Dinner with Friends

The simplicity of this play is blinding.  The message is complex and thought provoking.  Donald Margulies is a master of dialogue and rich language and context hidden in plain sight.

Jeremy Shamos (Gabe) and Marin Hinkle (Karen) pair up with Heather Burns (Beth) and Darren Pettie (Tom) in a match of personalities, desires, and commitment.  It's not until Act 2 that we see just how much our characters have changed and only then realize how complex the situation among and between the couples is going to be.   Funny, touching, thought-provoking for sure.

Mr. Margulies brilliantly crafted and unassuming plot quietly exposes the complexities and intricacies of relationships - both between man and wife and among couples and best friends too.  Mr. Shamos and Mr. Pettie are friends who end up being polar opposites.  Ms Burns and Ms Hinkle are friends who are polar opposites who have more in common than they might actually think.

Directed by Pam McKinnon, a true 4 character charmer is unfolding at Laura Pels Theatre on West 46th.

Make sure you have time afterwards to discuss Dinner with Friends at a dinner with friends nearby.

Detroit

I'm frankly a bit confused by Lisa D'Amour's new play being presented over at Playwrights Horizons.  It's seemingly missing a soul or at least one that director, Anne Kauffman failed to unearth.  Fairly well-acted (read, could have been better), moderately funny, but mostly a snooze - the material never grabbed me.  Frankly, I think 90% of the theatre left the show with the same un-answered questions as me and were generally bewildered by the rambling, directionless, and oddly concluded plot.

David Schwimmer, Darren Pettie, Amy Ryan, and new-commer Sarah Sololovic prove capable but the material seemed to limit their abilities.  And Poor John Cullum doesn't even appear until the very end.

Let's just hope Second Stage doesn't pick this one up next season.  It certainly doesn't deserve another look.

The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore

When compared with the 1968 movie staring Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor (Boom!) almost anything could shine.  As a matter of fact, the play was first mounted on Broadway in 1963 (re-mounted in1964) and played a combined total of 74 performances - receiving poor reviews all around.

So why then did the Roundabout choose this little known flop to re-mount?  One word - Tennessee Williams.   His works are grand and his talent well proven.  Perhaps the secret to this run's success will be two-fold - a complete dumbing down of the unnecessarily over-the-top costumes, Hollywood-like sets, and unnecessary camp and phony glamour but, more importantly, Olympia Dukakis herself.  

The play centers around Flora Goforth (Olympia Dukakis), a wealthy, older, eccentric dying American woman who had fled to an isolated cliff side villa retreat on the Italian coast to write her memoirs and live out her final days.  She receives a very handsome young visitor who is a struggling poet known as "the angel of death" (Darren Pettie) and we are taken on a journey into the minds and hearts of two very different individuals who both deeply want and need something from this relationship.  Round out the cast with an eccentric (read gay) friend, locally known as The Witch of Capri (Edward Hibbert) and Blackie (Maggie Lacey), Mrs Goforth's tortured personal assistant and you end up with a cauldron of wit, sarcasm, humor and love that Mr. Williams serves up deliciously.

Without the baggage of being a big dramatic (or drama-filled) Hollywood star, Dukakis plays the role in her own unique and humble style - leaving out most of the camp and everything that comes along with such a background.  She uniquely slices straight to the heart of Mrs Goforth - exposing her vulnerabilities, wants and needs, all the while maintaining her vitality and and sharp tongue.  Overall, the play, in Tennessee Williams signature style, is a bit too long, but when you're enjoying the banter and emotions on the stage, sometimes that doesn't matter.

This

Butley

Ben Butley -- Meet Virginia Woolf. The mind games, the booze, the deep seated acrimony... sardonic wit, cut-to-the-bone sarcasm, bitter laughter, but most of all the internal hate, or shame, or desire?! Subtext. Keyword. It's all about what is said indirectly, or, "point-in-fact", not said at all. Is he gay? Or was it all just speaking figuratively. One thing for sure, he's happiest when others are broken down - or is he?



After the Odd Couple, I had mixed expectations about seeing Nathan Lane again... Worried it would be Bialistock and Bloom all over again (and again). Well, sir - not tonight. Nathan gave a top notch performance. Deep. Emotional. You left feeling sorry for Ben Butley. But oh, what a ride along the way. He just may have met his match with his latest conquest. Then again, can you really call it a conquest any longer.... Virginia - you just might have met your match!