I’ve seen the 1938 movie Holiday, based on the 1928 Philip Barry play, several times. It’s a favorite of mine, but I’d never seen the play.

With the original play’s copyright expiring on January 1, 2025, the time was ripe for an updated adaptation and the now late Richard Greenberg jumped right in and had a new script ready to go before the expiration, as evidenced by the October 21, 2024 one-night only benefit reading done by The Acting Company in New York.

I’ll start by saying that, alas, there was no Cary Grant (Johnny Case) or Katherine Hepburn (Linda Seton) in the Goodman cast. (Rachel Brosnahan played Linda in the benefit reading – that would have been fun to see.)

The Grant and Hepburn characters had great chemistry in the movie. I didn’t feel that in this production.

What did jump out at me was that Ned, the alcoholic brother, had all the best lines, all the laughs, and the actor, Wesley Taylor, did not go too far over the top, as often can be the case when heavy drinkers are portrayed.

That said, I agree with one review I saw that spoke to the relative lack of “investment in the very real issue of addiction.” But it’s basically a romantic comedy, despite it’s philosophical overtones, so two hours away from real life is okay for me.

And speaking of the laughs, I didn’t think the actors did a great job of letting them happen, walking into some of their lines a little too quickly.

The sets were excellent, but the changeover during the second act, done behind a dropped curtain while the audience sat in the dark and silence wondering what the hell was going on, needs to be addressed.

Greenberg didn’t miss a trick in updating the 1920’s script, keeping the skeleton of the show, but throwing in NFTs, cryptocurrency, text messaging, social media, red eye flights and the kitchen sink.
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The play is set in Dec. 2019-Jan. 2020, which makes it the second show I’ve seen recently (after Eureka Day) that is placed on the cusp of Covid. Strangely, it reminds me of the way plot lines had to change when cell phones took over the universe.