On & Off Broadway

'Fish in the Dark'

Reviewed by Elyse Trevers

Posted

As soon as he walks onstage, the audience smiles contentedly as if a favorite prodigal son has returned. The affection is almost palpable. Television personality Larry David has become such a figure in millions of homes that we all feel as if we know him. He wears familiar clothes, the same ones he wears in “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and even though he overacts, sometimes smiling at the wrong places, nothing dampens the audience's enthusiasm for him. Quite frankly, if he had to audition for the lead role, I doubt that he would have been cast in the new Broadway comedy Fish in the Dark. Yet he is starring in this show that he wrote and it is playing to sold-out houses in a limited run.

David plays Norman Drexel, a urinal salesmen whose father exacts a promise from his sons on his deathbed that they not let their mother (the marvelous Jayne Houdyshell) live alone in her house. She should move in with one of them. However, Gloria Drexel is not an easy woman and the question is: which son was he addressing, Norman or Arthur (Ben Shenkman)? Norman is kinder and gentler than David’s television persona, doing the right thing even though he clearly doesn’t want to. It’s brother Arthur, the lawyer, who says no and is intractable. Norman is actually an upright guy, so even when his wife (weakly played by Rita Wilson ) threatens to leave him, Gloria moves into Norman’s home. Later, when the maid (Rosie Perez) reveals a secret that propels most of the second act, he assumes responsibility as well.

One of the biggest ongoing jokes is the rivalry between the two brothers –something many can relate to. However, as on television, much of David's humor is derived from his character’s inappropriate timing. While his father lies dying, Arthur brings his date to the hospital – counting it as their fourth date. After an elderly aunt and uncle decide they've been insulted at the shiva, they stop to make sandwiches with food from the overflowing dining room table before they storm out. At the deathbed, the dead man is quickly forgotten as relatives argue about his Rolex watch. And then there’s some strange unsolicited advice – does one tip the doctor?

The cast includes some excellent character actors, like Lewis J. Stadlen and Marylouise Burke and Jerry Adler. They deliver some of the play’s funniest lines. However, David does get to deliver his trademark line. After grabbing the breast of a chesty blonde, he declares that it felt "Pret-ty, Pret-ty good" and the audience roars in laughter.

Fish in the Dark (Yes, there is a fish of sorts) feels like an extended television show. Instead of inviting David into their living rooms, many have opted to spend several hundred dollars to visit him instead. The show is light and entertaining and there are couple of good laughs. And that’s “pret-ty pret-ty good.”