‘The Roommate’ on Broadway: Room and Bored
Two iconic celebrities muddle through a contemporary Broadway play that has very little to say about anything.
If you’ve ever yearned to see Patti LuPone sport a mullet, now’s your chance, thanks to a limited Broadway run of Jen Silverman’s comedy The Roommate. With fellow stage and screen star Mia Farrow, the pair are trying to breathe fresh life into a play that has been kicking around the theater world since 2015. The result depends on your ability to overlook well-worn themes and dated humor that makes it feel more like a ’90s sitcom.
“Wait a minute!” you might think to yourself. Didn’t Patti swear off Boadway? Nearly two years ago, she made an online statement: “Quite a week on Broadway, seeing my name being bandied about. Gave up my Equity card; no longer part of that circus. Figure it out.”
The comment was in reference to an incident that occurred during a performance of the Broadway musical Hadestown, when actor Lillias White chided a hearing-challenged audience member for using a captioning device. White believed it to be a cell phone. Lupone has notoriously scorned audience members during live performances for cell phone use and all hell broke loose. Patti was pissed and told the Hollywood Reporter, “I don’t want to work on Broadway anymore.”
In true diva fashion, she changed her mind. One must respect that, as it is totally her prerogative. But aside from wanting to ham it up onstage with longtime friend Farrow, it begs one major question: Why return with this particular play? Silverman’s work isn’t bad, but neither does it have a fresh angle regarding sexuality or women’s empowerment, two ideas that the playwright undoubtedly wanted to express, as they did in their much better downtown piece Collective Rage: A Play in 5 Betties.
It’s impossible not to compare The Roommate to Neil Simon’s enduring comedy The Odd Couple, which paired neurotically organized Felix Unger with the cigar-chomping, slovenly Oscar Madison. Simon’s work premiered in the mid-Sixties and since then, there has been a slew of TV shows, movies, and plays that have covered polar opposite domestic living. The Roommate is no exception.
Lupone plays Robyn, a brash, tough-talking, vegan lesbian from the Bronx who is on the lam from the authorities. She answers an ad seeking a roommate posted by Sharon (Farrow), a Midwestern Iowan who lives in a huge home. For the most part, Sharon has been completely sheltered (except for that one time she kissed a girl in college). Robyn also grows things and predictably, she’ll end up sharing her green thumb offering of cannabis with Sharon — and may also guide her towards harder drugs and becoming a telephone scammer. After all, “there is great liberty in being bad.”
Although Simon once penned a female version of The Odd Couple, it’s rare to see two women, especially those more mature and seasoned, depicted in such a situation. Directed by Jack O’Brien, The Roommate offers a showcase for these two incredibly gifted performers. And that’s precisely why this overall slight show has made it to Broadway, nine years after premiering at the Actors Theater of Louisville.
Sharon seems to think it’s a novel concept that her new roomie is gay. “I don’t have any problem with homosexuals,” she says awkwardly after Robyn’s disclosure. “Nope. Not at all. I think, you know, gay rights! Let them marry!” Later, she adds that her son in Park Slope is a women’s fashion designer and everyone thinks he’s gay, but he’s not. It’s as if she would actually be timid to admit it if he were.
Other lesbian moments arise over the course of the 90-minute production, but they don’t lend much gravitas to an otherwise cute but dull piece that turns homosexuality into a punchline.
The usually impressive designer Bob Crowley has designed a set that is so empty and sparse, The Roommate feels more like a reading than a full-fledged production. Between the set and the mere two-person cast, one wonders what producers did with the budget.
Die-hard fans of either actor won’t be dissatisfied with The Roommate. Who doesn’t enjoy a live show with big names? True theater lovers, however, are better off catching a regional production of Silverman’s play where the cost of a ticket won’t feel like such an expense.
The Roommate (★★☆☆☆) is playing in a limited run through Dec. 15 at the Booth Theatre, 222 W. 45th St. in New York City. Tickets are $39 to $421. Visit www.theroommatebway.com.
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