Harbor
Tickets from $70 Buy Tickets
Cititour.com Review
Unexpected visits from long-lost family usually end up causing major disharmony – especially in theater – but few of these reunions cause the kind of major upheaval found at the end of “Harbor,” Chad Beguelin’s uneasy mix of comedy and drama now being presented by Primary Stages at 59E59 Theaters. However, depending on one’s point of view, the spur-of-the-moment drop-in by free-spirited, trash-talking Donna (Erin Cummings) and her surprisingly erudite teenage daughter Lottie (Alexis Molnar) on Donna’s seemingly happy brother Kevin (Randy Harrison) and his successful architect husband Ted (Paul Anthony Stewart) either results in a happy ending or sheer disaster.
Kevin, a wannabe writer now nestled in the lap of luxury in his tastefully appointed Sag Harbor home, is clearly shocked when Donna calls, out of nowhere, from a nearby gas station. While Kevin clearly has second thoughts about letting his freewheeling sibling back in his life after such a long absence, he gives in.
Unsurprisingly, what Kevin and Ted intend to be a one night stay turns into several weeks – especially once Donna reveals that she’s pregnant and the guys bond with the lonely, preternaturally mature Lottie. And once the clearly conniving, possibly amoral, and decidedly desperate Donna decides to convince Kevin to adopt her soon-to-be-born offspring – despite Ted’s repeated, vehement dislike of babies – everything gets turned inside out.
Beguelin has concocted an intriguing scenario, but the comedy tends to overwhelm the drama. There’s way too much arch, faux-Noel Coward dialogue in the first act for its own good, and even the straightest character (Donna) begins to sound a little too stereotypically gay. The second act, which concentrates more on the foursome’s interpersonal dramas, feels more organic, but almost stuffs too much plot into a mere 45 minutes, including Lottie finally speaking to her biological father. Still veteran director Mark Lamos, who helmed an earlier – and somewhat differently cast – production of the play last fall at the Westport Country Playhouse keeps everything moving quite briskly.
Many will find all the characters unlikeable, at least to some degree, but the cast does their best to earn our empathy. Despite her too-frequents bouts of selfishness and shrillness as Donna, Cummings nevertheless manages to command quite a bit of sympathy, as it becomes clear that in her own misguided way, she is trying to do her best for Kevin, Lottie, and her unborn child. Harrison, who has clearly grown (and grown up) since his well-known portrayal of twinkie Justin Taylor on TV’s “Queer as Folk,” is very good at conveying a man who knows he’s still somehow caught between adulthood and adolescence; Molnar is thoroughly convincing as the unhappy Lottie, and Stewart handles Ted’s almost-constant exasperation with finesse.
By Brian Scott Lipton
Visit the Site
http://primarystages.org/harbor
Cast
Randy Harrison, Alexis Molnar, Erin Cummings, Paul Anthony, Chad Beguelin, and Mark Lamos
Open/Close Dates
Opening 7/23/2013
Closing 9/8/2013
Box Office
(212) 279-4200
Theatre Info
59E59 Theaters
59 East 59th St
New York, NY 10022
Map
Comments
Sign up for our newsletter !