Theater J's One-Woman Family Shares Its Secrets
Though a puzzling choice for director, Chris Columbus' screen adaptation of Rent worked because it took a show that hadn't aged well and set it firmly in the 80s, easing its audience from the outset through the parts that felt dated. The same trick works for Sherry Glaser's one woman show, Family Secrets, now being staged at Theater J. In this production, in which the actress plays five members of a Jewish family in the 80s, material that may have been dated instead feels like a cozy trip back to a time gone by.
Each monologue is a tale of personal revelation, whether dealing with a seismic shift in perceptions, the prospect of motherhood or the onset of new love. A series of anecdotes, the monologues offer a window into the individual personalities and the family as a whole. It consists of Mort, the distant/tactless patriarch; Bev, the unhappy homemaker; Fern, the pagan bisexual; Sandra, the teenager; and Rose, a saucy grandma. Though the characters seem lifted from every sitcom that's aired in the last two decades, setting their stories in the recent past keeps Glaser unburdened by shifts in cultural mores.
What remains is Glaser's engaging performance style. She is a chameleon in Secrets, seeming to absorb her character with each costume change. The transitions all happen on stage with the aid of a song and a well-used vanity.
While Glaser's deft physicality and comic timing shine in each monologue, some work better than others. Among the less convincing is Mort's. Glaser is believably masculine but doesn’t stretch the character beyond a series of one-liners. Not helping is Mort’s faux pot belly, which constantly distracts. Sandra is the least convincing of Glaser's portrayals. Her segment has the unfortunate feel of something forced on the drama unit of Girl Scout camp by a well meaning counselor.
Luckily, Glaser is very much at home across the spectrum of adult womanhood, even adding substance to a potential caricature such as Fern. The best monologue of the night was Bev's, which could be told again twenty years later and still possess its warmth, heart and relevance. Here Glaser best balances grief with humor, creating something real.
The set is minimal and the costumes work when the monologues do. More than anything, Family Secrets showcases a great performer in her most famous work. It's too bad that what works is packaged so tightly with what doesn't.
Family Secrets runs March 7-April 15. For tickets, contact: (800) 494-TIXS