'Bus Stop' Off-Broadway review — classic play about loneliness gets a rare New York revival
Read our review of Bus Stop off Broadway, a new revival of William Inge's classic drama, running at Classic Stage Company and featuring an all-Asian cast.
It’s a lonely time in the world right now. An unoriginal observation, though with no less truth in it, is that our age of mass telecommunication technology has only accentuated our collective solitude, shaken by a worldwide pandemic, political and social upheaval, economic precarity, and fractured gender dynamics.
So the impulse to revive William Inge’s Bus Stop, now at Classic Stage Company, makes sense. Inge’s middle-of-nowhere Kansas purgatory is a potentially useful arena in a time capsule to work through these ideas, with the cast of locals and drifters untangling their various psychosexual hangups at a desolate diner. But there’s none of that urgency in this production directed by Jack Cummings III, with much of the cast skimming the surface of Inge’s words.
With few exceptions — Rajesh Bose’s solid, maybe avuncular, maybe dirty old man Dr. Lyman; Cindy Cheung's assured five-and-dime owner Grace (an all-too-small role for such a pro), the soft and sensitive Midori Francis as kidnapped singer Cherie — these characters talk about their loneliness and their inability to form or sustain personal connection but rarely inhabit it. Inge’s dialogue often sounds unnatural in their mouths, self-conscious and without the freedom to penetrate to the heart of the show’s feelings.
Cummings and cast also miscalibrate the humor and darkness, in that there’s not enough of either. Though Inge’s language isn't lyrical, Bus Stop, as a midcentury reflection of a rapidly changing yet increasingly disconnected world, is rendered inert and tedious in this production. These are broken and bored people meant to realize, in this limbo state, both the world’s cruelties and connection’s ability to bring them alive. Why else would they want it so much? As Beau (Michael Hsu Rosen) pesters Cherie, the attempt at making this faux macho man pity-worthy falls flat because the gestures (he veers on violence throughout) feel stilted. The hunger and desperation from the cast feel put-on and absent of the cratering sadness that drives the play.
There’s a missed opportunity to dig into Asian American identity in this production, co-produced by the National Asian American Theatre Company. Not that every new non-white production of a white canon show need be about race, but strangely absent here is the feeling that any of these people’s place in the Midwest, and their feelings of rejection and remoteness, is caught up with their feelings of Americanness (and how it is defined) in the area.
Cheung is the only cast member whose every look, flick of the hand, and turn of the head feels lived-in. Grace has seen love and sex come and go, but the obligatory world of work looms over every action. Even as she disappears for most of the first act, Grace’s presence lingers on stage as someone who has learned to be matter-of-fact about the pleasure and pain that labor and love can bring. She knows nothing comes without a price.
Bus Stop summary
A bus carrying cowboys, a professor on the run, and a singer brought against her will stop at a diner for shelter when the road closes down. They’re forced to contend with one another’s desires and senses of agency while a local waitress and cop manage tricky personalities.
What to expect at Bus Stop
Bus Stop is a mostly no-frills production, with set designer Peiyi Wong’s simple diner setup running the length of CSC’s runway-style stage, with a big black rectangle with jutting edges hovering above over the perimeter of the set. One clever flourish is that the eggs Elma (Delphi Borich) makes are real, and you can smell them in the room. The simplicity of the set design, and the teal of the finer bar, recall Edward Hopper’s famous painting Nighthawks.
What audiences are saying about Bus Stop
- “A few bus travelers get stuck in a diner overnight, in a snow storm; most notably, an immature cowboy and his reluctant gf, a showgirl. This play is primarily known today for Marilyn Monroe's 1956 film, and indeed, our showgirl here displays a dash of Marilyn. This is a good, thoughtful production that while mostly resonant, on occasion it reveals that the play is a product of its time.” - Show-Score user aka
- “Very entertaining play about a group of travelers that get stuck in a diner during a snow storm. Good evening of theater.” - Show-Score user MDS59
- “Maybe Bus Stop--which has painfully dated parts--can't be successfully revived. [...] I found the acting uneven, and many lines were lost with insufficient projection and enunciation. But I had never seen the play (only the movie), and felt the material (and acting) improved as the play progressed.” - Show-Score user TheaterBuff
Read more audience reviews of Bus Stop on Show-Score.
Who should see Bus Stop
- Bus Stop is a classic text of all-American loneliness, and the chance to see it live will encourage audiences to explore Inge’s other work, like Picnic.
- Marilyn Monroe fans will be delighted by Midori Francis’s very tender take on Cherie, which evokes the actress.
- Fans of Noah Baumbach’s Mistress America will get to see the great Cindy Cheung deliver a performance both tart and wise.
Learn more about Bus Stop off Broadway
Though William Inge’s testament to broken connection and fleeting redemption in the Midwest might seem like it could find contemporary resonance, this production doesn't have enough gas in the tank to meet the moment or plumb the well of melancholy in its text.
Photo credit: Bus Stop off Broadway. (Photos by Carol Rosegg)
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