Theater Review: Long Lost Question Family And Forgiveness At MTC
When do your sins become unforgivable? When do you push the ones you love so much, with the havoc you caused them, that your redemption feels useless and unwanted? Long Lost, playing at The Manhattan Theatre Club, focuses on two brothers that have pushed each other away to the point that one simply does not want the other. Family and blood do not mean much when it has caused you pain and death.
Written by Donald Margulies and directed by Daniel Sullivan, Long Lost is concise, fluid, and witty in how it shows that, ultimately, some people are not compatible; even if they are brothers. In a world that desires love and peace, we struggle to attain both because we cannot accept that some people’s sole goal is to hurt. Lee Tergesen makes Billy a charismatic wreck, which is why you WOULD NOT want him as a brother. He oozes charm, good humor, and the wear of a million bad mistakes and benders that led to devastating loss for his younger, more successful brother, David (Kelly Aucoin).
What makes Lee’s Billy so dangerous is that you cannot stop pulling for him, and, at times, wish David would give him that extra chance. You know you are a really good actor when, in a way, you con the audience. Billy has enough beguile to make you believe his actual worst does not outweigh the POTENTIAL of his best. The keyword is potential because that is all Billy can be, at least, to his brother: the grim ghost of a potential, better man. Aucoin plays David with the natural frustration and sophistication of a man that is doing 10x’s better than his older brother. He is wealthy and reputable, but whether he is happy is where Billy finds his source for manipulation.
Nobody is clear in Long Lost from sins, but Alex Wolff’s Jeremy is pretty close. His squeaky pitched, nerdy good-heart wins you over as someone warped into the mess between David and Billy and also David and his wife/ Jeremy’s mom, Molly (Annie Parisse). Marital bliss is nowhere within this play, but the facade of it becomes a topic. Parisse makes Molly chic, smart, and, like David, teetering the lines between embodying and snoozing over their upscale lifestyle. It is clear David and Molly are bored by their image, but, at times, the tragedy of past pains is that it makes you feel the best you can do is go for the picture of happiness. Thus, the audience gravitates towards Jeremy as a person that wants genuine joy, and they laugh with Billy as a revealer that happiness is not in this household.
At 90 minutes, Long Lost felt like a quick, fresh delve into a family avoiding their truths as much has they avoid each other. While you grow enamored with Billy mischief and “truth bombs,” he only feels so “free” to tell others they are doing wrong because he has done the worst. Long Lost is located New York City Center Stage I131 W 55th Street. It will play until June 30. Click Here To Buy Tickets.
