On the verge of death for the umpteenth time, Anna (Linda Lavin) makes a shocking confession to her grown children: an affair from her past that just might have resonance beyond the family. But how much of what she says is true? While her children try to separate fact from fiction, Anna fights for a legacy she can be proud of. With razor-sharp wit and extraordinary insight, Our Mother's Brief Affair considers the sweeping, surprising impact of indiscretions both large and small.
The playwright probably has something to say about forgiveness or the allure of bad boys, but while there's a decent amount of cleverness in his lines, the story never amounts to anything of significant consequence. Director Lynne Meadow's production is fine and neither she nor her actors should be blamed for the overall sluggishness of the overwritten proceedings, but aside from Lavin, who deftly blends from acerbic to gently sentimental, OUR MOTHER'S BRIEF AFFAIR is hardly one to remember.
Stage and screen actress Linda Lavin, 78, who has made a specialty out of playing difficult and domineering Jewish mothers (most recently in the 2012 play 'The Lyons'), is at it again in Richard Greenberg's underwhelming dramatic comedy 'Our Mother's Brief Affair'...The play has witty lines and a few surprises, but it's also sluggish, messy and short on plot. Greenberg's attempts to play with time and dramatic structure...come off as labored. Meadow's staging is generally flat. Lavin, nailing her character's acerbity, is terrifically funny but also identifiable and sympathetic. Keller and Arrington, in underwritten and underwhelming roles, passively sit on the sidelines while Lavin tells the tale.
2015 | Broadway |
Manhattan Theatre Club Original Broadway Production Broadway |
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