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You could sense that the audience was hungry for laughs on Wednesday night at The Balusters, the new play by David Lindsay-Abaire from Manhattan Theatre Club. And even as it confronts serious matters, this comedy of social commentary delivered. That’s thanks to a pointed story and script, a dazzling single-set production, and a crackerjack cast splendidly directed by Kenny Leon.
Balusters
But first, what is a baluster? Balusters are those upright supports found in stairways and railings, sometimes decoratively turned on a lathe. In the context of the play, balusters are a symbol of preservative efforts for architecture – and a way of life that architecture can represent.
The play centers on meetings of the board of a neighborhood association in a landmarked urban district of elegant Victorian homes. Richard Thomas and Anika Noni Rose lead the ensemble as Elliot and Kyra, respectively the aging, domineering white board president and the firebrand newcomer to the board and neighborhood.
A proposal to improve a dangerous intersection by installing view-marring signs leads nine multicultural board members and (importantly) one housekeeper to face old prejudices and new political correctness. Personal clashes and surprising revelations ensue. It all gets swept up in a thunderous – literally, in one scene – conflagration.
The intermission-less two hours zip by at the speed of sharp comedy, just what a turmoil-battered and war-torn audience needs. But for Elliot (and not only Elliot), the speed of social and demographic change is too much.
Avatars
In one sense, each character serves as an avatar – of his or her ethnic background, generation, perceived place in society. In a more important sense, the cast fuses with Lindsay-Abaire’s script to develop each character into a complex and believable being with internal struggles and contradictions. To describe them simply – the Latino contractor, the gay Black dad, the vegan with a gender-fluid partner, the wisecracking Jewish lady of a certain age – might make the play sound formulaic. But the playwright’s brilliance makes it anything but. The Balusters is a laugh-out-loud comedy with depth.
Oh, and now that we all understand what a baluster is, I’ll leave you hanging as to whether Chekhov’s famous gun rule applies to this object too. It’s not giving anything away to say that each character gets an explosive or at least revelatory moment, and that the last of these may surprise you.
The Balusters is now at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre on Broadway through June 7, 2026.
