Review by Elyse Trevers
In “Pictures From Homes” at Studio 54, Danny Burstein plays photographer Larry Sultan who begins a project of discovery after finding his parents’ pictures and home movies. He leaves his pregnant wife and young son to visit his parents repeatedly. His irascible father Irv, well-played by Nathan Lane, complains that he’s there too often.
Based upon Sultan’s book, much of the play displays actual photos of Irv and his wife Jean flashed upon the screen in front of us. Larry claims to want authenticity, yet, during one visit, Larry has his father dress up and give a lecture in front of a flip chart so he can photograph him. Then why does Larry have his father pose? His father asks, and the audience wonders as well.
Larry’s primary subject is his father. He wonders if he’s focused on his father in order to learn about himself. He asks Irv, an orphan, how he learned to be a man without a role model. So is Irv his role model? Larry is fascinated by the images of his corporate father, posing as a successful businessman in contrast to Larry’s candid shots of him.
Faced with the idea of his parents selling their home and retiring, Larry focuses on them as a couple and begins to examine pictures of his mother (wonderful Zoe Wannamaker.) When Irv stopped working, Jean became a successful realtor. Larry feels their relationship will suffer if they spend all their time together.
Larry finds a publisher for his work and the play should have ended there. Yet it continues as Irv and Jean relocate to Palm Desert and it describes their later years, sicknesses and their deaths and Larry’s death, as well.
Breaking the fourth wall has become a common theatrical device in the theater and is used here. Immediately, the audience becomes engaged since we are being spoken to directly by the performers.
The three actors are the strength of this play. Lane is typical Lane, predictably sharp and acerbic, delivering almost all the comic lines. The talented Wanamaker is fine but underutilized. Burstein addresses us directly and wins us over with his engaging personality.
Written by Sharr White, the play goes on too long, becoming tedious. It’s extremely talky with little action. Directed by Bartlett Sher, “Pictures From Home” invites us to watch someone else’s home movies as the adult son tries to determine how his parents influenced him.
Years ago I was at an acquaintance’s house and subjected to movies of her trip to the Galapagos. It was someone else’s trip and, quite frankly, it was boring. In part, that’s how “Pictures From Home” felt. Watching someone else’s life told through pictures doesn’t hold enough interest for anyone else -other than your own family.
