less a brutal deconstruction of america’s cultural obsession with physical beauty (as the ad campaign would have you believe), and more of an exaggerated portrayal of modern romantic relationships with poignant truths lurking beneath the surface, neil labute’s reasons to be pretty marks the playwright’s much-awaited broadway debut. long-time fans of his work at the mcc theater will have little to complain about, as the production that opened on april 2 at the lyceum theatre contains the playwright’s trademark acerbic wit and ability to breathe welcome familiarity into some often seemingly absurdist antics. if the play ultimately fails to reshape the foundations of human interaction, it would seem to be by choice; the author’s note in the playbill indicates that this particular piece was intended first and foremost to be a coming of age story for its protagonist.

greg (a rather schlubby-looking thomas sadoski), who works the evening shift in a suburban warehouse, finds his relationship with steph (marin ireland) on the rocks when carly (piper perabo), a security officer at the warehouse and steph’s best friend, overhears greg make a disrespectful remark about steph’s appearance to kent (stephen pasquale), carly’s husband. what greg said, which I won’t reveal here, is merely the catalyst for a complete reexamination of his relationship with steph, which culminates in a hilarious letter of all of greg’s many physical flaws that she reads publicly to a crowd assembled at a mall food court. as greg struggles to move on with his life, kent, also a warehouse employee, confides in him a secret that has the potential to destroy his marriage to carly.

while not particularly original, the setup allows for a series of well-paced, mostly two person scenes that are consistently amusing and occasionally eye-opening. labute’s skills at finding random, but fiercely accurate observations about the human condition are on full display here, especially during the scene where steph and greg run into each other several months after having broken up; anybody who has ever gone through a painful break-up will nod in recognition. a scene between the two men late in the second act is also one of the better fragments, if perhaps only for the visceral and perfectly-executed fight choreography, which is certainly a crowd-pleasing moment, but labute completely earns the moment.

sadoski is extremely likable as greg, and fully embodies the everyman quality necessary to sustain the role. ireland’s performance is fierce and unyielding as steph, who literally starts the play off with a screaming tirade, and rarely lets up, even in her lighter moments. pasquale gets a lot of laughs as kent, the insecure alpha male, but it is perabo who i believe gives the evening’s most interesting performance, despite being saddled with the least developed character. perabo’s mannerisms and vocal inflections are just right for carly, a big-hearted girl with a limited intellect, but still capable of understanding some basic human truths. her final appearance in the play is heartbreaking.

despite the excellent performances all around and the sharp dialogue, i could never quite escape the feeling of wanting a little something more; labute makes some interesting points but really doesn’t take anything to that all-important next thematic level. for not providing a revolutionary outlook on relationships and never really quite touching on what those reasons to be pretty are, however, this is still quite an entertaining piece of work and an agreeable broadway debut. here’s looking forward to the next one!

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