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Post-Standard, The (Syracuse,
NY)
March 1, 2002
Section: Weekend
Edition: Final
Page: 14
DIFFERENT SIDE OF SIMON SHOWN
Laurel Saiz, Contributing
Writer
Appleseed has tackled a challenging
Neil Simon play. With "Jake's Women," directed by Linda Lance, Simon exposes
a sense of bitterness and
cruel edge unapparent in most of his works.
Like the trilogy of plays
that starts with "Brighton Beach Memoirs," this drama-comedy is autobiographical.
Jake (Steve
Nicholas) is facing a separation
from his second wife while still very much in love with his dead first
wife.
Those who know Simon's life
will immediately realize that the dead Julie (Dani Gottuso) is his wife,
Joan, who died of
cancer, and Maggie (Theresa
M. Constantine) is his second wife, Marsha Mason. Themes of death and marital
problems are challenging
enough, but Simon also does something starkly different, compared to his
more popular
comedies.
Just as TV's Ally McBeal
hallucinates dancing babies, Jake carries on imaginary conversations with
these wives and a
group of other women: his
daughter, played at different ages by Christina M. Shantz and Lisa Coombs;
his sister,
played by Roseanne Fortino;
his psychiatrist, played by Cathy Greer-English; and a beau, played by
Tina Lee
Hutchison. It is a credit
to Lance to say each is perfectly cast.
The chief kudos, though,
go to Nicholas, whose mental dilemmas seem palpable throughout the shifting
perspective,
and Gottuso, who evokes
the vivacity and beauty of his first wife, for those who have seen pictures
of Joan.
The play, not a comic romp
to be sure, is also a testament to a writer's ability to "bend time forwards
and backwards
or put it on hold."
The details
What: "Jake's Women," presented
by Appleseed Productions Thursday night.
Where: Appleseed Theater,
116 W. Glen Ave., Syracuse.
Performance time: 2 1/2
hours.
Length of run: through March
16; tickets $10 to $12;call 492-9766.
Family guide: Nothing objectionable,
but mature themes.
Copyright © 2002 The
Post-Standard |
