This play has one of the best, best opening scenes I have ever watched. Three women, recently engaged, stumble into the theatre and alternately squeal, swoon, bicker, complain, apologize and, well, act girly. They squeal over their rings, bicker over pictures of their beloveds, and argue and apologize about the partying they used to do and will do no more because, well, it's like this: things change when you're engaged.

It is written with precision and depth and performed to perfection. It is, as they say, a hard act to follow.

I like Adam Bock's work. This is the second play of his that I have seen, the first being The Receptionist, and I like the path that his mind has carved out of the writing forest. He has a knack for creating dialogue that works its way up the hill in switchback fashion. In The Drunken City, Bock takes us through the loop-de-loop that is love, engagement and wedding planning, and swirls us into the messy mix that is friendship and fear.

Three women start out engaged. In the next scene only two of them remain so, but all three are drunk and wandering around Manhattan. They happen upon two guys in a similar condition, and the most imminent bride-to-be walks off hand-in-hand with a man she just met. There is a nice touch of casting here, with the bride being tall, round, and blonde and her new paramour tall, muscular, and very black. No one bats an eye at this – which might happen in real life but rarely happens on stage.

The center of the story is the bride-to-be who admits she got engaged by accident and then didn’t know how to back out of it. That in a nutshell is all there is, and when Bock has another go at this play he may use that story, and the first scene, as fodder for something that will land on its feet.

This play doesn’t quite make it to the standing position, but it still has wonderful moments of surprise with excellent performances – including a few tap steps - to match. This is the purpose for which places like the Sharp Theatre at Playwrights were created. It’s called process, and this author will be the better for it. Just you wait and see.

THE DRUNKEN CITY
By Adam Bock; directed by Trip Cullman

WITH: Cassie Beck (Marnie), Mike Colter (Frank), Maria Dizzia (Melissa), Barrett Foa (Eddie), Sue Jean Kim (Linda) and Alfredo Narciso (Bob).

Sets by David Korins; costumes by Jenny Mannis; lighting by Matthew Richards; sound by Bart Fasbender; music by Michael Friedman; choreography by John Carrafa.

Presented by Playwrights Horizons, Tim Sanford, artistic director. At the Playwrights Horizons Peter Jay Sharp Theater, 416 West 42nd Street, NYC; (212) 279-4200. Through April 20. Running time: 1 hour 20 minutes.