Pundits have sniped at the number of 1980s re-runs taking up prime Broadway real estate lately—Into the Woods, Morning's at Seven, Noises Off—but the truth is that all these revivals have proved worthy and highly entertaining. The hot streak continues with I'm not Rappaport, Herb Gardner's 1985 Tony winner about two old men fending off muggers, senescence and obsolescence in Central Park.
If the set-up screams "boulevard," the byplay between Nat (Judd Hirsch) and Midge (Ben Vereen) still musters big laughs, and the writing rarely lapses into cuteness. Whenever the twosome face a difficult, sometimes harrowing, situation, Gardner will allow them a momentary victory but then pull them back into their sad reality.
The oddest thing about this bittersweet piece is that it works as reverse nostalgia; we don't look back and go "aww" because, in many ways, the quality of life has improved in New York rather than worsened (although these days, guns have probably replaced knives as the weapon of choice for dirtbags. Rappaport is still realistic, still rambunctious, still relevant.
