‘Take Me Out’ Review: Jesse Williams’ Broadway Revival of Baseball Play Is a Solid Hit Despite a Few Errors
variety.comFrank Rizzo Public and personal identities are constantly being examined, teased and tested in Richard Greenberg’s “Take Me Out,” his grand paean to baseball and ontological quandaries, which is receiving a starry and satisfying Second Stage revival at the Helen Hayes Theatre on Broadway.It’s been 20 years since the play first stunned audiences with its rich writing, provocative themes and a locker room full of naked men. (And still an active major league player has yet to step up to the bat and come out as gay.)Directed by Scott Ellis, this revival, too, is a solid hit, despite a few grounding errors.
It should also prove to be popular for all market segments, especially with its triple-play of television favorites: two who are taking their Broadway bows for the first time, along with a beloved stage veteran.
Jesse Williams, a popular star of “Grey’s Anatomy,” is impressive as the embodiment of charisma and cool, Darren Lemming, a biracial, superstar hitter of the New York Empires (read Yankees).
When the seemingly self-assured, Teflon-coated slugger nonchalantly announces he is gay, it sets in motion a series of events that ultimately reveal more than the players imagined about themselves.The storyline moves forward — and sometimes effectively backward — with narration by erudite teammate Kippy Sunderstrom (a personable Patrick J.
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