'Happy Talk': Susan Sarandon & cast shine

‘HAPPY TALK’: Marin Ireland & Susan Sarandon. Photo: Monique Carboni

HAPPY TALK
Written by Jesse Eisenberg
Directed by Scott Elliott
Through June 16, 2019
The New Group at the Pershing Square Signature Center
The Alice Griffin Jewel Box Theatre
480 West 42nd Street
(212-279-4200), http://www.TheNewGroup.org

By David NouNou

I was so intrigued by Jesse Eisenberg’s last play The Spoils, presented by the New Group in 2015 (also performed at this same theatre and directed by Scott Elliott), that I really looked forward to his next show. Mr. Eisenberg can never be accused of lacking imagination when it comes to his play writing. So for his current venture Happy Talk, he has Lorraine (Susan Sarandon), a suburban New Jersey housewife, rehearsing to play Bloody Mary in the Jewish Community Center production of South Pacific. Well, the premise right there is a hoot. However, Lorraine is saddled by a bed-ridden dying mother who is never seen; a pain-riddled husband, Bill (Daniel Oreskes) who is mainly seated quietly and reading his papers in his recliner; and an estranged daughter, Jenny (Tedra Millian). Throughout all this mayhem, there is a savior, the Serbian immigrant aide Ljuba (Marin Ireland). Ljuba tends to the dying mother, the ailing husband, and especially to Lorraine, who is in constant need of validation.

After six months of working for this family, Ljuba asks Lorraine for a favor. She is here illegally from Serbia and wonders if Lorraine, who works with so many people in her theatrical community, can find her a husband that she can buy with the $15,000 she has saved in order to get her green card. Lorraine does a great job of matchmaking and brings home Ronny (Nico Santos). Ronny plays Lt. Cable in South Pacific. He is gay, Asian, and has a partner and both are in desperate need of money, so Ronny is willing to comply.

The set-up in part one is amusing, the second part is hysterical and witty, but the third part becomes Mr. Eisenberg’s now formulaic, five-character nihilism as it was in The Spoils.

Mr. Eisenberg could have had a wonderful comedy, the likes of Neil Simon. It could have been something totally different for him and very entertaining for the times in which we live, but he chose to stick to his now trademark dark themes. His Lorraine is a wonderful eccentric character like so many wannabes who never made it in real life as a professional actress but delude themselves that they bring extra character to the part they are playing when the part already has all the essentials the character needs. Susan Sarandon is a superb actress, and as Lorraine, she not only embodies delusional and is loved by all, but also can deliver devious and crazy like no one else. She makes Lorraine a terrifying experience for anyone who works in community theatre.

In Happy Talk, Marin Ireland captivates us from the onset. Eccentric? Yes, but in the best sense, upbeat in a sort of Gilda Radner way as Lisa Lubner, or Roseanne Roseannadanna (from the early seasons of NBC’s “Saturday Night Live”), perfectly charming, and delivering a sensitive, heartbreakingly authentic performance to be counted among the best of the year.

If you liked Nico Santos in last year’s mega-hit movie Crazy Rich Asians, you’ll adore him here. As if being gay and Asian, playing the all-American Lt. Joe Cable in South Pacific isn’t enough, he wants to give Joe a limp to add character, and that concept itself is a scream. He is the perfect remedy for what is about to unfold.

Jesse Eisenberg has written a good play and Scott Elliott has directed it in an adroit manner, but both have already explored similar territory because The Spoils also featured a protagonist who turned into an antagonist and became a nihilist. With Happy Talk, Mr. Eisenberg and Mr. Elliott have both rehashed things from their previous collaboration. However, I still recommend the play highly just to witness thoroughly engaging performances from Marin Ireland, Susan Sarandon and Nico Santos.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published May 16, 2019
Reviewed at May 12, 2019 press preview performance.