| In the Boom Boom Room | |
|---|---|
| Written by | David Rabe |
| Date premiered | November 8, 1973 (1973-11-08) |
| Place premiered | Vivian Beaumont Theater |
| Original language | English |
| Genre | Drama |
| Setting | Nightclub |
In the Boom Boom Room is a play byDavid Rabe. The play follows a younggo-go dancer who has a difficult relationship with her parents.
Chrissy arrives in 1960sPhiladelphia with the dream of becoming a successful dancer. Desperation leads her to a job at a sleazynightclub called Big Tom's Boom Boom Room. While working at the nightclub, she explores love and sex with a variety of unsuitable partners of both genders and forms a friendship with agay neighbor. She tries to resolve troubling issues in her life, including her mother who had wanted anabortion and memories ofsexual abuse by her father .
The play was first written and performed, in two acts, atVillanova University in 1972. Rabe was teaching at Villanova and the play's director, Robert Hedley, was chair of the theatre department.[1]
Prior to staging the play atLincoln Center the following year, Rabe added a scene and several speeches to the first act, expanding it considerably. As a result, the play was divided into three acts, to Rabe's dissatisfaction.
The play opened onBroadway at theVivian Beaumont Theater on November 8, 1973 and closed on December 9, 1973, after 37 performances and 16 previews. Directed byJoseph Papp, the cast includedMadeline Kahn as Chrissy,Robert Loggia as her husband Al,Charles Durning as her father Harold,Charlotte Rae as her mother Helen, andMary Woronov as a dancer named Susan. The creative team includedSanto Loquasto (scenic design),Theoni V. Aldredge (costume design), andMartin Aronstein (lighting design).[2]
The production was nominated for the 1974Tony Award for Best Play, but lost toJoseph A. Walker'sThe River Niger. Also nominated for a Tony were Kahn (Best Actress in a Play) and Aronstein (Best Lighting Design, Play or Musical). Kahn won theDrama Desk Award for Outstanding Performance.[2]
Papp then presented the play atThe Public Theater in a production directed by Robert Hedley and starringEllen Greene,Helen Hanft,Christopher Lloyd,Fred Grandy, andTom Quinn. It opened November 20, 1974 and ran for 31 performances.Baayork Lee choreographed this production. The production was nominated for theNew York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best American Play.
The play was restored to its original two-act structure when it was revivedOff-Broadway at the South Street Theater by theAustralian Orange Tree Company in 1985. Jerrold Brody directed the production, with Liz McDonald as Chrissy. Reviewing the 1985 production forThe New York Times,Herbert Mitgang wrote, "[the play] comes encumbered with a history. But viewed for the first time on its own modest terms on a bandbox stage, it is full of dramatic fury."[3]
The two-act version of the play was published byGrove Press in 1994.[4]