July 27, 2006

The History Boys.

Filed under: Uncategorized — Jim @ 7:36 pm

I saw the Broadway production of The History Boys.

The play is about a group of British students attending a special school session for the purpose of preparing for entrance exams into colleges, with each student’s ultimate goal being admission to Oxford or Cambridge. The interplay among the students and between the students and their teachers and the between the teachers and the headmaster is often very funny, sometimes emotionally heavy and always quite cerebral.

Perhaps it was the “cerebral” part that was the problem, particularly after a large lunch and a couple cocktails, for, in truth, I nodded off a couple times during the first act. Others in my group confessed to having done so as well.

The production very popular with critics and, indeed, won six 2006 Tony Awards, including the award for Best Play. This suggests to me that I should watch it again (perhaps when I’m hungry), but I won’t, given the price of Broadway show tickets.

If you’re in the mood for British accents and lots of not-quite-so-cerebral comedy, you might want to consider that Spamalot is playing in the theater next door to where The History Boys are.

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