Theatre Review: The Stone Witch Breaks Hearts At Westside Theatre
Synopsis: Extraordinary art must be tamed. Simon Grindberg is the world’s most illustrious children’s book writer and illustrator —but his next masterpiece is a decade overdue. Peter Chandler is a starving artist with unparalleled potential—but he doesn’t yet know his own value. The two men are thrown together by Clair Forlorni, an ambitious editor who hopes Peter’s youthful exuberance can unleash Simon’s aging genius for one final story. But creativity comes at a cost. The Stone Witch is a wondrous, hopeful and heartbreaking new play where imagination runs wild.
Directed by Steve Zuckermann, Stone Witch has to be one of the most impactful Off- Broadway plays premiering this season. Filled with wisdom that left people groaning in awe and marking down life-quotes on how to live better. This tale shows that generational gaps are non-existent when it comes to creativity, and choosing to live according to it.
So many people are creative, but few choose to be artists. This is the central plot and bond between Peter Chandler (Rupak Ginn) and Simon Grindberg (Dan Lauria). Rupack makes Peter so naive, good-hearted, and likable, you just want to yell, “Give Him A CHANCE, Simon!”. Lauria plays Simon with a charming bitterness. On one hand, you want to shake him and say, “Stop being so self-pitying!”, and, in the other, you want hold him and say, “Seriously, stop being so self-pitying!” Simon is one of the most successful children’s writers EVER, but he finds fame and fortune a burden, while Peter hopes it becomes his blessing.
There is a lot to digest from this play in 90 minutes, but the weightiness of its topics hits you in the aftermath. Instead, its brisk, witty writing by Shem Bitterman and gorgeously colorful set by Yael Pardess takes you on a ride through the joys and self-doubts of success and failure. For any twenty or thirty-something, Peter is going to appear like a giant, “Amen!”. He has a job he does not love to help him become “stable” enough to do the dream does, but, somehow, he no longer has time for: children’s picture books. Peter’s inability to be who he wants to be, and Grindberg’s consistent “calling out” that it takes sacrifice strikes the audience hard. Dreams may feed you spiritually, but they could starve you, literally, which is Simon’s misery comes off as both fascinating and surprising. His dreams have literally fed him in every way, but, for 12 years, he has been creatively vacant.
I could not stop watching Lauria because it not easy to make ingratitude charismatic. I kept on thinking this man is going to explode with how fierce and ferociously he handles Simon’s pain and wit; he delivers jokes with punches, and handles hurt with maniacal strokes. There is so much that taunts Simon, a few things that are even left mysterious, but, when he is light, you understand why characters like Carolyn McCormick’s Claire Forloni have stuck by him for so long. McCormick makes Claire’s sophistication sultry, admirable, and absolutely grown. She is not one to be fooled with, which is why she used Peter to push Simon so as to prove she was not a fool for sticking by him. Luckily, Peter is the right guy.
I was warmed by Peter and Simon’s relationship, of which Ginn and Lauria’s performance gives a ying and yang dynamic. Peter is the kind guy that teaches Simon to soften up, while Simon is the rigid “geezer” that tells him to buck up. They needed each other to find strengths that they did not know they were lacking in terms of creating; Peter needing someone to show him how to defend himself and his work, while Simon needing someone to teach him how to let others be apart of his. Such a beautiful, riveting tale does not come often, especially with such concise delivery. Yet, at Westside Theatre, Stone Witch plays until July 15. Click Here To Buy Tickets. Located: 407 West 43rd Street.
