The Tale of The Allergist's Wife
Written: Oct 27 '01
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Product Rating:
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Pros: The perfomance of this cast; humor of first act; entertaining comedy/drama
Cons: The "moral" of this tale is spelled out too clearly; some loose ends
The Bottom Line: The performances of Lee, Harper and Roberts are the driving force behind this comedy. It does become a bit cliche at the end, but overlook that and enjoy these actors.
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| lorirobe's Full Review: The Tale of the Allergist's Wife |
Last Saturday, my husband decided that he was going to get tickets to see the Producers in NYC. He left at about 6:30 in the morning and arrived at the theatre at 7:00 A.M. You see there is a Standing Room Only line. That means that they will sell two tickets per person, to the first 8 people standing on line. These people will get to stand in a designated room for the duration for the show. And, they will consider themselves extremely lucky to do so.
The earlier you get there, the better your chances. Well even though they arrived at 7:00 A.M on a Saturday morning, there were already about 15 people on line. That means they already would have sold the quota of Standing Room Only Seats. My husband asked the first person on line, who was comfortably sitting in his fold up chair and sipping coffee, what time he got there. His answer? 5:00 in the morning!!!! You’ve got to love the fact that Broadway is still thriving in New York.
After waiting until 11 a.m. at the general tickets line, I was phoned and told I would be seeing “The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife” at 2:00 in the afternoon. I met him in the city and looked forward to the show.
I would never want to give away too much information on a movie or a show, so I will generally describe the plot and theme. Also, I will offer my take on the outstanding acting of this performance.
“The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife” is a two act play, all of which takes place in the “$900,000” coop of Marjorie and Ira. As the play opens we see Marjorie extremely depressed, just laying on the sofa wining and complaining about the death of her therapist. Marjorie is extremely well read. She agonizes over the wealth of knowledge she has obtained by reading, but when it comes to actual “doing” and “accomplishing” her own achievements in life, she is sadly lacking. She longs to be recognized and appreciated, but her life is little more than reading the wealth of books in her library, discussing them with Mohammed, the doorman, and feeling sorry and depressed about ….what could have been.
Marjorie is married to “the allergist”. And that seems to be all he really is. He shows little deep thinking, is hardly aware of the reason for his wife’s despair, and spends most of his time healing the poor of their “life threatening” allergies. (pretty funny) Ira does not go beyond the surface. He doesn’t lose his temper. He somehow easily tolerates the complaining and the misery of his wife without trying to understand the cause. He’s lived this way for years. Self involved and blind to his own family’s needs. When Ira speaks it is slow and even toned. That is Ira. He is the allergist. He is lacking depth and insight, and has been living life comfortably in this manner for many years. Ira is played with such an ignorance to his selfishness, that we don’t dislike Ira. We actually like him and do see his redeeming qualities. This was not an easy task for Tony Roberts to achieve.
Life changes suddenly when Lee (played by Michelle Lee) accidentally arrives at Marjorie’s door hoping to see the apartment. Turns out they were childhood friends. We watch as Marjorie is transformed into a person who suddenly has a desire to live life fully. She is transformed into a person of vitality and a zest for life. Lee, who is worldly and hysterically name drops the many people she has befriended in her life, offers Marjorie the desire to thrive and discover what life has to offer. But, at what cost?
There are many mysteries surrounding Lee. We never quite know her motivation. Did she arrive by mistake or was it all part of a well thought out plan. And, is Marjorie finally finding her own life’s purpose, or like the books, is she just living through someone else’s words and stories? And what about Lee’s words and stories, Can they be trusted? We wait for a bombshell to drop, expecting Marjorie to be its victim.
I found this play to be extremely funny. Especially the first act. Frieda, played by Shirl Bernheim, is an absolute riot as the Jewish mother who has a tendency to strongly and unexpectedly speak her mind. She is reminiscent of Estelle Getty of The Golden Girls, but add even more fiestiness.
Linda Lavin originally played Marjorie and I was told by my mother and read from a different epinion that she tended to yell a lot in her interpretation of Marjorie. Not so with Valerie Harper. Harper’s classic expressive faces did not call for screaming to show frustration. She was believable and sympathetic. It was a joy to watch Harper perform. While Michelle Lee is one of my all time favorites, I was still unexpectedly in awe of Harper.
Michelle Lee is absolutely gorgeous and was not afraid to show her sexuality in this role. As always, she is dynamic, expressive and that smile is just a classic.
Tony Roberts, played the straight man to these two dynamic women without ever falling into the background. He played Ira with just the right amount of ignorance, yet we still believed that he was a medical doctor. We liked him, although we had reasons not to.
My only complaint is that this show too neatly tried to tie up the ending . The final “lesson” was a bit too much in your face and spelled out too directly. I’d rather search the meaning of a play then to have it told to me. But I guess you can already imagaine what that lesson is. Something about finding your own success within yourself……………
Also, I am still not completely sure of Lee’s motivations. I am not sure how much of her actions were sincere or not.
But the absolute clincher for me was when after the curtain call, Valerie Harper, out of character, thanked the audience for continuing to come to New York City to support Broadway. Do you hear the cheers. I just wanted to yell out “I love you Val!” But hey, it’s theatre , not the baseball game.
This comical, entertaining comedy/drama will dazzle you with its magnificent performances. That to me, is what really made the show.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
lorirobe
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Location: New York City
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