Love Child

GRADE: B+

Written and performed by Daniel Jenkins and Robert Stanton. Directed by Carl Forsman. At New World Stages. (CLOSED)

At what point does unrestrained silliness lose its privileged protection from serious criticism? What seems like a straightforward farce in the spirit of The 39 Steps gets an unusual spread of responses from critics who seem to expect more. More substance (Talkin' Broadway), more "impact" (North Jersey), more coherence (Nytheatre.com). Taken together, these outliers put a drag on the consensus opinion (NY Times, Village Voice, Time Out New York), which takes writer-performers Jenkins and Stanton's two-person farce on its own terms to report a successful entertainment. In an interesting reversal of biases, it is the "papers of record" that accept the goofball virtuosity for what it is while less-institutionalized voices apply higher standards to low comedy.

New York Times A
(Neil Genzlinger) Mr. Jenkins (“Mary Poppins,” “Big River”) and Mr. Stanton (“The Coast of Utopia”) have created an outlandish backstage story full of eccentric characters: actors, parents of actors, agents, other miscellaneous oddballs. And the joy of the piece is that the two men play the whole menagerie themselves, with nothing but a few chairs on the bare stage to help them or the audience ... This show would be all just very skilled gimmickry if not for the story, which is a well-turned yarn in its own right. By the time it’s over, you may feel as strong an urge as you are ever likely to feel actually to read “Ion” yourself.

The Village Voice A
(Michael Feingold) To gauge the degree of silliness involved, take that premise as the evening's most believable aspect. Jenkins is a capable comic actor; the lanky Stanton, who appears to have been assembled wholly from pipe cleaners, is a born clown. You probably won't need to take your mood elevators after seeing them.

Associated Press A
(Jennifer Farrar) Still one of the funniest plays-about-a-play that you'll see, "Love Child" has resurfaced at the off-Broadway New World Stages, following a successful New York premiere a year ago at Primary Stages. Two gifted actors, Daniel Jenkins and Robert Stanton, who also co-wrote the script, portray a dozen male and female characters interacting in swift rotation. But their combined talent transcends gimmickry, as they create multiple believable personalities despite a hectic pace, often-riotous physical comedy and dialogue peppered with puns and zingers.

Time Out New York A-
(Adam Feldman) In style, this adorably madcap show is something like an even more compressed version of Broadway’s The 39 Steps (The 12 Steps, maybe?), and most of the fun comes from watching Jenkins and Stanton switch madly among their characters ... Carl Forsman’s clean direction helps the audience keep all of these characters relatively straight. And even when the plotlines get blurry, Jenkins and Stanton are always fun to watch and envy: These are two talented bastards.

Nytheatre.com B+
(David Gordon) It's no easy task to do what Jenkins and Stanton do. They run wild and are simply outrageous. Director Carl Forsman and choreographer Tracy Bersley guide them with a restrained hand, staying just the right drop out of their way. I don't know if the script has been altered, I seem to remember a slightly different opening and ending, though. But my favorite line, a joke at the expense of the Manhattan Theater Club, is still there. And it, along with almost every facial expression and action, brings down the house.

New York Daily News B
(Joe Dziemianowicz) The laughs don't land as often as they should, but the actors' nonstop enthusiasm spirits the show along.

Talkin' Broadway C+
(Matthew Murray) The story is so slim and, at least until its last 10 minutes, so disconnected from emotion that it needs some enlivening twist or, better yet, the fiercely uninhibited wildness demonstrated by something like Noises Off if it wants to compensate. Love Child doesn’t have that - all it has are Jenkins and Stanton. They’re more than good enough to carry the show most of the way there, and there’s a certain charm to be found in seeing them usher their labor of love further into the world. But they’re not so original or so exceptional that they can convince you you’re seeing something more substantial than a shtick-heavy acting showcase, if it’s as elaborate and energetic a one as you’re likely to find.

North Jersey.com D
(Robert Feldberg) "Love Child," which opened Saturday night at New World Stages, is a self-indulgence written and performed by Daniel Jenkins and Robert Stanton. The two men, who’ve previously demonstrated that they’re fine actors, have concocted a dubious showcase for themselves. In 90 minutes, they portray 20 characters, with near-zero impact ... "Love Child" often feels like an in-joke, one that doesn’t make you at all disappointed to be an outsider.

New York Times A 13; Village Voice A 13; Associated Press A 13; Time Out New York A- 12; Nytheatre.com B+ 11; New York Daily News B 10; Talkin' Broadway C+ 8; North Jersey D 4. TOTAL: 84/8 = 10.5 (B+)

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Heroes

GRADE: C

By Gerald Sibleyras, translated by Tom Stoppard. Directed by Carl Forsman. Keen Company. (CLOSED)

Three veteran stage actors play three WWII vets in an old-soldiers' home, and while some critics are simply charmed to spend time in their presence, most are underwhelmed by French author Gerald Sibleyras' slight, uneventful play, even in a translation by Tom Stoppard. Of note is the fact that John Cullum is currently high-tailing it from performing the opening scene in August: Osage County to headline this small show--and, as Simon Saltzman reports, his first line in Heroes is "I love the month of August."

American Theatre Web B+
(Andy Propst) Goes down pretty smoothly...Translated with a sort of amiable colloquialism by Tom Stoppard...Under the steady hand of director Carl Forsman, the trio of Broadway veterans turns in solid performances that are filled with delightful quirks and moving nuance. And, though the play evaporates like a gentle wind that might blow through across the terrace where these distinguished veterans pass the time, the opportunity to see these three men exert their not insignificant talents alongside one another is a grand one.

Theatermania B+
(Barbara & Scott Siegel) Once you get a handle on its three increasingly endearing characters, you are going to love Heroes, being presented by the Keen Company at Theatre Row. This award-winning work by French playwright Gerald Sibleyras, presented here in a translation by Tom Stoppard, sneaks up on you. The play seems at first a bit arch and rather formal in an off-putting sort of way. But it is ultimately very funny -- as well as a warm and deeply moving meditation on aging and companionship -- thanks in large part to the exceptional performances of John Cullum, Jonathan Hogan, and Ron Holgate under the direction of Carl Forsman.

Talkin' Broadway B
(Matthew Murray) Doesn’t have an original thought in its head or an original funny bone in its body. But that doesn’t make this compact, utterly irrelevant star vehicle for three mature actors any less winning...The absurdity of such a lightweight outing populated with the powerful actors John Cullum, Ron Holgate, and Jonathan Hogan is not far removed from the absurdity that Henri, Gustave, and Phillipe, whom they respectively play, endure in 1959 as they live out their final years in a French veterans’ home...So despite the fact that nothing of consequence happens, they and director Carl Forsman still seemingly take you on a once-in-a-lifetime ride...The actors’ don’t give complex performances; in fact, it's often hard to tell they’re giving performances at all. But they embody exactly the history that Sibleyras and Stoppard want to remind you has already passed almost entirely into legend. As if in kinship with them, Forsman has made his staging relentlessly, uncharacteristically mild and respectful.

Variety C+
(Sam Thielman) "Heroes" benefits from helmer and Keen a.d. Carl Forsman's sure hand, excellent design work by the ubiquitous Beowulf Borritt and some choice acting. It's a shame the play's Gotham premiere hasn't had a few more rehearsals, though--this piece could use a good deal more of the company's trademark polish and precision...Keen Company's choices frequently border on the sentimental. But here, without a perfectly tuned production to sweep the audience along, the play's little flaws and eccentricities become more apparent, and "Heroes" ends up feeling maudlin and small. If you sit down and think about it after the show, you can see the appeal of the play. But you have to sit down and think about it...With Stoppard's translation, the characters' crabby exchanges get that little Wildean sparkle that characterizes the playwright's own work. And Stoppard delicately brings out Sibleyras' optimistic notion that any two of these three old cusses are strong enough to haul the other one along behind them.

Daily News C+
(Joe Dziemianowicz) A whisper-thin comedy by French playwright Gerald Sibleyras about three World War I vets living in a nun-run home in 1959...The trio plan to take flight to some nearby trees to escape that fate, a scheme that never quite takes off. The same is true of this production, staged by Carl Forsman...The cast is credible. Stoppard’s script musters a few laughs. And there’s something to be said for the bittersweet all-for-one, one-for-all camaraderie of the trio. But when all was said and done, I was just like that stone dog — unmoved.

Backstage C-
(David A. Rosenberg) Meant to be a funny-sad observation of men who rage against the dying of the light. But what should be poignant and poetic here becomes harsh and heavy-handed...The author says his play, which won the 2006 Olivier Award for best comedy, is "about the universal desire to escape the confines of life." That lofty description is all but hidden in director Carl Forsman's amusing but unsubtle production. Only at the end, in a symbolic enactment of the flight of migrating geese, does the evening become more than a rambling series of tepid situations.

Nytheatre.com C-
(Martin Denton) What troubles me about Keen Company's production of Heroes...is that the depths of this absurdism, and its purpose, is almost entirely subsumed by director Carl Forsman's heavy-handed naturalistic staging of the play. There's no magic here, no sparkle; just a rather slow-moving story of three pathetic old men sniping at one another. Things may improve: at the performance reviewed, all three actors (John Cullum as Henri, Jonathan Hogan as Philippe, and Ron Holgate as Gustave) seemed to still be learning their lines; perhaps once they've got them all down, they'll relax into more interesting and complex characterizations.

Time Out NY C-
(Adam Feldman) Heroes won a Molière Award in Paris in 2003 and an Olivier Award in London in 2006, both for Best Comedy, so one must assume that some essential baggage has been lost in the Atlantic. (It earns almost no laughs here at all.) Tom Stoppard’s astringent English text retains a curiously formal and Gallic air—the dialogue always sounds translated—that meshes uncomfortably with the sincerity to which Keen Company is devoted. Perhaps Heroes needs a larger stage and a broader style to pull off its comedic effects, as the three men devise an inchoate plot to escape to Indochina; scaled down to the intimate Clurman Theatre, the show often seems baggy and lethargic

Lighting & Sound America D+
(David Barbour) There's nothing to the script, aside from a series of running gags delivered with metronomic regularity, and, for a bit of color and dramatic heft, the occasional reminder that the grim reaper is near...It's tempting to blame Tom Stoppard's translation for this bland, not terribly amusing laughter-and-tears concoction--and, indeed, it's hard to see what drew the most articulate and intellectual playwright in the English-speaking world to an enterprise that resembles nothing so much as a kind of Gallic edition On Golden Pond. Whether you will find this spry trio and their vaudevillian dialogues amusing will be a matter of taste...Even a trio of skillful old pros has to struggle to get the best out of this material.

The New York Times D
(Wilborn Hampton) Mainly a sitcom in which the geezers behave oddly while plotting various escapades, like an escape to a copse of poplars they can see from the nursing home’s terrace, where they meet daily to quibble and quarrel and get on one another’s nerves. A fourth character is the stone statue of a dog that sits on the terrace and becomes a point of lively contention. The humor comes mainly from the foibles of these men...Mr. Stoppard has turned Mr. Sibleyras’s French bons mots into mildly amusing British witticisms, but the comedy is mostly of the one-liner variety...Neither Carl Forsman’s direction nor the performances by the accomplished actors — John Cullum (Henri), Ron Holgate (Gustave) and Jonathan Hogan (Philippe) — manage to bring the characters to life.

CurtainUp F
(Simon Saltzman) [A] listless, stagnant play by Gérald Sibleyras...The terrace setting designed by Beowulf Boritt is evocative enough: A blue sky with some clouds is visible above the ivy- covered terrace walls. A few chairs and the statue of a stone dog complete the décor...[In] Stoppard's stiff and pretentious translation...virtually nothing spoken has a ring of truth or plain-speak. Director Carl Forman has maneuvered the three fine actors deftly through a play that is not about heroes or particularly heroic. Despite its London success in 2005 and a previous American production in Los Angeles, one can only wonder why the commendably distinctive Keen Company would want to mount it.

American Theatre Web B+ 11; Theatermania B+ 11; Talkin' Broadway B 10; Variety C+ 8; Daily News C+ 8; Backstage C- 7; TONY C- 7; Nytheatre.com C- 7; LS&A D+ 5; The New York Times D 4; CurtainUp F 1; TOTAL: 79/11=7.18 (C)

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Love Child

GRADE: B

By Daniel Jenkins and Robert Stanton. Dir. Carl Forsman. Primary Stages at 59E59. (CLOSED)

Critics marvelled at the versatility of actor/writers Daniel Jenkins and Robert Stanton, whose two-man show depicts a troubled Off-Off-Broadway production of Euripides' obscure Ion, though a few quibbled with the script's ambitions.

Associated Press A+
(Jennifer Farrar) One of the funniest plays-about-a-play that you will see involves two men literally spinning from one character into the next...The duo deftly portray about 10 characters apiece with no costume changes, many of them near-simultaneously, while also vocally providing the sound effects...Despite an increasingly hectic pace, both actors display an endless supply of comedic flair while keeping multiple personas separate.

The New York Times A
(Neil Genzlinger) Daniel Jenkins and Robert Stanton have been in some high-profile, high-priced shows on Broadway, but it’s hard to imagine that they have ever had more fun than they’re having now in Love Child, a delicious $15-a-ticket romp of their own making...Seemingly every accent, gesture and facial tic in the actors’ respective kit bags is called into service to tell the story...[It] would be all just very skilled gimmickry if not for the story, which is a well-turned yarn in its own right.

Variety A
(Mark Blankenship) Jenkins and Stanton, both veteran character actors, stoke the imagination with their remarkable physical and vocal precision. And their perfs have the same deranged wit as their writing...Credit director Carl Forsman, a.d. of Keen Company, for capturing the emotional nuance of the writing. While the thesps jump from character to character, the helmer keeps the pace frantic in the funniest bits and injects stillness just when we're supposed to pay attention.

The New Yorker A
(Unsigned) Daniel Jenkins and Robert Stanton, both successful Broadway actors, expertly play at least twelve characters between them in this bare-bones but hilarious farce...Once onstage, the family of over-the-top thespians can’t separate their own stories from the script, and astounding truths emerge.

TheaterMania B
(Dan Balcazo) Several of the characters initially come across as near-caricatures. But while some remain underdeveloped, the major ones...become more nuanced as the show continues and you find out more of their back story...Both actors have superb comic timing and an easy rapport with one another...On the downside, there are so many characters introduced in such a short span of time that it's difficult to keep track of them all...There are also some jokes that fail to land...Still, the affection that Jenkins and Stanton pour into their creations is infectious.

Curtain Up B+
(Elyse Sommer) [It] isn't serious competition to the likes of Boeing, Boeing but Love Child is also a farce. However, it relies on the escalating zaniness and the speedy and, at times almost simultaneous, back and forth jumps among some twenty character to substitute for a conventional farce's slamming doors. For all its barest of bare bones structure and the emphasis on lots of laughs, the play also insists on donning a serio-comic double mask, and the result is poignant but also something of a mixed bag.

Talkin' Broadway B+
(Matthew Murray) It gives Jenkins and Stanton ideal opportunities for showcasing their serious comic acting chops. The writing of this breezy 90-minute outing...is less sure, but most of the time you'll be laughing too much to care...It doesn't take long after the start of the performance-within-the-performance for both Love Childs to lapse into utter ridiculousness...While events are supposed to rise to a certain Hellenistic level of improbability, the revelations leave you constantly wondering "What's next?"...They're much more successful at evoking love and affection for the greater theatrical family.

Talk Entertainment C-
(Oscar E Moore) I am still reeling at the memory of two fine, dexterous, energetic actors - Daniel Jenkins and Robert Stanton - playing a variety of roles - twisting and twirling and turning as directed by Carl Forsman, becoming this one and then that one and then this one again or is it that one - in the blink of an eye - while taking turns sitting on one of the six mismatched chairs...Love Child might have been better off tackling Much Ado About Nothing or putting itself up for adoption.

AP A+ 14; NY Times A 13; Variety A 13; New Yorker A 13; Talkin' Broadway B+ 11; Curtain Up B+ 11; TheaterMania B 10; Talk Entertainment C- 6; TOTAL: 91 / 8 = 11.38 (B+)

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