"Grand Horizons"

Robert Massimi.

In Bess Wohl's playwriting debut on Broadway comes a warm and witty production filled with raucous laughter and delightful acting. Nancy (Jane Alexander and Bill(James Cromwell) decide to get a divorce after fifty years of marriage. It seems that things have been building up for quite some time and the two want to call it quits. As Bill is aloof towards his marriage, he is equally so towards his children and pretty much the same towards everything and everyone he comes in contact with. A former pharmacist, Bill is a regementated person who never missed a day of work in his life. Although not bitter from the outset, it becomes obvious as the play goes on. Not happy about having a gay son, Brian (Michael Urie), he is dismissive towards Brian's weaknesses, his melodrama and his profession. Although Bill respects Ben (Ben McKenzie) a little more, he can't be bothered that his wife is to give birth any day, nor does he share any emotion with his daughter-in-law.

In a very innovative curtain (a cookie cutter row of homes to give us a feeling where these people live), we face a very warm set of the French's kitchen/living area. Clint Ramos design is a innovative work while giving the actors plenty of room to rumble. Jen Schriever's lighting let's all the warmth into this home through the kitchen windows and the front door. Open and airy, the plot develops into one disaster followed by another, all the while leaving the audience in stitches. In a senior citizens development known as Grand Horizons, people are measured by which development they live in and what committees they partake in. Bill is working on his stand up comedy which is anathema to his personality. He thinks he has a new craft, one in which he thinks people enjoy, instead his family is horrified by his jokes.

"Grand Horizon" is deeper than just the hilarity of the French family; we see the deep seated feelings that roll out in due course as a result of the pending divorce. The boy's start to wonder if a relationship is worth it; Jess (Ashley Park) who is due to give birth in day's wonders aloud if this is what she has to look forward too in fifty years. Depressed by her in-laws, Jess begins to panic even more at how her husband has been dismissing her in every way. Coupled with her brother-in- laws condescending attitude, Jess is ready to run for the hills. In fact the entire cast wants to take a powder and that is the charm of this play. Under strong direction by Leigh Silverman ;"A Lifespan of a Fact(Studio 54); "Wild goose Dreams"(The Public), Silverman is able to keep the comedy coming as well as creating some very poignant, touching moments in the play.

The cast is brilliant and the production is first rate, "Grand Horizons" clicks in every way. For everyone who has ever loved sitcoms, "Grand Horizons" is for you. From a U-Haul crashing the set to Brians would be comic love fling, the laughs are non stop. Jane Alexander is the loveable wife who say's just what's on her mind even if it means mortifying her children. James Cromwell is a loveable curmudgeon who never minces words when it comes too his feelings and his family. To the chagrin of the children who at times are road kill, Nancy and Bill are two zany people.