By popular demand, writer, performer, and downtown legend Nora Burns brings her highly acclaimed theatrical memoir David’s Friend, which made its debut at La Mama in 2017, to SoHo Playhouse through August 10, running in rep with her other hit autobiographical reflection The Village! A Disco Daydream. Directed by Adam Pivirotto, the whirlwind multimedia celebration of a crazy friendship she shared with a gay bestie, lost to AIDS in 1993, has all the elements of Burns’ signature style; it’s a wildly hedonistic, laugh-out-loud hilarious, vividly nostalgic, and ultimately poignant look at love, loss, and youthful abandon set to a disco beat at a critical time in the 1970s-80s, in the city that never sleeps. Unlike Boston (where the two first met as seventeen-year-old high-school seniors in the summer of 1979, dancing shirtless atop a floor speaker until 2 am, when the club closed).
The ebullient Burns openly recounts her story in first-person direct address to the audience, actively moving around the stage, exuberantly dancing on and off a large speaker to the chart toppers of the disco era (with period-style choreography by Robin Carrigan, lighting by A. Kasper, and sound by Pivirotto), changing her vintage clothing and accessories with the anecdotes she shares (costumes by Paul Alexander), and rolling around the bed in their messy downtown apartments in NYC (sets by Steven Hammel), where she first relocated (ostensibly for college but actually because she knew she belonged here), he followed, and she dropped out of school because it interfered with her nightlife.
As a result, they had to get jobs – she as a stripper and he as a hustler, since she was already dancing topless for fun anyway and he was really good at sex and loved it, so they might as well get paid for it. Through it all, Burns references the journal she kept – naming the iconic venues and people they encountered, and detailing the hot party life they enjoyed – or, she notes, she wouldn’t have remembered anything that went on, courtesy of her over-indulging in poppers, alcohol, and drugs, and staying out all night every night in the gay clubs where she felt at home as a proud, lifelong, self-described “fag hag” – though she still wonders to this day, in a running joke, “Who was Filito?”
Burns is joined on stage by adult entertainer Ricky Roman, who takes on a variety of roles, from DJ and disco dancer to limo driver, hook-ups, and often snarky commentator, then chokes up when he reads a loving letter David wrote to Nora (which she saved, along with all the physical memorabilia from their time together, in a period before social media, Tik-Tok, and selfies). The joyously recounted memories are enhanced with personal photos and videos (video design by Pivirotto) of the BFFs and NYC, some taken by them and some by celebrity photographer, and friend since the ‘80s, Patrick McMullan.
It’s all uninhibited fun and reckless passion until the AIDS epidemic hits hard, things change, David gets sick a lot, moves upstate, and dies at the age of 31. The mood shifts, as an emotional Burns candidly expresses the heartbreak she felt then and the complete and visceral mourning she’s experiencing now that she’s older and he’s been gone for more than 30 years and never got to see her coming into her own or what she would become. She still deeply misses her best friend forever, reciprocates his eternal love, and was inspired to create this moving tribute to him.
David’s Friend honestly and authentically recreates the spirit of 1980s New York for those who lived through it, and brings it to life for those who didn’t, in a funny, bittersweet, and impactful show that captures all the feelings, keeps you laughing, and leaves you wiping away the tears, in a must-see homage to youth, NYC, and a dear friend gone too soon but never forgotten and always loved.
Running Time: Approximately 45 minutes, without intermission.
David’s Friend plays in rep with The Village! A Disco Daydream through August 10, 2024, at SoHo Playhouse, 15 Vandam Street, NYC. For tickets (priced at $36, or $60 for a package of both shows, including fees), go online.