Theater Review—

Entertaining ‘Lobby Hero’ Is Also A Great Debut For Its Director

By Julie Stern

NEW MILFORD — Successful television sitcoms populate a particular setting (a bar, a taxi garage, a MASH unit) with a core of sharply etched regulars whose personalities and relationships to one another remain static even as they needle each other with clever one-liners. At first, Kenneth Lonergan’s award-winning comedy-drama Lobby Hero brings this genre to mind, with its mix of security guards and New York City’s finest, whose paths cross on the night shift in the lobby of a Manhattan high rise apartment building. It is this story that TheatreWorks New Milford is currently presenting.

However, while the conversations with which these four while away the quiet hours afford the audience some good laughs, these people actually listen to one another. They think about what the other person just said, and the drama comes from their struggles to deal with what they hear: do they take refuge in denial and rationalization, or do they re-examine their own choices and convictions?

Jeff and William are the two “rent-a-cops.” Jeff, a twenty-something chronic screw-up, who was kicked out of the Navy, spends his nights “on duty,” reading Hustler or sleeping at the desk. William, his supervisor, is by contrast a serious, highly responsible striver who has worked his way up to the rank of “captain” in the security guard firm, and sees his mission to instill professionalism in the ranks.

He has made Jeff his personal improvement project, using his visits to the building to lecture the young slacker unmercifully on the need for purpose and ambition in his life. In return, Jeff teases his humorless boss with pseudo-philosophical morality discussions that recall the repartee between the hitmen, Travolta and Jackson, in Pulp Fiction.

But something is troubling William’s usual sense of certainty. He confides that his younger brother has been arrested for something terrible. Unless he provides him with an alibi – which would be a lie, in direct violation of William’s strict ethical code – the kid is likely to be indicted for murder.

Enter the other two players in the ensemble: Bill is a highly decorated veteran New York City policeman – tough, confident and persuasive – while Dawn is his adoring female rookie partner, smitten with hero-worship on both a professional and personal level. Their presence in the building has nothing to do with the murder investigation; in fact Bill is actually sneaking up for a “quickie” with a lady friend on the 16th floor, leaving Dawn to wait for him in the lobby.

Jeff, who has admired the pretty policewoman from a distance, starts an idle flirtation that becomes more serious when he clues her in on what Bill is doing upstairs. Not only is he cheating on his wife, but he is also two-timing Dawn, whom he has recently seduced. When she confronts him on this, he turns nasty.

The crackling dialogue and droll characterizations are what you can expect from Lonergan, whose Hollywood screenwriting credentials include the Robert DiNiro-Billy Crystal comedy, Analyze This. However, there is far more going on here in the serious exploration of issues such as fidelity, courage and self knowledge.

Personally I wondered why Lonergan gave two of his four characters almost identical names. On the surface William and Bill are antithetical figures – one black, one white, one a rent-a-cop, the other a real police officer, one a faithful, truthful husband, the other a lying womanizer.

Yet they share the fact that each one operates according to a strict personal code. For William it is  the vow that he will never lie, cheat or steal – or tolerate anyone who does, while for Bill it is the police “blue wall” that says that the only thing that counts in a world where cops risk their lives every day, is absolute loyalty to one’s brother officers.

A good cop fights crime, and so has the right to break the ordinary rules, expecting his fellow policemen to cover for him, no matter what he does. Each of them, in the course of the play, discover that simplistic formulas don’t always hold up.

In contrast, the other pair is floundering in uncertainty. Dawn, who became a cop in the face of family resistance because she wanted to do some good in the world must chart a course through the murky waters of police loyalties, personal trust, and the pressures of a genuinely dangerous job.

Jeff, meanwhile, whose whole life has been shadowed by the legend of his father’s wartime heroism, has taken refuge in cynicism and wisecracks, observing others from the safety of the sidelines. He’s only a glorified doorman, but it is his insightful perceptions that strip the others of their hypocrisy and illusions. The question is, can he discover in himself the moral strength he has always mocked, to risk taking action in matters of both love and duty?

As it usually does, TheatreWorks is offering a quartet of top notch actors, consummately guided by a veteran directorr: As Bill, hitching up his gunbelt with a swagger, or speaking in a calming, Brooklyn accented undertone that seems to radiate sincerity, Keir Hansen projects a mixture of charm, arrogance, intimacy and menace that makes him both a believable policeman and a real bad guy.

Lonnie Young, Jr is flawless as the earnest, inner-directed William, wrestling with the realization that life doesn’t always follow the teachings of self-help manuals.

As the tempestuous Dawn, whose prowess with a nightstick is no defense against sexual harassment and departmental politics, Yanira Marrero is a tough and sympathetic heroine. 

Finally, Aaron Kaplan, in the role of wiseguy Jeff, demonstrates his ability to “run without the ball.” Without ever upstaging his fellow actors, Mr Kaplan’s every movement and facial expression is always perfectly in character, making him totally believable.

According to the playbill, Lobby Hero constitutes Sonnie Osborne’s first time as a TheatreWorks director. If so, this is a dynamic debut and she should do it again. Soon!

Meanwhile, a production this entertaining and enthralling will probably sell out soon, so get your tickets while you can.

(Performances continue weekends until May 27. Call 860-350-6863 for curtain and ticket details or reservations.)