SITE GUIDE
SEARCH
REVIEWS
REVIEW ARCHIVES
ADVERTISING AT CURTAINUP
FEATURES
NEWS
Etcetera and
Short Term Listings
LISTINGS
Broadway
Off-Broadway
NYC Restaurants
BOOKS and CDs
OTHER PLACES
Berkshires
London
California
New Jersey
DC
Connecticut
Philadelphia
Elsewhere
QUOTES
TKTS
PLAYWRIGHTS' ALBUMS
LETTERS TO EDITOR
FILM
LINKS
MISCELLANEOUS
Free Updates
Masthead
A CurtainUp Review
Mr. & Mrs. Fitch
|
I'm mad for dramatic imagination. Just tonight, I found myself seated betwixt Anna Deavere-smith and Moises Kaufman and I had to say, 'Gosh, where do you kids come up with ideas for your shows?'.— Mrs. Fitch
|
John Lithgrow and Jennifer Ehle
|
Mr. & Mrs. Fitch are the co-writers of a popular and successful gossip column for a major publication. They are gadabouts to social events and celebrity haunts where they ingest juicy and provocative items for their daily column and for the edification of their readers. At home they glibly jabber away at a clip to rival the twittering of magpies. With Mr. Beane responsible for the play's text and with Lithgow and Ehle in charge of delivering it, you can be sure that the incessant repartee is as remarkable for its snap and crackle as it is in its execution. If one had to invent a word to describe the banter it would be gay-lic. They are equals in dispensing this avalanche of sparkling bon mots. But all the facetious and condescending remarks about those they saw at the party from which they have just returned quickly become tiresome.
It doesn't take long before their repartee sounds more like a debate in which the content is only as good as the speed with which it is delivered. Just as we are about to scream back at these two very uninteresting, well-dressed, evidently well-heeled people to shut up, a plot, or shall we say a situation, is introduced. Their boss is not pleased with the column they just submitted and threatens to fire them if they can't immediately come up with some original and juicy item.
At first, Mrs. Fitch suggests that getting fired might be just the thing for Mr. Fitch to begin the novel he has long postponed. But a little more practicality forces their hand and they do come up with an idea: they will invent an icon who will be provocative enough to interest the bloggers, twitterers and chatterers. Needless to say their plan backfires in the most obvious way you can imagine.
Of course one could fill up a review citing many of the witty, catchy, bitchy phrases that embroider this play. (for one see above) But what's the point? Lithgow and Ehle work hard trying to be amusing. Lithgow, an extraordinarily fine actor (All My Sons, Sweet Smell of Success, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels) is always a pleasure to watch. He gives Mr. Fitch a demonstrably debonair air and an affectation that is to the Noel Coward world borne. Ehle, who has defined her gifts as an actor in The Coast of Utopia, Design for Living, and The Real Thing, sashays around the apartment with an air of self-satisfaction, but she also suggests a woman clinging to a relationship that is both superficial in its practice yet earnest at its heart.
There is a glimmer of hope for a plot as they toy suggestively with the promise of intimacy and as bits of background information surface that suggest that there have been a few Misters in Mr. Fitch's past. Savvy observers of cultural history will see the allusions (He, "Dearest; " she "darling") to columnist Dorothy Kilgallen and her husband and producer Dick Kolmar, who hosted Breakfast with Dorothy and Dick for many years on the radio.
It is surprising that Beane, the author of such crackling sardonic plays as The Little Dog Laughed and As Bees in Honey Drown and the hilarious book for the stage musical Xanadu, could not see or hear deficiencies in Mr. & Mrs. Fitch, like its lack of three-dimensional characters and a plausible plot. Director Scott Ellis keeps the play's two motor-mouths in high gear until late in Act II when the play shifts gears and becomes a muddle of maudlin reminiscences. Allen Moyer's handsome setting includes a skylight with floor to top windows, but only those sitting on stage right can see the view. The rest of the audience is forced to see only what was directly in front of them.
|
Mr. & Mrs. Fitch By Douglas Carter Beane Directed by Scott Ellis Cast: John Lithgow (Mr. Fitch), Jennifer Ehle (Mrs. Fitch) Set Design: Allen Moyer Costume Design: Jeff Mahshie Lighting Design: Kenneth Posner Sound Design: Bart Fasbender Original Music: Lewis Flinn Running Time: 1 hour 50 minutes including intermission Second Stage Theatre, 305 West 43rd Street (212) 246 - 4422 Tickets: ($70) Performances: Tuesday at 7 PM, Wednesday - Saturday at 8 PM, Wednesday and Saturday at 2 PM and Sunday at 3 PM. Previews began 02/26/2010 Opened: 02/22/2010 Ends 04/04/2010 Review by Simon Saltzman based on performance 02/20/2010 |
|
REVIEW FEEDBACK Highlight one of the responses below and click "copy" or"CTRL+C"
Paste the highlighted text into the subject line (CTRL+ V): Feel free to add detailed comments in the body of the email. . .also the names and emails of any friends to whom you'd like us to forward a copy of this review. You can also contact us at Curtainup at Facebook , Curtainup at Twitter and at our Blog Annex |
|
Subscribe to our FREE email updates with a note from editor Elyse Sommer about additions to the website -- with main page hot links to the latest features posted at our numerous locations. To subscribe,
E-mail: esommer@curtainup.comesommer@curtainup.com
put SUBSCRIBE CURTAINUP EMAIL UPDATE in the subject line and your full name and email address in the body of the message -- if you can spare a minute, tell us how you came to CurtainUp and from what part of the country. |
South Pacific
In the Heights
Playbill Broadway Yearbook
