‘Visiting Mr. Green’ @ Theatre Arlington
—Jan Farrington
Visiting Mr. Green was more than I expected.
Ross (Parker Gray), a rising young corporate type, is knocking on Mr. Green’s apartment door—but isn’t a bit happy to be there. For (almost) running into this elderly man as he crossed the street (Ross says Green stepped into moving traffic), he’s been assigned by the court to six months of community service, helping Mr. Green with whatever basic life tasks come up: shopping, cleaning, and companionship for a man who has recently lost his wife.
Getting in the door is the first hurdle. Mr. Green (David Coffee) wants to know who (the hell) Ross is, and what (the hell) he wants. Free household help, it seems, falls into the same category as Mr. Green’s vintage (and disconnected) telephone: “Who needs it?”
It’s a sit-com setup—and the play has lots of great laughs—but both the script and Theatre Arlington’s production are richer and deeper than that. Playwright Jeff Baron’s play has gone all over the world since its premiere in the mid-1990s. At his own last count, it’s been onstage in 45 states and 52 countries (so many translations!), with about 600 productions to date. That doesn’t happen unless a comedy has some emotional meat on its bones.
Ross and the 86-year-old Mr. Green have more in common than either might imagine. Living isolated, too-quiet lives in a city crowded with people, they’re lonely—and for reasons they don’t talk about.
Parker Gray shows us who Ross is by moving in wonderfully small gradations, from stiff and cool to genuine interest in Mr. Green. We see the moment when a spark of warmth and humor comes into his eyes—and know that though Green challenges his every word and move, Ross will be back for more: sneakily collecting the grocery bags that cover every surface, tempting Green with dishes from his favorite kosher restaurant, nudging him to re-hang the picture of his wife Yetta.
Faith is the first connection they make. After a few clues slide under his nose, Mr. Green suddenly asks: “Are you Jewish?” Ross imitates the old man’s aggressive questioning: “Who told you I was?” he says with a small smile, and goes out the door. Chew on that until next week, Mr. G.
David Coffee’s Green is complicated—angry, sad, fearful, demanding—and from start to finish we work hard to know him. Coffee, as we’ve come to expect, makes the details feel fresh and true: his random forgetfulness, his struggle to get out of a chair, his insistence that Ross not call the landlord (never contact the officials!) about a kitchen faucet (it works; what’s the problem?) that’s been bellowing like a cow…for the past 30 years. Green’s anger is, in large part, a fear of losing control over his shrinking life. We see him better in the few stories he tells Ross about the past, including how he met the young woman who became his wife of 59 years. Suddenly, this old gent is a lively twenty-something, bouncing up the stairs to a first encounter with the girl who will change everything.
The plot thickens as Mr. Green warmly urges Ross to find the same kind of love—why hasn’t he married?—and Ross opens up, explaining why he’s been cut off from his family for years. “One minute I’m the perfect son…” Ross begins. Different generations work to understand each other, and not without some hard words and empty weeks in their relationship. Ross finds that Mr. Green’s family history might not be as simple as he thought—but will the old gentleman come clean about everything that’s happeneed…or be brave enough to change?
Theatre Arlington artistic head Steven Morris directs with a fine feel for the necessary balance between the play’s comic and more serious story threads—though he’d be first to admit how fortunate he was to be able to put Gray and Coffee together on a stage. Kevin Brown’s lived-in apartment set is perfection as the home of an older NYC couple: pink fridge and countertops, a sofa that goes back decades, a pile of phone books (don’t ask, children) under the land line phone (also pink). Sound designer Ryan Simon adds atmosphere with a wistful piano score that winds its way through the story—and some old love songs pre-show and at intermission. You can imagine Green and his Yetta dancing to them.
The best thing I learned about playwright Jeff Baron is that he’s “Author-in-Residence at Ardsley (NY) Middle School, [and] has mentored the entire seventh grade each year since 2013 in an original playwriting program.” The Lord’s work, Mr. B. Oh, and I discovered there’s a recent sequel to Visiting Mr. Green making the rounds—attention, Theatre Arlington!
WHEN: September 13-29, 2024
WHERE: 305 West Main, Arlington TX
WEB: theatrearlington.org
