Pocatello
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Cititour.com Review
Time and again, we’ve been told you can’t go home again. But in his enormously affecting, if slightly overstuffed, new play, Pocatello, now at Playwrights Horizons, Samuel D. Hunter asks the question whether you can stay home – especially if your town is economically crumbling and your family is deserting you, physically and/or emotionally.
This poignant, timely dilemma is faced by two very different men: the show’s main character, Eddie (the very fine T.R. Knight), a college-educated, single gay man desperately struggling to keep open his failing branch of an Olive Garden (magnificently rendered by designer Lauren Halpern), and Eddie’s high school pal Troy (Danny Wolahan), now working as one of Eddie’s waiters, and dealing with his miserable, alcoholic wife Tammy (the excellent Jessica Dickey), his unhappy-with-the-world 17-year-old daughter Becky (Leah Karpel), and his Alzheimer’s-ridden father Cole (a heartbreaking Jonathan Hogan).
Both men seem firmly planted in their dying Idaho town, and Hunter lays out their reasons with skill and precision. And despite the northwestern locale, their stories can resonate with people from all over who are facing the realities of unemployment and fiscal uncertainty.
Still, it can be hard at times to sympathize with Eddie – even given the devastating circumstances of the past we learn about. After all, his frustrated mother Doris (a superb Brenda Wehle), who lives nearby, can’t make it any clearer that she wants to cut the apron strings Eddie stubbornly clings to. Meanwhile, his rather less-than empathetic older brother Nick (Brian Hutchison), who has briefly returned for an ill-conceived visit with his wife Kelly (Crystal Finn), has made a financially successful new life in St. Paul. True, Hunter shows us that in some ways, Nick is still also stuck in Pocatello, no matter how many miles he has put between himself and his childhood home.
Director Davis McCallum, who has helmed Hunter’s previous plays (which include “The Whale,” “The Few,” and “A Bright New Boise”), is clearly attuned to the author’s rhythms. He also works well with the entire cast (which also includes Cameron Scoggins and Elvy Yost as two of Eddie’s other employees). But I do wish that both he and Hunter had approached the work the way Coco Chanel reportedly looked at herself in the mirror, removing one accessory from each ensemble. There is at least one too many plot points and revelations for the 100-minute work’s own good.
Still, “Pocatello” reaffirms Hunter’s status as one of the theater’s most important new voices (and a worthy recipient of a 2014 MacArthur “Genius” grant). He may not win any kudos from the Olive Garden from this play, but everyone else will happily eat it up.
By Brian Scott Lipton
Visit the Site
http://www.playwrightshorizons.org/shows/plays/pocatello
Cast
Jessica Dickey, Crystal Finn, Jonathan Hogan, Brian Hutchison, Leah Karpel, T.R. Knight, Cameron Scoggins, Brenda Wehle, Danny Wolohan, Elvy Yost
Open/Close Dates
Opening 11/21/2014
Closing 1/4/2015
Box Office
212-279–4200
Theatre Info
Playwrights Horizons
416 West 42nd Street
New York, NY 10036
Map
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