Last Friday I ventured out for dinner and a play with my friend Erika. The dinner was at the always great Brasserie Jo, which had us enjoying an amazing dessert of their table-side Chocolate Mousse. A play called Bad Dates at the Huntington Theater was to follow.
My friend Rob (BosGuy) sent me the link for the play and without even really looking up what it was about, except of course bad dates, I was in. I could certainly write a book longer than War & Peace on this subject.
The play, written by the super smart and savvy Theresa Rebeck is a 90 minute (no break) one woman show. Hayley played by Haneefah Wood our self-proclaimed idiot savant restaurant manager and shoe obsessed divorcee regales us with her sometimes bittersweet, but always sweetly funny stories of her re-entry into the dating world. The stories she shares with the audience are about so much more than having a bad date or three. It is about being a single mum of a teenage girl, rebuilding her life as a waitress to running a high-end restaurant, who loves shoes and only wants the best for her child and herself. There is also a twist of a side story and a nice back story of the one you may least expect being the one who meets your expectations.
Haneefah Wood is fantastic and brings her sharp, comedic and relatable presence to the stage as she tries on uncomfortable, but always fabulous shoes and mismatched outfits to get ready for a date.
While I highly recommend this play for a girl’s night out, I would also recommend the fellas go see it as it’s not about being negative towards men in anyway. We all have bad dates and if we can’t laugh together about them, then where is the fun in that?
This play is just fun.
Bad Dates is running at the Huntington Theater from Jan. 26 – Feb. 25, 2018.
