Nicky Silver’s The Lyonsis an exceptionally enjoyable evening. The star, Linda Lavin, gives a stylized, very external but comfortably comedic performance as a wife in lifelong battle with her now-dying husband in a hospital room. She can really deliver a line, and there are plenty of zingers. She’s a comedic genius with impeccable timing that hits every note, and takes it beyond the writing with her gesture, face, comic sense. She’s a superb mugger, with a sense of being absolutely real.
Dick Latessa as her dying husband is a great foil, matching her in energy as they bat the insults back and forth. The director Mark Brokaw takes (or allows) very broad strokes of comic physical action, including moves by the daughter, vividly portrayed by Kate Jennings Grant, and the laughs bounce. In Act One. Act Two shifts to a dramatic encounter between their son, played by the excellent John Wernke the night I saw it, and a man (the muscular Gregory Wooddell) he is romantically interested in. Very dramatic. Scene Two of Act Two has a sprinkling of comedy in the basically dramatic, very satisfactory solution to the setup of the play.
Scenic design by Allen Moyer is excellent, as is the subtle lighting by David Lander. The Lyons is good, solid theatrical entertainment, with a great star, that leaves you smiling and contemplating the vagaries of life, and I'm glad it wasn't me. See it.
