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| Adrianne Krstansky & Derek Hasenstab in "Come Back, Little Sheba" |
At the beginning of the play “Come Back, Little Sheba”
Lola Delaney (Adrianne Krstansky) has been dreaming of searching for
Sheba, her long-lost dog, for whom she still calls out. It will
become a metaphor for other losses that cannot be reclaimed.
Directing a production of the famous William Inge work was a
long-time dream of David Cromer which has finally come true at
Huntington Theatre Company. Cromer helmed the terrific production of
“Our Town” for the company a couple of seasons ago. The current production,
concerning a middle-aged couple in a rundown Midwestern city over the
course of a single week, was one that spoke to its audiences back in
1950; it ran on Broadway for two hundred performances. Inge was to
continue with other plays about commonplace Midwestern folks
(“Picnic”, “Bus Stop”), but it was this character study of an
intellectually ill-suited, co-dependent twosome that struck such a
chord with theatergoers as they watched the husband in recovery and
the wife, first in denial, survive a shattering crisis. It calls for
some rather intense naturalism, without frills, just great
storytelling, a credible middle-class drama. What it also calls for
is heart.
Fortunately, it has plenty of that, in Cromer's hands
and as embodied by Krstansky's truly heartbreaking Lola. Her husband
of twenty unhappy years is Doc (Derek Hasenstab), a chiropractor who
gave up a promising potential career in medicine when she became
pregnant before they married, subsequently losing the baby in
childbirth. Their young boarder Marie (Marie Polizzano), the daughter
they never had, is encouraged by Lola in Marie's amorous pursuit of
both the hunky track and field star Turk (Max Carpenter) and her
wealthy boyfriend Bruce (Nael Nacer) who resides in her hometown of
Cincinnati. Meanwhile Lola herself, a former beauty queen, flirts
with the Postman (Adam Zahler) and the Milkman (Michael Knowlton)
under the watchful eye of her neighbor Mrs. Coffman (Maureen
Keiller). Doc, a recovering alcoholic, stays sober by forgetting the
past, helped by two of his fellow A.A. members, Ed (Christopher
Tarjan) and Elmo (Jeremy Browne). Yet it's a tenuous state, as events
will come to prove. The first act, essentially the setup for the
drama to come, is slow and methodical, a little too commonplace and
even dull. As with other Inge works, this play is long on
characterization but short on convincing plot. The first act serves
to set up the mundane everyday bare bones of their existence in order
for the second act to give vent to the torrid all-too-human drives
previously lying dormant. It succeeds most at being a vehicle for a
consummate actress and a strong supporting cast.
Krstansky is certainly up to the task. With her
disheveled look and fluttering movement, her childlike speech and
barely controlled terror, hers is a performance that becomes an
acting class in itself, with never a false note. It's an
unforgettably moving demonstration of this wonderful actor's
craft. Hasenstab is a worthy match for her in a variation from the
usual brutish take of productions past, more intensely wound, until
his breaking point. Polizzano is terrific as the liberated Marie,
with fine support from Carpenter and Nacer as her completely opposite
swains. The remainder of the cast, in minor but colorful turns, show
just how clever Inge was at character portrayals. The creative team
includes perfectly suited Costume Design by Sarah Laux, natural
Lighting Design by Mike Durst and period Sound Design by Jonathan
Mastro. Special mention should be made of the marvelous and
meticulous Scenic Design by Stephen Dobay, whose work in Cromer's
“Our Town” production was so memorable, here in a confining space
painstakingly recreated from the past (right down to a working gas
stove), which serves as the ideal cage for the captive couple at the
core of the story.
By the end of the play, each spouse has realized
something fundamental about the past, present and (likely) future
life together. The lonely chiropractor husband and his equally lonely
wife live their small lives. The play ends up portraying their
nostalgia and regret for their vanished youth, indicated by the obvious metaphor of their long-missing pet, perhaps too obvious, as is much of this
unfortunately dated yet poignant work. As Thoreau wrote, “the mass
of men lead lives of quiet desperation”. Jim Manago's
biography of Shirley Booth (who originated the role of Lola on stage
and in film), entitled “Love Is the Reason (for It All)”, is also the
title of one of the songs from the musical version of “A Tree Grows
in Brooklyn” in which she also starred a year after “Sheba”. This is
particularly applicable here. Love is, in the end, the reason for it
all.
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