The Whirligig

The Whirligig is playing at the Signature Theatre located at 480 West 42nd Street. It runs two hours fifteen minutes with one intermission. The play closes June 18, 2017.

Norbert Leo Butz was for a Tony Award and Drama Desk Award for Catch Me If You Can (2011) and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (2005). He was nominated for two Drama Desk Awards for Buicks (2003) and The Last Five Years (2002) and a Tony Award and Drama Desk Award for Thou Shall Not (2002).

Derek McLane is the scenic designer. He was nominated for a Tony Award and won a Drama Desk Award for Anything Goes. Derek won two Tony Awards for Ragtime (2010) and 33 Variations (2009) and was nominated for a Tony Award for Pajama Game (2006).

Clint Ramos is the costume designer. He won a Tony Award for Eclipsed (2016).

The stage is going around, a young woman is in the bed, an IV is in her arm.

Julie (Grace Van Patten) is in the hospital. Her parents Kristina (Dolly Wells) and her father (Norbert Leo Butz) are there. The doctor Patrick (Noah Bean) tells them she is dying and there is nothing they can do. Julie was a drug addict and never realized she was ill until it was too late.

Michael goes to the bar near his house. The bartender Greg (Alex Hurt) and patron Mr. Cormeny (John DeVries) are the only ones in the bar. We find out Greg is married to Julie’s best friend Trish (Zosia Mamet). She introduces Julie to drugs. The person who supplied them with the drugs was Derrick (Johnny Orsini). It turns out he is the doctors brother.

The play starts out at the end and works its way to just before Julie stars taking drugs.

The second act runs smoother the first. There is more depth to the characters. I left not caring or having any feelings for the characters.

The set goes around for different scenes.

There is a nice tree that Trish and Derrick use to sit on.

The people that were next to me till the end of the row left after act one.

I’ll leave it up to you if you want to take a chance to see it.

Review by Rozanna Radakovich