The story of a man escaping his boyhood and his heritage is nothing new for a playwright. Eugene O'Neill did it, Arthur Miller did it, Tennessee Williams did it, Herb Gardner did it. Donald Margulies tried in "Brooklyn Boy," which opened at the New Jewish Theatre's Clayton home last night, but his writing has no surprises, plot twists so weak that what should be a roller-coaster ride feels like one in a baby carriage.
There are some good lines and some good performances, and Bobby Miller's direction is fascinating, his on-target focus emphasized by Scott C. Neale's set and Maureen Hanratty's lights. As sound designer, he chose absolutely perfect music for the between-scenes interludes. The play's six scenes take place in as many different locations, and the performers work their way from one end of the theater to the other while the audience sits on either side. A few pieces of furniture, a couple of props are enough to delineate each space. A fine staging touch.
Eric Weiss (the always impressive Jason Cannon), fleeing his family and his Jewishness from the day he learned to run, has grown to be a successful author with his third book, which includes a movie sale and a first-class book tour, with an interview by Katie Couric on the "Today" show (the play is set in 2002). He visits his hospitalized and obviously-dying father (Peter Mayer, who plays angry better than anyone I know), searching once again for a word of praise. "Oh," says Mayer, "your book is No. 11. Aren't you glad the list goes to 15 now?"
In the hospital cafeteria, Eric runs into a boyhood friend (outstanding work by R. Travis Estes), a delicatessen owner who still envies the boy who was taller, better-looking and smarter. The synagogue, domesticity and four children are his escape, in the tradition of "church, kitchen and children" that was a part of German family philosophy for so long.
Then he visits the woman who soon will be his ex-wife (Cannon's real wife, Sarah, in what has to be a difficult acting experience), and at times they seem near to a breakthrough and a reunion, but the closer they get, the farther apart they are. In Los Angeles, after a reading, he returns to his hotel with a very available graduate student, and the play begins to fall apart. Paris McCarthy, unsure of her maturity, something ill-defined both by the actress and the playwright, challenges Eric and herself. Margulies' dialogue falls short here.
A scene involving Eric with a Hollywood producer (Kate Frisina) and a young star who wants to break out of his mold as a sex symbol (Justin Ivan Brown) has plenty of laughs, but they're cheap and easy laughs, right from the nearest sit-com, and they leave both Cannon and this audience member embarrassed. It's downhill from there, though another fine scene with Mayer is still to come. Margulies, who owns a Pulitzer Prize for "Dinner With Friends," can write better and has written better. Miller and his cast have worked hard, but it's very difficult to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.
A New Jewish Theatre production, through Dec. 20, at Clayton High School.
–Joe