Our roving theater critic Joseph Westerfield caught the new production of Christopher Durang’s play The Marriage of Bette and Boo at Manhattan’s Roundabout Theater. Here’s his review:
Long before the boys of Entourage made point-blank insults a source of popular comedy, Christopher Durang was firing away in some of the funniest plays of the 1980s. In The Marriage of Bette and Boo, which is being given a first-class revival at New York’s Roundabout Theatre, some of the nastiest attacks elicit the biggest laughs.
Over 33 short scenes, Bette and Boo tells the story of two of the most dysfunctional families to ever unite on (or off) stage. They deal with alcoholism, senility, childbearing and religion--and all of this is fodder for some of the show’s funniest jokes.
In the rare instance where a joke fails to land, it is only because the insult flew by the intended jugular, not because it fell lamely short.
Durang has always had a special place in his crosshairs for the Catholic church, and this play is no exception. The family priest offers little. He can, however, do a spot-on impression of sizzling bacon.
Bette and Boo does have a sympathetic side, however. Charles Socariades plays Matt, the Alice trying to make sense of this wonderland, and his sadness and frustration grounds the work.
The cast is uniformly excellent. In the title roles, Kate Jennings Grant and Christopher Evan Welch show how a marriage that should never have happened manages to last at all—largely through interminable arguments and inertia.
Victoria Clark manages to offend everyone so sweetly that I was constantly asking myself, “Did I just hear that?” Julie Hagerty, who has always been a wonderful ditz in her film roles, shows a darker side as Boo’s mother. And one wonders if she will ever find out how she got her nickname of Soot.
And Adam Lefevre, as Bette’s father who is the apparent victim of a stroke, manages to get his point across humorously despite his character’s disability.
The play (which runs through September 7) may not be for all tastes, but for those who like their humor bare-knuckled, The Marriage of Bette and Boo is a must-see.
Photo: Joan Marcus, 2008
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