Tristan Colton (left), Curzon Dobell, Susan Bennett and Todd Lawson in Levittown. / Photo by Dixie Sheridan
Playwright Marc Palmieri just loves to explain things. His characters don’t merely reference past indiscretions or shared memories—they very helpfully go into them in great detail, even though the people with whom they’re reminiscing are already aware of every excruciating detail. And while audiences may appreciate a handy primer on the tribulations of the Maddigan and Briggs families in Levittown, exposition disguised as dialogue is hardly good theater.
But things aren’t as grim at Levittown as perhaps I’ve made them sound, at least not for anyone in the audience. Palmieri has loaded down his characters with plenty of suffering, but what elevates his script are the ways in which they handle their pain. Abandoned by their religious father years ago, siblings Colleen (Susan Bennett) and Kevin (Tristan Colton) have chosen vastly different approaches to life. Colleen is living with her mother and grandfather in Levittown (the astonishingly realistic set is courtesy of Michele Spadaro), about to be married and recovering from years of self-medicating with drugs, eating disorders, and men.
Kevin, meanwhile, has come home for a stay after years of half-heartedly pursuing his degree at a variety of colleges. Not particularly serious about his future, he’s begun thinking about following in his grandfather’s footsteps and becoming a firefighter—but first, he’s determined to reunite Colleen with their estranged father, Richard (a terrifying Curzon Dobell).
That their reunion does not go well should be a given, considering the level of Richard’s spite and the simpering earnestness of Tristan Colton’s Kevin. Director George Demas, who shows a sure hand with the rest of the cast, has somehow allowed Colton to make Kevin into such a simpering, naive do-gooder that it’s hard to grasp the fact that he and Colleen shared the same scarring childhood that drove her to drug abuse.
Where the play really falters, however, is Colleen and Kevin’s grandfather, a decorated WWII veteran who periodically dreams about dead relatives and soldiers. His nightmares only serve as ways for Palmieri to spoon-feed backstory to the audience, rather than trusting the actors to convey emotion without ham-fisted dialogue. Worse, these scenes detract from the increasingly riveting plot about whether or not Colleen’s precarious happiness will survive her brother’s well-intentioned idiocy.
The actors all do fine work, particularly Bennett and Dobell, who share just one harrowing scene together as the father and daughter for whom love has congealed into contempt. As Colleen and Kevin’s cousin Joe, Tyler Pierce never overdoes the character’s dimness and does double duty as Joe’s dead father well; Deborah Tranelli is appropriately exhausted as mother Kathleen; Todd Lawson is a stolid and reassuring presence as Colleen’s fiancé; and Dane Knell does his best with the grandfather. Only Colton never finds the confused heart beneath Kevin’s good intentions, which eventually lead to an abrupt and unlikely climax. Life in Palmieri’s Levittown may be about as original as the mass-produced houses in Levittown, but Demas and his cast at least ensure that we’re captivated by the character’s struggles, no matter their staleness.
Through August 1. Theatre at Saint Clement’s, 423 W. 46th St. (between 9th and 10th Aves.), 212-352-3101. $25.
