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The contrived plot finds Jack (Perry) sitting at a bar in present day Los Angeles when best friends Stephanie (Jennifer Morrison), a high-priced escort, and Stevie (Sue Jean Kim), a pharmaceutical rep, arrive for a girl's night out. Jack, an alcoholic photographer, is already drunk but that doesn't stop him from hitting on both women, proposing a three-way with them. Everything about their exchange defies credulity and Perry's strange, halted delivery (which continues through the play) feels manufactured and inauthentic. Unbelievably, Stephanie's curiosity is peaked by Jack, but Stevie is desperately waiting to hear from the construction worker she slept with earlier that afternoon, Jeffrey. So guess who walks into the bar to join them? You guessed it, Jeffrey (Quincy Dunn-Baker), who just happens to be Jack's best friend. Unsurprisingly, it all goes downhill from here.
Ultimately, The End of Longing becomes a piece about whether damaged and addicted people have the capacity to change and Perry comes down squarely on the side of the affirmative, putting a bow on his hope-filled ending just to make sure we get the message. It's a well-intentioned effort as pop-culture psychology goes, but it's embarrassing as a serious piece of theatre. Perry and director Lindsay Posner have worked on trimming the play from it's London incarnation, shaving it down to 1' 40" at the Lortel from its 2' 30" running time on the West End. But one has to wonder whether Perry's decision to play an alcoholic in The End of Longing, in light of his own, well-publicized battles with opioids and alcohol, is a brave statement as part of his recovery or self-indulgence on the part of a celebrity. In reading the cast's biographies in the program, it's impossible to miss the fact Perry doesn't mention his iconic role of Chandler Bing on Friends, the juggernaut television comedy which ran for ten seasons (1994-2004) on NBC and changed the lives and financial fortunes of everyone involved in its production. Understandably Perry wants to distance himself from the show, but erasing it from his resume isn't the answer. It actually prompts a question: by starring in The End of Longing himself and thereby capitalizing on his fame from Friends, is he exploiting himself or his audiences? Based on the play on display at the Lortel, some might suggest it's both.
The End of Longing
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