Lobby Hero

Nov 4 – 24, 2002 in Goodman's Owen Theatre

2 hours and 9 minutes

Can an ethical dilemma be fodder for an outrageous comedy? If the author is Kenneth Lonergan, the answer is an unqualified “Yes!” In Lobby Hero, Lonergan, the Oscar-nominated writer of the film You Can Count On Me, offers us another encounter with a quartet of endearingly off-center Everymen. The setting is the lobby of a Manhattan high-rise, where security guard Jeff tries to make the most of the graveyard shift, cajoling, joking and talking his way through the night in an attempt to impress both his straight-arrow boss William and the feisty rookie cop Dawn. But when William’s brother is implicated in a brutal murder and Jeff is complicit in covering for him, the hapless lobby guard is confronted with a mind-bending problem: he wants to do the right thing, but he can’t figure out what “the right thing” is.

The hit of the 2001 off-Broadway season, Lobby Hero was hailed by critics as a heartfelt and loopy comedy. John Simon of New York magazine wrote, “Soon after making the year’s best movie, You Can Count On Me, Kenneth Lonergan delights us with his irrepressible Lobby Hero, confirming him as a comic wizard.”