Comedian Gabe Mollica plays himself in slightly younger days in the monodrama Solo on the main stage of the historic Soho Playhouse.
Solo: A Show about Friendship is comedian Gabe Mollica’s dramatization of wild fluctuations in his luck with friendship and sex. It’s an hour-long backward glance, from growing up on Long Island to the present, triggered by a milestone birthday: “I turned 30,” Mollica tells the audience, “and realized I had no friends.”
Solo covers a period when Mollica was contemplating a career in stand-up comedy and, subsequently, getting his sea legs in that line of work. This show, performed by Mollica under Greg Walloch’s smooth direction, is too intricately plotted to be stand-up, and its laugh lines aren’t readily detachable from the tight narrative. It’s a monodrama, at times quite funny, but also a cri de coeur from a millennial willing to be scrutinized in an unflattering light. The complicated story catches the storyteller repeatedly with his pants down (figuratively speaking), which makes it difficult for a conscientious reviewer to steer clear of either spoilers or cryptic statements.
“‘Solo’ covers a period when Mollica was contemplating a career in stand-up comedy and, subsequently, getting his sea legs in that line of work. ”
Mollica was an artsy kid, talented and charismatic enough to be cast as Sky Masterson (the Marlon Brando role) in Guys and Dolls at his Long Island high school. He was also a jock, though later in life he realizes he was “bad at sports.” His adolescent social life was a delicate balance of sports “bros” and thespians. He longed to bring members of those camps together but failed in all attempts to do so. His heartache (even in adulthood) is that he has buddies on both sides of the gulf between bros and aesthetes, but little in the way of intimacy and no true friends.
That situation seems to improve at Hamilton College in upstate New York, where Mollica meets “Tom.” (Presumably the names of the supporting characters are fictionalized to evade legal hassles.) Like Gabe, Tom is both sporty and an actor. Mollica reads great significance into the fact that, before they met, he and Tom both played Sky Masterson on the same weekend of the same year at high schools 200 miles apart.
As his college days progress, Mollica discovers sexual bliss with “Emma,” an academic whiz who’s also beautiful, charming, and seemingly unattainable (until she isn’t). Later, he embarks on a longer sexual relationship with “Jackie,” an affair he portrays as red-hot and bonfire-bright. Through it all, he and Tom are as devoted to each other as the Old Testament friends David and Jonathan. Or so it seems.
To get at certain truths about the human condition, Mollica daringly depicts himself (or his dramatic alter ego) in an unflattering light. Photographs by Matt Lazarus.
Here’s where peril of spoilers comes in. Mollica trusts Tom, Emma, and Jackie, yet his relationship with each proves disappointing and, in varying degrees, treacherous. The plot of Solo is intriguing, and Mollica, though hardly a distinguished actor, portrays convincingly—in fact, gut-wrenchingly—his reaction to the three in whom he has placed his trust. (He makes little or no effort to embody the supporting characters or to plumb their motivations.) It would be a critical misstep (and a damn shame) to undercut the suspense of this well-crafted piece, so let’s draw the curtain here on story details (though anyone attending should know that there’s a vivid one-actor depiction of cunnilingus that causes quite a stir in the audience).
The events of Solo may or may not be true, and, if true, they may or may not be recounted accurately. Director Walloch is credited for “story production”; Ophira Eisenberg and Devin Delliquanti are “creative consultants.” With all those busy hands (and minds), its imaginable that some poetic license may have crept into the narrative. But true or not, accurate or exaggerated, Solo has sufficient verisimilitude to elicit pity and awe from its audience. What’s more, the play sheds considerable light on the human condition and, especially, how yearning and loneliness so deftly make a home (whether temporary or long-term) in the human heart.
Mollica’s existentialist craving brings to mind a verse by 19th-century poet John Keble about how all humans die, as “Heaven has willed,” alone. Keble reflects: “Nor even the tenderest heart, and next our own, / Knows half the reasons why we smile and sigh.” Solo, witty yet melancholy, lets playgoers in on the secret as to why this interesting millennial storyteller (or, at least, his dramatic alter ego) sighs and smiles—and, also, weeps.
Caitlin Cook and Mahmood Alladadweh’s production of Solo: A Show about Friendship runs at the Soho Playhouse (15 Vandam St.) through Feb. 25. Performances are at 9 p.m. on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. The 80-minute show includes a 10-minute curtain-raiser by a different stand-up comedian each evening. For tickets and information, call (212) 691-1555 or contact boxoffice@sohoplayhouse.com or ovationtix.com.
