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Lotsa’
love for “Mad Love” in Long Branch NJ
Through Nov 20
at NJ Repertory, 179 Broadway, Long Branch..
Thurs & Fri at 8PM; Sat at 3 & 8; Sun at 2PM. Tickets ($45)
732-229-3166 or at www.njrep.org
Reviewed by Philip Dorian October 22, 2016.
Thinking about “Mad Love," the word “lark”
popped into my head. Where’d that come from? I thought, so I
looked it up: Something mischievous…an amusing adventure or
escapade. Marisa Smith’s play, running through November 20 at
New Jersey Repertory Company, is a lark. The self-labeled “Romantic
Comedy” may be just another RomCom about modern-day attitudes
and hang-ups, but its apt additional descriptive “for Cynical
Times” elevates it, if not out of that category, at least to
its top-quality level.
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| Alex Trow and Graham Techler. Photo by SuzAnne
Barabas. |
Twenty-something singles Brandon (Graham Techler) and Sloane (Alex
Trow) have been dating casually (sex at her place, but no sleep-overs)
for a few months, after meeting at House of Brews, where he thinks
he picked her up. (She knows better.) At dinner, she blindsides him
with a request to donate sperm that she can freeze for insemination
later (but not past when she can still rock a post-maternity bikini).
At first, Brandon’s shocked refusal seems priggish, even for
a middle-school teacher, but he – via playwright Smith –
makes a sensible case for it later.
Brandon’s brother, Doug (Jared Michael Delaney), mildly impeded
from a brain injury suffered in a fraternity prank, nonetheless contributes
somehow-wise and witty commentary, unfortunately verbalized in a stream
of f-words (some gratuitously prefixed), an amateurish playwright
choice, enhancing neither the character nor the actor. Finally, there’s
Doug’s birthday present, in the person of Katrina (Brittany
Proia), a Ukranian “escort” who worms her way into Doug’s
affections and, more important, his confidence, before conning him
(maybe) out of his prized possession.
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| Jared Michael Delaney and Brittany Proia.Photo
by SuzAnne Barabas |
We’ve seen these types on stage before, but rarely as well
depicted on the page and in the flesh. Ms. Trow is a special treat
as the delightfully animated (even when seated) Sloane, whose late-revealed
dark secret, we realize retroactively, has swayed the character from
the start. Brandon is a fellow of several qualities, not all admirable,
but all secondary to the charm with which Techler imbues him. For
a goodly portion of the play Sloane and Brandon are mutually antagonistic;
nonetheless, as acted, there’s considerable chemistry between
them.
Delaney rises above the grating lingo to reveal Doug’s child-like
openness and vulnerability. That he also executes the intricate set
changes (another triumph for designer Jessica Parks) seems somehow
in character. The hooker with a heart of gold (or maybe not) may be
a stereotype, but Ms. Proia fleshes this one out nicely. Evan Bergman’s
deft direction illuminates the situation and the relationships over
a just-right span of ninety minutes.
The several story threads are introduced (and acted) naturally and,
in one challenging example that could have gone awry, tastefully.
These are real people in believable situations. A couple of “Mad
Love” plot developments are predictable half-way in, but one
last-minute revelation is not; and it wins your heart. Factor-in that
you’ll learn who Napolean Lajoie was (and how to pronounce his
name) and you’ve got yourself, well, a lark.
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