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READ REVIEWS GET IN ON THE TEEN SCENES TEEN REVIEWERS AND CRITICS LINKS TO OTHER COOL STUFF |
Miriam R. Haier Miriam Reviews Shortly After Takeoff by The Harbor Theatre  Final boarding call, flight to Rome. Ethan sits in his seat, talking to his original carving of a winged horse, recalling a time when he had the chance to speak to E. B. White about Stuart Little. "Fairy tales can come true; it can happen to you/If you're young at heart," Frank Sinatra just finished crooning over the speakers. Ethan turns his head, the nuances of his facial expression showing his intricate emotions, and remembers how he came to be where he is now. He remembers the clashes and conflicts that characterized his home life, all caused by each of his family members chasing his or her own fairy tale without stopping to consider the other's. Home in Long Island, a misunderstood 15-year-old. Ethan talks to himself, to his wooden winged horse, to the frog he must dissect for a school lab and to the people around him; his best listeners are the inanimate ones. A teenage boy who must cope with his father's death, his overpowering mother and her impending marriage, and a brother too busy to be bothered, Ethan's personal life is set against the backdrop of the transient late 1960s. As the Vietnam War, Civil Rights Movement, protests and assassinations gnaw at the conventional outside world, Ethan must try to achieve some balance and belonging on his own. Shortly After Takeoff's strength lies in its poignant characters. Writer Stuart Warmflash has created characters that are human in both their flaws and triumphs as they tackle universal issues -- the tragedy of losing a loved one, the pain of being an outcast and, in Ethan's case, solving the mysteries of the opposite sex. Each character is trying to fabricate a vision of happiness in what has been a grief-stricken home. The full extent of their depth, however, is realized by the actors who have become them. Patricia Kalember as Ethan's mother, Rosie, is the dynamo of the family, clinging to a rigid concept of what is best for her sons while protesting for political change. Ethan (Eric Shelley) and Chip (Anthony Bagnetto), brothers who share an awkward relationship, are startlingly believable in their interaction. Ethan vies for his brother's attention, and Chip struggles against expectations he does not want to meet, until one pivotal scene in which the brothers collide. Eric Shelley explodes as Ethan, admitting that he is a "basket case" and ranting in raw emotion. Anthony Bagnetto provides the perfect foil, communicating, even in body language and facial expression, the combination of caring and contempt an older brother would have for such a display of honest pain. In trying to find his independence, Ethan must decide what to do when his crush, Karen (Adelia Saunders), needs his help in solving a problem larger than both of them. He must learn how to tolerate the new man in his mother's life, Chester (Bruce Mohat), who has the "personality of a sedated armadillo." When his mother's birthday party is ruined in a fight with Aunt Ann (Lucy McMichael), it is Ethan who must stay to pick up the pieces. Throughout personal and collective trials, the actors' chemistry adds another dimension to the story, portraying the amalgam of human experience to show the joys in its sorrows, and the sorrows in its joys. Finally, Ethan must decide what to do to make his own fairy tale come true. Earlier, Frank Sinatra seemed to tell him that all he had to do was to be young at heart...but he has his own thoughts, inspired by his conversation with E. B. White: "It's a wonderful way to spend one's life -- pursuing someone, or something, you love." The captivated audience cannot help but agree. |