Divamensch

I saw *Grand Horizons* on Broadway on 2/5/20. It's a new play by Bess Wohl about a couple who's recently celebrated their 50th anniversary and moved into a retirement community. They're played by Jane Alexander and James Cromwell. The play starts with them setting up their lunch - - he put two ice cubes each in two glasses and poured out the Crystal Light, she meticulously drizzled gravy on the mashed potatoes. They moved over to the table, sat down, took their napkins out of their rings and placed them on their laps, all of these movements in synch, like synchronized swimmers. They started eating and the wife said, "I think I'd like to get a divorce." The husband looked at her across and table, took a beat, and said, "Alright."

 

The chief draw of the play was four of the actors: Alexander and Michael Urie, both of whom I've seen a few times and really love, and Cromwell and Priscilla Lopez, who I hadn't seen onstage before.

 

The play was just good enough to be frustrating. A moment of hilarity and/or insight would come hot on the heels of something dopey or insulting. There was a failed love scene for the gay son (Michael Urie, natch) and a guy he brought back from a bar - - it was cringeworthy, I think I was actually cringing. And Alexander had a monologue near the end of the show that she could have prefaced by saying, "And now I'm going to tell a story from my childhood that won't seem like it applies to the situation, but it'll be referenced later, so please be patient."

 

But on the flip side, it was good to see a play about people in their 80s in which the characters are portrayed as vital, smart, and deserving of love and fulfillment. Alexander and Cromwell were both funny and touching, and Lopez (I almost called her Morales, after her character in *A Chorus Line*) was a real pro in her small role. It's like she knew her character was two-dimensional, but she was going to deliver those two dimensions with color and style.