Description
Adam Rapp’s female characters often exist on the fringes of his plays, but the centerpiece of this one is a terrifically robust performance from Annette O’Toole. She plays Maryanne, a cancer-stricken Midwestern mother desperate for joy, who takes a trip to New York with her emotionally repressed 17-year-old son, Dennis (a finely nuanced Christopher Denham). Alternately fragile and feisty, O’Toole morphs from gentle pussycat to chomping tigress. And despite clunky moments, Rapp finds a gentle approach to his characters’ physical and emotional pain without turning sentimental.—DS