Nathan Lane brings daddy issues to Broadway in ‘Pictures From Home’
Broadway stage adaptation of Larry Sultan’s photo memoir Pictures From Home. First published in 1992, Sultan revisited old family films of his childhood and juxtaposed them with staged images of his aging parents.
Playwright Sharr White transforms these themes into a Death of a Salesman 2.0 minus the ethereal dream sequences but still heavy with intergenerational drama and a dismantled American Dream.Zoë Wanamaker plays Irving’s wife, Jean, and Danny Burstein, appearing in his 19th Broadway show, portrays adult son Larry.
Set in the couple’s San Fernando Valley tract home and showcasing a breadth of Sultan’s real-life family film stills and photographs projected on scenic designer Michael Yeargan’s avocado-colored walls, Pictures From Home stumbles down memory lane rather than strolls, punctuated by three nuanced performances that challenge the meaning and value of family.In its opening moments, Larry speaks to the audience, setting up the theatrical convention of his parents’ lives. “This project will become one of my hallmark achievements — I know that’s not a modest thing to say,” he says. “Regardless, this isn’t about me, it’s about them.”But in truth, Larry’s obsession — mostly ill-received by his father and ambivalence from his mother as she maintains a stressful real estate career after her husband’s premature lay-off/retirement — is reflective as he draws connections between how we convey our lives and the more complex truths (or fallacies) revealed when the film is developed.The threesome banters and argues, Lane masterfully delivering zingy one-liners that would give Billy Crystal a run for his money.
