Richard Nelson dissects fans of all-things English
NEW YORK—"Some Americans Abroad" is a quietly malicious little comedy.
Playwright Richard Nelson's attack on the pomposity of academia sneaks up on you as it follows the cultural -- and personal -- misadventures of a group of professors and their students as they slog their way through literary England.
The play, which opened Thursday at off-Broadway's Second Stage Theatre, requires exquisite timing to put over Nelson's sharp, unflattering observations of these American worshippers of all-things English.
And while the cast is game, director Gordon Edelstein's slack revival moves slowly as the considerable foibles of these folks are revealed. The group is led by Joe Taylor, head of the English literature department. He's played by Tom Cavanagh with an ingratiating charm that masks the character's serious lack of backbone.
Joe won't stand up for anything, particularly if the stance will damage his career. And he's willing to ditch colleagues who run into trouble. One (Corey Stoll) possibly has been indiscreet with a female student while another (Anthony Rapp) faces derailing from the tenure track.
The former is a windy, combative man, ready for an argument, while the latter is awash in desperation, taking the trip to England at his own expense (along with his resentful wife) in the hopes of saving his job. But that decision already has been made by Joe, who can't bring himself to deliver the bad news.
Nelson revels in his characters' pretensions. When they are not banding together to sing "God Save the Queen," they are awash in endless intellectual debates, braying their opinions with smug certainty.
Joe is a bit of a snob, too, quickly disassociating himself from an enthusiastic nonacademic American tourist (a nifty cameo by Todd Weeks), in one of the evening's most obvious yet hilarious moments.
These Anglophiles devour two-a-day Shakespeare productions at Stratford (while dining at Pizza Hut), genuflect at London's temple of drama known as the National Theatre and work their way through the city's well-stocked book stores.
Nelson's Americans span several generations. There include the expatriates -- the English department's blunt, undiplomatic former chairman and his wife (John Cunningham and Pamela Payton-Wright) who now reside in Sussex, which is Henry James territory. And there are the students, one of whom is Joe's daughter (Cristin Milioti) who seems to have more common sense than the adults.
"Some Americans Abroad" is set in 1989, a year before it was first seen in New York at Lincoln Center. In the play, these academics marvel about the cheap price of theater tickets, although they still penny-pinch their way to dividing the bill at restaurants. These days, with the demise of the once-mighty American dollar abroad, that makes this production seem pleasantly nostalgic.
