Time and a new Chicago production have been good to ”I`m Not Rappaport.”
Since Herb Gardner`s sentimental comedy-melodrama was first written
(1982) and staged (1984), the issue of aging which his play addresses has become increasingly pressing, making his story of two urban-scarred octogenarians fighting off loneliness and neglect from the battleground of a Central Park bench even more of an engaging subject.
At the same time, the Chicago producers, Sheila Henaghan and Howard Platt, have been careful to re-produce the 1985 Tony Award-winning play with a top-flight staging led by a pair of excellent comic actors.
Shelley Berman, all but unrecognizable in his white beard and flowing white hair, is now Nat, the garrulous old revolutionary determined to maintain his independence; and Garrett Morris now portrays Midge, the more conservative, near-blind janitor who is reluctantly swept up in Nat`s tall tales and wild schemes.
They`re a shrewdly paired eightysomething odd couple, playing off each other with already expertly blended symbiosis. Morris, always one of the best actors in the bunch in his old ”Saturday
Night Live” days, makes Midge as spry in his delivery as he is stiff in his old man`s stance; and Berman`s Nat, erect and proud in his defiance against a world that threatens to overwhelm him, rises to a peak of simple, direct passion in his big speech (and the play`s best) confronting the complexities of growing old.
(”You will get old,” he tells a smug yuppie condominium owner. ”I hate to break the news. And if you`re frightened now, you`ll be terrified then. The problem`s not that life is short but that it`s very long; so you better have a policy. Here we are. Look at us. We`re the coming attractions . . .”)
Gardner`s script gives both men plenty of opportunities for being cute old codgers, but so far, under Sheldon Patinkin`s wise and expert ditractive in the supporting cast, but every one of the smaller parts is ably taken.
The show, in short, remains a polished, popular mix of corn and compassion, with Berman and Morris providing humanity, as well as shtick, for their highly actable roles.
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”I`M NOT RAPPAPORT”
A play by Herb Gardner, directed by Sheldon Patinkin, with scenery by Tony Walton, costumes by Kaye Nottbusch and lighting by Michael Merritt. Opened Nov. 19 in the Briar Street Theatre, 3133 N. Halsted St., and plays at 2 and 8 p.m. Wednesdays, 8 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays, 5 and 9 p.m. Saturdays and 3 and 7 p.m. Sundays. Running time: 2:40. Tickets are $22.75 and $28.75. Valet parking is $5. Phone 348-4000.
THE CAST
Nat………………………………………..Shelley Berman
Midge………………………………………Garrett Morris
Danforth……………………………….Kevin Michael Doyle
Laurie……………………………………….Ellyn Duncan
Gilley………………………………………..Loren Rubin
Clara………………………………………..Nancy Linari
The Cowboy…………………………….Thomas Anthony Quinn