Take off, Gipper!

THEATER REVIEW

I FORGIVE YOU, RONALD REAGAN
Beckett Theatre, 410 W. 42nd St.; 212-239-6200. Through Aug. 25. Running time: 120 minutes, one intermission.

In 1981, President Reagan famously fired some 11,000 air traffic controllers after they went on strike in defiance of their contract.

Now, "I Forgive You, Ronald Reagan" is doing to hapless theatergoers what Reagan did to those rebellious federal employees, screwing them for at least two hours.

John S. Anastasi's drama concerns one of those men whose life was destroyed when he lost his vocation. It begins that fateful August, when the fired-up Ray (PJ Benjamin) is confident that the strikers will bring Reagan to his knees.

"Air traffic can't happen without us," he tells his dubious colleague Buzz (Robert Emmet Lunney). "Who are you gonna believe — the best lawyers in the country or a B-actor who took second billing to a monkey?"

Carol Rosegg

Patricia Richardson and PJ Benjamin: Try to forgive them.

Flash-forward 23 years, when Ray — now a construction worker — is still bitter over the fact that Buzz was among the many who broke the strike and returned to work. Ray also suspects him of carrying on with his wife, Jane (Patricia Richardson, of TV's "Home Improvement").

And so, when Ray's 26-year-old daughter (Danielle Faitelson) reveals she's been dating Buzz's son, it spurs strife of Montague- versus-Capulet proportions. Meanwhile, Ray retreats to the attic, where he enacts air traffic control fantasies. In case we haven't realized just how emotionally disturbed he is, he does it in front of a defaced poster of Reagan.

The play tries — and fails — to blend family drama with Arthur Miller-style social commentary. Under Charles Abbott's ineffective direction, the actors are unable to make the ham-fisted dialogue even remotely convincing.

A news clip shown during the play has New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie saying that Reagan's decision was what he admired most about the late president. But even if the former president can be forgiven, it's just about impossible to excuse a play this woefully inept.

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