by Deirdre Donovan

  

Santino Fontana and Tony Shalhoub              photos by Joan Marcus

 

Of all the productions that have opened on Broadway this season, Act One is the only one that deepens that tinsel-tinged adjective theatrical.  Written and directed by James Lapine, and based on Moss Hart’s autobiography, Lapine takes Hart’s story and brings his spirit alive in three fleshed counterparts who invite us on a journey from Hart’s impoverished childhood in the Bronx, to his apprenticeship with theater producer Augustus Pitou, to his artistic collaboration with George S. Kaufman on Once in a Lifetime.

 

If you aren’t already in the know about Moss Hart’s autobiography Act One, it became an instant hit when published in 1959.  At the time Hart penned it, he was at the top of his form, and his book chronicles in clear-eyed and formidable detail his migration from the brown-colored precincts of the Bronx to the neon lights of Broadway. 

 

Lapine had a tall order to fill in retelling Hart’s life story.  After all, he had Hart’s treasure trove of theater recollections to sift through (each page of his 444-page autobiography is 14-carat theatrical gold), and to streamline it and shape it into a dramatic whole demands a master’s touch and more.  The good news is that Lapine, not only masters his material, but also makes it shine on the boards of the Vivian Beaumont.  Backed by a glittering cast and creative team, Lapine’s play pares down Hart’s autobiography but has taken the cream from the classic and whipped it into frothy perfection.

 

The play appropriately opens in an old Broadway house in the early twentieth century, with its rows of theater seats evoking the dizzying heights of the 2^nd balcony.  The cast file in as the audience, and a stage usher hands them Playbills that soon enough will be thumbed through.  Last but not least, Aunt Kate (Andrea Martin) tucks into a cheap seat in the balcony.  Then the play-within-the-play begins, an intentionally affected piece featuring three actors dressed in 19^th century costume, with the stuffy titles of Sir John, Lady Prontrefact and Miss Hester Worsley.  Two servants, who turn out to be Moss (Santino Fontana) and Hart (Tony Shalhoub), serve them tea and cookies.  It is a clever piece of stage business—and a delicious way to begin the play that, though distinctly sprinkled with sentimentality, never drowns in smiles.

 

Among other things, Act One reminds you that sentimentality, which is all too often interpreted as a demeaning word when applied to a theater piece, can be a hard-core virtue as well.  In fact, the great appeal of Moss’ book is that he unabashedly revealed his true feelings towards his family, friends, and those theater professionals who helped him cut his theatrical teeth.  Whether he consciously pulled on readers’ heartstrings in his personal story, or not, he had truth to back him:  Hart came to Broadway, not as a scion of a wealthy family, but as a nobody from the Bronx.  Lapine smartly realizes in his stage version of Act One that he’s attempting to resurrect this same quality of sentimentality, and does it in spades.

 

To single out favorite scenes from this production, which clocks in at well over two and a half hours, is a tough task.  But all the scenes with Moss and Kaufman are utterly winning.  The legendary Kaufman, who was a decidedly dour figure of the theater, comes across here as a bit eccentric, obsessively washing his hands after meeting Hart for the first and occasionally thereafter (Kaufman would be diagnosed no doubt with OCD today).  It is fascinating to watch Moss encounter and slowly get acquainted with Kaufman.  In later scenes when their artistic collaboration is at full throttle, one gets to detect the chinks in the armor of Kaufman’s personality.  Although the character Kaufman never completely unmasks his heart in this production, something more profound happens:  One witnesses how the landmark Broadway production, Once in a Lifetime, came to birth in 1930.

 

As for the acting, it is a powerhouse of talent.  The three actors who play Hart in his trio of configurations are well-cast:  The fresh- , as the young Mossy, makes a fine effort.  He brings out the wide-eyed wonder of a boy who is being initiated into the magical world of the theater.  Santino Fontana, as the up-and-comer Moss, slips into the skin of the legend  quite effortlessly.  Rounding out the trio is Tony Shalhoub, as the 55 year-old Hart, brings an urbane quality and sagacity to the mature Hart.  Shalhoub, who plays Kaufman as well, shifts personas here convincingly.  Whereas his Hart is velvet smooth, he plays Kaufman with all his crotchets and inscrutable austerity.  Shalhoub also manages to reveal the eccentric aspects of Kaufman’s persona without caricaturizing him.  Andrea Martin, as Aunt Kate, is totally mesmerizing.  The late-Hart revealed in his autobiography that he viewed his Aunt Kate as the Bronx’s counterpart to Tennessee Williams’ Blanche du Bois.  There’s no doubt that Martin captures that here in no small measure.  Martin also deftly assumes the roles of Frieda Fishbein and Beatrice Kaufman, in later scenes, to superb effect.  I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Will LeBow, who plays both Augustus Pitou and Jed Harris with much credibility.  While there are actors in supporting roles or in the ensemble, each performer has a bit of stardust infused into his, or her, performance.

 

Andrea Martin and Matthew Schecther

 

Beowulf Boritt’s whirligig of a set is magnificent as it spins through the years.  One can truly time travel with all the characters who populate Act One, and, as the trajectory of the play sweeps on to its denouement, the rotating set becomes more than eye-catching stage furniture and props but a character in its own artistic right.  Ken Billington’s lighting covers a broad palette of light and shade.  It goes from being a blending of twinkling lights and shadows in the opening scene, to more muted shades in the Bronx scenes, and then reverting back to the brighter hues of Broadway for some pivotal scenes in Hart’s career, to be balanced out with softer lighting for the posh interior of Kaufman’s elegant New York suite.  Jane Greenwood’s realistic costumes range from the opulent to the rag-tag, all depending on the scene and the dramatic moment.

 

If you truly value the theater as a bulwark of our American culture, go to Act One to get a fresh lens on its truth a la Hart.  Hart first told it poignantly on the page, and now, in Lapine’s terrific production, it gets vibrantly retold on the stage at Lincoln Center.

 

At Lincoln Center Theater, at the Vivian Beaumont, 150 W. 65^th Street, Manhattan.

For tickets and more information, phone 212-239-6200 or visit online www.telecharge.com

Running time:  2 hours; 45 minutes with one intermission.