This review of the current revival of Lanford Wilson's Burn This comes in two parts: What it is and what it could (and perhaps should) be. First, the opening half hour of expositional chatter among a former dancer, her gay roommate and her boyfriend as they relive the funeral of a third roommate who, with his boyfriend, perished in a boating accident, is static, boring, without style or energy, poorly cast and directed (by James Houghton). Catherine Keener as the dancer who is now a choreographer has none of the body language, poise, movements, musculature, of someone who at any time in her life was a dancer. Her performance throughout is lumpy, lacking sharpness, crispness. The actor who plays her boyfriend, Ty Burrell, comes across as gay, and when the director has him kiss her gay roommate on the lips, all tilts further out of balance. The first emotion appears when Edward Norton, as the brother of the deceased, breezes in—he's alive. However, although he's engaging, as played here he lacks the cojones the part needs—cute but not scary, not dangerous, which defeats the character. He gets all the good lines in the play and gives an intelligent, interesting delivery, but this is a quirky kid, not the fearful animal the part needs. There's no real reason for Keener to fall into bed with him. The physical contest of masculinity between Burrell and Norton late in the play is won by Burton! The character of Pale, the tornado that enters the scene, should be a Stanley Kowalski, an elemental force of nature, not a little boy. Burn This is about a woman awakened to passion by an animal who is a magnet drawing her to him— and about the animal tamed. Although I lost interest only during the first half hour of this three-hour-and-ten-minute show, I don't feel this production fulfills the potential of the play.
