From DAVID ROONEY in VARIETY
...it's a testament to the rigorously unflashy approach of Bucchino,
Fierstein and a disciplined cast that its sentiments never for a moment
feel manufactured.
A bittersweet reflection on the complexities of marriage and
relation****ps, this small but satisfying drama forgoes big emotional
impact for poignant understatement.
It's true to the spirit of Chayefsky's writing and evocative of a period
in American life when the chasm between upper and lower middle class was
increasingly apparent. We might now be in the midst of an encroaching
recession rather than a boom, but the parallels make this perhaps the
perfect show for a new period of economic anxiety and widening class
divides.
Bucchino's work is entirely of a piece with the direction and writing.
Whether it's in the exquisite underscoring or the introspective songs,
the minor-key beauty of the music as heard in Jonathan Tunick's
delicate, filigreed orchestrations captivates while remaining
determinedly unintrusive.
The odds that "A Catered Affair" will find mainstream acceptance may be
slim, but the show commands respect by further challenging standard
preconceptions of how the Broadway musical should sound, function and
feel.
John Doyle is a Brit director whose stand-and-deliver approach may not
be the most dynamic solution for such sober material. But it crucially
provides the actors with the stillness and breathing room needed to
reveal character shadings.
This is true particularly of Faith Prince as the drama's stoic center,
Aggie, a Bronx housewife inured to a life of self-denial, scraping to
feed and clothe her family on the earnings of her sullen cab-driver
husband Tom (Tom Wopat).
While Fierstein has remained largely faithful to the 1956 movie (which
starred Bette Davis and Ernest Borgnine), he has freshened the scar
caused by the death of Aggie and Tom's son in the Korean War. (The
second son from the screen version has been excised.) The government
bereavement check resulting from that loss becomes a chief source of
conflict.
Tom wants it to buy joint owner****p in a taxi, providing self-employment
and increased income, but Aggie wants it to pay for a lavish wedding
reception for their daughter Janey (Leslie Kritzer), setting the tone
for her marriage with the kind of joyful sendoff she and Tom never had.
Her mother's daughter, pragmatic Janey had decided on a no-frills
ceremony with schoolteacher fiance Ralph (underused Matt Cavenaugh), but
more for Aggie's sake than her own, she allows herself to get caught up
in the ballooning plans.
There are deep psychological nuances to be mined here, and Fierstein and
Bucchino meticulously excavate the feelings of characters for whom
suppressed emotion and sacrifice are an ineluctable part of life. The
similarities between mother and daughter are traced both in book scenes
and in songs like Prince's "Married" or Kritzer's "One White Dress,"
with both the older and younger woman viewing life and marital
commitment with eyes wide open.
With her one plain, serviceable dress (Ann Hould-Ward's eloquent
costumes are spot-on) and mousy hair piled up for practicality, Aggie is
without airs or expectations, but her disappointment in life hasn't
smothered her pride.
The tender toughness of Prince's measured performance makes it easy to
empathize with her rash decision to barge ahead with plans for a grand
wedding -- partly to make amends for the wan romance of her own
marriage, partly to compensate for having favored her late son over her
daughter, and partly to stanch her humiliation in front of Ralph's
ostentatious parents (Lori Wilner, Philip Hoffman), doing nicely in real
estate.
As she sings "Vision," while the components of a perfect wedding come
together in her mind, Prince's restrained rapture is lovely. When the
show does trans****t in traditional musical mode, the actress is its
primary vehicle.
Expanding her range from her usual comic roles, Kritzer is also
effective. She brings a down-to-earth warmth and sensitivity to
self-possessed Janey that adds emotional weight to her increasing alarm
as the wedding plans cause escalating friction.
And Wopat is enormously moving as a burdened, uncommunicative man who
absorbs his wife's rebukes with only an occasional rumble until her
insinuation that there's no love between them causes him to erupt in "I
Stayed."
In addition to centralizing the dead son, the most significant change
from the movie is Fierstein's role for himself as Aggie's "confirmed
bachelor" brother, Winston. He's equally touchy about the threat of
being excluded from an event for "Immediate Family," but unlike the
a***ual interloper played by Barry Fitzgerald (named Jack in the film),
Winston is unapologetically gay and grappling with his own offstage
relation****p issues.
The show resonates due to its modesty, grace, gentleness and emotional
integrity -- qualities not often front and center in musicals.
With: Philip Hoffman, Katie Klaus, Heather Mac Rae, Lori Wilner,
Kristine Zbornik.
Musical numbers: "Partners," "Ralph and Me," "Married," "Women Chatter,"
"No Fuss," "Your Children's Happiness," "Immediate Family," "Our Only
Daughter," "One White Dress," "Vision," "Don't Ever Stop Saying 'I Love
You,'" "I Stayed," "Married" (reprise), "Coney Island," "Don't Ever Stop
Saying 'I Love You'" (reprise), "Coney Island" (reprise). =A0
Opened April 17, 2008. Running time: 1 HOUR, 30 MIN. =A0
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