Opus K. Poverman, New rep. reviewer

Opus
I feel like I’ve been really critical about the last couple of New Rep’s productions this season, but I’m afraid that “Opus,” which is currently playing there, is not going to break my crabby streak.
“Opus” has been described as a play that thoughtfully examines the tensions that can exist between love and friendship and a quest for greatness. A more apt description is that “Opus” is a play that explores how willing friends, colleagues and lovers are to throw each other under a bus when it is personally or professionally convenient to do so. I have to admit that a strong performance of the piece could lead to the first construction. However, the New Rep’s tepid production leads to the latter.
The play starts out with Grammy-winning Lazara Quartet seeking a fourth member because it has lost its viola player, Dorian. Dorian, the most talented and creative member of the group, has gone off his meds and has had a nervous breakdown. The only one who knows this is his lover Elliott, the lead violinist, who recently dumped Dorian. The other two members of the Quartet, Alan and Carl, have no idea where Dorian has gone or why. They are mildly concerned by his absence, but this concern is not great enough to stop them from seeking his replacement. They end up offering the position to Grace, a talented young viola player. Although she is flattered by the job offer, the nebbishy Grace is nervous about taking the job; she has heard stories about the group, such as one member threatening to tear another‘s head off. (Puh-leeze. Where did this girl grow up? Disneyworld?) However, Grace overcomes her fears and joins the Quartet, whose members soon show themselves to be as dysfunctional as she had feared. The group holds things together enough to perform at the White House, but things fall apart soon after that. Dorian reappears and challenges the new status quo and the group has to decide which four of them will compose the Lazara Quartet from that point on (this is where the throwing- under- the- bus bit comes in).
The telling of this story was quite slow for the first hour and if there had been an intermission I would have been tempted to leave. However, things picked up in the last twenty minutes or so, during the showdown about the future of the quartet. I’m not sure it was worth waiting for. That said, members of the musical cognoscenti appeared to enjoy the show more than I did. This may be because they could appreciate the audacity of playing Beethoven’s Opus 133 at the presidential inauguration, while I could not. It is certainly true that the two women sitting behind me, who had been members of string quartets, enjoyed the play much more than the rest of the audience. They were often the only ones who laughed at the actors’ lines. This was probably because they understood nuances that passed the rest of us by. When the play was over, they commented on how well the play captured the internecine bickering in string quarters. So, at least the play was realistic. If this is enough for you, then you may enjoy the play. If it is not, you might, like me, find “Opus” dull and uninspiring.