Review Roundup: LIPS TOGETHER, TEETH APART Opens at Second Stage

Second Stage Theatre's production of Terrence McNally's play, Lips Together, Teeth Apart, directed by Peter DuBois, opens tonight, October 29, 2014. The production features Michael Chernus (Obie Award winner for In the Wake), Tracee Chimo (Lortel Award winner for Bad Jews, 2ST Uptown's Bachelorette), America Ferrera (Emmy Award winner for "Ugly Betty") and Austin Lysy (2ST's The Water's Edge).

It's the 4th of July on Fire Island where a brother and sister and their spouses are spending the quintessential American summer weekend in an unfamiliar setting. As their season in the sun unfolds, the two couples do their best to enjoy themselves despite their prejudices and insecurities. The grill is fired up, the drinks are cold and the pool is open but no one is going in.

Let's see what the critics had to say...

Charles Isherwood, The New York Times: Unfortunately, the middling revival that opened on Wednesday night at the Second Stage Theater doesn't fully excavate the rich seams of feeling in this, one of Mr. McNally's finest plays -- and one that hasn't dated, despite its apparently topical subject matter...While the cast features four talented young actors, including America Ferrera (of "Ugly Betty") and the versatile Tracee Chimo ("Bad Jews"), their performances, under the direction of Peter DuBois, tend to Jet Ski along the crests of the writing...All four actors hit the emotional notes squarely and without unnecessary fireworks.

Frank Scheck, The Hollywood Reporter: McNally wrote the work especially for its original performers -- Nathan Lane, Christine Baranskiand Anthony Heald, with Swoosie Kurtz replacing an intended Kathy Bates -- and that estimable ensemble knocked it out of the park. This current production features a talented cast...But they fail to live up to their illustrious predecessors, and as a result the play feels far thinner...the conflicts feel forced and the playwright's normally facile gift for comic banter...feels strained...while Chimo scores consistent laughs as the ebullient Chloe, the rest of the ensemble are mostly unconvincing and generally too young for their roles...Director Peter DuBois' unfocused staging gives the evening the feel of a very long weekend indeed, although the physical production can't be faulted.

Adam Feldman, Time Out NY: Revivals of plays by Terrence McNally are like tapered, acid-wash jeans: You're sure people said they looked good in the '90s, but it's hard to remember why...A more coherent cast might have made these people seem like they exist in the same world, if not ours, but Peter DuBois's ensemble does not...The grievously miscast America Ferrera gives an amateurish performance as Sally, who has inherited a beach house that belonged to a brother she lost to AIDS. As her husband, Sam, Michael Chernus connects better with the audience but not exactly with the part; he's too straightforward for McNally's arch, incongruously gay-inflected jokes. The talented Tracee Chimo brings gusto to her showy role as Sam's sister but sometimes pushes too hard, whereas Austin Lysy, as her pent-up husband, doesn't quite push hard enough.

Matt Windman, AM New York: "Lips Together, Teeth Apart," which explores the marital difficulties of middle-aged straight couples as they are surrounded by gay men during the height of the AIDS crisis, has not aged well. It is a three-act play with little plot and plenty of filler, including countless confessional monologues. Although director Peter DuBois enlisted a fine quartet of actors...they are all about a decade too young for their roles. All their sensitive touches do little to counteract the emptiness of the play. Chimo injects a great deal of energy as a gossipy housewife devoted to community theater productions of classic musicals, but her antics come off as annoying rather than amusing under these circumstances.

Joe Dziemianowicz, New York Daily News: An expertly tuned production can help compensate for the script's longwindedness and lack of subtlety. Directed by Peter DuBois, this credible but uneven version is the first in New York in 23 years. An atypically bland America Ferrera ("Ugly Betty") plays Sally Truman, who has inherited the valuable ocean-view property from her brother, an AIDS casualty...Tracee Chimo snags lots of laughs as Chloe, but her portrait is virtually all surface.

Elisabeth Vincentelli, New York Post: The new troupe could well end up with similarly rich careers -- they're all excellent actors, even if some are miscast in Peter DuBois' otherwise elegant revival...Chimo's Chloe hides her worries behind affectation, randomly breaking into French phrases and show tunes. A comic expert capable of quicksilver mood changes, the former "Bad Jews" star is an endearing mix of vulnerability and volatility, but she's also too young to play a 40-year-old mother of three. As her brother, Chernus seems more like a gentle nouveau Brooklynite than the play's bigoted contractor from New Jersey. Underplaying nicely, Lysy and Ferrera are more in sync with their roles, or at least less jarringly cast. Once again, McNally lays it on thick -- the drowning swimmer is one Grim Reaper signpost too many. Yet for all its flaws, the play captures a time and place with despairing bite and palpable anger.

Melissa Rose Bernardo, Entertainment Weekly: Discomfort not only clouds the faces of every character in this four-hander but also floods Peter DuBois' sluggish revival...As McNally's play bounces back and forth haphazardly between throwaway one-liners...and pensive, spotlight-flooded speeches...the production starts to unravel. And that's pretty much in scene 1. Ugly Betty star Ferrera, who's not quite a stage newcomer, is, regrettably, out of her depth as the moody, preoccupied Sally; Chernus can't crack the emotional center of McNally's most heart-wrenching monologues. As he hits on his sister-in-law, Lysy's John seems more smarmy than sad. Only Chimo...is completely comfortable in her character's skin, let alone with all the quips and outbursts. C+

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Photo Credit: Joan Marcus