THE GRAND MANNER A REVIEW

While the New York theatre is taking it's summer snooze, one new play has opened that is worth mentioning. It is A.R. Gurney's new and extravagantly enjoyable play THE GRAND MANNER. In it this eminent and prolific playwright goes back to his youth when he traveled from his New Hampshire boarding school to New York City in 1948 to attend a performance of Shakespeare,s "Antony and Cleopatra"starring the great actress Katharine Cornell and went backstage after the performance to meet her. She signed his program, gave him a farewell handshake and departed.
This play is a re-imagined account of that meeting as he would have liked it to be. A far more elaborate meeting involving the great actress, her husband, and her stage manager. It is told with the same humor and affection that Mr. Gurney has brought to his other plays including"The Dining Room", "Love Letters", and my favorite of all "Sylvia". Once again Mr. Gurney proves himself to be one of our finest American playwrights and his play is being given a first rate production.
Under the very able stage direction of Mark Lamos the cast of four work beautifully together. As the great Ms. Cornell Kate Burton is wonderful and Boyd Gaines and Brenda Wehle are just as good in support, but it Bobby Steggert as the playrights alter-ego who turns in the most winning performance and again reveals himself as a most accomplished young actor.
THE GRAND MANNER is not a big or major work, but it's a lively and amusing valentine to the theatre and a warm and winning look at a bygone Broadway era.
AT THE MITZI E. NEWHOUSE THEATRE LINCOLN CENTER N.Y.C. THRU AUG.1st.