Diane Lane and Tony Shalhoub almost rescue contrived ‘Mystery of Love & Sex’

"The Mystery of Love & Sex" takes on so much that it could have been titled "The Mystery of Love, Sex, Racism, Sexism, Religion, Confused Romantic Feelings & Dealing With Your Parents."

Sure, that title would have been a handful, but then so is Bathsheba Doran's new play.

Although the characters driving the action are 20-something Charlotte and Jonny, the most compelling people in this Lincoln Center production are Charlotte's folks, played with relaxed wit and a steely undergirding by Diane Lane and Tony Shalhoub.

Lane's Lucinda is a Southern lady whose well-heeled political family rejected her for marrying Shalhoub's Howard, an acerbic — is there any other kind? — Jewish writer from New York.

But Doran's focus is on their only child, Charlotte (Gayle Rankin), and her best friend, African-American Jonny (Mamoudou Athie). They've been besties since age 9, but their relationship is entering a new phase — possibly involving nudity — now that they're in college.

Both struggle with the usual campus matters: drinking, resolving their sexual identity, rebelling — in Jonny's case, against Charlotte's dad, for whom he has a thorny mix of admiration and resentment.

But the show isn't as sharp as it seems to think it is. Showtime's excellent series "Masters of Sex," on which Doran's a producer/writer, mines a similar terrain with more insight.

Here, it's hard to care much for Jonny and Charlotte, as they spend an ungodly amount of stage time turning molehills into mountains. They're both entitled and self-loathing — dating people they don't respect — but Doran doesn't dig very deep.

And she's not above cheap jokes, as when she brings in a fifth character (Bernie Passeltiner) for the sole purpose of a brief sight gag. Even the excellent director Sam Gold can't do anything with that kind of contrivance.

Rankin and Athie are very good despite thankless roles, but they pale next to Lane and Shalhoub, who expertly carve intriguing traits out of stock characters. Lane's fallen belle — drinking and smoking up a storm — is a perfect foil for Shalhoub's wily, manipulative writer. They're an unlikely couple, yet make odd sense. As with love and sex, experience counts when it comes to theater.

Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang

Diane Lane and Tony Shalhoub almost rescue contrived ‘Mystery of Love & Sex’

Dengan url

http://bahayaprostat.blogspot.com/2015/03/diane-lane-and-tony-shalhoub-almost.html

Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya

Diane Lane and Tony Shalhoub almost rescue contrived ‘Mystery of Love & Sex’

namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link

Diane Lane and Tony Shalhoub almost rescue contrived ‘Mystery of Love & Sex’

sebagai sumbernya