Zack (Jordan Matthew Brown) finds himself caught between two women (Cassia Thompson and Grace Guichard) in Mint revival at Theatre Row (photo by Todd Cerveris)
ZACK
Theatre Row
410 West 42nd St. between Ninth & Tenth Aves.
Tuesday – Sunday through Mach 28, $39-$95
www.theatrerow.org
minttheater.org
Jordan Matthew Brown and Cassia Thompson are terrific in the Mint’s adaptation of Harold Brighouse’s 1916 Edwardian parlor comedy of manners, Zack; unfortunately, it’s not enough to lift the play out of the doldrums.
Last year, the Mint, which has been staging lost or forgotten plays for more than thirty years, presented Brighouse’s savvy 1914 political satire Garside’s Career, which earned a well-deserved Drama Desk nomination for Best Revival. Brighouse is most well known for Hobson’s Choice, the 1915 play that was adapted into an Oscar-winning 1954 film, the 1966 Broadway musical Walking Happy, and a 1989 ballet. While Zack has seen several British productions over the last fifty years, it is virtually unknown in America. Perhaps it should have stayed that way.
The 105-minute play is set in the Munning home in the quaint, close-knit village of Little Hulton, a suburb of Lancashire. Mrs. Munning (Melissa Maxwell) and her older son, Paul (David T. Patterson), run the late Mr. Munning’s joinery company but have had to add a catering business to try to make ends meet. They try to keep Paul’s younger brother, Zack (Jordan Matthew Brown), hidden, considering him a hapless fool who only hurts their reputation, which is so critical in their small community. When their young cousin Virginia Cavender (Cassia Thompson) needs a place to convalesce, Mrs. Munning agrees to take care of her for about a month, devising a plan to cash in on her wealth.
“There’s money in that family, and when my cousin writes to me and says Virginia’s not been well and needs the country air, I say it’s folly not to have her here, cost what it may,” Mrs. Munning tells the penny-pinching Paul, who is aghast. “She’s not an invalid. She’s just run down,” Mrs. Munning says. Paul responds, “And Lord knows what it’ll cost in fancy goods to wind her up.”
Mrs. Munning hires Sally Teale (Caroline Festa) to serve as a maid during Virginia’s stay in an attempt to convince Virginia that all is well with them, that they are not facing dire straits and still have a fine reputation, even as they are losing business to rival caterers the Wilsons. Not used to being a maid, Sally may not have been the best choice, full of cheeky responses and disinclined to work.
When the resplendently dressed Virginia arrives, she explains that she prefers being called Jenny, immediately giving her a more casual, less finicky presence. Much to Mrs. Munning and Paul’s chagrin, Zack joins them for tea; he’s a nebbishy sort, with unkempt hair and a full beard and mustache, wearing old, ill-fitting clothes and not displaying the best manners. When Jenny puts out her hand to greet him, Mrs. Munning chastises him, declaring, “You’ll wash your hand before you touch Jenny’s.” Zack says, “Maybe I ought, I’m not so frequent at the soap as I might be.” To which Jenny replies, “I think we’ll shake hands as you are.”
Soon Mrs. Munning and Paul are scheming to convince Jenny that Paul loves her and that they should wed, a plan they kick into high gear as Zack grows closer to Jenny.
Soon Martha Wrigley (Grace Guichard) arrives and finds Zack, to whom she delivers the news that her father, Joe (Sean Runnette), who works for Paul, has broken his arm and will not be available for the next day’s wedding — but asks if her father can be paid nonetheless. Zack, a big Teddy bear of a man, is sympathetic; he gives her a shilling that he had just earned as well as some food from his pocket, where he absentmindedly stuffs leftovers and half-eaten snacks. He consoles her as she cries, and, just as Mrs. Munning enters the room, Martha kisses Zack. “Oh? When’s the wedding, Zack?” Mrs. Munning says, to which Zack playfully answers, “Oh, I dunno. In about a month, eh, Martha?” It isn’t long before Joe, who was fired by Paul because of the injury, is demanding that they go through with the nuptials unless the Munnings want to be embroiled in scandal, their catering business ruined.
Paul is furious, but Zack, kind and likable schlemiel that he is, offers to fill Joe’s duties, an offer that his brother at first rejects but eventually agrees to, even though he expects it to be a disaster, already envisioning Zack breaking cups and dishes and disrupting the party. Unable to stand up for himself and fearful of any type of conflict or confrontation, Zack agrees to marry Martha although he loves Jenny but is afraid to tell anyone, believing that he is a worthless person who is an embarrassment to his mother and brother, who even forget his birthday.
Paul and Mrs. Munning get a taste of their own medicine when they grab some roses for Jenny and are pricked by the thorns, but it looks like nothing will get in the way of their nefarious doings.
Harold Brighouse’s 1916 Zack is an Edwardian parlor comedy of manners (photo by Todd Cerveris)
Brown (Book of Mormon, All Shook Up) is delightful in the title role, channeling a little Zach Galifianakis here, a bit of Richard Dreyfuss there, as he inhabits the gentle angst that makes Zack uncomfortable in his own skin; you want to just wrap him up in a big hug and tell him everything will be all right. Thompson (Murder on the Orient Express, The Wolves) is charming in her off-Broadway debut as Jenny, a perceptive young woman who does not put on airs, tries to find the good in people, and has a mind and will of her own.
However, Festa (1999, Peter Pan), Guichard (Straight Icons, The Woman in Black), Patterson (Picnic, Les Liaisons Dangereuse), Runnette (Animal Magnetism, The Changeling), and Maxwell (The Trial of Donna Caine, The House of Bernarda Alba), along with Đavid Lee Huỳnh (Bus Stop, The Merchant of Venice) and Mint regular Douglas Rees (The New Morality, Mary Broome) in minor parts, all come off as cardboard cutouts, clichéd characters who range from mustache-twirling villains and not-so-innocent maidens to sarcastic, inefficient servants and greedy, conniving relatives; each lacks the necessary nuance, instead trending too far into cartoon territory. In addition, no one even attempts a British accent.
Brittany Vasta’s parlor room set is lovely, but the stacks of chairs piled in the corner in the second half, which come into and out of use as scenes change, belie the pseudo perfection Mrs. Munning is striving for; the stage business that felt organic in the Mint’s Garside’s Career feels forced here, running counter to an important plot point. Kindall Almond’s costumes are fashionable, Mary Louise Geiger’s lighting is efficient, but Jane Shaw’s sound, which includes outdoor bird chirps, found itself in at least one scene competing with music from one of the other theaters in the complex.
Directed by Britt Berke (Antigonick, I Don’t Trust Adults), who did such a wonderful job with the world premiere of Betty Smith’s Becomes a Woman in 2023, Zack is a missed opportunity, a tedious romcom that feels like it’s a hundred years old, a farce that is not nearly as funny as it needs to be while exploring social mores and norms of the past, hard to relate to in the modern day.
[Mark Rifkin is a Brooklyn-born, Manhattan-based writer and editor; you can follow him on Substack here.]