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Review: Who Is ‘Harry Clarke,’ and Why Is He So Appealing? - The New York Times

posted onMarch 19, 2018
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Article snippet: “Harry Clarke,” which was originally presented by the Vineyard Theater, has reopened at the Minetta Lane Theater; 18 Minetta Lane, Manhattan; 800-982-2787. Here is the original review, a New York Times Critic’s Pick, which appeared on Nov. 22, 2017. When Harry Clarke humblebrags that the singer Sade is “about the most real person I know,” you believe him. If anyone’s an expert on real people, he is. That’s because he’s a fake. Despite his sometimes posh, sometimes cockney accent, he’s not (as he tells people) from London. Nor is he married to a Frenchwoman named Sabine. Most disappointing, he did not work for 20 years as the “tour manager slash personal assistant slash whatever-else-was-needed kind of person” for the woman who sang “Smooth Operator.” No, he’s just Philip Brugglestein, Illinois born and Indiana bred and very good at Google. Never been to London, works as a barista. But what a story he has to tell. That’s the delicious conceit animating “Harry Clarke,” the one-man, double-life play by David Cale that opened on Tuesday night at the Vineyard Theater. The conceit is also animating Billy Crudup, who after a four-year absence from the New York stage appears to be having the time of his life in a sly role terrifically suited to his gifts. Among those gifts is the ability to build a performance from various angles at once, as if in a trifold dressing-room mirror. Mr. Crudup plays not only Philip — and Philip as his alter ego, Harry — but also dozens of p... Link to the full article to read more

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