I read “Over the Tavern” six months ago and hated it. But I was taught at the Catholic school 12 blocks south of the Arvada Center to always remain open to the possibility of miracles.
And in theater, strong direction, a lovingly exact set and remarkable acting must constitute divine intervention, because now I kind of like it.
Tom Dudzick’s heartfelt yet still problematic memory play takes us back to 1959 Buffalo, N.Y., in the Polish Catholic neighborhood where his family of six lived above the bar run by his father. Dudzick’s alter ego, Rudy, is an impossibly precocious 12-year-old trying to navigate the glaring contradictions in his pre-Vatican II Catholic teachings, as well as a difficult father whose mere voice moves his children to duck and cover.
Authors often use memory plays as a one-way revenge for the damage done years before by their parents or church. That or they paint a saccharine picture that can’t possibly seem real. “Over the Tavern” swings wildly between these extremes, never deciding if it wants to be “Father Knows Best,” “The Great Santini” or “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf.”
But director Jane Page and her creative team have done a fine job keeping the pendulum modulated. There’s plenty of knowing, nostalgic comedy that will ring true for any Catholic over 50. And what I never gave this play credit for on the page was that underneath the laughter, this is a family in real crisis. Or how complex and real these characters might become when entrusted to the right actors. Considering four of these seven characters are under 16, that’s expecting a lot.
Holding both the play and the household together is Dana Munshaw Brazil as the kinetic matriarch Ellen Pazinski, despite being continually disappointed by her bellicose, sad husband, Chet. Thomas Borrillo digs deeper than ever in humanizing this prototypical 1950s father with good intentions but who can’t ever seem to remember to bring the dinner home.
The real and really interesting kids include Rudy’s hormonally explosive older brother Eddie (Broderick Ballantyne) and sister Annie (Shannon Donnelly); as well as their mentally disabled younger brother, Georgie (a particularly winning Eli Carpenter) – a kid who constantly blurts a choice new expletive he’s heard. These kids all have great story lines that these young actors handle like pros.
Billie McBride is howlingly funny as Rudy’s ruler-wielding teacher, Sister Clarissa, who’s intent on saving her sinful charge if it kills her – and it almost does. And when the time comes, McBride is heartbreaking in revealing a secret that helps the audience see our flawed patriarch in a more sympathetic light.
Then there’s Rudy, enjoyably and energetically played by young Noah Wilson. But my remaining issue with the play is actually with the playwright. I think by the time a writer sits down to write any memory play, he’s been so wizened by time and hindsight as to be unfairly generous to the character he’s trying to re-create. They put themselves back into children’s shoes while putting very adult words into their mouths. Dudzick’s Rudy never sounds like a 12-year-old; he’s more like the knowing narrator in “The Wonder Years.” Rudy is always funny, always insightful, always articulate in a way 12-year-olds just aren’t.
I wrestled with the same questions and contradictions as Rudy at nearby St. Anne’s. I questioned the existence of heaven and hell, the evident ambivalence of a God who was always watching but does nothing. But I could never have articulated these issues at 12 as well as Rudy. It seems disingenuous for him to be so soundly reasoned that his parents ultimately defer to this boy on all issues of religious doctrine.
That’s certainly not how the story ended in my home.
Theater critic John Moore can be reached at 303-954-1056 or jmoore@denverpost.com.
“Over the Tavern”
DRAMA-COMEDY|Arvada Center, 6901 Wadsworth Blvd.|Written by Tom Dudzick|Directed by Jane Page|Starring Noah Wilson, Thomas Borrillo and Dana Munshaw Brazil
|THROUGH NOV. 12|7:30 p.m. Tuesdays-Fridays, 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Saturdays-Sundays, plus 1 p.m. Wednesdays|2 hours, 30 minutes
|$36-$46|720-898-7200 or arvadacenter.org
