Appropriate!

 The usher led us to our seat with a "welcome to Appropriate". The poor bastard was a fill in usher, and I heard two different pedantic theater snobs correct him and say "its pronounced Appropri-ATE" to which he said I was instructed to say Appropriate. Bless their hearts.

Appropri-ATE is the story of a dysfunctional family coming together to bury their father. They must take care of the money and the dilapidated southern plantation. But what happens is anything but. 

What happens is the inevitable fights between family members with years and years of unloaded tension and grudges.

Sarah Paulson is the star playing a rather bitter toxic person Toni, without a good thing to say about anyone. Corey Stoll is her rather timid brother , Bo, a rich New Yorker without the ability to stand up to her. Michael Esper plays the addict brother Franz, a man with a 22-year-old hippie gal pal and a past of ignoring all of them. Natalie Gold (Kendall Roy's ex-wife on Succession) plays Corey Stoll's wife, Rachel, the only one willing to take on the bitter Toni.

These are great performances. Lots of dark humor cuts thru the tension and it's a welcome relief. 

The secrets of the father's life come to the forefront; he was a racist, which Toni refuses to believe. There is a tense scene where Toni calls Rachel a slur for Jewish people (the K word) that drew gasps. At the end of the first act, Bo and Rachel's little son comes downstairs in a costume he found that proves Daddy's racism. As if the pictures of lynchings Daddy left behind didn't prove that. The second act flew by and it was damn near 11 when we got out of there. It's so intense you won't notice the time.

One thing you will notice about the Music Box Theater is that the traffic sounds will permeate the inside. Honks, sirens, loud engines, more honking you will hear and not be sure at first if it's part of the play. Its not and it sometimes takes away from hearing a character's lines.

Is it Appropriate for everybody? Well no. If you want happy, go see Lion King. If you want reality, see Appropri-ATE