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Lips Together, Teeth Apart
by David Schultz It is hard to believe that twenty-three years has elapsed since playwright Terrence McNally’s play first premiered off-Broadway. This elegiac ode to the early days of the AIDS crises still stings and illuminates with poetic writing. This new production posits a much younger cast in leading roles. The play has aged rather well; it does capture a particular moment in time. The recent outbreak of Ebola, with all the inherent sense of chaos and fear it engenders is an eerie reminder and parallel of those dark days in the early years of the 90’s, when fear reigned high. Taking place in 1991 in the Pines, in Fire Island an exclusive gay enclave, set designer Alexander Dodge has beautifully captured the ambience with impeccable craft. His rendering of the back of a home, by the ocean, with a rustic wood construction, and a built-in pool sets the stage for the evening. Sliding doors separate the various bedrooms, as well as a separate kitchen area are all on view. We, the audience are basically at sea; in that the main characters face out at us, in many moments of introspection and peer out into the vast ocean. Married couple John and Chloe Haddock (Austin Lysy, Tracee Chimo ) have been invited to visit Chloe’s brother Sam (Michael Chernus) and his wife Sally (America Ferrera) for the Fourth of July weekend. Sally has inherited the house from her recently deceased brother who has died of Aids complications. The various gay neighbors in nearby houses are never seen but are acknowledged in verbal repartee with the main characters as they play their show tunes and opera arias from across the way. But an undercurrent of melancholy and death pervades the house by the sea. The sense of unease and despair is artfully revealed in quiet monologues that McNally stages at various times within the play.
Chloe’s husband John reveals that he has cancer in one monologue, as the other characters also reveal inner secrets and desires to the audience. Sally spies a young man way out in the ocean who waves at her and seems to slip out of reach and disappears out of sight. Her obsession with that stranger has a connection with her departed brother who she uncomfortably accepted.
Chloe is the hyperactive chatty wife who hides behind her manic cheerfulness. She has doubts about her husband’s fidelity, and with good cause; John had a brief liaison with Sally a few months earlier…and she knows that it has transpired, but is in denial.
Sam her brother fits uncomfortably within the group and has issues (he also has a hunch that his wife has had a dalliance with John) as they jostle against one another. Sam’s anger grows with his gnawing fear that his marriage is on uneasy ground. This slow and gentle play ebbs and flows with naturalistic dialogue, subtle allusions to each other’s distant past, and those illuminating interior monologues. Director Peter Dubois stages his fluid scenes with ease. Though the early moments of the play seem a bit stilted with odd pauses. The casting proves problematic, in that all the characters are at least ten years younger than they should be. This in effect tilts the play in ways not intended. Ms. Chimo’s hyperactive, wired performance never slows down to show her sensitive, darker side, so this talented performer is overly shrill and cartoonish to the max. Mr. Lysy as her husband shows much more restraint and reveals inner development in an evenly calibrated performance. Michael Chernus and America Ferrera have the less showy roles but acquit themselves well. Mr. Chernus uses his physical heft and sad sack persona to good use. Ms. Ferrera is overly subdued and almost trancelike at times; she is mourning the loss of her brother. But her one-note performance only hints at the pain she must be experiencing. Costumer Designer ESosa perfectly captures the fashions of the summer of 91’. She has Ms. Chimo in and out of a plethora of brightly colored outfits during the weekend…. fitting for the hyperactive woman she portrays. The other summer accoutrements for the cast are casual and appropriate to the summer season. Lighting designer Justin Townsend artfully renders the various hues of the summer season. The continuing shades of light, detailing the early morning sun, or late afternoon shade, are made palatable in this production. A late night poolside scene with rippling shadows of water thrown against the walls of the house is quite memorable. It is here, in this moment that the fears and anger of the couples are revealed. The water of the pool is, in McNally’s rather heavy-handed way a metaphor for AIDS itself. The fear of catching the disease, by the thought of transmission via an infected pool does have resonance. The ripples of emotion reach each character at this penultimate scene. The final tableau sends us out on the deck of the house. It is the Forth of July night, mini American flags waving, fireworks exploding in the air, with the couples moving in slow motion. This haunting work sends you out of the theater with a sense of unease and hope in equal measure. Playing
at Second Stage Theatre
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