THE COCKTAIL HOUR: 'All in the Family'

The Vagabond Player's production of A. R. Gurney's THE COCKTAIL HOUR features a set that might be described as "All in the Family meets Kennebunkport" which is appropriate, as this is a family drama (Gurney's forte), set in the 1970s, pitting an intellectual son against a blowhard father (okay, in "Family" it was a "meathead" son-in-law, but it's close).

Blaise D'Ambrosio plays John, eldest of two sons, a successful publisher, but in fact, a frustrated would-be playwright. He arrives at his parental home in upstate New York to confront his father, mother and sister with his newest work-a play about them.

D'Ambrosio's performance is somewhat stiff. His movements on stage are not fluid, and one senses he is reciting his lines rather than making them his own. Denis L. Latkowski's patriarch Bradley seems to suffer from a similar sense of "rigor," but it works well with his character's inflexible nature. Latkowski delivers his lines with humor, even when he's angry, much to the audience's delight.

If the men may appear somewhat "out of their element," the women are clearly right at home. Stage veterans Joan Crooks as Bradley's wife, Ann, and Janise Whelan as John's sister, Nina, navigate the stage with familiarity and each occupies her role with relish.

Ann just wants everyone to get along and nothing helps lubricate the proceedings like the occasional "splash" (and splash and spash again) of alcohol. She is also so in tune with her husband's rhythms and that of her own house that she's able to have spirited back-and-forth ping-pong match of a conversation with Bradley while she cleans up after John's fumblings with a plate with cheese.

Whelan's Nina, like John, lives a life that's unfulfilling, only she too has a creative outlet-in this case working with canines and her dream of moving to Cleveland to work with seeing-eye dogs. One moment she's able to play the adorable little princess to prod Bradley into giving her what she wants; the next, a sharp woman with a psychoanalyst's mind, as she and John explore facets of their own family's dysfunction, including their own.

Like an episode of "All in the Family," "The Cocktail Hour" addresses some meaty issues -- from sibling rivalry to class differences to how children perceive their parents versus who these men and women who raise us truly are, and the secrets that they bear. And like Norman Lear's series, the comedy flows easily and as often as the countless cocktails the cast shares.

And if you like abundant references to T.S Eliot, actress Swoozie Kurtz and an unseen cook whose true first name remains a mystery, then please visit the bar, as "The Cocktail Hour" is for you.

"The Cocktail Hour" continues its run at the Vagabond Players, 806 S. Broadway, now through Sunday, Sept. 27th. Showtimes are Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., Sundays at 2 p.m. For more information and ticket reservations, call 410-563-9135 or visit www.vagabondplayers.org.

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