In the Boom Boom Room

by David Rabe

Chrissy, a bright and not-quite-innocent woman with visions of a career as a dancer, finds herself in The Boom Boom Room, a disco/bar in Philadelphia meant to be her first step on the road to stardom. Instead, she finds herself fighting to keep her dreams intact amid the anesthetic sex and stimulation that surround her, the psychological residue of her parent” betrayals, and the bizarre pack of suitors who follow her. In a desperate search for love and hope, Chrissy careens from the seductive mistress of ceremonies at The Boom Boom Room to the earnestly friendly gay man next door to a brutally passionate lover. In its compassionate look at Chrissy’s living nightmare, In the Boom Boom Room is a piercing look at a society dangerously close to our own lives, and a drama that captures both our hearts and our heads.

Genres: Plays, Theatre, Drama

112 pages, Paperback

First published January 19, 1975

Reviews

[Kaysy Ostrom · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't know what to say because I'm doing a scene from this play for my acting class. I should like it - but I'm really not a fan. The play is too nonlinear and abstract for me. It probably all has a deeper meaning but its one that I don't feel like searching for. There are some wonderful scenes and I'm excited to be working on the play and to discover more of its secrets - perhaps it could earn an extra star? Maybe a live version could change my opinion. For now, this play just confuses me.

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

Holy fuck. This play is crazy--the characters speak rather poetically, but sometimes don't make any immediate sense--they're mostly poorly educated, slum kids from Philly, but their perceptions of the world are complex and dark. Imaginative and--well--dark.

[Brian McCann · Rating 1 out of 5]

Such a terrible play. Just. Terrible.

[Em Stern · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic play touching on various significant social issues of the 70's, including racism, sexual abuse, drug abuse, homosexuality, mental illness, cheating, physical abuse, stalking, and most importantly SEX. The play follows naive Chrissy who works as a gogo dancer in Philadelphia, but aims to be on the stages of NYC. Throughout the play she is frequently pressured into sex by many of the male characters. This hopeless romantic searches for love in a city of nihilistic hedonism. She finds her childhood affecting her adulthood when she pieces together that she feels as though her mothers abortion attempt is the reason why Chrissy's entire life has felt like a waste and she was never meant to be here. In addition, the forceful men she has sex with brings up buried trauma for her childhood of someone r*ping her, however her parents deny this ever happening, we find out in the next scene that her father did in fact sexual abuse Chrissy as a child. Chrissy was always a little quirky, but as the play progresses we watch her trauma overcome her as she begins to act "irrationally" and in ways she is not proud of. So many deep and emotionally enriching scenes between Harold (father) and Chrissy throughout the play. As well as, the last scene between Chrissy and Al (10000% so challenging). In addition, Chrissy has multiple monologues throughout and any of them would be perfect for an audition. Susan and Guy also have monologues in there for auditions as well!!! Really challenging play for actors to put on its feet.

[Angelique · Rating 3 out of 5]

The greatest thing about this play, is how seamlessly it goes from scene to scene. It's great and filmatic to be taken from place to place. But I don't think there is room for In the Boom Boom Room anymore, yet, it's still being done. It's a very dated and simple way of asking questions about 'what it means to be a woman'. I'd like to see it, but I doubt it'll ever be revived in London/Dublin/Belfast...

[Bobby Sullivan · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't know why I bother with David Rabe plays. I never like them. This is one of the worst plays I've ever read. Sorry, not sorry.

[Lily · Rating 3 out of 5]

What happens when a male author not only includes major female characters in a work, but tries to capture something of an all-female world?
And further, what should we say when the raison d'etre of she (le main) is to be cornered into these awful gender dynamics, the victim of physical and psychological hate crimes?
For that is how it is, no?
I do not know --- Maybe he has understood something about the fear, THE SCOURGE OF WOMANHOOD, and, shall I suggest it, SOMETHING UNIVERSAL?
Maybe he has even written in a convincing voice, the way an uneducated woman would talk and think ---
But, I read this a couple weeks ago, and the only thing that's sticking in my mind are the stage directions at the end of the play, and the parade of men invading her bathroom.
That being said, any text-on-a-pg that can make me feel sick gets at least 3 stars, the LJ seal of approval.
I will refrain from attempting to make any connection between this woman and "Tanya" in "The Black Monk" -- for everyone's sake.

[Mary Slowik · Rating 2 out of 5]

What can I say?

Given such an awful title, I'd hoped the content might be good enough to justify it. Negative. I concur with another reviewer: this play is crazy. It's an attempt at blending ideas from mid-70's psychoanalysis and sexual politics and street culture into some groundbreaking drama. Maybe it was, once. Reading it now, though, it seemed dated and sexist despite good intentions. There's not even shock value left. I appreciate some of the bravery in subject matter and staging but overall this was a letdown. At least it didn't drag through a third act, in this revised edition.

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

This script plays towards a more abstract type of theater which was definitely something new for me, but at the same time made it a bit more challenging to simply enjoy. I did very much like the character of Chrissy and understood her plight.

[Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although I was in this play, I don't really like it very much. As an actor, it was great fun. But the characters never really experience any redemption and the ending is very unsatisfying...

[Manuela del Campo]

Dulce. sexy. filoso