Minefields Deftly Maneuvered in Mothers and Sons

Terrence McNally has somehow created a hopeful show out of pain, anger and loneliness at the Golden Theater, were Tyne Daly heads an amazing cast in Mothers and Sons.  Like only the very best of plays, it leaves you at once both anxious and anticipatory of what comes next.

Bobby Steggert, Frederick Weller, Grayson Taylor and Tyne Daly.

The premise is deceptively straightforward. Tyne Daly plays Katharine Gerard, a formidable Yankee who has dwelled in Dallas since her marriage.  Her son, Andre, died of AIDS almost 30 years ago, and she has come to New York to visit her son’s surviving lover, Cal.

Cal, Frederick Weller playing cautious and wary, has been in a relationship now for over a decade and is now married to his partner, Will.  Tyne Daly and Frederick Weller launch into this odd meeting rather tentatively.  Cal doesn’t know what Katharine is looking for, and it slowly dawns on the audience that Katharine doesn’t either.  Their forays into conversation are stilted and awkward.

Bobby Steggart plays new husband Will.  Will is younger and unconstrained by any history with Katharine.  He is not happy with Katharine’s unannounced visit, and protective of his husband and their son.  He isn’t shy about confronting this directly and he challenges Katharine’s passive aggressive nature.   Bobby Steggart balances this difficult role nimbly, being direct without ever being bitchy.

Their son, Bud, is nicely played without being overplayed by Grayson Taylor.  An honest and direct child, he engages Katharine and the topic of her dead son without any of the emotional baggage that everyone else carries.

Mothers and Sons covers a lot of emotional territory with a whipsawing of mood swings.  The only false moments are in the manufactured entrances and exits during Bud’s bath time.  You know a real parent would get annoyed long before he returns to the stage.

Director Sheryl Kaller gives the drama plenty of room to play out, letting the comedic moments shine, without losing the edge.  Mothers and Sons deals with loss and acceptance, it could have as easily been about the loss a child to cancer.  The void, the lack of closure, the pain and the humor in the face of it are nearly universal.  This show packs a wallop that is unexpected.

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Mothers and Sons

Playwright: Terrance McNally

Director: Sheryl Kaller

Cast: Tyne Daly, Frederick Weller, Bobby Steggert, Grayson Taylor

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Big Fish Is Flashy but Limp

Big Fish is, unfortunately, both the name and a sad metaphor for the new musical now playing at the Neil Simon Theatre.  It pops up on stage, huge and magical, where it flops around for a while before dying a slow and painful death, right before our eyes.  This is through no fault of the cast, who valiantly try to breath lightness and humor into the lead weight of a story.

If you, like me, have fond memories of the movie, then the failure of its adaptation is puzzling at first.  Big Fish is the story of Edward Bloom, a southern salesman who is addicted to spinning yarns about his life.  He is the life of the party, and a man who can entertain anyone, but can’t connect with his son.  Norbet Leo Butz works hard to make Edward Bloom likeable.

In the movie, two men played Edward – Albert Finney as the older dying Edward, and Ewan McGregor as the young man trying to make sense of the world.  Here Mr. Butz does both turns, and therein lies the problem.  Edward’s son Will (an underused Bobby Steggert) just wants a dad.  But Edward can’t be just a dad.  He has to hold forth on his adventures, which are always are larger than life and obviously truth challenged.

Big Fish Cast in a Giant Hoe Down

Edward is entertaining to a fault, but chooses to ignore his son’s request – even when young will actually begs him to just talk to him.  In the movie, it is easy to divorce old Edward from the younger actor who is discovering his youth.  On stage it is hard to empathize with a father who can’t be bothered to even listen to his son.   It is awkward to watch dad ignore his sons request and instead tell him another story of how great he was.

The vignettes in which Edward retells a story are entertaining.  There are giants, witches, mermaids and Edward always the hero.  But the sheer number of them, recanted at the distress of the son, soon become numbing.

And in the second act, Edward starts dying.  And, like Evita in full Andrew Lloyd Webber glory, Edward does not go quickly.  Depending on your view of Edward, this lengthy and song studded death is either sad or annoying, but in any case it goes on too long.  Ultimately, Will’s only chance to reconcile with his father is to accept Edward as he is; shallow, self-absorbed, but funny.  The moral of the story is that asking your father to be a parent is selfish.

Edward’s wife is played by Kate Baldwin, and is excellently used in Edward’s fantasy flashbacks.  She is a strong presence on stage, bringing some humility to Edward’s life (if only by repeating that he can’t help who he is).  On the other hand, Krystal Joy Brown is criminally underused as Will’s young wife – her wonderful voice never even heard.

The sets, arguably the star of the show, are excellent and transforming.  But the wonder of the sets cannot sustain interest for two full acts despite the great work by scenic design by Julian Crouch.

I wanted to love this show: the actors are great, I liked the movie and hoped for some magic on Broadway.  Instead the transfer to the stage highlights the limitations of the story.  Big Fish just doesn’t work as a stage musical.  

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Big Fish

Director: Susan Stroman

Cast: Norbert Leo Butz, Kate Baldwin, Bobby Steggert, Krystal Joy Brown

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Assistance @ Playwrights Horizons (thru March 11)

Assistance @ Playwrights Horizons

Assistance, now on stage at Playwrights Horizons, opens frenetically with two men sparring at/to each other in a shared language of puns, jokes, expletives, and verbal shorthand.  It races with such a rapid fire pace that the audience is left wondering if they will ever catch up.  Your ear has to attune to the cadence, in much the same way it takes a few minutes of Shakespeare before the viewer settles into it.

Those audience members that do fall into the rhythm and mindset of these men, they are rewarded with play that engenders a sense of camaraderie and fun set in the cut-throat world of entertainment personal assistants. Those audience members that are easily offended, too empathetic or don’t catch on quickly to the slang and speed of the delivery tend to drop out of the proceedings, which is too bad.  Because Assistants is about more than just crazed office workers, it is about the lengths we go to reach our dreams. And how we cling to those dreams, even after they fall short of our expectations.

The boss, a sadistic self-important and border-line psychopath, but powerful entertainment executive, is never seen.  It is his whims, frustrations and rules which drive the people on stage into fits to meet his requirements.  Michael Esper and Virginia Kull bring life to Nick and Nora, the central pair of executive assistants.  These two give voice and reason as to why someone would choose this job.  Nick guides Nora through the Byzantine rule set to please, or at least not anger, the un-seen Mr. Weinberger.

Virginia Kull & Michael Esper as assistants in Assistance

The rest of the cast, including Bobby Steggart and Lucas Near-Vergrugghe, are excellent – they show up for some magical moments, in roles as the assistant de jour.  Amy Rosoff and Sue Jean Kim play female assistants very well, although they are given pretty one dimensional roles to fulfill.

The sets (David Korins) are great, and provide an appropriate claustrophobic environment; big enough to lose something important, but not big enough to provide relief.  And Director Trip Cullman moves the cast very well inside of this new play by Leslye Headland.

But as good as the cast is, the point of the entire show hangs just out reach.  Is this elaborate game an appropriate, or useful, try out for the next job?  Is it a story of power gone mad, and the lengths people will do to achieve it?  Is it a morality tale; be careful what you wish for?  Or it is it the tale of the lifecycle of a relationship, albeit not a romantic one?  The ambiguity of the point can be fascinating, and it was in Assistance.  But an audience member looking for a more black and white experience could find Assistance frustrating.

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Assistance at PlayWrights Horizons

Playwright: Leslye Headland

Director: Trip Cullman

Cast: Michael Esper, Sue Jean Kim, Virginia Kull, Lucas Near-Verbrugghe, Amy Rosoff, Bobby Stegger

Runs Through: March 11th

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