“Given what’s going on in the world right now, a journey back in time sounds very appealing. The Bent is offering audiences just that with its latest production, Paul Rudnick’s The New Century.
The time is the early 2000s. We survived Y2K without all of our electronic devices permanently crashing; Pokémon was all the rage.
The New Century is largely a series of monologues, beginning with “Pride and Joy,” in which Helene Nadler (Adina Lawson) speaks to the Long Island chapter of Parents of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, the Transgendered, the Questioning, the Curious, the Creatively Concerned and Others. She explains how she deeply loves all three of her gay offspring—including her son Ronnie, who has become Veronica; her lesbian daughter; and her youngest son, who’s into bondage and scatology. Claiming to be the “most accepting, tolerant mother of all time,” Helene recounts how she knew her daughter was gay because of her occupation (she’s a professional tennis player), her pets (cats named Alice and Mrs. Dalloway) and her hairstyle (like that of a young Amish boy)…”
