Cynthia Darlow, James Murtaugh, Kate Middleton, Greg McFadden, James Prendergast and Bob Ari
The Late Christopher Bean by Sidney Howard was written in 1932, but it is more than just a charming period piece. Certainly it is very much of its Depression-era period and certainly it has charm, but a hard charm that speaks from this dreary time in American history directly to 21st Century audiences. Sidney Howard used wit and carefully observed characters and situations to gently reveal universal truths about class, greed and art. v
The Actors Company Theatre (TACT) has opened its 17th season with this sleeper hit, directed by Jenn Thompson, who unspools the plot complications with ever-increasing speed and humor. Her cast of nine inhabits this straight-laced family in 1932 suburban Boston and the bigwig swindlers who appear out of nowhere to complicate their life.
In the middle class home of Dr. Haggett (James Murtagh) once lived a sickly artist, one Christopher Bean who turned out paintings that met with middle class philistine disdain by the entire Haggett brood, until he died young of TB and poverty. Ten years after his death three strangers come to the Haggett home in a single life-changing day, using different ruses to gain possession of the very rare Bean paintings which have become suddenly greatly valued by the sophisticated New York art world. First to come wooing is the oily Tallant (Greg McFadden) who uses several aliases to connive and get what he wants. He pretends to be an old pal of Bean’s and offers Dr. Haggett to pay off Bean’s meager debts. He also proffers what appears to be a reasonable sum to buy the few paintings that Dr. Haggett and his family have carelessly kept—even using one to patch the barn roof! Tallant is followed by another “friend” of Bean’s, Rosen, played by Bob Ari, who turns out to be a ruthless art dealer, and then by a well-known art critic, Davenport (James Prendergast) who has come to see and judge the now legendary paintings for himself.
As it gradually dawns on Haggett that he may be sitting on a vast fortune, the plot takes a few turns that both lower and raise his hopes of a vast profit. He finds out that, frustratingly, his coolly social-climbing wife, played by Cynthia Darlow, had burned the entire batch of paintings which she found ugly and useless. Mr. & Mrs. Haggett then use one ploy after another to get their departing maid, Abby (Mary Bacon) to give up the lone remaining painting, the suddenly valuable portrait that Christopher Bean painted of her, which she has kept as a treasured memento all the ten years since his tragic death. As the proposed prices of the paintings grow ever higher, the Haggetts get more and more desperate and their greed turns them into immoral, conniving users. Abby will not give up her beloved portrait, no matter how much she is offered because it has a deeper meaning to her.
Complicating the plot is the sweet love affair between the local housepainter/handyman, Warren Creamer (Hunter Canning) and Dr. Haggett’s younger daughter, Susan (Jessie Datino). Warren, it seems, studied with the late Christopher Bean and is a promising painter, in his own right, but this profession is anathema to the culturally limited, overly practical Hoggetts. They refuse to let Susan even consider seeing, let alone marrying the poor painter. They have great social ambitions for Susan and her silly, void of a sister, Ada (Kate Middleton). Susan’s character is in direct parallel with the older Abby’s in that both have had deep affection for an artist. Abby only subliminally understood Bean’s greatness and Susan wants her Warren to be great and will stand by him.
The Late Christopher Bean has a whopper of a surprise ending that brings swift comeuppance to all the greedy plotters. Some morality and kindness manage to survive in the poignant and perfect blackout that ends the play.
The acting throughout was first rate. James Murtagh’s increasingly frantic Dr. Haggett and Mary Bacon’s quiet and simple Abby were the heart of the play, but the rest of the cast was convincing throughout.
From the incredibly detailed period set by Charlie Corcoran (with props by Taline Alexander) to the music chosen and composed by Mark Berman and atmospheric lighting by Ben Stantan, TACT’s Co-Artistic Directors Scott Alan Evans, Cynthia Harris and Simon Jones have a real and unexpected sleeper hit with The Late Christopher Bean. It will be fascinating to see if they can work the same magic with their upcoming The Cocktail Party (T.S. Eliot – March 7th – April 10th 2010).
THE LATE CHRISTOPHER BEAN by Sidney Howard
Directed by Jenn Thompson
The Beckett Theatre at Theatre Row Theatres
410 West 42nd St.
New York, NY
Through December 12th 2009
Ticket Central: 212-279-4200/
http://www.ticketcentral.com