If Friends’ Chandler Bing had evolved into a martini guzzler he might resemble Jack, a character invented by Matthew Perry for his play The End of Longing, now in a snappy MCC production at the Lucille Lortel Theater directed by Lindsay Posner. From the start, at a L.A. restaurant where Jack tries to pick up two attractive women with lines no man should ever use, you see the cycles of alcohol induced bravado/insecurity at work. Needless to say, the booze has taken its toll on his looks; Jack is attractive in a sort of bloated way, still sexy enough to bed a blond knockout named Stephanie (Jennifer Morrison) who turns out to be a high priced escort. Connecting in unexpected ways, they negotiate their addictions. As a first-time playwright hewing close to familiar material, Perry succeeds in making the route to love humorous and moving, if more attuned to the ethos of television sitcom.

A subplot involving Jack and Stephanie’s besties, a Zoloft popping Stevie (Sue Jean Kim) and a brawny and dim Jeffrey (Quincey Dunn-Baker) who themselves become a couple, provides fodder for an intervention with Jack. Derek McLane’s set, a rotating grid comprised of empty wine bottles, feels utterly contemporary, pulsating at times like the cellphone on which Stevie deploys texts. Spinning to reveal various beds, in apartments, and in hospital, the bottle wall goes far to add pizzazz to the production. And sodoes Stephanie’s black lingerie.

Regina Weinreich

Graphic Design: Salpeter Ventura