Marin Ireland and Susan Sarandon star in Jesse Eisenberg’s Happy Talk for the New Group at the Signature (photo by Monique Carboni)

The New Group at the Pershing Square Signature Center
The Alice Griffin Jewel Box Theatre
480 West 42nd St. between between Ninth & Tenth Aves.
Tuesday – Sunday through June 16, $40-$125
thenewgroup.org

Susan Sarandon is delightful as a suburban New Jersey housewife with a flexible connection to reality in Jesse Eisenberg’s superb Happy Talk, which opened last week at the Signature Center. The actor and writer’s fourth play, second for the New Group (following The Spoils), and first in which he does not appear is also his first non-autobiographical work, although it is infused with his childhood love for musical theater. Sarandon is Lorraine, a dedicated, longtime actress — dedicated to community theater, to be precise. Her current role is Tonkinese vendor Bloody Mary in the local JCC production of South Pacific, which has apparently taken over her life. Eisenberg makes clear that is her usual modus operandi as she immerses herself in the part, waxing poetic about her craft while a Serbian home-care aide deals with the prosaic details of Lorraine’s ill, grumpy husband, Bill (Daniel Oreskes), who spends most of his time sitting uncomfortably in a chair, reading a Civil War tome, and refusing to partake in conversation, and her dying mother, Ruthie, who is never seen but is often heard via a loud buzzer she presses repeatedly to demand help. It is soon clear that the relentlessly cheerful aide, Ljuba (Marin Ireland), is an undocumented immigrant saving money to buy an American husband so she can get her green card and bring her daughter to the States.

Ljuba (Marin Ireland), Lorraine (Susan Sarandon), and Jenny (Tedra Millan) share a rare moment of smiles in New Group world premiere (photo by Monique Carboni)

The narcissistic Lorraine is desperately frightened about being left alone and demands to be the center of attention and action. To cement her control of all around her, she arranges a potential fake marriage between Ljuba and a young gay man, Ronny (Nico Santos), who is playing Lt. Joseph Cable alongside Lorraine in the Rodgers & Hammerstein show. “Darling, I’m an artist. We live in the shadows, we bend the rules,” she tells Ljuba. “Now I want you to stop worrying. I will take care of everything.” Lorraine sees the “marriage” like a scene from a play she is writing, directing, and starring in, further establishing her preference for theater fantasy over real-life situations. Speaking about facilities for aging parents, she says, “It’s just horrible, all due respect. No one touches them. No one talks to them. It’s horrid the way we treat the elderly in this society. But Ljuba — she’s just incredible. She actually sleeps in the room with her. Can you imagine?” she explains even though she never goes in to see or speak with her mother. She later adds, “I trust a computer far more than a person to take care of me!” Meanwhile, Lorraine and Bill’s estranged daughter, Jenny (Tedra Millan), is an angry young woman with a surprise announcement to make — although maybe it’s not so surprising given her mother’s attitude toward her own responsibilities as both a mother and a daughter.

Ljuba (Marin Ireland) has some unhappy words for Lorraine (Susan Sarandon) as Ronny (Nico Santos) looks on in Happy Talk (photo by Monique Carboni)

Happy Talk is astutely directed by New Group head Scott Elliott (The True, Mercury Fur), capturing Eisenberg’s sharp, snappy dialogue as Lorraine and company careen around Derek McLane’s impeccably rendered suburban kitchen/living room set. Tony nominee and Obie winner Ireland (On the Exhale, Marie Antoinette), a genuine New York City theater treasure, and Oscar winner Sarandon (Atlantic City, The Rocky Horror Picture Show), in her first stage appearance since 2009’s Exit the King on Broadway with Geoffrey Rush, make a dynamic duo, Ireland going toe-to-toe with Sarandon as her character mutters asides that reveal she’s a lot smarter than others might think. Sarandon occasionally channels Bette Davis (think All About Eve) — perhaps not coincidentally, she was recently nominated for an Emmy for her portrayal of Davis in the FX series Feud, opposite fellow Emmy nominee Jessica Lange’s Joan Crawford; the implication works terrifically in a twisted plot turn.

Eisenberg (Asuncion, The Revisionist) fills the play with references to such musicals as Fiddler on the Roof, Sunset Boulevard, Once Upon a Mattress, Evita, Oliver! and Oklahoma! that add to the fun while also exploring such topics as cultural appropriation, elder abuse, and immigration. About halfway through the show, which continues at the Alice Griffin Jewel Box Theatre through June 16, Lorraine says with rare clarity, “I always thought that my lot in life was to help people en masse. Through my work. People see me on stage. They see the human condition — it filters through me — and maybe they learn a little something about themselves. And if they’ve walked away with a new sense of understanding, of being able to look at their fellow man and not just see a husk, but a soul? Well then, I’ve done my job.” Here, Eisenberg and Happy Talk accomplish just that.