SARAH, SARAH
At the Manhattan Theatre Club, 131 W. 55th St. Through June 6. Citytix, (212) 581-1212.
FAMILY – it’s the theme of many plays lately, from “Well” to “From Door to Door.”
Now comes “Sarah, Sarah,” a promising new play by Daniel Goldfarb about the wounds of the past and the fresh possibilities of tomorrow within the context of a Jewish family in Toronto. And while it’s not perfect, it’s written with a stunning, familiar intimacy that announces a new and gifted playwright.
J. Smith-Cameron brilliantly gives us Sarah, the successful but haunted woman who’s preparing to welcome her son’s fiancée, Rochelle, for tea. Helping Sarah is her neighbor, Vincent (a flawless Richard Masur), who bustles about the apartment in a housedress and head scarf, solemnly polishing the silver.
When Rochelle (Lori Prince) arrives, Sarah’s real intent emerges: The domineering woman wants to end the engagement. Rochelle’s family, it seems, isn’t stable or rich enough for Sarah’s Arthur.
Enter Arthur, enacted with perfect gaucherie by Andrew Katz, who has a secret of his own: He’s not majoring in dentistry after all, but philosophy, which is a lot less profitable. Then Vincent, who knew Sarah in Russia, brings out a secret from her past that, though harmless, has nevertheless haunted her all her life.
Still, Sarah insists the couple not marry.
The second act fast-forwards 40 years, to a Holiday Inn in China, where Arthur (now played by Masur) and his daughter Jeannie (Cameron) have come so Jeannie can adopt a baby girl. Arthur, we learn, did marry Rochelle. Both father and daughter concoct a fantasy that the sickly infant is a reincarnation of her dead grandmother.
It is a sweet idea, but it doesn’t answer the questions raised by the play’s first act. How was the conflict resolved? How did the couple get the strength to go against Sarah’s wishes? Despite Mark Nelson’s assured direction, we never really know.