Introduction:

My initial expectations of the counter were pretty high since I’ve been to broadway shows like spamalot in the past and they were amazing. Broadway shows have great acting, and really interesting stories so it’s always enjoyable to watch them. The counter was located in the roundabout theater and I had some worries about getting lost, but thankfully I didn’t miss the 1 train looking around wondering if I was at the right place (sorry Brendan.)

The Set:

Unfortunately we weren’t allowed to take pictures during the play, but before it started I was able to take one picture of the set. It was an interesting set as it appeared to be a small diner with the windows fogged up to showcase the cold environment it took place in. You can always tell when a character was going into a scene by the shadow of their figure through that window. Apart from that I was surprised at how small the set actually was; however, looking back the miniature sized set played into the intimacy and perspective of the show and it was perfect since there weren’t that many members of the cast.

Picture of The Counter Set

The Characters:

In the cast, there weren’t a lot of background characters and people that don’t really add anything to the story. Every character that we were introduced to had a purpose to move the story along and it was refreshing not having to remember 20 different characters that don’t really serve a purpose into the main theme & story. The counter only starred Anthony Edwards as Paul, Susannah Flood as Katie, and Amy Warren as Peg. Paul was initially introduced as an alcoholic man who had trouble sleeping and seemed a little crazy, Katie just as the waitress with potential comedic relief, and Peg as the respected town Doctor. But, we learned about the specific intricacies of their relationships and stories later within the plot.

The Plot: 

During the start of the show, I actually thought it was really boring, but during the exposition it actually started to get pretty interesting. Paul had mentioned that he wanted to become friends with Katie and she reluctantly accepted his request. They shared their darkest secrets with each other: Paul wanted his death to be a surprise, so he bought poison from the dark web and gave it to Katie, asking her to put it in his drink one day. Katie, on the other hand, spoke about her “boyfriend,” who had left 26 voicemails, and revealed that she had moved away because of her hysterectomy. Their relationship had an interesting dynamic because of its evolution overtime. At first, they were just a waitress and a frequent customer conversing, but by the end it seemed like they had a need for each other. The one day Paul didn’t come Katie had actually been worried about him as her routine of talking to him each day she worked was broken, meaning that she actually started to care about him.

Conclusion/Final Thoughts: 

The ending was in my opinion terrible since it left off on a cliffhanger as Katie received another voicemail from her friend, where he mentioned that he had talked to her mother and moved closeby to meet her again, and Paul encouraged her to go to him as it wasn’t too late to take another chance at life. Paul and Katie said their final goodbyes and that was the end of the show. I realize I did leave a lot of details out like how Paul was in the peace corps, Paul saving a family from a fire, and how Paul had an affair with Peg, but I think the theme mainly revolved around Katie’s and Paul’s relationship so, I chose to sort of leave those out from the plot. Overall, I did end up enjoying the show, but it wasn’t really my type of show if I am being honest and the jokes they made were really dry, however the story was pretty interesting so it wasn’t the worst thing in the world.