Review: His Girl Friday

It is really hard to write a blog post about a play in which the writing is superior to the writing you’re going to be able to use to write about it. Such is my dilemma.

His Girl Friday, now at the La Jolla Playhouse, was written by Broadway stud John Guare (Six Degrees of Separation). The “romantic newsroom comedy” is an updated, adapted version of both the movie His Girl Friday and the play The Front Page—only this time it is set in 1939, on the brink of World War II.

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In the press room at a Chicago courthouse, reporters wait for the hanging of a man named Earl. Meantime, ex-reporter Hildy Johnson (played brilliantly by Jenn Lyon) is back for a visit, just before her upcoming wedding. Enter her ex-husband and newspaper owner Walter Burns (Douglas Sills, another major standout), who wants her back—and working on a story about Earl, who he thinks is innocent.

The snappy dialogue, the humor, and the detailed set (designed by Robert Brill) make this three-hour play fly by. Put simply, this is one of the best shows I have seen in San Diego, not just at the Playhouse. Normally, to see this kind of theater, you have to first pay for a plane ticket to New York. So get thee to the Playhouse. I will say no more.

Review: His Girl Friday

Kevin Berne