Samuel H. Levine; photo: Caitlin McNaney

The Inheritance is a play in two parts, each over three hours long, by a man whose work has been often produced in this region by many theaters. It has a cast of fifteen players (in multiple roles) that includes two of my favorite actors: Lois Smith and John Benjamin Hickey. It is an episodic work covering the history of three men from 2015 through 2018 (but including looks back at least ten years earlier). It must be seen complete; I heard a man behind me say that he had no intention of ever seeing Part II and I can only say that no bigger mistake has been made by a theatergoer to my knowledge. At the Ethel Barrymore Theatre this mammoth undertaking is among the most rewarding things I have ever seen. Its length and its shape make it almost certainly not a play that we will see here for in addition to the large cast there is a need for another dozen walk-ons whose appearances provide a chilling conclusion to Part I of the play and a group of standbys to cover the principal company. 

The play itself deals with three young men, gay man, whose lives converge during the production of a play by one of them - Toby Darling - played so well by Andrew Burnap that you hate him most of the time. His lover, Eric Glass, is played to the enth of sweetness and a humble opinion of himself by Kyle Soller. The two men both of whom are loved by Toby and Eric, are played by Samuel H. Levine who gives each character his own special traits and though they are alike in looks they are definitely not alike in personality. All three actors are superb.

It is the way they are treated by others that gives this play both its focus and its transitions. Morgan (the living spirit of author E.M. Forster) and Walter Poole, both older men, are played to perfection by Paul Hilton. It is his death that enlivens Part II along with Walter's "ex" Henry Wilcox, played in the best surly/romantic manner by John Benjamin Hickey that ultimately defines Eric as the leading man in this show.

Late in the all-male play Margaret - the mother of a young man lost to AIDS and helped by Walter - appears and delivers a most moving monologue about kindness, love and misunderstanding. She is played by the incredible Lois Smith who brings power to her role and a deeper meaning to the lives of both the dead and the living men in the play. 

The simplicity of the set design by Bob Crowley aids the play by letting us focus on the actors instead of the decoration.  The same can be said for the lighting design created by Jon Clark. Paul Englishby's original music is also a plus. This production won the company (many of the originals are invloved in the New York production) four Olivier Awards in London where the show had a long and successful run.

It is interesting to note that this play, which takes 6 and a half hours to complete, fits in with the accidental choices I made for my other two nights: Beetlejuice and The Half-Life of Marie Curie. All three deal with outsiders, people who don't fit the basic descriptions - women are more than only women, they are important in fields not ordinarily ascribed to women) and wicked ghosts and goth teenagers who inhabit a world that others cannot easily enter and surive. The men in this play are just as out-of-reach to the ordinary as the aforementioned. Lopez whose work always shines with originality outdoes himself and he shines even brighter.