One way to evaluate a new work is to place it against works of art from other times that deal with similar subjects and settings, and determine whether the insights and achievements of those earlier works have been enlarged and built upon—whether, in fact, the work under consideration makes contemporaneous an old tale. The Iceman Cometh and That Championship Season most readily come to mind as predecessors to The Men's Club.

The Men's Club also deals mainly with a group of men in a male domain. While it is not a play, its form (it is almost entirely in dialogue rather than narration), makes it seem akin to one. And Michaels's forte is the creation of some of the most piercing dialogue I have read recently.

In such a comparison, The Men's Club succeeds at a high level. It does take us further. It is no masterpiece...