Jennifer Mudge and Matthew Broderick (Photo: Joan Marcus)

Two British comedies written more than thirty years ago have recently touched down on our shores. Alan Ayckbourn's The Norman Conquests conquered even the hardest-to-please critics. Christopher Hampton's The Philanthrophist has made a much bumpier landing. While I was hoping to be able to say that the first round of nay saying reviews had it all wrong, I'm afraid that this is indeed a sleeper, and that's not in the sense of it being a sleeper hit.

So why is the current The Norman Conquests not to be missed, while The Philanthrophist seems such an unnecessary revival? It begins with the play itself. Beneath Ayckbourn's domestic mayhem and structural gimmickry, there's real depth. Strip Hampton's drawing room farce transported to a London university setting of its barrage of bon mots and the clever prologue that ends up with a send-up of Chekhov's dictum that a gun seen in act one must show up again before the curtain falls — and all that's left is a talky play that does show its age.

That said, if you read our London critic, Lizzie Loveridge's review of the Donmar Warehouse revival in 2005, there's still some life and amusement to be teased out of Hampton's conceit: inverting Moliere's misanthropic Alceste into a milktoasty London academic whose persistent niceness ultimately has the same effect on others as Alceste's tell-it-like-it-is nastiness. That brings us to the Roundabout production's even bigger problem: the casting of a big name star, Matthew Broderick.

Having played these sort of comic nebbishes made Broderick a natural for the part of the anagram loving title character. The problem is that unlike Simon Russell Beale (the Donmar's Philip) who can bring out the nuances and quirks of any character he plays, Broderick seems to have turned into a parody of himself. What you see on stage is the accountant who wants to be a producer, the fussy other half of the Odd Couple. And here he is again— same shtick but without anything added except a not very successful British accent.

While the chance to hone his expertise as a nerdy type is what must have attracted him to the play, Broderick was unable to take enough of what he does well without coming off like a broken record. Perhaps, conscious that he's unable to rise above his familiar persona, accounts for the fact that he often looks bored and slightly pained, even a the the curtain call.

David Grindley has proved himself to be an excellent director with a special feel for period pieces including the Roundabout's Pygmalion; also the under-appreciated Journey's End. Perhaps he could have transferred the energy of the Donmar production as Matthew Warchus did with The Norman Conquests, if he'd been able to bring along the entire cast instead of just Anna Madeley.

Not that the cast now on board isn't excellent: Steven Weber is appropriately smooth and self-absorbed as Philip's colleague Don and the show actually promises to explode into the very funny comedy it's meant to be with the arrival of Jonathan Cake as Braham, the hilariously obnoxious author. He'd be a riot even if he didn't have the best lines, given the maroon velvet suit with it's 70s style flared pants (courtesy of costumer Tobin Ost, who like the set, lighting and sound designers have brought their skills to the American Airlines Theater). Anna Madeley ably reprises her role as Philip's fiancee; Jennifer Mudge does the sexually aggressive Araminta with panache; and Smantha Soule, who is usually s seen in much larger parts, does as much as she can with the wordless Liz.

Entertaining as Philip's guests are, Broderick's out-to-lunch performance in the pivotal role has cast a dysfunctional pall over the entire production. It's as if Mr. Grindley had rowed rather than flown his production across the pond and in the process gotten stuck in a slow staging mode that makes the two hour play feel like the 24-hour period it covers. Rather than go further into the plot details, I'll point yout to Lizzie's review which covers all the salient events as well as the set details. London Review

New York Production Notes
The Philanthropist
By Christopher Hampton
Directed by David Grindley

---

Cast: Matthew Broderick (Philip), Jonathan Cake (Braham), Anna Madeley (Celia), Steven Weber (Donald), Tate Ellington (John), Jennifer Mudge (Araminta) and Samantha Soule (Elizabeth). Sets by Tim Shortall
Costumes by Tobin Ost
Lighting by Rick Fisher
Sound by Gregory Clarke Dialect coach: Gillian Lane-Plescia
Running time: 2 hours 10 minutes, with intermission Roundabout Theater Company atthe American Airlines Theater, 227 West 42nd Street (212) 719-1300.
From 4/10/09; opening 4/26/09; closing 6/28/09
Reviewed by Elyse Sommer 4/28/09 London Review