Synopsis Set in the 1970's, The Prisoner of Second Avenue is a black comedy depicting a New York couple, Mel and Edna Edison, enduring the trials and tribulations of city life. Mel is made redundant and the stress of an economic crisis and urban life pushes him into having a nervous breakdown. The family gathers to offer support, with Edna stoically bearing the burden of his disintegration and self-pity. The Prisoner of Second Avenue originally premiered on Broadway in 1971, starring Peter Falk and Lee Grant, where it ran for two years and received a Tony Award nomination. It was subsequently made into a film in 1975, starring Jack Lemmon and Anne Bancroft. Supported by American Airlines
Jeff Goldblum has returned to the London stage to star in Terry Johnson's revival of The Prisoner of Second Avenue, the Old Vic's first West End production beyond its home on the Cut, at the Vaudeville Theatre.
Set in the 1970s, Neil Simon's 1971 play is a black comedy depicting a New York couple, Mel (Goldblum) and Edna Edison (Oscar-winner Mercedes Ruehl), enduring the trials and tribulations of city life. Mel is made redundant and the stress of an economic crisis and urban life pushes him into having a nervous breakdown. The family gathers to offer support, with Edna stoically bearing the burden of his disintegration and self-pity.
Could Goldblum emulate the midas touch that saw him receive rave reviews for Speed the Plow two years ago? The Prisoner of Second Avenue continues to 25 September 2010.
Michael Coveney on Whatsonstage.com (three stars) – “Jeff Goldblum’s pairing with Mercedes Ruehl in Neil Simon’s 1971 Broadway comedy The Prisoner of Second Avenue is not so extraordinary … The play itself, despite all the zingy one-liners, is an awkward, not always convincing, study in emotional meltdown and inner city angst … Terry Johnson’s lively production can’t disguise the lumpy construction … nor the fact that Goldblum is not fully at home in the role. His gestural angularity seems at odds with his inner turmoil, as if he can’t bring himself to believe in his own bad luck. Ruehl, on the other hand, manages all the transitions from ditsiness to genuine concern, funny-face stoicism to casual optimism, with consummate ease; and with her smoky, croaky voice and elegance of technique, she’s an absolute joy to watch on the stage. It’s a good night out, not a great one, an interesting sidelight on a great comic writer who, like Alan Ayckbourn, sees the funny side of emotional distress and domestic unease.”
Michael Billington in the Guardian (three stars) – “For all the quality of Goldblum's performance and Terry Johnson's production, there is something too cosy about Simon's approach to his subject … Baldly summarised, the play sounds like a tragedy, but Simon, as a servant of Broadway, is determined to send us home happy … It seems absurd that Mel and Edna, with two daughters in college, should spurn the brother's offer to pay the medical bills. And Mel's transformation from mental wreck to stoic survivor seems far too easy… This production, however, is far superior to its predecessor … Thanks to Goldblum's skill and Johnson's directorial tact, Mel emerges as a man who, in being deprived of a job, acquires the weary patience of Job. Mercedes Ruehl also admirably endows the long-suffering Edna with a welcome touch of acidity … But, although the play is expertly done, Simon ultimately shies away from the logic of his story: if Mel is the woeful victim of recession, Simon is himself the prisoner of Broadway feel-good convention."
Dominic Cavendish in the Daily Telegraph (three stars) – “The problem with the play … is that Simon roots the universal experience of chronic insecurity in an altogether local desire to please a Broadway audience. What the evening delivers in clever one-liners, it lacks in corresponding emotional thoroughness. We can believe that Mel and Edna are where they are. We can’t so easily credit where they wind up, which is a place of cosy fortitude … Still, as a vehicle for Goldblum’s innate comic abilities this revival more than earns its keep ... It’s a joy to see this pyjama’d loon ostrich-step across the settee to crane his ears to the wall for intrusive sounds… However, an issue with the material: if only, in grappling with life’s harsh incarcerations, Simon hadn’t so readily let himself be taken hostage by soothing commercial convenience.”
Fiona Mountford in the Evening Standard (two stars) – “Any hopes that Spacey’s theatre would repeat the success of the Donmar Warehouse’s recent knockout year in the West End are swiftly dashed as Jeff Goldblum and Mercedes Ruehl, drag us through two effortfully unfunny hours … Bad things may keep happening and good men and women may keep losing their jobs, but the dry, flip tone of the piece mitigates against any audience sympathy … it’s all awkward timing and jagged pacing. Ruehl clomps about uneasily while Goldblum … grandstands unendingly with a series of exaggerated reactions seemingly chosen at random from a theatrical pinball machine … I convinced myself one of the characters was surely going to leap up and finally reveal the whole piteously unconvincing scenario to be some sort of elaborate charade, and that the narrative would, at long last, head off in more fruitful directions. No such luck. The joke, if there is one, is most definitely on us.”
Paul Callan in the Daily Express - "The lanky Jeff Goldblum, a familiar Old Vic face, brings a quaking madness to the part of a man raging at the world. He is convinced the world is against him, plotting some wild conspiracy to rob him of work, money and sanity. Goldblum uses his long arms and legs to frenzied effect. There are moments when he looks like a human windmill. Mercedes Ruehl is deliciously supportive as Edna, his loving and assertive wife who loyally strug- gles to pour the balm of her love, patience and loyalty on his stress ... But the sad problem is this is not one of Simon’s best plays and compares badly with the hilarious genius of The Odd Couple and, say, Barefoot In The Park. After a time, it is all excessively repetitive and predictable. The sight of Jeff Goldblum thundering around the stage is very funny for a time. But then it soon loses its edge with familiarity."
Jeff Goldblum’s brilliant duel with Kevin Spacey two years ago in David Mamet’s Speed-the-Plow was a highlight in the recent annals of the Old Vic. Goldblum’s pairing with Mercedes Ruehl in Neil Simon’s 1971 Broadway comedy The Prisoner of Second Avenue - in an Old Vic production by Terry Johnson - is not so extraordinary.
Not because these two brilliant actors - Ruehl, who won an Oscar for her performance in The Fisher King, is making a long overdue London debut - do not strike sparks, but because the play itself, despite all the zingy one-liners, is an awkward, not always convincing, study in emotional meltdown and inner city angst.
The Upper East side apartment inhabited by Mel and Edna Edison is a very different place to the idealized, almost celebratory Manhattan bolt holes occupied by other Simon characters in Barefoot in the Park, say, or even The Odd Couple. This place is stuffy, noisy and unpleasant.
The state of it reflects the state of mind of 47 year-old Mel, an advertising executive who is fearing the worst at work, popping Valium and banging on the walls to complain about German air hostesses playing endless re-runs of “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on my Head.” Upstairs, more neighbours take the hint more literally and empty buckets of water over the hapless goofball.
Terry Johnson’s lively production can’t disguise the lumpy construction (the scratchily projected, unfunny television news items don’t help), nor the fact that Goldblum is not fully at home in the role. His gestural angularity seems at odds with his inner turmoil, as if he can’t bring himself to believe in his own bad luck.
Ruehl, on the other hand, manages all the transitions from ditsiness to genuine concern, funny-face stoicism to casual optimism, with consummate ease; and with her smoky, croaky voice and elegance of technique, she’s an absolute joy to watch on the stage.
The play seems to be veering off in another direction when Mel’s sisters and brother call by to offer help with the medical bills, exacerbating the situation even further; these cameos are boldly defined and well contrasted by Amanda Boxer, Patti Love, Fiona Gillies and - as the impatient businessman, Harry - Linal Haft.
It’s a good night out, not a great one, an interesting sidelight on a great comic writer who, like Alan Ayckbourn, sees the funny side of emotional distress and domestic unease.
Very good performances from the two leads. Supporting actors, particularly Linal Haft good, but the overall play lacked any actual dramatic development, rather it was a series of tableau at different stages, though given the extremes of Goldblum's character's mental health over three of the scenes (zany, nervous wreck, pretty much recovered) I felt its lacked any real hook. Very good one liners and physical acting but ultimately a flawed play. - Paul Kellaway
16 Jul 10
It's difficult to know how to rate The Prisoner of Second Avenue. The first half is a superb fusilade of Neil Simon one-liners superbly performed by Jeff Goldblum and Mercedes Ruehl. Goldblum's Mel is a mess of Woody Allenish neuroses some of which are uncomfortably recognisable. But after the interval something goes wrong. Mel's nervous breakdown is neither funny nor tragic and the arrival of his four siblings, played by non-American actors, sees the energy levels plummet. 3 stars for the second half then, but 5 for the first which is a display of New York wisecracks written and performed close to perfection. - David Baxter
15 Jul 10
What a surprise a clutch of poor reviews for yet another Simon turkey. How many U.S. stars have bombed on the London stage in one, will they never learn? Brits...most Brits, just don't find him funny. Never did. - Coral
15 Jul 10
I thought the 1st half of the play was very good with quite a few good laughs in it. When the rest of the family were on the scene it seemed to slow down and get a bit boring. The two leads work excellent together and it's well worth a night out to see it. - shelton
14 Jul 10
I thought this play was excellent and Jeff Goldblum and Mercedes Ruehl were very together in their roles, though I thought Mercedes has the better part and she was more convincing. Good Comedy timing and well worth seeing. I saw it some years ago with Richard Dreyfus and Marsha Mason and that was good but this revival is as good. Good Theatre. - Joe Spiteri
Opened 16 Apr 1870. Front re-constructed in 1890. 694 seats. Member of the Society of London Theatre. Each year there will be, from 1997, an Autumn to Spring Variety Season. The theatre is run by Max Weitzenhoffer.
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