Theater Review: Eighty-Sixed

                 

Cast of "Eighty-Sixed"       

San Diego’s Diversionary Theatre was founded in 1986, the at the height of the AIDS crisis, with the intention of giving the gay community a platform to be seen and heard.

The theater has just opened “Eighty-Sixed,” the world premiere of a new musical about the AIDS epidemic, and it is a wonder. It takes place in New York City, that great party town that soon became paralyzed with fear as AIDS started to rage through the community. Based on the novel by David B. Feinberg, Jeremy J. King wrote the book and Sam Salmond the music and lyrics.

The show starts in 1986, by which time the gay community knew that sex could mean death, and moves back and forth in time to demonstrate the community’s response as the epidemic worsens.

Preston Sadleir plays BJ Rosenthal, joyously going to gay bars and gyms where he meets friends and feels at home – until he finds out that ex-lover Bob (Sean Doherty) has contracted AIDS.

The community as a whole tries to keep up a good front, but as time goes on it becomes more evident that behavior changes will be required to avoid the new epidemic, which can’t help but dampen the fun.

As Bob gets worse, we see him in the hospital, visited by friends who try not to make Bob feel worse by showing their shock and sadness.

What do you do when death is breathing down your neck? Someone suggests to BJ that he get tested, but he is reluctant because he’s afraid he’ll be reported to the CDC if he is positive.

“Who am I alone?” BJ asks. “If you give your heart, all it does is break.”

But you can’t live that way, and the play shows how the community banded together to help each other survive, and to demand research and accessible care.

They’re helped by two women, Farah Dinga as Rachel and Kelly Prendergast as Janey, who in my opinion get rather short shrift, but it’s good they are there.

BJ (and the disease) are the protagonists here, so I’ve concentrated on that. But this is a community effort, and this cast, dominated by Equity actors and familiar faces like Frankie Alicea-Ford, Luke H. Jacobs and David McBean, is terrific.

This show will undoubtedly move on. See it while you can.