Secrets of the Trade, Abraham Lincoln’s Big Gay Dance Party

 
Following in the footsteps of previous works like The Twilight of the Golds, If Memory Serves and The Last Sunday in June, out playwright Jonathan Tolins’ latest effort, Secrets of the Trade, is his strongest and most mature work to date. But, like his previous plays, Secrets has a terrific first act that doesn’t know where to go in the second, even if it’s peppered with zingy one-liners and benefits from a terrific cast. Secrets, which plays like an autobiographical work (though it’s not billed that way), tells the story of the young Andrew Lipman, brilliantly portrayed by Noah Robbins, who’s besotted with the theater. (We know what that means about Andrew, don’t we?) He writes a gushing letter to famous writer-director Martin Kerner (John Glover) who becomes Andrew’s advisor and mentor as he grows up, longing to ride Kerner’s coattails to greatness. That Kerner himself is gay albeit closeted (which becomes a plot point in that troubled second act) also plays a part in Andrew’s maturation, much to the chagrin of his stage parents, Joanne and Peter Lipman, terrifically portrayed by Amy Aquino and Mark Nelson.
 
Rounding out the cast is the wonderfully understated Bill Brochtrup as Bradley, Kerner’s personal secretary who also happens to be gay and was once a budding theater lover, too. (Can you see where this is going?) Smartly directed by Matt Shakman, Secrets of the Trade is a pleasure to watch but its payoff ends up being rather tame when it should have had more bite. At this point, is there anyone alive who doesn’t know that show business is a dirty business where people stab each other in the back and make promises they don’t keep? Apparently, Mr. Tolins hasn’t seen All About Eve lately. Or worse, he has.
 
Aaron Loeb’s Abraham Lincoln’s Big Gay Dance Party is still as troubled as it was last August at the Fringe Festival. The problem remains the same: Loeb is afraid to tell a serious story seriously, so he and his production team gussy it up with introductions, intermissions and the gimmick of having the audience pick which of three acts to do first, second and third. The plot, involving a grade-school teacher on trial for inserting text about Lincoln’s relationship with Joshua Speed into a holiday pageant, is made messier with backroom politics, homophobia, blackmail, murder and, oh yeah, pie. Clumsily staged, badly acted and having little to do with either Abraham Lincoln or a “big gay dance party,” this is one disaster you should emancipate yourself from seeing.    N
 
Secrets of the Trade plays through September 4 at Primary Stages (59 E 59th St, 212-279-4200). Abraham Lincoln’s Big Gay Dance Party plays through September 5 at Acorn (410 W 42nd St, 212-239-6200).