Broadway: "Paranormal Activity"

 A couple seems to have some pedestrian problems. The man and woman have recently relocated from Chicago to London; the new house has issues with its wiring. The man complains to a friend about British customer service reps: "They're not rude, but they're not NOT rude, you know? No one is going the extra mile."

One source of tension at home is that the young woman believes in ghosts while the young man does not. Then--in one of the most startling scenes I've ever witnessed in a theater--the young man begins a new conversation with the young woman. And the young woman suddenly evaporates. She does not leave the room; she does not drop through a trapdoor. She evaporates. "She" had been an otherworldly imposter. It's time to call in the Barbara Hershey neighbor.

(I refer to this person as the Barbara Hershey neighbor, because she is in every scary movie, and she is sometimes played by Barbara Hershey. She is the PhD who has to recite a nonsense speech about a curse from 1200 BC. Because the role requires tedious expository speechmaking, it's given to a genuinely talented and washed-up film legend. Thus: Barbara Hershey. In a fun twist, Broadway's "Paranormal Activity" does *not* force us to endure a tedious expository speech. Barbara Hershey quickly becomes frightened, packs her bag, and says, "Soon, you will die in this house. Goodbye.")

That's the end of Act One: It's a classic example of "Chekhov's gun." The playwright has loudly challenged himself. There are now forty minutes of storytelling remaining. In those forty minutes, the playwright needs to show why the man and woman remain in the house. Also: How do they die? And why *tell* us that they will die within forty minutes? Is it possible to make this announcement and *still* create something surprising?

The answer is, emphatically, yes. The Second Act of this show is a triumph.

It's hard not to go in with high expectations, because the reviews have been so positive. But I think the expectations are justified. Also, I thought about "Ragtime." Certain "Ragtime" actors would complain that audience members became too noisy with their lozenges. I know why this happened; it happened because people in the audience were bored. "Paranormal Activity" does not make any announcements about iPhones or lozenges. The director knows he doesn't have to. The story onstage is gripping enough that, even if someone is coughing, you aren't really going to dwell on that. The director is correct.

It's nice to see a young audience--and it's nice to see a director trying new things. I hope for a long life for "Paranormal Activity."