25th Reunion Takes a Turn for the Explosive
The Muscles in Our Toes Follows Friends on a Mission
Charles Isherwood
June 27, 2014: At most 25th high school reunions, the drama does not rise above the discovery that the prom queen got fat, or the mousy kid who disappeared into the scenery founded an Internet company valued at a few billion dollars. There’s much more in store for the friends reassembling to recall semi-halcyon days in The Muscles in Our Toes, a fairly preposterous play by Stephen Belber (Tape, Match) making its New York premiere in a Labyrinth Theater Company production directed by Anne Kauffman. Mr. Belber’s drama, which opened on Thursday night at the Bank Street Theater, is set in the choir room of a high school, where the central characters have convened to have a more intimate discussion, away from the chatty, badge-wearing hordes in attendance at the reunion. The urgent topic: the kidnapping in Chad of their friend Jim, who was on a business trip (he manufactures sneakers) when he was abducted by a radical terrorist group. As they circle one another somewhat warily, sizing up who has changed and how, trading talk about wives and kids and recalling the occasional old grievance, the four friends air their frustration at the government’s inaction and try to figure out what they can do to help free their old buddy.
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