Move over, Oscar and Felix. Here comes Patti LuPone and Mia Farrow in “The Roommate.”
Roughly two years ago, right after she scored a major triumph as Joanne in “Company,” LuPone dramatically announced that she had given up her membership in Actors’ Equity Association (the union which represents professional stage actors), which raised the question of whether LuPone would ever perform on Broadway again in a play or musical.
Well, there’s good news and there’s bad news.
The good news is that LuPone is back on Broadway (don’t ask me how, but the Playbill contains the standard boilerplate language that the actors in the production are members of Actors’ Equity Association). Not only that, but LuPone has been joined by film star Mia Farrow, who last appeared on Broadway a decade ago in a revival of the epistolary staged reading “Love Letters.”
The bad news – well, maybe “underwhelming news” is a better choice of words – is that LuPone and Farrow are appearing in “The Roommate,” a slight, rather lame two-hander buddy comedy by the little-known Jen Silverman about two temperamentally opposite older women who become – you guessed it – roommates and experience culture shock. (Perhaps some agent pitched it to LuPone and Farrow as a fun way to spend the fall.)
Farrow plays Sharon, a shy and gentle 65-year-old divorcee who lives in an empty house in Iowa City and decides to take in a roommate, namely LuPone’s Robyn, a spunky lesbian artist who also turns out to be a con artist and drug dealer. They proceed to bond and become close (perhaps too close for comfort) before the relationship finally ends.
When a publicity photo of the pair in costume was released on the eve of previews, social media users joked that LuPone and Farrow looked like older versions of Rizzo and Sandy from ‘Grease.'”
In a smart move, the production begins with both LuPone and Farrow simply stepping forward together before getting into character and into action. This allows the audience to get the entrance applause out of the way and out of its system, after which the play can proceed without interruption.
While one can appreciate the play’s focus on older single women, as well as its suggestions of the search for meaning and emotional connection, “The Roommate” is roughly the equivalent of Neil Simon’s female version of “The Odd Couple” or something else you would sooner encounter in community theater than on Broadway.
Even so, under the precise direction of Jack O’Brien (who just won a Tony Award for lifetime achievement), LuPone and Farrow play off each other marvelously, with LuPone basking in attitude, sarcasm and eccentricity and Farrow ultimately and unexpectedly stealing the show in a performance that feels fresh and a bit kooky, capturing a woman who experiences unexpected late-life rejuvenation and reinvention.
“The Roommate” may not be memorable, but one imagines that the huge Broadway audience demographic consisting of older women will find it relatable and somewhat fun.
Booth Theatre, 222 West 45th St., theroommatebway.com. Through Dec. 15.
