Jessica Hecht & Dominic Fumusa

Jessica Hecht & Dominic Fumusa

 

 

by: Alix Cohen 

 

Funny: amusing, comical, humorous, jocular, diverting, droll, entertaining– The Oxford American Dictionary

 

 

 

Jessica Hecht & Michael Cyril Creighton

Jessica Hecht & Michael Cyril Creighton

“She” (Jessica Hecht) has you within minutes. Insecure, bumbling and wholly likeable, her character arrives late and uninformed to a New Haven audition. The unlikely opening sides include a kiss. Well, several kisses, and exclamations about them. Standing in for the leading man is the Director’s (Patrick Kerr) game lover, Kevin (Michael Cyril Creighton), whose altar boy looks and adorable swish are well mined with every word and move. The play within a play bombed on Broadway in 1932, but with a little adjustment…Uh huh.

 

 

 

Jessica Hecht & Patrick Kerr

Jessica Hecht & Patrick Kerr

But back to Her… (Half the characters are curiously never given names) Hecht, the backbone of this loosey goosey piece, always looks just a bit dazed. There’s the tiniest hesitancy before beautifully realized reactions, impeccable comedic timing. The actress lingers on selective words/thoughts as if rolling them around in her mind, sighs into some of them with feminine breath, and eschews contractions. We’re immediately empathetic, drawn in.

 

Her leading man, or “He,” turns out to be a fiery past relationship. While She’s moved on to husband and child, He continues to serially date. Barbs initially fly, but passion resurfaces fueled by endless, assorted stage kissing (288 of them apparently) and parallel feelings expressed on stage and off.

 

A disciple of the Woody Allen school of directing, this one just keeps telling his cast to follow their instincts allowing things to go overboard. The play within the play is dreadful. One of several bizarre songs begins Can we live on love and cereal? Only in the rain…Our lovers are reunited in plain sight with full license and, when the play predictably bombs,  run off to his Hell’s Kitchen flat.

 

Creighton, Fumusa, Hecht

Creighton, Fumusa, Hecht

Will She stay with this perpetually struggling hunk in his low rent studio or go back to security and a family that loves and misses her? Does she fall in love with all her leading men or was this the soul mate that got away? Reality salad is made apparent by the appearance of her level-headed husband (Daniel Jenkins) and outspoken daughter (Emma Galvin) as well as the actor’s current girlfriend, Midwestern fresh, Laurie, (Clea Alsip). Neither of these young women is as well written as the rest of the play’s characters. The daughter is woefully miscast.

 

She and He commit to a second, formidably bad play within the play, about “an ass and a whore” written by the Director. They need the money. Things are propelled to a head by an unexpected source.

 

Parts of Stage Kiss are quick, deft and amusing; parts strain silliness. When the spot-lit cast breaks into “Some Enchanted Evening” having nothing to do with anything- because the playwright has momentarily written herself into a corner? It seems an example of less mature talent than that with which we associate Sarah Ruhl. A terrific and insightful exchange between She and her Husband followed by an unnecessary exit line by the lover seems to indicate lack of confidence in what would’ve been a neater, more graceful ending.

 

Despite weaknesses, balance lays with laughter and entertainment value. All in all, I recommend this lighter side of contemporary theater.

 

I’ve written about the sterling and mercurial Jessica Hecht who, here, manages to seem at the same time smart and vague.

Jessica Hecht & Daniel Jenkins

Jessica Hecht & Daniel Jenkins

 

Dominic Fumsa (He) appears completely at ease in his role, credibly playing an actor who naively believes in present and future without much examination. Chemistry is both warm and lusty. Kissing is ably- portrayed. An excellent foil for both She and Hecht.

 

 

Second comic banana Michael Cyril Creighton (Kevin) adds wry levity with every appearance, balancing on the precipice of overkill, never falling. Creighton’s physical acting is delicious. He looks as if he’ll devour the star when coming in for an unaccustomed clinch, drapes himself across a divan she occupies, avoiding full body “occupation” with hysterical trepidation, and wait till you see the gun!

 

Daniel Jenkins (The Husband) is sympathetic without being a victim. The actor’s focused, naturalistic presence balances what is ridiculous.

 

Director Rebecca Taichman has a wonderful way with slapstick, an even hand with droll confusion, and a steady one with emotional moments. Staging is effective. The first production progressively comes together around action adding to our sense of time. His New York apartment morphs into an ostensible copy of itself for the second play within the play- suddenly dressed, propped, and defined.

 

Neil Patel’s Set and Susan Hilferty’s Costumes are both excellent.

 

*Photos: Joan Marcus

 

Stage Kiss by Sarah Ruhl Directed by Rebecca Taichman Featuring: Todd Almond, Clea Alsip, Michael Cyril Creighton, Dominic Fumusa, Emma Galvin, Jessica Hecht, Daniel Jenkins, Patrick Kerr The Accompanist- Todd Almond Playwrights Horizons   http://www.playwrightshorizons.org/ 416 West 42nd St. Through March 23