THE ROOMMATE

Review by Celia Ipiotis

Brassy and sassy — ditzy and guileless Patti LuPone and Mia Farrow’s high spirited sparrings prompt some delicious exchanges in the new Broadway comedy The Roommate  by Jen Silverman.

Boxes parked on the side porch suggest movement in or out of the modest Iowa house designed by Bob Crowely. Living alone and ready for a new adventure, Farrow advertises for a roommate and gets an unlikely Bronx transplant, LuPone.

Blunt in manner and speech, LuPone is secretive, and unwilling to divulge her past. Hardly noticing the personal boundaries chicken wired around LuPone, Farrow flits around like a butterfly in search of  sweet nectar, changing topics, and sweetly swimming through a constant stream of consciousness.

That the two honestly care for each other is palpable. Besides being women of a certain age, they both face a complicated approach to their estranged children. 

Set at a time when landlines were essential and answering machines indispensable, the grown up children’s concerned voices ring out on the answering machines.

Both women appear to be playing some kind of games with their offspring, but that’s never really resolved because the play essentially centers the desires of two older women, bent on inscribing a new personal text on the remaining pages of their lives.

Not surprisingly, LuPone stalks the set with the confidence of Tina Turner while Farrow exudes the lightness and guilelessness of Peter Pan.

Throughout the show, LuPone hits her comedic lines with laser aim, constantly suggesting scenarios that Farrow initially doesn’t understand but soon enough, embraces.

When a series of pot plants land on the kitchen counter, LuPone claims a medical need, and although it’s her first time trying it out, Farrow makes good friends with weed. This willingness to undo the corset of her upbringing causes Lupone to actually consider the possibly alarming consequences of Farrow’s  future and her own.

Jack O’Brien’s light handed direction gives the actors freedom to follow set blockings yet respond improvisationally to the audience and each other.

A light and airy paean to friendship, The Roomate evolves into an endearing composite of grit and guile.

EYE ON THE ARTS, NY — Celia Ipiotis