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(It's Been 76 Years And We're) Still Waiting for Lefty

Theatre Unleashed · Ages 13+ · United States of America

world premiere
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(it's been 76 years and we're) still waiting for lefty

Review by SHARI BARRETT

August 12, 2021 broadway world and the culver city news
tagged as: speak up · change · society · relevant · ensemble

What I liked

The visual presentation was stunning with cast members often moving and freezing in artistic formation in profile against a bright background. And the more that was said, the more relevant the play became to today’s overly depressing and hopeless state of the world. But then, that is the real purpose of art, to address society around us and hope to change things for the better by opening up a window of recognition. Be sure to read the graphics on the wall during the last scene as they send home a message of hope to those wiling to take steps to make things better rather than waiting around for someone else to do it for us.

What I didn't like

All the pieces worked well together, although on occasion it was a bit difficult to understand some of the dialogue during the virtual presentation. It was have been great to have the words of the songs broadcast as I am sure more laughter would have been generated due to the subject matter going by so fast that is was easy to miss the meaning.

My overall impression

This show speaks directly to the woes of current society, be it at home, in the workplace, online, because of the pandemic, lack of good jobs or fair housing, in the news, believing everything you read online, or due to discrimination in all its forms. In each of the scenes, it becomes apparent that everyone is waiting for someone else to fix the problem, and while we all can see them and comment on them, nothing is getting done because we are still “waiting for Lefty” to do something about it. Problem is, Lefty isn’t coming. In fact, there probably isn’t anyone named Lefty. So while Tik Tok and Instagram offer quick and fun entertainment, often addressing problems to be fixed, how will anything really get done if we continually wait for someone else? Politicians don’t know, that’s for sure. I guess the message I really took away from this show was that the more things change, the more they stay the same. So let’s just get up and dance. And how can we keep living this way? How? And yet, we do. Must history always keep repeating itself?

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(it's been 76 years and we're) still waiting for lefty