‘Morning Sun’: All-star cast shines in tale of three women

‘MORNING SUN’: Blair Brown & Marin Ireland. Photo: Matthew Murphy.

MORNING SUN
Written by Simon Stephens
Directed by Lila Neugebauer
Through December 19, 2021
Manhattan Theatre Club
New York City Center Stage
1
131 West 55th Street
(212-581-1212), www.NYCityCenter.org

By David NouNou

Morning Sun by playwright Simon Stephens captures the essence of the 1952 painting “Morning Sun” by artist Edward Hopper. The painting is of a woman in a pink slip, sitting on a bed staring outside her window, at the city. The Playbill lists the three women in Mr. Stephens’ play anonymously as 1, 2 and 3. Like the painting, these women live an abstract life, almost Bohemian in nature. However, as the play progresses, the abstract shifts to isolation and survival in the city.

At the onset in the dark, 1 (Edie Falco) keeps asking “is it safe, am I safe?” and the voices reply “you’re doing just fine, everything is okay.” It poses the question is 1 in labor giving birth—or is it at another stage of her life? As the lights come on, we learn that 2 (Blair Brown) has come to the city in 1947 and just got a two-bedroom apartment in Greenwich Village for $75.00 a month while working at Macy’s. 2/Claudette gets married, and her husband moves into this apartment and they have a long marriage. 2/Claudette gives birth to 1/Charlotte, which takes us back to the beginning, was it safe for 1 to come into the world or is it another stage of her life.

1/Charlotte prefers the name Charley and lives in the same Village apartment as her parents. She doesn’t ask much of life. She has a best friend as a child, but is betrayed by her as an adult. She gets pregnant from a one-night stand with a pilot, and gives birth to a girl, 3 (Marin Ireland) and she names her Tessa. 1 has a 10-year relationship with a semi-abusive man who leaves her for another woman. She works at St. Vincent’s Hospital until it shuts down. She ultimately meets Edwin, a medical supplies salesman, with whom she moves out with to Colorado.

3/Tessa has a difficult life, no real father; just father figures. She lives with her mother and grandparents in the same Village apartment. She has a tough time whether coping in school, in her childhood, with her job, and when her mother decides to move to Colorado.

1, 2 and 3 play multiple characters, both men and women, thus the abstract, but they essentially play mother, daughter and granddaughter who love each other but have a tough time connecting. They represent the strong willed, the survivor, and the loner. They are connected but all three women live in isolation. The beauty here is the seamless connection these women portray. They are three separate women but can speak as one.

Edie Falco gives a gut-wrenching performance as 1/daughter and survivor. In lesser hands, the character might seem a loser; however, Ms. Falco imbues Charlotte with every noble quality a woman can possess. Blair Brown, as 2/mother and strong willed, is fearless. Like a great wine, she gets better with age and experience. Marin Ireland, as 3/granddaughter/loner and a multiple array of other characters, is becoming one of the finest actresses of her generation. She has grown as an actress from her earlier outings in reasons to be pretty  and The Three Sisters. Her Tessa is heartbreaking and her switching from one character to another is seamless.

Simon Stephens has written a lovely abstract play about the connection of three generations of women.  Director Lila Neugebauer gives everything focus, but Edie Falco, Blair Brown and Marin Ireland give the show its pulsating heart.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published November 3, 2021
Reviewed at October 30, 2021 press preview performance.

‘MORNING SUN’: Edie Falco & Marin Ireland. Photo: Matthew Murphy.

‘MORNING SUN’: Edie Falco & Marin Ireland. Photo: Matthew Murphy.