When you enter Byrdland Records near Union Market to take in Bob Bartlett’s immersive, site-specific play Love and Vinyl, be prepared to experience a sweetly funny and tenderly heartfelt rom-com that will amuse you and move you in surprising ways. For starters, the plot turns out to be not at all what the setup would suggest.
It’s nighttime; interior; a hip, urban record store stocked with racks and racks of LPs — rock, punk, metal, soul, hip-hop, pop, dance, gospel, blues, reggae, jazz, DC Go-Go — a veritable vinylophile’s heaven.
The sole proprietor, a woman, has closed up shop and gone to a back room but not locked the front door. She lives upstairs, alone. Suddenly, a man comes through the door, followed soon by another. From their bro badinage, we get that this rendevous was premeditated. And abruptly, the lights go out.
Contrary to what that darkling circumstance might foreshadow, there is in this mise en scene no menace; no tropes of threat pop up; no vibe of impending violence can be discerned. For as it turns out, a circuit is simply overloaded, the proprietress is expecting an electrician, and these two men — friends since ninth grade who keep calling each other “duuude” in the most endearing way — are actually lonely and lovelorn and have come to hang out tonight in their shared love of… vinyl.
“There’s some real creepers out there,” says the sagacious woman, aptly named Sage. “Please don’t be creepers.”
“Oh, we’re so not creepers,” says the woebegone first man, Bogie.
“Well, no,” says Sage. “You don’t seem like creepers.”
And they’re not. They’re really not. Which is among this poignant play’s touching and estimable qualities.
It quickly becomes clear that what’s at stake in Love and Vinyl is romantic love itself. Bogie’s buddy is Zane (as in “in-Zane”), agitated and in anguish because he’s just been dumped by his girlfriend — in a hilarious offstage episode involving a meatball. Will Zane’s ex take him back? Will Bogie’s shy interest in Sage be reciprocated? Will Sage, who has had her fill of men who’ve treated her badly, happen upon a dude who’s good? Suspense and infatuation are in the air (along with a delightful running hipster discourse on love), and how Bartlett sorts it all out is an unalloyed joy.
The production is graced by three actors whose exceptional performances we get to appreciate up close (Byrdland record shop is small and seats only 30).
Playing Bogie is James J. Johnson, expressing the character’s awkward longing as relatably as can be, and Carlos Saldaña, playing Zane, is a bundle of energy and heartbreak. Their interplay is precious (“It’s okay to cry, they keep reassuring each other; they body-slam into bearhugs; they genuinely support each other and care about each other’s love life). Among Bogie and Zane’s scenes together are two comic knockouts: One, when they roleplay how it might go if Zane got back together with his ex. And another, when reminiscing for Sage about their badass teenage garage band, they rock out and air-guitar their eff-bombed signature song.
Sage plays keyboards in a one-woman band all her own (named Sage), and Rachel Manteuffel portrays her with a wry bemusement befitting the character’s self-possession and smarts. She is given to mindblowing monologues such as this:
SAGE: … A great song – almost unlike any other art – imprints itself onto us profoundly – it reminds us of home – and a time when we believed we were safe and loved. We hear a song on the radio – like this one – and then we hear it again and again – and then we buy it – and listen again and again times infinity until it’s blasting from a boom box and we’re crying in the middle of the woods in the middle of the night because we’re in love with the wrong person who doesn’t love us back. The soundtrack of our youth, it’s never far away – we’re always chasing it down, or running from it until decades later we inexplicably love it again.
BOGIE: That was one of the most beautiful commentaries on music, popular music, vinyl, I’ve ever heard spoken from human lips.
SAGE: Sage. Wisdom. Wisdom from Sage.
With nary a hint of braggadocio, Bogie and Zane regard Sage highly; indeed, they esteem her; and Sage, in turn, welcomes their company with approximately the courtesy and attentiveness she might show customers. A needy lady meets two creepers this plot is not.
Costume designer Kathryn Kawecki puts the men in fanboy tees (Zane’s is Buena Vista Social Club; Bogie’s, Purple Rain) and Sage in a funky-glam black dress, jewelry, and gloveless sleeves. The realness reads.
Saldaña also directs this lovely “love romp” (as the playwright called it on opening night), utilizing the spare space for maximum dramatic effect. The believability is beholdable.
Late in the play — as a glitterball sparkles the shop — all three characters share an impromptu freestyle dance interlude to the tune of “If I Can’t Have You.” It’s an inspired and transcendent moment.
As fans of vinyl attest, quick-clicking digital tracks is not the same satisfaction as gently setting a stylus upon a spinning LP. Love and Vinyl is a fond homage to that music retrieval medium. In a deeper sense, though, the play harks back to even more: It is a heartening reminder that respectful romantic relating has not gone out of style.
Running Time: Approximately one hour and 35 minutes with no intermission.
Love and Vinyl plays through March 9, 2025 (Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays at 8:30 PM) at Byrdland Records, 1264 5th Street NE, Washington, DC. Because of the uniqueness of the venue/performance space, the production seats only 30 guests per performance. Audience seating is provided. There is no late seating. Tickets ($35 plus taxes and venue processing fee) are available here.
The program for Love and Vinyl is online here.
Love and Vinyl
By Bob Bartlett
Directed by Carlos Saldaña
Costume design by Kathryn Kawecki
CAST
Bogie: James J. Johnson
Zane: Carlos Saldaña
Sage: Rachel Manteuffel
SEE ALSO:
Meet the magic of ‘Love and Vinyl’ right inside Byrdland Records (interview by Danielle Ignacio, February 7, 2025)
Bob Bartlett’s ‘Love and Vinyl’ to play at DC’s Byrdland Records (news story, January 14, 2025)
‘Love and Vinyl’ spins a fascinating and funny story in a real record shop (review of the play at KA-CHUNK!! Records in Annapolis by Cybele Pomeroy, July 9, 2023)
‘Love and Vinyl’ to mix it up at KA-CHUNK!! Records in Annapolis (feature by Kathryn Kawecki, June 14, 2023)