Theater Review: Dad-to-Be Blues in "Knickerbocker"

Details

Parent Category: Film and the Arts

Category: Reviews

Published on Saturday, 21 May 2011 05:00

Written by Kevin Filipski

 KnickerbockerWritten by Jonathan Marc Sherman
Directed by Pippin Parker
Starring Mia Barron, Alexander Chaplin, Bob Dishy, Christina Kirk, Drew Madland, Zak Orth, Ben Shenkman

In Jonathan Marc Sherman’s agreeably slight Knickerbocker, impending fatherhood haunts 40-year-old Jerry (Alexander Chaplin), whose anxiety contrasts with wife Pauline’s (Mia Barron) levelheadedness. The first of seven scenes introduces the couple, with Pauline three months into her pregnancy, showing them good-naturedly picking a name for their peach-sized unborn son.

Six more scenes follow in the six months counting down to the big day in October, all set in Jerry’s favorite restaurant in the neighborhood near the Public Theater. 

After Pauline’s first appearance (she returns in July and October), there’s his best friend, straight-shooting Melvin (Ben Shenkman); his former but still flirty girlfriend, Tara (Christina Kirk); his other best friend, unrepentant stoner Chester (Zak Orth); and his father, Raymond (Bob Dishy).

Knickerbocker is a series of vignettes, some funny, some not, but none probing all that deeply, thanks to Sherman’s labored dialogue. The best moments come during Jerry’s rather touching talk with his dad, which goes for sentiment instead of the easy laughs sprinkled throughout the rest of the play.

(Do we really need to hear Jerry and Tara discuss how his sperm tastes or her taking her shirt off at a Who concert, or Charles being happily oblivious to maturity or responsibility?)

It’s unfortunate that Sherman ends Knickerbocker with one final Jerry-Pauline scene the day before she enters the hospital for her C-section, because it spoils the gentle poignance of Jerry reminiscing with his father.

Mia Barron makes an engaging Pauline. Christina Kirk and Zak Orth overdo their admittedly caricatured parts. Ben Shenkman is a nicely restrained Melvin and Bob Dishy an amusingly flustered Raymond. Alexander Chaplin, the lone actor onstage for the entire play, amiably plays off the rest of the cast.

Pippin Parker’s efficient staging, which uses one semi-circular restaurant table for all the scenes, doesn’t solve a big sightline problem: the back of one performer’s head often faces certain members of the audience. (The titles that introduce each scene are also not visible to some viewers.) 

Knickerbocker, finally, has too few insights to compensate for its over-reliance on a quirkiness that first amuses then sags.

Knickerbocker
Public Theater
425 Lafayette Street
New York City
212-967-7555
publictheater.org
Opens May 19, 2011; closes May 29, 2011

For more by Kevin Filipski, go to The Flip Side blog at http://flipsidereviews.blogspot.com

• < Prev
• Next >