Review: 'Isn't It Romantic' at Apple Hill Playhouse (2003)
Wendy Wasserstein's Isn't It Romantic opened the 2003 summer season at Apple Hill. This archived Post-Gazette review looks at the two heroines at the centre of the play and at the production's cast. The full 2003 line-up is on the 2003 season page.
By Anna Rosenstein
Apple Hill Playhouse has kicked off its 2003 season with Wendy Wasserstein's "Isn't it Romantic." If you know Wasserstein's work, the characters will feel familiar -- semi-strong women struggling to locate their identities.
"Isn't It Romantic"
Where: Apple Hill Playhouse, Delmont.
When: 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, through June 28.
Tickets: $6 to $12 (meal packages $17 to $26).
Related information: Apple Hill schedule
In this go-round, a pair of pushing-30 former classmates arrive in New York to become confident and independent. Really, Janie and Harriet are trying to dump their mothers and pick up husbands.
There's a lot of talk about how women can make it on their own, but it's drowned out in all the talk about whether or not either has met the right guy, whether either wants to meet the right guy, how to get rid of the wrong guy, how to keep any guy. True, Janie decides that the wrong guy isn't better than no guy and gives it a joyful go on her own, but not before spending an unfathomable amount of time musing about men.
What Wasserstein does well is create a natural, chummy feel to the relationships she depicts. They're more sitcom than theater, but they're easy on the brain with no pesky subtext to worry about. Usually Wasserstein's the queen of the one-liner. But here she forgoes them, and they're sorely missed. Those zippy comebacks make her other women seem at least superficially smart. Janie plays as another incarnation of Heidi ("The Heidi Chronicles"), but she seems much dumber without Heidi's acerbic wit.
Although "Isn't it Romantic" isn't my cup of tea, I can't fault the production. Designer Rita Devlin fits four sets onto the small stage so that the action flows continuously. There's a lovely little park scene stage left, allowing the action to move outdoors, and a New York skyline that's just hokey enough to elicit a sense of the women's dreams of making it in the Big Apple.
Director Iva Jean Saraceni and the cast wisely steer the characters away from the extreme edges, where Wasserstein leaves them tottering. Meighan Lloyd's Janie is never so timid or ditzy that her final stand is unbelievable. Becky Best allows Harriet's fears to flow in an undercurrent rather than in a tidal wave. Shirley Ratner and Pat Beyer as Janie's and Harriet's mothers keep their characters down to earth by never losing touch with the motivating force of motherly love. The two share a lovely, honest scene together.
The men's roles are pretty flat, but Nate Newell and Al Bonati embrace being the jerks Janie and Harriet leave behind.
Anna Rosenstein is a freelance theater critic.