Danny Burstein and Sarah Paulson in ‘Talley’s Folly’
Photo credit: Joan Marcus
“They tell me that we have 97 minutes here tonight.” And what a lovely 97 minutes it is. Matt Friedman (played by the always outstanding Danny Burstein) sets the scene as he candidly addresses the audience in the opening monologue of Roundabout Theatre Company’s revival of Talley’s Folly by Lanford Wilson, now playing thru May 12 at the Laura Pels Theater. The day is July 4, 1944, the backdrop is the rural town of Lebanon, Missouri, and Matt is going to win over his valentine, Sally Talley (played by Sarah Paulson), tonight. In 97 minutes. And so begins this funny, heart-warming production.
Last week, I decided to take myself on a theater date. Talley’s Folly was recommended to me by several of my friends (and I was in need of a smile- this Blonde doesn’t handle extended winters so well…), so I bought my $20 ticket (thanks Hiptix!), curled my hair, and came to the theater with high hopes. I just happened to come on a day when Roundabout offers one of their free, pre-show “Theatre Talks,” which I highly recommend. A Roundabout teaching artist gives talks to the patrons in the lobby about the production history of the particular show, and its creators. I learned a few fun facts:
- Lanford Wilson (who won the 1980 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Talley’s Folly) wrote the play on a dare from his friend, director Harold Clurman, to finally write “a joyous play.”
- Talley’s Folly is the second play in a trilogy about the Talley family (in between Talley & Son and Fifth of July), but Wilson almost wrote a tetralogy (five plays). One of the never-written plays would have followed Uncle Whistler, the Talley family patriarch who built the ornate Victorian boathouse that is the namesake of and only set piece in Talley’s Folly, and his experience in Lebanon, MO during the Civil War.
- Wilson joked that the tetralogy would have been entitled THE WAR IN LEBANON (Missouri)
Armed with this new knowledge, the rest of the audience and I stepped into the world of 1944 Lebanon, the “folly” boathouse is falling apart, with hints of its former grandeur, and the summer sun is setting. An idyllic scene for a sweet romance. Then out comes the loud and overly-energetic Matt with his enthusiastic, fourth-wall breaking speech (which he repeats, fast-forward style, for “the late-comers”) about wooing his reluctant Sally, with topics ranging from the life expectancy of bees to real estate salesmen, and we soon realize that this romance might not be so idyllic. This guy is kinda weird. And a little nerdy. And definitely not from Missouri.
Danny Burstein effortlessly plays this eccentric Matt Friedman character, a middle-aged Jewish accountant with a vaguely foreign accent (Brooklyn? Russian? Yiddish? You find out later in the show, so I’ll keep it a mystery), with lively precision. How Burstein hasn’t won a Tony award yet is beyond me (he’s been nominated three times). He did just get a nominated for a Lucille Lortel Award, though, which is well-deserved! What strikes me most about his performance is his spot-on physicality. Even in Matt’s animated, quirkiness, not one move or word is inauthentic. I fell in love with this earnest, out-of-place man with a devastating past, fighting for the love of a seemingly ordinary, upper-middle class farm girl in Sally Talley. A girl he could never actually marry, not in rural Missouri in 1944. But the times, they are a changin’ and we soon learn more about Sally, and why perhaps she and the Jew are not so different.
Sarah Paulson is likable as Sally Talley, a guarded, smart, attractive daughter of a wealthy Missouri family who works as a nurse’s aided for soldiers at the nearby hospital. Sally is 31, well past the usual marrying age, and takes her time opening up to Matt, and to the audience. Behind her cool, reluctant exterior is a fiery, passionate woman with modern ideas (she got fired from teaching Sunday school, gasp!) and a complicated relationship with love and family. Paulson definitely looks the part, with her flattering yellow dress and delicate frame, and she stays true to the character’s restrained nature, but something about her sing-song accent was really off-putting (I’m a Georgia girl myself, so I get a little picky about my Southern/Southern-ish dialects). Almost every line followed the same speaking pattern, which seemed too practiced and unnatural. Fortunately, Paulson falls out of that pattern in her most vulnerable moments with Burstein, and really blossoms in the revealing climax at the end of the play. However, I still would have liked a few more glimpses of the “real” Sally sprinkled throughout the show, not just in the last 15 minutes.
In the wrong hands, this script could easily land on the sappy, cheesy side of romantic comedy. However, director Michael Wilson skillfully keeps the show in balance with the right amount of sentimentality, humor, darkness, and wit. I’m usually not a fan of two-person shows, but Wilson and the actors are able to maintain the tension and keep the story stimulating throughout. Not surprisingly, the production is Lortel-nominated for Outstanding Revival 🙂
Ultimately, Talley’s Folly is about the different barriers we put up around ourselves to shield us from the hurt and pain this world brings. But those barriers can also keep out the love and the special (and sometimes strange) people that make living worthwhile. Matt awkwardly explains to Sally that we are all a bunch of eggs- too afraid to touch for fear we will break. But, ironically, when you break those eggs, mix them up, and put them in a skillet, “that’s when you’re really cookin’!” This is the message that resonated with me most. In our tech-savvy, digitally-obsessed, emotionally detached culture, our shells are getting harder and harder to break; but I hope we can all still take the risk of cracking our eggs, and finding that person who will complete our omelet (can you tell I’m a hopeless romantic?).
If you are in need of a smile, or just enjoy solid storytelling, go see this wonderful production before it closes!
Love and Good Seats,
Blondie
Talley’s Folly
By Lanford Wilson; directed by Michael Wilson; sets by Jeff Cowie; costumes by David C. Woolard; lighting by Rui Rita; music and sound by Mark Bennett; hair and makeup by Mark Adam Rampmeyer; dialect coach, Kate Wilson; production stage manager, Lori Lundquist; production manager, Aurora Productions; general managers, Nicholas J. Caccavo and Sydney Beers; associate managing director, Greg Backstrom; associate artistic director, Scott Ellis. Presented by the Roundabout Theater Company, Todd Haimes, artistic director; Harold Wolpert, managing director; Julia C. Levy, executive director. At the Laura Pels Theater, Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theater, 111 West 46th Street, (212) 719-1300, roundabouttheatre.org. Through May 5. Running time: 1 hour 35 minutes.
WITH: Danny Burstein (Matt Friedman) and Sarah Paulson (Sally Talley).
Blondie on Broadway 