Look: We've Come Through

by Hugh Wheeler

Comedy ~ Drama, Full length / Belle accepts her plainness, stringy hair and myopia as if they were unalterable. She wears a shapeless sweater which make her even less appealing. She is innocent and vulnerable under the surface of her sophisticated, adult talk. A young man is supposed to take her to Ivan the Terrible, Part II, but he begs off…as others have before. But then Bobby, a shy, overly sensitive boy, arrives to deliver Belle's roommate's dress from the cleaners. He too is an outcast, a closeted homosexual with a fierce distaste for his mother. He is inarticulate, but he and Belle find a kinship, and their relationship hesitantly but cheerfully begins with a trip to Ivan the Terrible, Part II. (4 men, 2 women: 6 total)

Genres: Plays

75 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1963

About the author

Hugh Callingham Wheeler was a British novelist, screenwriter, librettist, poet and translator. He resided in the United States from 1934 until his death and became a naturalized citizen in 1942. He had attended London University.

Under the noms de plume Patrick Quentin, Q. Patrick and Jonathan Stagge, Wheeler was the author or co-author of many mystery novels and short stories. In 1963, his 1961 collection, The Ordeal of Mrs. Snow was given a Special Edgar Award by the Mystery Writers of America. He won the Tony Award and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Book of a Musical in 1973 and 1974 for his books for the musicals A Little Night Music and Candide, and won both again in 1979 for his book for Sweeney Todd.

Reviews

[Doug · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another from the anthology Broadway's Beautiful Losers, which I read due to the author (Sondheim's collaborator on some of his most successful musicals), and because it closed within a week back in 1961, allegedly due to its shocking 'homosexual content'! It's an odd duck, and horribly dated 60 years on - the fact that the lead male character is resigned to having a relationship with a much older man in exchange for money is treated very casually - while the ending is supposed to indicate that he has 'come through' that relationship - by initiating one with the mousey lead female character. Noteworthy also for being the only Broadway appearance of a young Burt Reynolds, who plays a character who ALSO comes on to aforementioned male lead.