David Merrick, infamous for his Broadway publicity stunts hired a woman pretending to be an audience member to run up on stage during he original run of LOOK BACK IN ANGER and slap the leading male actor.
CPD, your suggestion creates the perfect opposite: have LuPone get so upset at a male person for taking a flash photo that she comes down off the stage to slap the offending audience member. That would kick up ticket sales!
Politics here are creaky and almost quaint. This piece's focus -- on subversive 60s radicals and their track record of violence -- is in 2012 an aging conservative retro-view of the "dangerous" left. The epater les bourgeoisie angle -- shoving something politically "provocative" in the face of the Manhattan theatergoers -- is giggle-inducing. The idea that thwarting the release of someone who killed two cops would offend most progressives in the age of Obama is Glen Beck-fueled paranoia. Mamet seems to be milking post-9/11 hysteria and tying it to an era with very different mindset and concerns (Viet Nam). But liberals of all flavors would hardly take up the cause of someone like the obnoxious Lupone character, and Mamet's decision to dilute her Jewishness with a "shocking" Catholic conversion not only gilds the wilted lily, it's patently tidy and rings false. And to take all of this on in 60ish minutes only allows for deep as a teaspoon exploration. If this were written by anyone else, it would languish in second stage development, be given a few readings, but probably not produced.
"I'm a comedian, but in my spare time, things bother me." Garry Shandling
I say it's not a good play, and many people share that opinion.
Moreover, if you're trying to convince people otherwise, you had better provide a compelling reason why, and not just a link. Not so long ago, having read some of your reviews, and having found them worthwhile, I advised you to provide a summary of your opinion, or a quoted passage from your review. It would save people unnecessary effort, as well as enabling them to respond to something that one could see right here.
You ignored my suggestion.
Well, now I won't be reading your review of The Anarchist, or anything else.
Why couldn't LuPone play both roles simultaneously. One only has to look at her rendition of "A Boy Like That/I have a Love" from WSS to realize she could certainly pull it off.