Free Doughnuts! The Boys Next Door

Feelings. So many feelings. My first theatre visit of 2016 nearly destroyed me.

Source: City Theatre Austin's
Facebook page.

The Boys Next Door is the story of four gents with varying degrees of intellectual disability who live together in a group home, and the social worker who looks after them also with varying degrees of success. It has many moments of absolute hilarity (like when one character shouts "Free doughnuts!" and throws them out the front door one by one), and lots of sweetness.

Now, there's a reason I don't review live theatre for a living: everything I wrote would be a variation on "OMG, so awesome, go see it right away," which all my theatrical friends assure me would be a welcome change from the traditional review, but which I doubt would get me paid for long. However, about The Boys Next Door, it basically boils down to, "OMG! So awesome! Go see it right away and bring a hankie!"

Why bring a hankie? Well, when I told my friend Tony (who plays Barry Klemper) that we were looking forward to seeing the show, he did not say, "Oh, by the way, I have the most emotionally shattering scenes in the show and they're going to leave your heart laying on the floor in pieces, so bring an entire box of tissues," which was a bit of an oversight. Yes, the sad bits of the show will positively rip your heart right out of your body and possibly incite feelings of hatred and violence toward the character causing the emotional devastation.

One of the side effects of fangirling so much over every actor I've ever seen live (and stalking them all on social media) is that I have no trouble separating the actor from the character, sometimes to the detriment of me enjoying the show--it's harder to get lost in to the moment when I can't forget I'm watching people play make-believe.

However, as I sat in a theatre and laughter dissolved into tears as the show went on, I forgot that I was watching a friend. Moment by moment, everything else fell away and the action on the stage was all there was. Which is as theatre should be. Which is why I was a blubbering mess by the curtain call.

And so at the end, I was able to cheer and grin even while my heart was still in pieces. The Boys Next Door, while devastating, is absolute magic.

And, therefore (since it's popular in community theatre, I've heard, and may well be playing near you sometime soon) (that link is to a excellent review of The Boys Next Door, btw, should you care to read it), OMG! So awesome! Go see it right away!