Broadway Review-----THE LYONS

Linda Lavin is my favorite stage actress. In 1987, I saw her for the first time in her Tony winning role as Kate in BROADWAY BOUND. Since then, I have seen her in THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK, THE SISTERS ROSENSWEIG, GYPSY, THE TALE OF THE ALLERGIST'S WIFE, and COLLECTED STORIES. She can do no wrong. Last fall, she turned down opportunities to reprise roles in the Broadway productions of FOLLIES and OTHER DESERT CITIES to play the role of Rita Lyons off-Broadway in Nicky Silver's new play THE LYONS. People questioned this decision, but now here she is, newly nominated for a Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Play with the Broadway transfer. She is a force of nature on stage. You can't take your eyes off of her for a second or you might miss something. Such control she has. She can always be counted on to give a first class four star performance and in THE LYONS she did not disappoint. THE LYONS primarily takes place in a hospital room. Act One deals with the Lyons family coming to terms with the dying Patriarch, Ben. No one in this family is happy....with themselves or with each other. The son is gay with a boyfriend of 3 years that no one has ever met or seen. The daughter is a recovering alcoholic. The father hates his wife and can barely tolerate his children. And Rita....well, she doesn't like anybody. The theme of the play is simple....find your happiness. I greatly enjoyed the play. It's a dark comedy, to be certain. Rita Lyons makes a decision at the conclusion of the play that several women/mothers in my audience were unhappy with and bothered by based on the comments that I heard as I was leaving the theatre. Dick Latessa is terrific as Ben. Michael Esper plays Curtis, the gay son. He was outstanding. An incredibly strong performance, second only to Ms Lavin. The Second Act definitely takes a different tone than the first act and not everyone will appreciate the change. I was on board completely and found the final moments of the play very powerful. This was a terrific close to a wonderful trip to NYC.