Six Degrees of Separation took off after a newspaper account in 1983 about a wealthy Upper East Side couple conned by a needy grifter. The situation is not funny, but John Guare, in this revival of his razor-edged cynical drama at the Ethel Barrymore Theater, again shows his ear for witty dialogue within a blistering undercurrent of loneliness, racial polarization, and human separation. The question is if the original show, a 1990 major Broadway hit, holds up over the passage of time. Mark Wendland designed the luxurious Kittredge's Manhattan apartment dominated by a double-sided Kandinsky painting suspended from the ceiling. Hostess Ouisa Kittredge states that she read how everyone in the world is separated by only six other people. But which six people? That's the key to making the connection. Ouisa, played by a vibrant Allison Janney, and her husband Flan (John Benjamin Hickey), a high-end art dealer, are entertaining an influential business companion (Michael Siberry) when an unexpected visitor appears at the door, bleeding, he says, from a mugging (revealed later to be self-inflicted). He is a young charming African-American (Corey Hawkins), who says his name is Paul Poitier, a Harvard school friend of the couple's children and incidentally, the son of Sidney Poitier. They invite him in, bandage the superficial wound, invite him to join them for dinner and over the hours, become captivated with the articulate visitor. He seems to know stories about their children in school and, at one point, promises Ouisa and Flan minor roles in his father's film-in-progress, “Cats.” Fascinated, the Kittredges invite him to spend the night in the guest room. The next morning, Ouisa finds him in bed with a male hustler. She is outraged. They also discover that Sidney Poitier has no son and find that their socialite friends have had similar experiences with the fascinating, albeit mysterious Paul. All wish their own offspring were more like him, and when we meet their children, detached, self-absorbed and peevish, we know why. Yet Paul eventually charms his way back into their good graces. This play, of course, is not the game, "Six degrees of Kevin Bacon," which was created after the original play and film. Based on a theory that was well-researched for over a century, Guare’s play indicates that six degrees are the racial, cultural, and economic separations between people from each other, friends, family members, even themselves. Paul, discusses “The Catcher in the Rye,” illustrating how people fail to examine themselves, become "phonies," and turn to outside influences and a fascination with the rich and famous. He convinces Ouisa to search her own imagination which causes a rift in the Kittredge marriage. With a quick pace, director Trip Cullman (Significant Other) captures the various personalities of Paul (who is based on the real con man, David Hampton), the Kittreges and their wealthy friends and ego-centric children. A picture is painted of the disturbing contemporary lives of desperate people. Janney (TV's “The West Wing”), striking and urbane in her costumes by Clint Ramos, has out-and-out funny moments as she views her life and family. Her husband, played with self-doubt by Hickey (The Normal Heart) joins her as a believable and generous couple, but so insecure as to fall for the outrageous come-on by a needy stranger at the door, even one played as engagingly as Corey Hawkins (TV's “24: Legacy”). Excellent secondary characters, especially the children, are most compelling. Today, Six Degrees of Separation seems dated in our era of fast checks, texting, and the melting of social barriers. To say nothing of the incredulity of these socially active sophisticates, overwhelmed by a stranger's over-the-top stories and the promise of roles as extras in “Cats.” Yet, as our political world proves daily, some people will believe even the most preposterous fairytales by the most outlandish con men.
