Review - The Waverly Gallery

I had a friend who used to work at the old Promenade Theater on the Upper West Side.  Every now and again, he'd have access to tickets and/or opening night parties and he would invite me.  I was very fortunate to go to the opening night of Kenneth Lonergan's The Waverly Gallery.  I didn't know Lonergan's earlier work, so this was my first exposure to him.  I remember loving Eileen Heckert's titanic performance as an older woman slipping into dementia.  I don't remember as much of the play itself as I'd like (and comparisons to Heckert's character's memory problems are not welcome here), but I had a general positive sense about the play and I asked a Tony-voter friend if I could please be his plus-one to the current revival.  I'm very grateful he said yes.

The Waverly Gallery is really a beautiful study of a family - a family trying, and failing, to shield one of its members from impending doom.  The head of the family, Gladys Gold, was formerly a neighborhood powerhouse - she was a lawyer, protested injustice, entertained constantly, and then ran a small art gallery for unsung artists.  But her world keeps shrinking and in the two hours of the play, her mind keeps shrinking as well.  Seeing the deterioration of such a vital woman is really heartbreaking.  And watching her family watch her deterioration is heartbreaking as well.

photo credit: Brigitte Lacomb

There's not exactly a lot of plot in The Waverly Gallery (I mean, yes, hello, there's plot, but you know what I mean), but it's a stunning character study and has so much delicious language where you just want to say "stop!  let me take it all in!", but it just keeps going.  It was sort of a memory play about memory, so all of the layers on top of layers on top of layers were fascinating.  The production is beautifully directed by Lila Neugebauer, who is rapidly becoming one of my favorite directors.  She has an incredible sense of detail, but doesn't get bogged down in the details, if that makes sense.  The entire physical production is terrific - the sets are beautifully rendered, but a little rough around the edges, just like the characters.  The original music is appropriately melodic, and I enjoyed the projections that played between scene changes, I thought they added a lot to the passage of time and the feeling that Gladys could be, on occasion, living in the past.

photo credit: Sara Krulwich

The acting is superlative in this production - everyone is spot on and so emotionally engaging.  I was moved by every performance, but of course the main performance that made me weep was Elaine May as Gladys.  She was, in a word, phenomenal.  Seriously, this is one of the best performances I've seen in a long time.  Of course, it's a beautifully written role, but still, there's a tightwalk an actor has to walk when playing this character, without overdoing the decline or overdoing the independence or overdoing the comedy that wafts throughout the play.  She is wonderful.  But so is Joan Allen as her patient, yet frustrated, daughter, Ellen.  Her pain and impotence were beautifully portrayed, and when she cracks, it's never mean or random, but filled with anguish.  Lucas Hedges as Gladys' grandson was terrific - he sort of tries to stay ironic and aloof (like a certain portion of the NY Upper West Side population), but when he breaks, it's devastating.  I also enjoyed David Cromer as Ellen's second husband, who is sort of clueless and clumsy, but also kind and generous with an off-kilter sense of humor.  Michael Cera rounds out the cast as the artist who just wanders into Gladys' gallery and never leaves.  It's surprising to me that a young actor with such a slacker affect on screen can be such an incisive stage actor, but there you have it.

I know quite a few people who did not enjoy this production.  OK, I guess I can understand why.  But I saw my family in these people, I saw my (hopefully not) future self, I heard real people living and dying and laughing and crying with each other.  I was so moved and engaged throughout.  But I do want to relate one seat neighbor's response - this one stormed out at intermission and he asked my Tony voter-pal:  "Do they give a Tony Award for being BORED OUT OF YOUR MIND?!?!"  Needless to say, that gent did not return for act two.  His loss, though, truth be told, the play is maybe fifteen minutes too long.  But that's a quibble.  This acting ensemble telling this personal, yet universal, story doesn't always come around.  There are discounts available for The Waverly Gallery - I suggest you avail yourself of one and settle in for some love, pain, and tears.  I'm pretty sure you'll be glad you did, and you'll be able to be one of those people who can say "I saw Elaine May give an amazing performance!"  She's that good.