Susan Granger’s review of “Relatively Speaking” (Brooks Atkinson Theater/ 2001-2012 season)
Woody Allen once said, “Comedy just pokes at problems, rarely confronts them squarely. Drama is like a plate of meat and potatoes, comedy is rather the dessert, a bit like meringue.”
Certainly this trio of comedies could be described as three light, fluffy interludes – perhaps in search of some substantial filling. Tenuously connected by the theme of family, the one-act plays are written by Ethan Coen, Elaine May and Woody Allen.
Ethan Coen’s “Talking Cure” is set in a high-security mental institution and revolves around Larry (Danny Hoch), a hostile inmate, a former postal employee who argues about sanity and semantics with his frustrated Doctor (Jason Kravits), who is trying to rehabilitate him through psychotherapy.
The second entry is Elaine May’s satirical “George Is Dead,” in which Carla (Lisa Emery) and her husband Michael (Grant Shaud) are bickering over her devotion to her elderly mother who is called Nanny (Patricia O’Connell) because, years ago, she was the nanny of a spoiled little rich girl named Doreen. To their surprise, now-grown Doreen (Marlo Thomas) appears on the doorstep, declaring that her older husband, George, just died in a skiing accident in Aspen and she needs her dear old Nanny.
Back in 2006, May wrote this skit as a vehicle tailored for Marlo Thomas, who’s most memorable as the vacuous, self-absorbed, widowed socialite, declaring, “I feel awful. What will I do? I don’t have the depth to feel this bad.”
Saving the best for last, Woody Allen’s “Honeymoon Motel” is a silly, shtick-filled sex farce, set in the honeymoon suite of a tacky motel – complete with a round bed – where newlyweds Jerry Spector (Steve Guttenberg) and Nina Roth (Ari Graynor) have sought refuge from their friends and relatives (Julie Kavner, Mark Linn-Baker, Richard Libertini, among others). It seems Nina was supposed to marry Jerry’s stepson Paul (Bill Army) but eloped with her fiancé’s harried, middle-aged father instead.
Intentionally or not, the situation evokes unsettling memories of Woody Allen’s marriage to his then-wife Mia Farrow’s adopted daughter Soon-Li Previn.
Unfortunately, director John Turturro lacks a deft touch with these three comedies, which could, perhaps, have been funnier if they’d been handled with a lighter touch. Or maybe not. As it stands, the assemblage is only mildly amusing and seemingly destined for a rosy future as a staple in regional theater.