It’s not often that you leave a play wanting more. But that’s exactly the case with the new romantic dramedy by John Patrick Shanley receiving its world premiere at Manhattan Theatre Club. Depicting the rocky courtship of two damaged souls grasping for what they perceive may be a final chance at love, Brooklyn Laundry proves as frustrating as it is charming. But Shanley — who’s proven his expertise at off-kilter rom-coms with such past efforts as Danny and the Deep Blue Sea, Outside Mullingar, and the screenplay for Moonstruck — delivers the memorable characterizations and witty dialogue we’ve come to expect, and the romantic chemistry of leads David Zayas and Cecily Strong is off the charts.
The play begins in typical meet-cute fashion, with harried Fran (Strong) dropping off a bag of laundry at a Bushwick full-service laundromat manned by Owen (Zayas). As the two discuss such business matters as Fran having to pay the minimum fee despite her bag being underweight and her refund for clothes that the laundromat lost months earlier, we learn that she and her last boyfriend have recently broken up and that his fiancé dumped him two years earlier when he was physically incapable of having sex as a result of a back injury from being hit by a car. It also turns out that Owen is not merely an employee, but rather the owner of the laundromat, and owns two others as well, thanks to the financial settlement he received after the accident.
The conversation doesn’t exactly go smoothly, threatening at times to descend into bickering. But there’s enough of a spark between them for Owen to suddenly ask Fran out for dinner, and she readily accepts, with the proviso that it will have to wait a week until she gets back from a trip.
[Read Sandy MacDonald’s ★★★☆☆ review here.]
That next scene alters the mood of the play considerably. It turns out that Fran is visiting her older sister Trish (Florencia Lozano, Wet Brain), who lives in a trailer in rural Pennsylvania and is in the final stages of terminal cancer. Trish, who’s facing her condition with resignation and dark humor, has a drug-addict ex-husband who’s working in Florida, leaving her alone to raise their two young children.
When Fran returns home, she goes on the date with Owen, having fortified herself with psychedelic mushrooms in advance. Their encounter, taking place at an outdoor restaurant, seals their connection, especially when he also partakes and the two of them become bedazzled not only with each other but also with the flames magically emanating from the nearby grill.
But Fran’s happiness proves short-lived after she refuses to go back to Pennsylvania with her other sister Susie (Andrea Syglowski, Pass Over) and learns of another tragic development that threatens her relationship with Owen just as it’s beginning. Susie advises her not to tell Owen anything yet. “Who needs a sob story up front?” she reasons. “Get him on board first.”
As you’ve figured out by now, Brooklyn Laundry is tonally all over the map, veering from lightheartedness to poignancy to broad humor to melodrama from scene to scene. It’s enough to induce emotional whiplash, especially with the frenetic pace of the intermissionless, 80-minute one-act. The final scene in particular doesn’t work, feeling both dramatically illogical and narratively incoherent, as if important scenes were left out. In his ricocheting from one plot element to the next, the playwright seems to be leaving us behind.
That the production, directed by Shanley as well, nonetheless works as well as it does is a testament to his ability to create memorably flawed, vulnerable characters and the sort of sharp-edged comic dialogue that perfectly defines them. But it’s not only due to the writing. It’s also because of Zayas, who shines with charisma in this rare opportunity to be a romantic lead, and Strong, whose comic chops have been well showcased in Saturday Night Live and Schmigadoon as well as her New York stage debut in The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe and here proves adorably moving as a woman desperately grasping for her last chance at happiness. Their wonderful performances make us root for their characters from the first minute we meet them.
Finally, there’s Santo Loquasto’s perfectly detailed, multi-faceted set design, seen on a revolving turntable, that once again demonstrates that he’s one of the best in the business.
Brooklyn Laundry opened February 28, 2024, at City Center Stage I and runs through April 14. Tickets and information: manhattantheatreclub.com
