Review - The Lyons

I was very fortunate to receive a ticket to last night’s performance of Nicky Silver’s play The Lyons.  It turned out to be opening night (and the theater was nowhere near full, which was quite sad).  I was up in the mezzanine, so I didn’t get much in the way of celeb sightings.  I did see Julie Halston and Peter Bartlett when I was on my way into the theater, and then I saw Douglas Carter Beane on my way out.   So that was fun! 

I missed The Lyons when it played at the Vineyard last fall, but I was intrigued by it – both because it was by Nicky Silver, who I’ve always enjoyed, and because it was the play that caused Linda Lavin to turn down the Broadway productions of Other Desert Cities and Follies.  I’m sure Linda Lavin doesn’t really have ‘career trajectory’ thoughts in her head, but I did think it was fascinating that she would prefer to do an off-Broadway limited run instead of a big splashy Broadway show.  Of course, she was right, because she got to have her cake and eat it, too!!  J

Lavin is simply brilliant in the role of Rita Lyons, the matriarch of a SEVERELY dysfunctional family in the middle of a family crisis.  Every turn of phrase is expertly given, and she achieves maximum comic potential from her very first line.  She also digs deep and finds great emotional depth in the surprising (to me) final scene.  I thought she was sublime.  Her monologue about the gun?  GENIUS.

Dick Latessa is irascible, horrible and moving as Rita’s husband.  As he lies in his hospital bed, the bile that springs forth shouldn’t be funny, but it is.  Normally, I find continual use of obscenities to be a cop-out by a writer, but here, I think this device worked perfectly as a character choice that affected everyone around him, as opposed to just being gratuitous language.

Kate Jennings Grant is their single-mother/recovering-alcoholic daughter, and Michael Esper is their gay son.  They’ve both been called to say goodbye to their father in the hospital, and the secrets that come pouring out are played for laughs, mostly, but you also get a sense of the bottomless pain in this family.  I thought the first act was really expert.

I wasn’t as sold on the second act, especially the first scene.  Intellectually, I understand why Nicky Silver may have wanted a scene like this (I’m avoiding massive spoilers here), but it just didn’t work for me and almost felt like a scene from another play.  I also didn’t love Michael Esper’s work in this act.  I just don’t think his acting resonates for me – I also didn’t love his work in the Tony Kushner play at the Public last year.  I acknowledge that the reviews today really like his work, so mine is a minority opinion here.  But then the last scene, especially the choices that Linda Lavin makes, works like gangbusters.  I totally didn’t expect the play to go there, which was great fun for me.

I found a lot to relate to in The Lyons.  Issues of personal responsibility for your own happiness are very interesting to me.  There’s a lot of dark humor in this play – cancer, alcoholism, spousal abuse, gay-bashing, loveless marriages – these don’t seem like typically funny topics, but I tell you, these characters (and the author) are so smart and funny that you just can’t help laughing.  If the play as a whole is a little less than the individual elements, oh well.  I’m just glad I got to see the master class of acting that Linda Lavin is currently performing.  I’m guessing many discounts are available for this one, even after the love letters in today’s reviews, so definitely try to go.