Two shows opening on the same night, one on Broadway, the other off, have many surface resemblances. Both sport a cast of three, run a little over 90 minutes with no intermission and focus on a late-middle-aged male protagonist facing serious issues of mortality and the quality of his relationships. But while Theresa Rebeck’s I Need That is warm, fuzzy, and all wrapped up by the final curtain like a comforting holiday gift Sabbath’s Theater, adapted from Philip Roth’s 1994 novel by Ariel Levy and John Turturro and presented by The New Group at the Signature Theater Center, is a nasty cherry bomb—explosive, messy, and leaving you with more questions than answers. It is also disquieting, probing, and uneven but brilliant in places.
Micky Sabbath is literally stripped bare and wandering aimlessly after a searing soul search. Like many Roth heroes, Micky, played by Turturro in a blazing star turn, is adrift after a number of personal and professional catastrophes. He can no longer ply his trade as a puppeteer due to arthritic fingers. His long-time mistress Drenka has passed away from cancer. His current wife Roseanne (spouse number two) has thrown him out. Plus he’s never really gotten over the death of his big brother in World War II and his first wife. The death of a colleague from his younger days and his myriad misfortunes propel Mickey into a vortex of despair and rebellion against society’s norms, especially sexual ones as he seeks release in the most inappropriate situations. One wonders how Roth’s heroes would fare in the age of #MeToo.
Roth’s dark humor comes through, but too often Turturro and Levy’s adaptation falls into the trap of characters telling us what’s going on (as in a novel) rather than showing us (necessary for stage action). Luckily, Turturro, Elizabeth Marvel as all the female characters, and Jason Kravitz as all the other males, give insightful, funny, and soulful performances. Marvel is dazzlingly versatile as she gives full life to the sensual Drenka, the scolding Roseanne, an aspiring drama student encountered on the subway, and a supposedly conventional dentist with dark secrets. Kravitz is endearing as a 100-year-old former neighbor reminiscing with Sabbath.
Jo Bonney’s fluid direction, aided by Jeff Croiter’s versatile lighting, Alex Basco Koch’s projections and Erik Sanko’s shadow puppets skillfully create the inner and outer worlds of Micky’s imagination. This dramatization has its flaws, but it fully exposes a flawed character and forces us to face his nasty urges. It’s an uncomfortable but truthful experience.
