Michael McKeever’s Daniel’s Husband proves yet again that Primary Stages continues to be a bafflingly ignored hotbed of quality new plays.
My only major gripe with the text: the mother’s side should be a bit more empathetically drawn to reinforce her line that she’s “not the villain,” which would further complicate the characters’ complexly contested moral landscapes.
Post-show, Primary Stages graciously handed out (wisely self-branded) tissues for obvious reasons (if you’ve seen the play), which got me thinking: What were last season’s reigning Sniffle Shows, as in the ones met with the most choruses of tearjerking-induced sniffles?
Based on my admittedly subjective gauge of how audiences generally reacted, my choices would be Daniel’s Husband, Come From Away, and (ugh) Dear Evan Hansen (for the record, the only tears it even came remotely close to eliciting from me were tears-of-laughter AT the ludicrous sentimentality on display…but that’s a longer piece for another day).
My personal Sniffle Show champion: Sunday in the Park with George, which tends to devastate creative-types more than mass audiences.