By
Harry Forbes
Yes,
the title refers to the Babylon line of the Long Island Railroad, not ancient Mesopotamia, in case you
were wondering.
Richard Greenberg’s latest is an uneven but generally entertaining
comedy-drama set in 1967 about a creative writing teacher (Josh Radnor) – with only
one story of his own published – who commutes from Greenwich Village to
Levittown adult education class.
His motley pupils include three clueless housewives
(Randy Graff, Julie Halston, and Maddie Corman), a phobic outsider (Elizabeth
Reaser) who hasn’t left her home in years till now, a quiet young man rumored
to be mentally damaged by drugs, and a World War II veteran (Frank Wood).
Aaron
tries vainly to get his students to bring in writing samples, but resistance is
strong. As they gradually open up, their idiosyncrasies and lives are revealed,
and in some cases, their imaginations unlocked. Reaser’s character is the first
to come up with something, her prose wildly at odds with her seemingly mousy
persona, and her fellow pupils are utterly astonished at what they hear.
Reaser
especially shines as a would-be seduction scene on a snowy night when she tries
to persuade Aaron that as he probably won’t be able to get home, she can instead
drive him to a local motel.
Graff,
Halston and Corman make a masterful, on the whole, funny bunch, and all have
their pearly moments, while Graff doesn’t sugarcoat her character’s ugly intolerance
of anything outside her cookie-cutter existence.
Richard
Hoover’ sets, Sarah J. Holden’s costumes, David Weiner’s lighting, and Rob
Milburn & Michael Bodeen’s sound design are all first rate, though the
elderly lady next to me opined that the women onstage were dressed far better
than Levittown ladies of the 1960s would ever have been. The play was originally produced by
New York Stage and Film & Vassar’s Powerhouse Theater in 2014.
Terry Kinney directs with empathy for the material and
elicits sharp characterizations from his cast.
(Mitzi
E. Newhouse Theater, 150 West 65th
Street, Lincoln Center; 800-432-7250 or lincolncenter.org; through
January 22)
Photo: Jeremy Daniel
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