One half of all you need to know about Sam Forman’s “The Moscows of Nantucket” at Theater J is contained in its situation: a wealthy Jewish Hollywood television producer, Michael Moscow (Michael Glenn), whose parents have a summer home on Nantucket, is bringing his shiksa girlfriend, Virginia Christianson (Heather Haney), for a visit. A younger son, Benjamin (James Flanagan), is at the opposite end of the success spectrum. His career as a novelist stalled 10 years ago, his girlfriend has left him for another woman, and he can’t even afford an apartment, so he’s moved in with his parents.
Anything else you need to know about this family’s proclivity toward chaos?
| Onstage |
| ‘The Moscows of Nantucket’ |
| Where: Theater J, 1529 16th St., NW |
| When: Through June 12 |
| Info: $35 to $60; 800-494-TIXS; boxofficetickets.com; theaterj.org |
Yet the plot of “The Moscows” isn’t there just to provide an excuse for excessive drinking, the hurling of insults, endless offenses, and more drinking. Forman’s real interest is in the relationships that exist between the characters onstage. He cleverly sets up a reunion that could be a happy affair but that immediately turns sour because of sibling rivalry.
As brothers who haven’t seen one another for years and who are given to exchanging barbs rather than hugs, Michael and Benjamin take after their father, Richard (Bob Rogerson), in their ability to be standoffish and cruel. Their mother, Ellen (Susan Rome) is intensely critical in her own way, usually through outrageous putdowns or backhanded compliments.
Forman suggests that individuals get locked into modes of acting that keep them from seeing or truly relating to one another. Everyone has established, calcified views of everyone else and those views keep any real communication from happening. It’s only when Benjamin drops his defensiveness about Hollywood that he and Michael can have a relationship.
The acting in “The Moscows” is excellent, particularly Flanagan as the poetic Benjamin, whose parents haven’t a clue what he is about. Haney is breezily entertaining as Michael’s girlfriend/actress. In the end, she’s the straight-talker, the one who establishes a sense of order within the chaos.
Amal Saade portrays Benjamin’s nanny as the picture of intelligence. Having come to Nantucket to take care of Michael’s son, she’s more mature than any of the Moscows, neatly sidestepping the depth charges of the familial gathering.
A lot of the lines in “The Moscows” fall flat, although director Shirley Serotsky tries hard to milk them for conventional laughs. But many times, “The Moscows” feels like a series of half-hearted jokes strung together, the characters half-finished sketches.
Worst of all, Serotsky can’t make the connection between these characters and Chekhov’s family in “Three Sisters,” which Forman says exists. Yes, the word “Moscow” is there. And the vodka is there. And the wealth and the countryside. But after that, the comparison ends.
