Star turns can make or break a production.Two recent Broadway openings feature big-name leads, but their effects on their respective shows are startlingly different. In Hillary and Clinton, Laurie Metcalf and John Lithgow make Lucas Hnath’s intriguing behind-the-scenes political premise into a gripping portrait of a complex marriage. However, Burn This, has a mismatched Adam Driver and Keri Russell drag down Lanford Wilson’s supposedly explosive romance to the ho-hum level. The two, who are supposed to be wildly attracted, appear to barely acknowledge each other. The essential fiery chemistry alluded to in the title is missing.
Wilson’s play of unlikely passion focuses on dancer-choreographer Anna and the mysterious and volatile Pale, the older brother of Robbie, her gay dancing partner who has died in a boating accident with his lover Dominic.
Pale is a star part. Grieving for his sibling, he crashes into Anna and her roommate Larry’s loft apartment like a blazing comet, spouting colorful invective on the frustrations of NYC parking, their scummy neighborhood, his homophobic anger at Robbie’s being gay, and finally drowns his sorrow in Anna’s arms. In the original production, John Malkovich exploded like a ton of dynamite, inspiring comparisons to Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire. Driver has the right imposing physique and physicality for the role, but he comes across as a comically clumsy oaf, garnering huge laughs for Pale’s non-sequitor monologues but lacking menace. Malkovich made you feel he would kill you at any moment; Driver just makes you want to hug him like a teddy bear.
To compound the production’s problems, Russell barely registers as the vacillating Anna who seesaws between the crude but vital Pale and the refined, rich-but-safe Burton. Mainly known for her TV work on “Felicity” and “The Americans,” Russell fails to bring any weight to the table. In 1987, Joan Allen found the spice in the somewhat bland heroine, winning a Tony Award for her efforts. But this Anna’s inner struggle over lovers is no more important to her than choosing a new brand of coffee. When she tries to throw Pale out of her life, it should be tearing her apart; instead, she’s inconvenienced.
Fortunately, Derek McLane’s detailed loft set with its huge windows offering a cityscape view is nice to look at and director Michael Mayer wisely emphasizes Wilson’s wit. Brandon Uranowitz solidly lands each of Larry’s comic relief zingers. David Furr is an attractive and manly Burton. It makes no sense that Anna would dump him for a goofy Pale, but that’s what happens when stars are not aligned.
