"The New York Idea" Opens at Loeb

In the program notes for the New York Idea, Howard Mumford Jones reports that one historian has called the play American social comedy at its best. If true, this is an appalling indictment of native playwrights. The New York Idea is a feeble conception indeed, too "smart" to be clever, too-contrived to be good farce, too maudlin to be good comedy. It is also incredibly dated.

Sixty years ago, when this play was written, it may have been shockingly avant garde and super-sophisticated be divorced and to consider marriage a game--to be played with several players. Contemporary society takes a somewhat different view of divorce: it is neither shocked nor girlishly intrigued; it accepts it along with other unpleasant aspects of life. Scrampled Couples, therefore, is not a game with great comical appeal to the modern playgoer. The Idea is a bit stale.

The varnish has also grown yellow on Langaon Mitchell's dialogue, which while occasionally clever and biting, cannot quite explain away all the foolishness of the plot. Practically every line is an epigram or pun of sorts ("Our marriage was a wager," "The grace before the soup is not as good as the dinner," "marry-go-round"), and this, too, is hard to sustain for three hours.

In addition to these obstacles the play has the further handicap of a very overworked, highly unbelievable first act which brings together both divorced couples with predictable, semi-slapstick entrances that would stand out as cliches in a TV family situation comedy. Not until the end of the act, when Cynthia Karslake (Joanne Hamlin) breaks down in hysterical tears after being forced to face her former husband, is any sense of reality injected, and this shot is so unexpected it is startling From there on, at least to the last scene, the show is reasonably good entertainment and often very funny. But all the pleasure disappears a few minutes after the curtain rises on the final scene. At this point it becomes apparent that every situation is going to be worked out to its inevitable, ultra-corny conclusion. By the time the Karslakes were finally reunited in conjugal bliss and cooing at each other I was more disgusted than heart--warmed. Even Lassie leaves some of obvious things unsaid.

Despite the script, however, the Harvard Summer School Players have made the New York Idea into a good, if not distinguished, show. Displaying the combination of youthful exuberance and careful polish that the community has come to expect of Loeb main stage productions, they exploit all possible comic situations, and, except for the last scene, keep the play moving at a pleasantly brisk pace.

David Mills, as the English Gentleman Visiting America to Learn Its Quaint Customs is delightfully blustering and charmingly conceited if not overwhelmingly British. A skillful comic, he pursues his women with-admirable vitality and resilence.

Less sparkling but still excellent is Philip Kerr, who uses his considerable talent to give the character of John Karslake, Cynthia's still hopeful exhusband, some color and depth. Paul Bristow is properly cold and mildly repulsive as Philip Phillimore, a judge who feels marriage should be contracted on rational, not emotional grounds, without any reference to love or similar nonsense.

One of the most difficult parts in the show is that of Vida Phillimore, the judge's ex-spouse. Unfortunately, Lynn Milgrin is not quite the woman for the job. She strives hard to be a vamp, a loose woman who attracts men to her chamber like a queen bee, but the effect is rarely alluring, and occasionally ludicrous. When attempting satire, however, Miss Milgrim is more at home, her eyes and hands doing as much as her voice to develop the situation. Her bedroom scene in the second act is particularly fine.

Against the energy and verve of Miss Milgrim, Joanne Hamlin's Cynthia is occasionally a bit dull, but her eyes do light up glecfully at the mention of horse racing. It is clear that this woman likes a gay life and has been deprived of it for some time. Her anger is powerful and her tears womenly; at times she is the only person on stage acting like a real human being.

While the lead parts are all smooth and almost over-polished, some of the minor characters actually add a great deal of the life and spark. John Williams is a fine horse trainer, Robert Lanchester a stately, ageing butler, and Timothy Mayer a wonderful Old Family Servant who often draws as many laughs as any of the principles. Laura Esterman was quite impressive as Philip's aged, senile mother.

Director George Hamlin has done an extremely skillful blocking job, and the motion does much to augment the thin script. Hamlin's actors move in sumptuous surroundings, designed by Donald Soule. The living room set is appropriately busy and garish, and the bedroom scene is almost worth the price of the ticket with its popsicle pink decor. Lewis Smith's excellent and correctly over-styled costumes complement the sets well.

But it seems wasteful to have spent all this talent and energy on such a weak and tedius museum piece. This year's Summer Players have the capacity to produce some memorable drama. They, and their audience, deserve more significant and worth-while material.