AISLE SAY Florida
VISITING
MR. GREEN
by
Jeff Baron
Directed by Howard J. Millman
Starring David Howard & Kraig Swartz
Asolo Repertory Theatre at Historic Asolo Theatre
Ringling Museum, Sarasota, 941-351-8000 or
800-361-8388
January 30 through March 1, 2009
Reviewed
by Marie J. Kilker
Like many another modern American
drama, Visiting
Mr. Green is about a father-son
relationship, though a surrogate one, in the larger context of the two
menÕs
need for family and familial love. Religious beliefs and social
conformity
present the most potent obstacles to their fulfillment. Working these
out
starts after a judge orders Ross (Kraig
Swartz, epitomizing a successful young
NYC businessman) to make up for grazing with his car a Mr. Green. Ross
must
visit weekly to help the cantankerous 86-year-old, who insists he needs
none.
A virtual hermit since Yetta, his wife
of 69
years, died, Mr. Green lives amid old papers, mail, and a general mess
in a
dingy flat neighboring a cheap hotel. Despite his attempt to dismiss
Ross,
orders from the judge prevail. And a good thing too, because not only
is Mr.
Green surviving on little but tea and crackers. He
has also fallen and ended up sleeping in place just
before Ross returns. ItÕs the kosher soup he brings that establishes
their
affinity: both are Jews. While Mr. Green is strictly Orthodox, however,
Ross
has been mainly secularist. Their weekly encounters reveal how their
beliefs
affect their attitudes toward their families, each other, life itself.
The sticking point mutually and in
RossÕ
interaction with his high-society parents is that heÕs gay. They donÕt
accept
gays, except as jokes or freaks. Mr. Green, whoÕs baffled by
homosexuality in
someone like Ross, believes itÕs Ònot what God wants.Ó When he thinks
it may be
RossÕ choice, he angers at the same know-it-all, law-breaking action
taken by
his ÒlateÓ daughter Rachel. In
marrying a Gentile, she ÒdiedÓ to Mr. Green and Yetta, who sat shiva
for her.
Some deep discussions, not the least of which involve ironic prejudice,
are in
store! As Mr. Green becomes more and more attached to Ross, a
combination of
RossÕ persistence, a revelation about Yetta, and a mental aberration
bring
about a change in the elder man.
In turn, after a sickening incident with his parents, Ross finds
him a
fine object for friendly, even filial, devotion. Tolerance gives way to
understanding and to redemptive love.
Owing to author Jeff BaronÕs ways with
words and
snappy dialogue, Visiting Mr. Green
invests most serious points his play makes with subtle to
laugh-out-loud humor.
Mr. Green gets off most of the one-liners, sometimes one-ÒwordersÓ, and
no one
could say them better than David S.
Howard. No stranger to playing old
curmudgeons, he yet invests each one--as heÕs done at Asolo from being
the stubborn
Italian Stone Carver
to the
impatient Judge Biddle of Trying--with
a distinctive character and manner. A consummate actor, Howard as Mr.
Green
changes beautifully and lets appealing Kraig Swartz pace himself
perfectly
along with him. Under Howard MillmanÕs
well-practiced direction, what a ride!
Set: Jeffrey W. Dean; Costumes: Catherine
King;
Lighting (crucially effective): Joseph P. Oshry; Sound: Matthew Parker;
Stage
Manager: Sarah Gleissner. Time: 1 hr., 55 mins. w/15 mins. intermission.
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