I'm happy to report that revisiting Side Man is a pleasant experience, still impressive in its intimacy and elegance, supported by the estimable direction by Michael Mayer. The cast has changed a little, but the finely-tuned ensemble is still very strong. This is a great night on Broadway, grown-up theater for people who admire plays and the power they can have.
Andrew McCarthy has stepped into the role of Clifford, who narrates the entire tale of a single-minded jazz trumpeter Gene and his colorful band of cronies including Ziggy (Michael Mastro), a lisping gabber, Al (Joseph Lyle Taylor), a would-be lothario and Jonesy (Kevin Geer), a smiling junkie who proves to be the band's crippling member. Mastro, Taylor and especially Geer continue to deliver first-rate work. They create identifiable characters and make these sad sacks remarkably funny and touching. A woman, Terry (Angelica Torn), enters the picture, falls for Gene, and starts a rocky marriage that doesn't quite turn out how you'd expect it. All the while, Clifford, their son, recounts the tale of jazz, booze and childhood from 1953 to 1985.
Warren Leight, the gifted writer of this play, never succumbs to cheapness and creates multi-dimensional people here. We are never asked to love them in a conventional way but to understand them and their flaws. The play's likely hero is Clifford, but even his character is written with a little bite; he's far from a chipper Greek chorus you'd find in a lesser play. The new additions (McCarthy, Taylor and Torn) all turn in commendable performances, though they lack the crystalline emotional depth of predecessors Robert Sella, Tony-winner Frank Wood and the extraordinary Edie Falco, so sublime on "The Sopranos." The play's writing is so crisp, though, it's hard to imagine anybody making a mess of these fine roles. The show has been cast and re-cast with a lot of affection, and this moving play continues to brighten the Great White Way, if only until October 31st.
