Homos, or Everyone in America ** C

Jordan Seavey’s new play at Labyrinth Theater Company presents a lot of problems. First, there’s that title. Why the pejorative? Why the claim to universality? Forget everyone in America; even with respect to the gay community, the play’s focus is on a very narrow segment. Then there’s the staging. The small theater has been reconfigured into several sections of platforms of various heights. Most of the action takes place in the narrow corridor between sections. Where you sit can either leave you too far from the actors or too close for comfort. Then there's the tricky sequencing; the story is told in fragments that move backward and forward in time. Often it’s hard to tell what precedes what. Jumbling the timeline does not lend the material greater heft. We follow the ups and downs of the relationship between The Academic (Robin de Jesus) and The Writer (Michael Urie) over several years. We also meet Dan (Aaron Costa Ganis), a hunky guy that both hanker for, and, briefly, Laila (Stacey Sargeant), a sales clerk in a fancy soap shop. For much of the play, the two lead characters are bickering. They touch base, at least superficially, with a variety of topics, both personal and social. The Writer is described at one point as a gay Woody Allen. I found him basically unsympathetic, even when played by an actor as appealing as Urie. Robin de Jesus is very strong, especially at the play's climax. The scenic design, such as it is, is by Dane Laffrey (The Christians). Jessica Pabst’s costumes are apt. Mike Donahue (The Legend of Georgia McBride) directed. Running time: 1 hour 45 minutes; no intermission.

Big Love ****

Since suffering through Charles Mee’s play First Love in 2001, I have studiously avoided seeing anything else by him. I was dismayed to learn that a revival of his Big Love had turned up on my subscription series at Signature Theatre. To my great surprise, the preview I attended turned out to be thoroughly entertaining. I was put in a good mood even before entering the theater. Outside the entrance was an enormous pile of Tiffany-like gift boxes. Inside, the entire ceiling was covered with upside-down flowers. The white walls of the set (by Brent J. Banakis) featured projections of pastoral Italian scenes (by Austin Switser). The back wall of the stage was a beautiful blue sky above rippling Mediterranean waters. The tranquility did not last long. Lydia (Rebecca Naomi Jones) bursts in in a dirty wedding gown, which she promptly strips off for a bath in the onstage tub. She and her 49 sisters have fled Greece for Italy to escape forced marriage to their 50 cousins. The two other sisters that we meet are Olympia (Libby Winters), a valley-girl style airhead who likes to take selfies, and Thyona (Stacey Sargeant), a very angry militant feminist. They seek refuge from Piero (Christopher Innvar), owner of the villa. When their jilted grooms arrive by helicopter to claim their brides, Piero attempts to negotiate a compromise with them. We meet three of the grooms, the assertive Constantine (Ryan James Hatanaka), the sweet Nikos (Bobby Steggert) and the nondescript Oed (Emmanuel Brown). When the grooms refuse to compromise, the sisters decide to take drastic action. When one sister fails to follow through on their pact, she is tried for her betrayal. The judge is Piero’s wise mother Bella (Lynn Cohen). The other characters are Giuliano (Preston Sadleir), Piero’s gay son, and Eleanor (Ellen Harvey) and Leo (Nathaniel Stampley), two weekend guests; their role in the play seemed superfluous. Some of the themes touched on are the conflicting roles that a society expects of its men and the competing claims of love and justice. Much is demanded of the actors. The trio of sisters, as well as the three brothers, burst into song periodically. When frustrated, they throw themselves to the floor or against the nearest wall. Fight directors Rick Sordelet and Christian Kelly-Sordelet somehow have taught them not to injure themselves in the process. The tongue-in-cheek costumes by Anita Yavich are wonderful. Director Tina Landau has successfully knit all the elements together into a very enjoyable theater piece. Running time: one hour, 40 minutes, no intermission.