"Butler," now in NYC

[+ beethoven]

I guess this play, previously performed in the Berkshires and in Long Branch, NJ, has arrived in New York under the radar, but it's now at 59 E 59th St until August 28. I saw it Saturday night and LOVED it! Oddly enough, it's about Union General Benjamin F. Butler, and tells how he devised the term "contraband" to justify providing refuge to escaped slaves at Union-occupied Fort Monroe in Virginia.

 

This sounds like a play most people would never want to see in a million years, but it doesn't require any knowledge of the Civil War, nor is it a dry, dull description of law and legalities. It's very funny, and I was amazed to find no historical explanation in the program -- none is needed.

 

It's very well acted and staged. I heard about it on Saturday morning, saw it that night, and I've been urging people to see it ever since.