Broadway Theater Review: A Delicate Balance with Glenn Close and John Lithgow

John Lithgow and Glenn Close. Photo: Brigitte Lacombe

Finding Balance More Difficult Than Delicate in Albee’s Family Drama

By Lauren Yarger
If you like pondering unknowns and enjoy angst about keeping up appearances, then Edward Albee’s A Delicate Balance, getting a limited-run revival on Broadway, is the play for you.

Spending almost three hours with some unlikable characters trying to find their balance in the midst of unrealistic circumstances didn’t tip the scales for me, however, even if this play did win the Pulitzer Prize for drama in 1967 and despite the fact that it offers considerable star power with Glenn Close (in her return to Broadway for the first time in 20 years) and John Lithgow heading the cast.

Close and Lithgow portray Agnes and Tobias, a well-off suburban couple who appear to have the perfect life -- at least to those outside their opulent home, metaphorically designed by Santo Loquasto with rooms and passages just beyond view. Come inside, and things aren’t so perfect.

Tobias and Agnes don’t share a bed or really communicate about anything important. Tobias deals by drinking a lot and at one time, sought the solace from another woman. Agnes is the perfect wife, keeping the household functioning, even if disfunctionally. Her boozing, plain-spoken sister, Claire (Lindsay Duncan), has been staying with them and is a constant reminder that things aren’t perfect in the family manse. She and Tobias relate in way that continually upsets the balance between him and Agnes. Now, the couple’s daughter, Julia (Martha Plimpton), has announced she will be moving in too following her fourth failed marriage.

Additional angst ensues when long-time friends Harry (Bob Balaban) and Edna (Clare Higgins) drop by and announce their intention to move in because they have been driven from their own home by some unknown terror. They take up residence in Julia’s room and she resents being displaced. And speaking of fear, will Tobias be able to work up the courage to ask Harry and edna to leave? Home is where you belong, but where is home? And do years and years of marriage and friendship count for anything at all?

Albee raises these interesting questions, but these folks are so unlikable and their situations so bizarre -- they range from annoying conversations in snobby language (Dialogue Coaching by Deborah Hecht) to Claire’s zany yodeling while accompanying herself on the accordion to Julia’s death threats at gunpoint -- that it’s hard to engage or feel that the elements ever will stop rocking the scales to find a balance point where they can settle and focus.

It’s fun to see Close back on stage, but her dynamic presence doesn’t quite fit into the character of trapped Agnes, despite Costume Designer Ann Roth’s attempts to soften her with soft, flowing blouses. Lithgow, in contrast, is a mess in a mishmash of plaids and patterns – much like his character.

I kept wishing Close (who has wowed on stage and screen with numerous strong performances) and the talented Plimpton were playing roles that would challenge the depth of their abilities. Director Pam MacKinnon doesn’t even get a full turn from Duncan, whose role gets most of the laughs, or from London stage gem Higgins. These performances both seem acted, rather than felt.

Lithgow is solid, and moving as weak, puzzled Tobias, but the part doesn’t really give him far to go. Balaban, who entertains in films like “Waiting for Guffman,” gives the most cause for smile here. He elicits chuckles with just a look or by delivering lines in ways that otherwise wouldn’t strike us as funny.

Two hours and 45 minutes and two intermissions later, I felt as though the balance had been more difficult than delicate.

A Delicate Balance plays through Feb. 22 at the Golden Theatre, 252 West 45th St., NYC. Tuesday and Thursday at 7 pm; Wednesday, Friday and Saturday at 8 pm; Matinees Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday at 2 pm. Tickets: $60 - $155: http://www.adelicatebalancebroadway.com.

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