Playwright: Andrew Bergman
At: Raven Theatre, 6157 N. Clark St.
Phone: (773) 338-2177; $20-25
Runs through: Nov. 23
This 90-minute play could easily be converted into the pilot episode for a television comedy, being a homely reminder that it's never too late to look for happiness, as well as a modern fairy-tale affirming the miraculous healing powers of Love. Its personnel include two middle-aged couples, a pair of codgers, and a teenage Girl Gone Wild (talked about, but never seen). Most important, it sends us home feeling so cheerful, optimistic and just plain GOOD that we hardly notice how we've been flimflammed into this contented stupor.
David and Barbara Kahn are the sophisticated urban couple, owners of a Manhattan art gallery. Barbara's sister, Trudy Heyman, is a humorless suburban housewife married to stuffy accountant Martin. When the latter embark on a recapture mission to fetch their incorrigible daughter home from college, the Kahns find themselves forced to care for their 80-year-old mother. Initially, she is a geriatric nightmare—judgmental, demanding, ill-groomed, roaming her chic surroundings on her walker, leaving half-eaten sweets on every surface and chiding her offspring for their affluent lifestyle. Then one evening, David brings home a 98-year-old artist of international status commensurate with that of Marc Chagall—and suddenly Mama Sophie is transformed into the AARP poster girl.
Andrew Bergman sometimes compromises consistency for the sake of a snappy one-liner, but who's gonna argue with a story where the yenta gets her Comeuppance, the snobs get Wise, and the geezers just Get Some? Especially when the Raven company, under Michael Menendian's expert direction, render personalities bordering on caricature so gol-durn likable?
Cuddly Oldsters are to commercial success in the 2000s what Cuddly Youngters were in the 1970s: Esther McCormick and Tom Porter as Sophie and her swain, JoAnn Montemurro and Chuck Spencer as their supporters, Liz Fletcher and Ron Quade as their oppressors—all playing characters considerably older than themselves—replicate age-appropriate mannerisms with the same accuracy and compassion they show towards their regional dialects (with some coaching by Claudia Anderson). And if we can't move into scenic designer Marni Woloszyn's tastefully decorated apartment, the paintings are on loan from the Maple Avenue Gallery and they ARE for sale.