The First Play Of The Season, Darlings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                     The current theater season for me, was initiated by "Little Bear Ridge Road," a play by Samuel D. Hunter, who wrote "The Whale" From this production it appears Hunter, like me longs for the golden age type of play that used to be written by the likes of Tennessee Williams, William Inge, and Carson McCullers.  He makes a game effort of it, but there are bumps along the roadway that make this play less than I think what it aspired to.

                                      It is like a master class in acting.  Laurie Metcalf, as Sarah, and Micah Stock as nephew Ethan, go back and forth masterfully in an almost '' 'Night, Mother' " kind of way.  They are thankfully directed by Joe Mantello, who knows a thing or two about blocking and rhythms.  I haven't seen such masterwork like this in a long time, and it was a welcome sight, indeed.

                                       When it veers into gay areas, the play is interesting, because Micah Stock's Ethan is what I would call a real gay.  Someone attractive enough, but who would never make the cover of GQ.  And he is not afraid to show his body, as in an extended scene, which he plays with his shirt open, exposing a not so tight chest.  Yet, if he would just let go of his uptight issues, he might have a chance.  I sympathized with him.

                                          Now, Jonathan Dea, who plays prospective partner, James, is as buttoned up, as Ethan is open.  He is like a petit Jonathan Franzen, and while one may wonder what is underneath, one never knows.  James, though, has an open, caring personality; at one point, his aunt, again played by Metcalf, delivers one of the best lines when she says to Ethan, "You are throwing away the best thing that has ever been offered you.," or words to that effect.  She is right, but Ethan's constant life of abandonment, to which Sarah has also contributed, prevents Ethan from attaining such happiness.

                                            The play is sad, not depressing, and has an apt ending.  The only problem is it has all been done before, and by better writers.  Mantello and Company get all the credit for making this otherwise lackluster drama as compelling as it is.  With this and "The Whale," Hunter demonstrates he is on the verge of something but has yet to reach it yet.  It is my hope that with his next effort, which I would like to see, he reaches that goal.

                                              But go see "Little Bear Ridge Road" for the acting, darlings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!