!! 

(As a side note, I really wish they'd have a Queer as Folk reunion just so I could see Randy Harrison (Justin) and Gale Harold (Brian) together again.  They really were the best things about that show and the main reason I tuned in for as many seasons as I did before it went off the rails and I gave up on it.)