Ever since Epidaurus, every playwright who sustains a prolific career will deliver a dud. Be it Shakespeare, George S. Kaufman or, in this case Donald Margulies, eventually the odds will catch up with even the most gifted dramatist.
The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Dinner With Friends among more than a dozen major plays, Margulies often composes contemporary American dramas about well-off, white, urban professionals.
Margulies’ latest play, Long Lost, concerns just such a family in Manhattan today. David (Kelly AuCoin) is a successful financial advisor. Molly (Annie Parisse), his spouse of more than 20 years, is a corporate lawyer much involved in charity work. Jeremy (Alex Wolff), their only child, is a student at Brown University. It is Christmastime.
[Read Steven Suskin’s ★★ review here.]
Unpleasantly surprising David at his office is Billy (Lee Tergesen), his scruffy elder brother, who has been out of touch for a decade or so. Much as Billy dissembles during their strained conversation, it soon becomes evident that he is a former addict who is currently shiftless, homeless, and possibly terminally ill.
It further becomes apparent that Billy still knows how to manipulate David, who reluctantly agrees to take him home for the holidays.
Smoking grass and drinking beers in the family’s tastefully posh apartment with Jeremy, who has just returned from school, Billy glibly manages to put a positive spin on his doings. Let’s not reveal the most horrific episode in Billy’s dubious past, but suffice to say that this grifter is one of those obnoxious individuals who has an excuse for every terrible thing he does.
Further, Billy happens to be very good at sowing discontent and so he stirs up conflict between Molly and David. As the 90-minute drama continues, Molly refuses to believe Billy’s claims of being a better person and demands that he leave. Subsequent confrontations get nasty.
Although Long Lost has been composed by Margulies with his typical craftsmanship, this story of a troublesome black sheep lacks originality and suspense.
It is obvious practically from the get-go that Billy is a total louse and it strains credulity how he can worm his way into his brother’s life so easily. Since one can see Billy plant his emotional land mines from a mile away, their eventual explosions are scarcely unexpected. Ultimately, the play offers zero insights into the mostly uninteresting characters nor does it pack any cautionary message about the dangers of tolerating unworthy relatives.
In spite of the professional facility with which the author executes his script, the dismayingly empty drama soon becomes tedious.
Margulies has enjoyed a long and successful association with Manhattan Theatre Club, which faithfully provides a glossy production for Long Lost at New York City Center Stage 1, where it opened on Tuesday. Daniel Sullivan has directed several among Margulies’ plays, including Sight Unseen and Time Stands Still, and he stages Long Lost with typical ease and polish.
Under Sullivan’s guidance, good actors breathe some semblance of reality into their characters. Lee Tergesen is especially skillful in his ability to give the unpalatable Billy a touch of raffish charm. Set designer John Lee Beatty masterfully employs three turntables to spin out four different interiors. Daniel Kluger composes melancholy incidental music for piano and saxophone.
While the play is smoothly rendered by experienced hands, there is no reason why this terribly inert drama should be produced at all except that a distinguished artist such as Margulies wrote it. Too bad that the playwright did not have the insight to shelve it and save everybody a lot of wasted effort.
Long Lost opened June 4, 2019, at City Center Stage I and runs through June 30. Tickets and information: manhattantheatreclub.com
