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Airlessness in the theater is usually a problem.
Were annoyed when a drama seems self-contained and tidy.
But in Bess Wohls sparkling Broadway debutGrand Horizons, sterility is a feature, not a bug.
(The script says, Its all contained in a box.
The box is a house.)
In the shows first instant, Nancy has just worked out an answer to that crucial question.
I think, she says calmly over dinner, I would like a divorce.
Little bitty spark, short fuse and the rest of the play is the explosion.
(Cromwell manages to make his entire, six-and-a-half-foot body imply ugh.)
There are two foolproof comedy generators in Leigh Silvermans production.
1: Jane Alexander cussing.
She shouts at a noisy neighbor with profane confidence; she confesses a long-ago affair in yonic detail.
This leads us to comic strategy No.
2: Horrifying Michael Urie.
Butsurelyshe added extra tortures just to make Urie freak out?
Ben and Brian certainly dont want to think of their parents being, in any way, carnal.
But beyond that, theyre baffled that any desires libidinal or otherwise exist inside their parents.
Ben cant believe theyre impinging on his clearly more important life.
Youre almost 80, he says.
Like, how much else even is there?
To this, the meticulously constructed production contributes its own object lessons.
So Nancy decorates in groups.
One wall has a line of copper pots, another has a line of dried flower bunches.
Maybe theyll remind Bill of something.
Its there if you look for it.
You also want to pay close attention when a playwright has a character tell a joke.
Those sneaky dickens like to smuggle parables in that way.
Is it simply that he met the vivacious Carla (Priscilla Lopez) there?
Bill tells his joke.
Theres another thing you might notice, though.
Each of those casting decisions, examined individually, is a great one.
I give that only oneeekout of a possible five but it does get aneek.
For the most part, though,Grand Horizonsis a sweet, sweet delight.
Is it a take-your-life-back-at-any-age narrative?
Is it a prickly, slow-moving romance between treasures of the stage Jane Alexander and James Cromwell?
For myself, I discovered that I just want to watch Michael Urie get increasingly appalled.
Grand Horizonsis at the Helen Hayes Theater.
