Torch Song

A-

I was worried about seeing Second Stage’s revival of Harvey Fierstein’s award winning play for a  couple of reasons. First, I was afraid that a script that seemed so fresh and daring in 1982 might seem merely tired and dated today. Secondly, I feared that Fierstein's indelible performance in the original might prevent me from appreciating Michael Urie. Fortunately I needn’t have worried on either count. I had forgotten how ahead of his time Fierstein was in his treatment of long-term gay relationships and gay adoption and how forcefully he dealt with the importance of living an authentic life. As to Urie (Buyer and Cellar; The Government Inspector), he has made Arnold Beckoff, the Jewish drag queen from Brooklyn,  his own. It’s a different Arnold from Fierstein’s, but an equally valid one. He knows how to get the laughs without straining for them. It helps that he is supported by an excellent cast: Ward Horton as Ed, the bisexual teacher Arnold has an off-and-on affair with; Roxanna Hope Radja as Laurel, Ed’s long-suffering girlfriend; Michael Rosen (On the Town) as Alan, the young model Arnold takes up with after Ed; Jack DiFalco (Marvin’s Room) as David, the gay teenager Arnold is foster parenting; and Mercedes Ruehl (Lost in Yonkers, Other People’s Money) as Arnold’s mother [a role originated by Estelle Getty]. The first act, “International Stud,” set in 1971, is named after a Village gay bar with a notorious backroom where a key scene takes place. The second act “Fugue in a Nursery,” set three years later, is formally clever but lacks emotional punch. The final act “Widows and Children First,” set in 1980, is the longest and most dramatic. In my opinion, it could use a bit of a trim. The direction by Moises Kaufman has many grace notes throughout. The scenic design by David Zinn captures the period, as do the costumes by Clint Ramos. I was happy to find the play alive and kicking and still able to provide an entertaining evening. Running time: two hours 45 mintues including intermission.

Marvin's Room

B-

I do not mean to denigrate Scott McPherson’s award-winning play when I say that a significant reason for the acclaim it received in the early 1990’s was because it was seen as a metaphor for the AIDS crisis. The playwright made this connection explicit in a program note for the 1990 Hartford production. The tragic death of both McPherson and his lover, at the age of 33, drew still more attention to the play. While the scourge of AIDS is far from over, it is no longer the death sentence it was then and the crisis has mostly receded from public view. When I learned that Roundabout Theatre was reviving the play and giving it a Broadway debut, I was very curious to see how well it would stand up unsupported by the context of the early 90’s. The answer, for me at least, is pretty well. Roundabout has assembled a strong cast. Lili Taylor (The Library) is quietly powerful as Bessie, the sister who pulled up her roots in Ohio two decades prior to move to Florida to care for her father Marvin, whose ailments include cancer, multiple strokes and diabetes. Marvin (Carman Lacivita) is visible only as a sihouette, but his cries and gurgles are occasionally heard. The household also includes her dotty Aunt Ruth (a fine Celia Weston) who has recently had wires implanted in her brain to control debilitating back pain. A running gag is that her device opens the garage door whenever she uses it. A crisis develops when Bessie is diagnosed with leukemia by inept Dr. Wally (Triney Sandoval; Important Hats of the Twentieth Century), whose shtick is almost vaudevillian. When a bone marrow transplant is deemed her best option, she contacts her long-estranged sister Lee (a terrific Janeane Garololo [Russian Transport] in her Broadway debut) who, when their father had his first stroke, made the decision not to let his problems interfere with her life. We first meet her conferring with Dr. Charlotte (Nedra McClyde; A Life), the psychiatrist at the youth facility where her sullen 17-year-old son Hank (Jack DiFalco) has been confined for setting fire to the family home. Hank’s younger brother Charlie (Luca Padovan) loves to read but does poorly in school. Lee and her two sons travel to Florida to be tested as possible matches for Bessie. Except for a farcical scene between the sisters and the director of a retirement home (also McClyde), the second act lacks the absurdist humor of the first. Even a visit to Disney World turns somber. The ending, while hardly happy, is somewhat comforting. To quote McPherson’s program note, “At times, even an unbelievably harsh fate is transcended by a simple act of love, by caring for another.” While Roundabout should be praised for bringing this play to a new generation, I wish they had chosen to mount it in one of their smaller venues. It’s an intimate story that seems a bit lost in the vastness of the American Airlines Theatre. The casting is strong. Taylor and Garofolo are plausible as sisters. Jack DiFalco, while promising,  needs to work harder to project his voice; during a critical scene, only half of what he said was audible from the fourth row. Laura Jellinek’s (The Antipodes, A Life) set has a long curving back wall of decorative concrete blocks on which green palms are very faintly projected to suggest Florida. Glass block is used for a partition that revolves with part of the set as well as for the window of Marvin’s room. A gigantic revolving carousel roof descends and an enormous figure of Captain Hook appears for the Disney World scene. A much simpler set would have served the play better. Jessica Pabst’s (Cost of Living) costumes are unobtrusive, except for one humorously spangly number for Ruth. Anne Kauffman’s (A Life, Marjorie Prime) direction captures both the play's absurdity and its compassion. Seeing the play again was a reminder of how tragic it was to lose a promising young playwright who might have had an important place in American theater. Running time: 2 hours 20 minutes including intermission.