The Perplexed

D+

Let me begin with quotes from two previous reviews:

“No one knows how to pander to a Manhattan Theatre Club audience better than Richard Greenberg. String together some witty one-liners, throw in a Jewish matron, add a few Yiddish words, mention Great Neck at least once and, voila, MTC awaits with open arms.” (Our Mother’s Brief Affair)

“There seems to be something about Manhattan Theatre Club’s Stage I at City Center that inspires scenic designers. Some of the finest set designs I have seen in New York have been at that theater. … Unfortunately, the “magic” effect of MTC’s Stage I on set designers does not seem to apply to playwrights. I have seen too many clunkers with great sets here, including this one.” (Long Lost)

Alas, both of these observations could apply just as well to Greenberg’s latest effort, now in previews at MTC. While the mention of Great Neck may be missing this time, we get not one but two Jewish matrons. Lest he ignore any segment of the typical MTC audience, he includes a gay character as well.

Once again, Santo Loquasto is the true star of the evening. I thought his set of a grand CPW apartment for The Assembled Parties could not be topped, but this set of a library off the ballroom of a Fifth Avenue apartment comes very close. If only what took place on the set were as impressive as the set itself!

The ten characters are all attending a wedding which, for some reason, starts with a reception and dancing and concludes with vows at midnight. The apartment belongs to the unseen Berland Stahl, a much-hated real estate bigwig, and grandfather of the bride Isabelle (Tess Frazer; Mary Page Marlowe). Her parents are Joseph (Frank Wood; Side Man, Network) and Evy (Margaret Colin; Jackie, Defiance), who is a NYC councilwoman. Her brother Micah (Zane Pais; Dead Poets Society) has just been involved in a scandal. Her uncle James (Patrick Breen; The New Englanders, Next Fall) is an author whose popularity has passed. We learn that Isabelle’s family have been disinherited by Berland after some messy lawsuits.

The groom is Caleb Resnick (JD Taylor; Apologia, The Last Match), a do-gooder, whose parents Ted (Gregg Edelman; City of Angels, Passion) and Natalie (Ilana Levine; You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown) had a falling-out with the Stahls 20 years ago. The officiant is Cyrus Bloom (Eric Williams Morris; King Kong, Coram Boy), a long-time family friend whose career path led from Wall Street to the rabbinate to teaching. Patricia (Anna Itty; India Pale Ale) is Berlind’s Guyanan home aide.

Different combinations of characters enter the library and talk and talk and talk. Occasionally there is a witty line to remember. What little plot there is hardly piqued my interest. While it was a pleasure to see a few actors I always enjoy (Breen, Colin and Wood), it was not pleasure enough to make the dreary proceedings more bearable. While I admire MTC director Lynne Meadows’s dogged support of Greenberg over the years even though he has never produced a hit for them, I wish she would try harder to find new talent. Much as I enjoy their excellent sets, I wish they would spend less on sets and more on play development. Running time: two hours 30 minutes including intermission.

         

The New Englanders

B

In Jeff Augustin’s (Little Children Dream of God) absorbing new play at Manhattan Theatre Club’s Stage II, we meet a handful of residents of a picture-perfect New England town, plus one interloper. The central character is Eisa (Karla Young; Pretty Hunger), the 17-year-old mixed-race daughter of an interracial same-sex marriage. The Caucasian father is Samuel Stein (Patrick Breen; Next Fall, Fuddy Meers), a tech salesman whose job takes him out of town on alternate weeks. He sees life through rose-colored glasses that show him only what we wants to see, uninfluenced by reality. Aaron (Teagle F. Bougere; Socrates, Beast in the Jungle), the African-American biological father and primary parent, wanted to be a writer but ended up stifled in a dead-end part-time newspaper job. Now that Eisa is leaving the nest, Aaron would like to move to the city, but Samuel resists. The couple have spent many a session with an unseen feckless therapist whose platitudes have been of little benefit. Growing up different in a virtually all-white environment has made Eisa hard-edged and willful. She is eager to start a better life at NYU. Her unhappy English teacher Miss Charpie (Crystal Finn; Bobbie Cleary, Pocatello) thinks Eisa is her only bright student, but locks horns with her when she fails to complete an assignment. Aaron is visited by his Latino first love Raul (Javier Muñoz; Hamilton), with whom he broke up cruelly when they graduated high school. Raul has become a drifter, not putting down roots anywhere. His visit stirs Aaron’s thoughts about the road not taken. Atlas (Uly Schlesinger), who goes to high school with Eisa, works at a Chuck E. Cheese, where he sells pot on the side to earn money for college. He meets Samuel under rather implausible circumstances. Atlas is also eager to learn about the music that Eisa listens to. She’s a big Lauryn Hill fan, which would have meant more to me if I had heard her music. I guess the royalties would have been too high. The confrontation between Eisa and her teacher gradually escalates to dangerous heights. The consequences of Eisa’s actions lead Aaron to confront Samuel about the deep fractures in their marriage. My initial warm feelings grew cooler as the plot grew messier. Nevertheless, the play has much to recommend it. Seeing the dynamics of an interracial, same-sex marriage from the viewpoint of the child is enlightening. Getting a glimpse of the drug problem typical of small New England towns is timely. The lead actors are all very good. Ms. Young shows great promise. The role of Raul is too underwritten to show much of Mr. Munoz’s talent. Saheem Ali’s (The Rolling Stone) direction is smooth. Arnulfo Maldonado’s (Sugar in Our Wounds, School Girls) set is both attractive and functional. Dede Ayite’s (Slave Play) costumes are appropriate. I wish the last 15 minutes were better, but even with this reservation, the play is worth seeing. At the performance I attended, the audience was refreshingly diverse. Running time: one hour 45 minutes; no intermission.

Dada Woof Papa Hot ***

Yet another play about life among the white and wealthy gay residents of Manhattan? That was my first reaction upon learning about Peter Parnell’s unfortunately titled new play at Lincoln Center’s Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater. My lack of enthusiasm was misplaced. The play examines interesting questions of what has been gained and what has been lost with the arrival of gay marriage and gay parenthood. At the play’s center are two sets of gay fathers — Alan (John Benjamin Hickey) and Rob (Patrick Breen), the former a writer, the latter a psychotherapist, both in their forties — and a younger couple they meet at a gay parents’ group — staid financier Scott (Stephen Plunkett) and studly painter Jason (Alex Hurt). We also meet a straight couple —Alan’s best friend Michael (John Pankow), whose latest show on Broadway has just flopped, and his wife Serena (Kellie Overbey) — and Julia (Tammy Blanchard), an actress they both know. We follow them over the course of a year as they navigate pitfalls of parenthood and marriage, some common to all marriages and others unique to gay couples. The production is top-notch with an excellent cast, a wonderful set by John Lee Beatty that elegantly reconfigures to half a dozen locations, appropriate costumes by Jennifer von Mayrhauser and smooth direction by Scott Ellis. Parnell’s snappy dialogue is a treat. The play does sag slightly towards the end, but not enough to spoil it. Running time: one hour, 40 minutes; no intermission. NOTE: there is brief male frontal nudity, almost a requirement these days.

Wild Animals You Should Know *

I know the year has several weeks to go, but I think it is safe to say that Thomas Higgins' new play now in an MCC production at the Lucille Lortel will prove to be one of the worst I have seen this year. The material is hardly original: take confused teenager, adoring friend, sensitive scoutmaster, distant parents, fat drunk for comic relief -- shake and stir. As high school friends Matthew and Jacob, Jay Armstrong Johnson and Gideon Glick look a bit long in the tooth. John Behlmann and Daniel Stuart Sherman make the best of stereotypical roles. Not even fine actors like Alice Ripley and Patrick Breen can breathe life into the wooden dialog they are saddled with. About two minutes into the play, Matthew strips to his jockey shorts as an online birthday gift to Jacob. It's all downhill from there. Running time: 95 minutes without intermission.