Saturn Returns by Noah Haidle concerns three times in the life of a man, played by three actors -- age 28, age 58, age 88 -- as he relates to and then remembers his dead wife and daughter. It starts with the old man (wonderfully played throughout by John McMartin) and his caretaker, and that works as a bit about his past is revealed.
Scene two, with the man at 58, played by an overwrought James Rebhorn in a scene with his daughter, is somehow not engaging. Then, in Scene three, he is 28, nicely played by Robert Eli, and there is romantic fol-de-rol between the man and his smothering, demanding wife, uninteresting moofky-foofky, mother-in-law babble and pedestrian writing.
Director Nicholas Martin hasn't opted for simplicity; the play is full of broad actions, gestures and vocal posturings. 58: a boring scene where he is readying for a date. 28- an ordinary, uninteresting, loving domestic scene in a party dress. 58: when his wife dies, he becomes totally obsessed with his daughter, who is his "whole life" and the only woman in his life. When she dies, his life, in a way, ends, so that at 88 he has only memories of his double loss.
With a fine set by Ralph Funicello, costumes by Robert Morgan and lighting by Peter Kaczorowski, the technical aspects of the show are first rate. Now let's talk about the remarkable Rosie Benton who plays the three women: She is totally different in each of the three roles, with different personas, physicalities, ages and tones. You'd swear you saw three different women on the stage. This young actress is extraordinary in Saturn Returns, which, despite the clever three era view of the protagonist, is a rather mundane play.
