Word: achtman
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
NEIL SIMON wrote only one successful play after The Prisoner of Second Avenue. Then he moved to Los Angeles. Prisoner is his ode to New York City, a typical Simon comedy that catalogues the neurotic lives of Mel (Michael Achtman) and Edna (Sarah McPhee) Edison: boy lives with girl, boy loses job, girl gets job, boy has breakdown, boy gets girl. Assaulted by noisy cars, barking dogs, loud neighbors, and Valium that doesn't work, Mel and Edna step into the ring with The City and survive, bruised and battered but still whole--and still suffering. As Mel asks...
With a natural style essential to Simon plays, Achtman and McPhee display their characters' foibles coping with absurd situations--a robbery, for instance, in which the thieves steal everything but Mel's khaki pants--until Mel flips out. As his life unravels Achtman builds to a Vesuvius-like explosion. Eventually regaining control, he learns a new perspective, distinguishing the true necessities of life his cache of East Side luxuries...
...Achtman and McPhee who allow us to see through the fourth wall into their characters, and ultimately Simon's view of 1970's city life. Both have precise, well-timed deliveries that bring to life lines like, "Some night I'm gonna put that air conditioner on High, they'll have to get a flamethrower to get us out in the morning." Their understanding of the characters enables us to identify with them, even if we're not as efficient at coming up with the witty thing to say at the right moment...
Simon's study of Mel's boredom bogs down by the second act, and Mel and Edna's quarreling begins to grate. Likewise, Simon is out of his league when he attempts to portray a nervous breakdown; as a result Achtman is forced to rely on a farcical style when Mel snaps. But if, in the end, he and McPhee don't possess the passion to enflame the big emotional speeches in some scenes, they make us care about Mel's and Edna's ups and downs, triumphs and hardships. And that's no small feat...
| 1 |