Last night Jett and I caught the Ben Stiller-Edie Falco-Jennifer Jason Leigh B’way revival of John Guare‘s The House of Blue Leaves. Okay, I was a bit wary after N.Y. Times critic Ben Brantley roughed it up. Brantley was being a bit of a piss-head, it turns out. Call me an easy lay (I’d never seen Guare’s play until last night) but I was pleased, aroused…no beefs. The performances (Stiller and Falco’s especially), staging & set design, theme and general pizazz are penetrating and exceptional.

The story unfolds in a dinghy Queens apartment during Pope John’s 1965 visit (which Roman Polanski‘s Rosemary’s Baby also bounces off — I kept thinking about Guy and Rosemary Woodhouse going through their troubles at the same time). Stiller is Artie Shaughnessy, a profoundly untalented songwriter with a day job at a zoo, living with his schizophrenic spouse Bananas (Falco), planning an escape to Los Angeles with girlfriend Bunny (Leigh). Hooboy, do things not go as planned!