'Breaking Legs'
Put three small-time Mafia-like hoods together with one horny 30 year old Italian woman and a college professor with a play that needs a backer and you have the somewhat farcical elements of the comedy "Breaking Legs," currently on stage at the Theater Barn in New Lebanon.
This is the first play of their 24th season. It is, as tradition would have it, a comedy thriller. Set in the back room of an Italian Restaurant somewhere in New England, the world that author Tom Dulack presents us is one in which a loan must be repaid in full on time or something bad happens to someone. It is a place where daughters must be made happy at any cost, but should never leave the nest, a place where an interloper who doesn’t become a member of "La Famiglia" may not even remain an interloper, may not even remain. It is Tony Sopranoville (in a pre Tony world) where Main Street is covered in marinara sauce and even the back alley is slippery with extra cheese.
It is just in this style that Michael Marotta has presented this play. There is always that edge of parody, yet just an edge.
Waitress and Manageress Angie Graziano loves Terence O’Keefe, the married professor turned playwright. Lou Graziano, her father, wants her to be happy no matter what it costs him, but if he can get something on the cheap, through a "favor," he’ll take that side road to happiness. Mike Francisco, the local godfather, wants everyone to be happy and he’ll kill for that end. This is the mixed quartet of comedic dreams. For three of these folks crisis causes a complete loss of appetite which can only be assuaged by pasta and sausages. And maybe a glass of "red."
Lisa Margolin plays Angie with a vengeance. She is brittle, loving, seductive, volatile. Her timing is terrific on both lines and the physical comedy necessary. She creates a vivid image in the perfectly trashy costumes designed for her by Lu Holden. Her hair is lacquered and so are her toenails. She is the center around which almost all of the men in the play revolve. Her "uncles" are her minstrel-show constellation with her father and her lover as end men. Her peformance alone is worth the money.
As the professor she is fortunate to have Brian Allard. His total seriousness offsets the absurdities in logic presented by the other characters. He plays the role as though it was written by Eugene O’Neill and it works, turning what would otherwise be an action farce into a situation made comic by the situation itself. He is a man trapped by need and showing that need in every gesture. It’s a wonderful performance.
The third star performance in this show is John Noble’s work as Uncle Mike. This character cannot laugh and move his mouth at the same time. He demonstrates this several times. It’s is a moment in which the lack of elasticity is the key to a two hour performance. After his work last season in "On Golden Pond" which was touching and warm, his role and his choices this time prove he is an actor to relish. His movements, his voice and his face gather us in, make us like him in spite of what we know about Mike. It’s a tour-de-force performance that is funny in spite of itself.
John Philip Cromie is fine as Lou. Aaron S. Holbritter does well as Tino, the third member of the "gang" and Zach Lombardo is perfect in his brief appearance as Frankie Salvucci.
It is a dark comedy, violent even in its passionate sexual needs. It may not please everyone, but if you suspend your belief in all things good then even breaking someone’s legs during someone else’s love scene has a comic resonance that cannot fail to entertain.
The Theater Barn is located on Route 20, just west of the town center of New Lebanon, New York. Tickets are $20, Sunday matinees are $18. For schedules and tickets call 518-794-8989 or check out their website at www.theaterbarn.com.