The Mystery of Love & Sex
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Cititour.com Review
The legendary Coco Chanel was said to have advised women not to wear too many accessories, saying “Before you leave the house, look in the mirror and take one thing off.” I have no idea how Bathsheba Doran actually dresses, but I wish she had heeded Chanel’s timeless words before writing “The Mystery of Love and Sex,” now at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theatre at Lincoln Center. This smart, entertaining, and involving work constantly threatens to collapse under the weight of its oh-so-many topical subjects, including racism, homosexuality, academic freedom, interfaith marriages, and, oh yes, love and sex.
The show, which takes place in two time periods five years apart, focuses primarily on the complex relationship between Charlotte (an effective Gayle Rankin), a Jewish girl from a well-off family, and her childhood best friend and arguable soulmate Jonny (Mamoudou Athie), an African-American boy who lived next door and bonded with Charlotte after she tried to commit suicide at age 9.
While when we first meet them, the two are essentially living together in college. But they aren’t sleeping together – despite Charlotte’s best efforts. He’s a virgin who uses his religion (Baptist) as his main reason for rejecting Charlotte’s advances, but the reasons go far deeper. Eventually, the pair grow apart for a variety of other reasons, and then reconnect and grow apart and reconnect.
Without giving away the gazillion twists and turns that Doran creates, one roadblock turns out be Jonny’s complicated feelings towards Charlotte’s father Howard (Tony Shalhoub), a successful novelist of “detective fiction”. A voracious reader of Howard’s work, Jonny nonetheless finds his books racist, sexist, and homophobic. Howard is actually Doran’s most believable creation here – alternately egotistical and selfless, outspoken and introspective, warm and icy cold -- and the brilliant Shalhoub captures all his colors. His absences from the stage are deeply felt.
Moreover, Howard’s (eventually crumbling) marriage to Lucinda (the luminous Diane Lane), a free-spirited Southern belle who turned her back on her powerful political family, turns out to be far more interesting and realistic than Charlotte and Jonny’s somewhat contrived push-and-pull friendship. Lane, too rarely seen on the New York stage, is consistently marvelous, painting a full-bodied portrait of a woman who never felt fulfilled, and struggles to find her place in the world at age 50.
As usual, the very busy director Sam Gold works well with his cast, but he can’t find the right way to marry the show’s intimacy (a lot of two-person scenes set in one room) with the Newhouse’s rather vast thrust stage. I’m not sure if set designer Andrew Lieberman should have just ordered more furniture, but there is too an emptiness on the stage that stands in stark contrast to the over-fullness of Doran’s script.
By Brian Scott Lipton
Visit the Site
http://www.lct.org/shows/the-mystery-of-love-and-sex
Cast
Mamoudou Athie, Diane Lane, Bernie Passeltiner, Gayle Rankin, Tony Shalhoub
Open/Close Dates
Opening 3/2/2015
Closing 4/26/2015
Preview Open/ Preview Close Dates
Preview Opening 2/5/2015
Closing Open-ended
Box Office
212-239-6200
Theatre Info
Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater
150 West 65th Street
New York, NY 10023
Map
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