Burn This

Love is often categorized by a blaze of passion or by the dying embers of what it once was. There are few stories that attempt to portray this gritty journey of two people madly in love with each other as deeply as Lanford Wilson’s Burn This. First released in 1987, the play has enjoyed critical acclaim for various performances over the decades. The underlying themes of gay identity are evident at multiple points in the play.

Michael Mayer, the renowned director who won a Tony Award for the 2007 hit musical Spring Awakening, takes the reins and directs the play to near perfection. Starring Emmy-nominee Adam Driver from the Star Wars (2015) fame and Golden Globe-winner Keri Russell, Burn This is certain to be a sensational hit at Broadway this season.

Following the funeral of a young gay dancer named Robbie who died an untimely death in a boat accident, the play opens with Robbie’s distraught dance partner and choreographer Anna in her lower Manhattan apartment. She is joined by her longtime boyfriend Burton and the confident ad man Larry. Burton is a struggling screenwriter who has failed to reignite the magic in their dying relationship. When Robbie’s elder brother Pale, a cocaine-snorting hotel manager, bursts in unexpectedly at the scene, it is love at first sight. Pale is not a particularly refined individual, but Anna finds herself relentless and inexplicably attracted to him.

This intriguing exploration of love in its rawest form is truly one of its kind.

Adult Audiences | Fans of Romantic Plays

“Since its 1987 premiere, Lanford Wilson's drama "Burn This," about four New Yorkers coming to terms with tragedy, has been a showcase for several shades of Pale.”
– Chicago Tribune