Review: Studio Completes The Apple Family Cycle with the Poignant SORRY and Exquisite REGULAR SINGING

Two years ago Studio Theatre staged the first half of Richard Nelson's Apple Family Cycle. Commissioned by New York's Public Theatre, this quartet of plays brilliantly captures the American experience in the first 15 years of the 21st century in a way unlike any other onstage, film or television. Now, the Apple Family has triumphantly returned to Studio, where the final two installments of the Cycle are being staged in repertory with the poignant Sorry and exquisite Regular Singing.

Several factors make this a landmark, must see event for DC theatergoers. First, Studio has reunited the entire 2013 ensemble to complete the Cycle. The cast is among the best ever assembled at Studio and it's a privilege to watch them act. Serge Seiden's intimate and fluid direction creates the feeling that we're not watching actors, but watching a family.

As with parts one (That Hopey Changey Thing) and two (Sweet and Sad), each play is set in the Apple Family home beginning with the dining room table being set on the anniversary of a national event. And like every great family gathering, food and drink are aplenty and the guard is dropped. While seeing parts one and two is great, it certainly isn't necessary to enjoy Sorry and Regular Singing. Each works as a standalone piece, making Nelson's plays that more remarkable.

Second, it's extraordinarily rare in the theatre to watch the same characters grow over the course of four plays. Barbara (Sarah Marshall), Benjamin (Ted van Griethuysen), Marian (Elizabeth Pierotti) and Richard (Rick Foucheux) go through the greatest developments and each play allows Nelson to explore those moments with depth and sincerity.

Part three of the Cycle, Sorry, starts off on Election Day, November 6, 2012. Sisters Barbara, Marian, Jane (Kimberly Schraf) and brother Richard are sitting around the dining room table. While their conversation may focus on the presidential election and whether President Obama deserves a second term, their thoughts stray. They're more concerned about Uncle Benjamin, who is about to enter a retirement home due to his declining mental health.

The fourth and final installment, Regular Singing, finds the entire family, now including Jane's boyfriend Tim (Jeremy Webb) in a more somber moment. Marian's ex-husband Adam lies upstairs sick from cancer on the 50th anniversary of JFK's assassination. As they monitor Adam's condition, the family is left to reflect on how that day in Dallas introduced them to death and how the human spirit can triumph over grief.

The anchor of both plays is Marshall's Barbara. She's the oldest Apple sibling and chief caretaker of Benjamin. Marshall masterfully walks a tightrope between agony and anguish in Sorry only to rebound with great strength in Regular Singing. Her most poignant scenes are with van Griethuysen's Benjamin as she wrestles over the future of his care. This has been a recurring theme throughout the Cycle and it represents one of the societal issues Nelson highlights - the care of elderly relatives.

Van Griethuysen is a scene-stealer and Nelson uses his character's frailties to garner some big laughs. However, it's in Benjamin's exploration of his illness that we see van Griethuysen's brilliance. He's able to show us flickers of Benjamin's celebrated theatrical past and also his resignation at knowing those memories are disappearing.

When we last saw Richard, the Apple brother, he was recovering from his wife's marital infidelity while exhibiting a growing dissatisfaction with politics. Each issue has only grown worse for Richard as portrayed by Foucheux's astutely measured performance.

In Sorry, Foucheux is given the best monologue of the Cycle when his character is asked, "What would you say to President Obama or a President Romney?" In a rare moment, where Richard bares his civic soul, we see a man who just wants public servants to be honorable. The commanding honesty, focus and affection of Foucheux in that scene are reason alone to buy tickets.

Then there's Marian, the passionate, liberal sister trying to move-on after losing her daughter. Pierotti gives a moving performance that shows the strength and triumph of the human spirit over tragedy. In Sorry, Pierotti captures Marian's drive to move-forward while the events of Regular Singing provides insight as to what holds her back.

Jane is perhaps the most frustrating character. A divorced mother, now dating a struggling actor, Tim, she's always trying to motivate herself to write more. Yet this frustration raises some of the Cycle's best questions in Sorry and that's where Schraf shines. Although Webb appears only in Regular Singing his performance and stage presence makes him feel like a natural with the Apple clan.

Debra Booth has reconstructed the Apple Family dining room from the 2013 run. A black wall with a solo door into the kitchen keeps the attention focused on the dining room. Walking into Studio's Milton Theatre and seeing the set feels like we're coming home again. It's warm, comfortable and ready for a great conversation.

In Regular Singing Jane asks, "Who will know how we lived?" Perhaps that is the masterstroke of the Apply Family Cycle and why Studio Theatre's productions are can't miss events. Nelson has created characters that are able to blend current events and societal problems in a way that will allow these plays to become time capsules. That as these plays age; they will, with accuracy and pushing no agenda, reflect our society at the dawn of the 21st century.

Runtime for Sorry is two hours with no intermission.

Runtime for Regular Singing is one hour and 45 minutes with no intermission.

The Apple Family Plays - Sorry and Regular Singing - are being performed in repertory at Studio Theatre 1501 14th Street NW, Washington, DC 20005. For a performance schedule and to buy tickets click here, or call (202) 332-3300.

Photo: Sarah Marshall, Elizabeth Pierotti, Rick Foucheux, and Kimberly Schraf in The Apple Family Cycle: Sorry at Studio Theatre. Photo: Allie Dearie.

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