Like his hero, novelist Eric Weiss, playwright Donald Margulies returns to the Jewish neighborhood of his youth and a father-son relationship pivotal to his art and life. After two critical but not popular successes, Eric's new autobiographical novel has hit the best-seller list. His father Manny's hospitalization makes Eric leave his promotional tour for a visit that renews familiar antagonisms. A chance meeting with old friend Ira sharpens Eric's view of the life he escaped. Ira, played to realistic perfection by Bruce Sabath, graduated from a local non-so-prestigious university, took over a once-dreaded deli business from his father, married, had four kids. Whereas Columbia alum Eric married a gentile (from whom he's recently separated), is childless, and has left the Jewish faith, Ira practices orthodoxy right up to his well-worn yarmulke. He'd like to get Eric to admit a character in his novel is modeled after himself as well as to return to his religion. When he picks up some old belongings at wife Nina's apartment, Eric finds he's as alienated from her and their married life as he had been from all who and what Brooklyn meant to him. However loving and attractive Nina finds him, she's too jealous of Eric's success, not selfless enough to always do what he wants. In Celeste Ciulla's interpretation, Nina doesn't seem as excited as she claims about Eric's novel or as concerned about Manny. Rather, Eric -- however sensitive Robert Gomes always makes him—appears only to remind Nina of her failures to deliver, whether a live baby or a publishable story. If there is a flaw in Margulies' play, it is that the significance of the relationship between Eric and wife has to be mostly assumed. It is shown only in their painful leave-taking. As removed as he now is from family and friends, it's no surprise that Eric picks up a wiggly young blond at one of his readings and brings her back to his hotel room. An aspiring sci-fi writer, Allison (alternately breathy and breathless Sage Hall) admires "people who devote themselves to a dying craft." If that weren't enough to upset Eric, her bad feelings toward her father make him think of his own. How successful can the evening be now? In another brush with youth, Eric meets a silly pop star (cute, enthusiastic Matthew DeCapua) who's set to play the lead in a filmed version of his novel. He turns out to be as big a surprise in his way, as does Eric's rep Melanie Fine (fast-talking Jamie Day). When she wants him to attenuate the Jewishness in his story, he realizes he has to take a stand. That and how he handles the death of his father (another of Michael O. Smith's grand, and this time crusty, characterizations for FST) plus the reappearance of Ira complete the transformation of Eric's fine novel into Margulies's fine play. Thanks to Kate Alexander's direction, there's not a single false note in any of the performances. Under the arches of the Brooklyn Bridge and across from the lights of Manhattan, designed by Steve Mitchell and Robert C. Cordella, a living craft merits admiration.
Opened:
December 7, 2005
Ended:
February 3, 2006
Country:
USA
State:
Florida
City:
Sarasota
Company/Producers:
Florida Studio Theater (Richard Hopkins, artistic director)
Theater Type:
Regional
Theater:
Florida Studio Theater - Keating Mainstage
Theater Address:
1241 North Palm Avenue
Phone:
(941) 366-9000
Running Time:
2 hrs, 15 min
Genre:
Drama
Director:
Kate Alexander
Review:
Cast:
Robert Gomes, Michael O. Smith, Bruce Sabath, Celeste Ciulla, Sage Hall, Jamie Day, Matthew DeCapua
Technical:
Set: Steve Mitchell; Costumes: Marcella Beckwith; Lights: Robert C. Cordella; Prod. Stage Mgr: Stacy A. Blackburn
Other Critics:
SARASOTA HERALD TRIBUNE Jay Handelman +
Critic:
Marie J. Kilker
Date Reviewed:
December 2005
