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November 6, 2002
Section: CNY
Column: Joan Vadeboncoeur

Appleseed Productions has unearthed "Close Ties," a trenchant drama of more than two decades that delivers comedy overtones and that is also a touching work.

The family is gathering at the Berkshire Mountains cottage owned by Bess Whitaker Frye and her husband, Watson, a country retreat sold to them by her mother, Josephine, after the death of her husband, Charlie.

Sold, but not vacated. The exceedingly eccentric woman presides over it as if it were still hers. She bosses grandson Thayer into chores. She cows Bess with demands for specific foods. She carps at Watson, whom she deems an attorney inferior to her late spouse, but who apparently is not.

Bess' offspring are a motley lot. Evelyn is a divorcee, contentious and contemptuous in nature, but hiding her own self-loathing. Happily wed Anna yearns to try acting but is dubious of her talent. Connie mediates disputes yet doesn't hesitate to tell it like it is. The lone male, Thayer, thinks he has the makings of a dance craze but complains that his grandma works him too hard.

The play shows its age, although it retains sufficient vigor and the cast is so impassioned that it makes the dated aspect almost an afterthought. Undoubtedly Anna would not be as conflicted about career versus marriage. Probably Evelyn would not feel such guilt over her divorce. Yet the Alzheimer's ailment and its symptoms remain much the same and without a real cure.

It has been 15 years since Susan Palmer Everly has played as large a role as Josephine. It shows in her timing. Yet, given a showcase speech or an amusing moment of talking to herself or her dead husband, she shows the stuff of her training at Syracuse University and Bennett College. Hopefully, another 15 won't pass before she tackles another.

Director Dan Tursi has assembled a solid cast, which plays like a real family, warts and all. Besides Everly, there's fine work from Cathy Greer-English as Bess and Kristie Grant as Evelyn. Slightly behind them are Nancy Amidon as the perky Anna and Lisa Coombs as Connie.

The men don't fare as well, but their roles aren't as fleshed out as could be desired. Bob Fullenham's Watson could use a shade more aggravation over his place in the family's legal history and Justin Noce, while garnering laughs, goes way over the top to win them. Promising is Rob Stewart, an Ithaca College graduate, who struggles early on but grows ever more confident as Evelyn's suitor, who suffers her disdain cheerily.

© 2002 The Post-Standard.