SINGING PRAISES FOR I NEVER SANG FOR MY FATHER

Whenever we are seeing a show on 42nd Street it seems we find ourselves in a quandry as to where we to eat. We typically remember all too late that Chez Josephine is right there and this time we actually remembered BEFORE we ate. So we had a delicious dinner with really attentive service and then walked the 50 steps next door to see I NEVER SANG FOR MY FATHER.

Robert Anderson’s play is 40 years old and neither of us has ever seen it performed, nor have we seen the movie. Keir Dullea and Marsha Mason were hard to resist and Jeff was a huge Sopranos fan so he was looking forward to Matt’s Servitto’s performance. It’s an extremely male show in that it departs from the usual female range of emotions that one typically sees portrayed on stage. and This was a real change of pace. The story is really timeless and has some genuinely heartbreaking moments. Watching the on stage characters grapple with questions of familial guilt and regret was at times very difficult to watch. Cathy found she was asking herself some of the same questions the characters did.

This is a somewhat dark story and even Marsha Mason’s bright portrayal of the mother is overshadowed by the play’s darker moments. There was one line in particular that Matt Servitto’s character, the son, says: “Death ends a life, but it does not end a relationship.” How incredibly haunting.

We found Servitto’s Gene very real and compelling. You could feel this character’s sense of responsibility for his parents, as well as the confusion that surrounded this feeling and how confused he was too. Veteran actor Keir Dullea did not disappoint as Tom, the father. He was tough and soft at the same time and played his beginning dementia very well. There was a moment when his son hugged him and the stiffness with which he received the hug was impossible not to feel.

We wish Marsha Mason’s role and character were onstage more. She was a good balance to the play’s darkness and while Rose Courtney was terrific as the sister, this too is a depressing character. We both thought that perhaps the director, Jonathan Silverstein, could have played up the human humor a bit more. Anderson tackled some very serious issues - ones most of us face. We wanted to cry and fell just short of reaching that emotion. Tears or not, it’s a well done, tight show and worth seeing.

Next up: LEND ME A TENOR!