NOT SCHOOLED IN SCANDAL
By FRANK SCHECK
Rating: 
May 20, 2008
'GOOD Boys and True" - about a sex scandal at an exclusive all-boys Catholic school - is full of juicy elements: a secret gay relationship between two students, a videotape of a near-rape, a potential coverup by an athletic coach.
So why does Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa's drama, which opened last night, feel so dry?
Set in the late '80s, the play begins as the school's coach (Lee Tergesen) tells Elizabeth (J. Smith-Cameron), the upper-class, doctor mother of the school's star athlete, Brandon (Brian J. Smith), that her son may well be the student seen on the incriminating tape.
Her world on the verge of shattering, Elizabeth confronts her son, who vehemently denies his involvement. But it soon becomes apparent that Brandon isn't quite the paragon he seems.
There's no denying the thoughtfulness of the drama, previously produced at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theater. Exploring the themes of class privilege inherent in his potentially melodramatic (and all-too-timely) story line, the playwright admirably never resorts to sensationalism.
But the play's muted tone fails to sustain our attention, and a late revelation involving a similarly cruel act by Brandon's never-seen father feels artificial.
Although Smith delivers a complexly ambiguous turn as the troubled teen, such normally charismatic performers as Smith-Cameron and Tergesen fail to rise above the blandness of their dialogue.
The most striking element of the production is Derek McLane's set. Its seemingly endless rows of gleaming trophies provide an ironic visual counterpoint to the unsavory subject matter.
GOOD BOYS AND TRUE
