Hollywood romantic comedies are so rare these days that it’s a major event when a good one gets onto the big screen. Viewers and critics rejoice, we collectively wonder why they don’t make ’em like this anymore,” and then we all go back to our studio-prescribed diet of superhero movies and sequels.
On stage, the rom-com is an even scarcer commodity. When’s the last time you saw a new play with a genuine meet-cute and rooted for two characters to get their happily ever after? That’s what makes Laura Winters’ All of Me—now off-Broadway in a New Group production directed by Ashley Brooke Monroe—such a sheer delight.
Onetime jazz singer Lucy (comic dynamo Madison Ferris, seen on Broadway as Laura in Sam Gold’s 2017 Glass Menagerie) and research scientist Alfonso (Danny J. Gomez, a charmer) meet in—swoon!—a Schenectady, N.Y., hospital parking lot. We can see they have a couple things in common: They both use mobility aids; they both use AAC (alternative and augmentative communication) to speak, aka “this fucking Stephen Hawking robot voice,” according to Lucy. What we also see: They have chemistry. Lucy wows him with a few lines of Sir Mix-a-Lot’s “Baby Got Back,” (“a common white girl party trick,” she demurs). He reveals an embarrassing, and very personal, Grey’s Anatomy–esque encounter with a hospital resident. And after Alfonso asks Lucy on a date, Lucy’s sister, Jackie (Lily Mae Harrington) comes out and tries to shake his hand—which his disability prevents him from doing. Therefore, she bows. “He’s a data scientist, not a prince,” snaps Lucy.
[Read Frank Schecks’s ★★★★☆ review here.]
Back at home—where Lucy and Jackie live with their mom and Jackie’s fiancé, Moose (Brian Furey Morabito)—the reaction from mom Connie (Emmy and Golden Globe winner Kyra Sedgwick), a nail tech trying to transition into the illustrious world of in-home knife sales due to her debilitating back pain, is less than encouraging: “What!? You can’t go on a date.” Jackie tries her best to help, explaining that “he’s disabled” as well and “he also has a voice thing!” Connie digs in: “And as long as you’re living in my house, you’re under my rules.” She thinks their time would be better spent praying; she’s “asking God every night” about Lucy. “Did God tell you when my personal miracle intervention is coming?” Lucy replies. “I’d like to make sure it doesn’t conflict with the Top Chef finale.”
Meanwhile, in a more moneyed area of town, every area of Alfonso’s house—where he’ll be living with his own personal assistant—is wheelchair-accessible. “Being able to go in any room you want. A bed lift. Your house is fancy,” Lucy comments. “Accessibility. So fancy,” he says.
But in this case, it is—and that’s a big part of All of Me. Rather than focusing solely on the differences between the disabled and the non-disabled characters, Winters highlights their class circumstances. Lucy uses a scooter; Danny uses a wheelchair. Yes, both are motorized, but the latter moves much more smoothly, and looks easier to maneuver. Lucy can’t just go out and buy a replacement for her rickety wooden ramp; as Connie reminds her: “Carpenters aren’t free, Lucy. You know a new, custom ramp is actually quite expensive.” Connie wants Lucy to work as a greeter at Walmart, but it’s not quite that easy. “If I work at any regular, taxable job, they’ll reduce my disability benefits, and it’ll all cancel out,” she explains to Moose.
After a very awkward meet-the-parent scene between just-say-no Connie and Alfonso’s mom, the casual Valium user Elena (the terrific Florencia Lozano), Connie says she’s calling the STAR bus, “the wheelchair accessible bus that you have to call…” Yes, of course, says Elena: “I know what the STAR bus is. I just—” “Yeah, you’ve just never had to use it,” spits Connie.
There are a few bumps on the road to happily ever after; in fact, Winters doesn’t wrap everything up that neatly. But Alfonso and Lucy do dance in the final scene—and as we know from any good Shakespearean comedy, end-of-play dancing pretty much equals a happy ending.
All of Me opened May 14, 2024, at the Pershing Square Signature Center and runs through June 16. Tickets and information: thenewgroup.org
