Grand Horizons
Written by Bess Wohl
Directed by Leigh Silverman
Second Stage Theatre – Helen Hayes Theatre
December 29, 2019
Production website
💉💉💉 out of 5.

This is going to be a gold mine for community theatre everywhere in just a few years.  That I am sure.  Grand Horizons offers roles for  actors in their twenties and seventies and beyond.  It is a simple unit set (apart from a U-Haul truck that you must see to believe).  It is funny and the humor is only mildly adult.  Only would the most conservative of communities find this offensive.  

The plot centers around Bill and Nancy that have spent 50 years together as a couple totally in sync.  But then, in the first moments of the play, the unthinkable happens and Nancy wants out.  This sudden move to divorce after so many years is unimaginble  to their grown children, and they work to unweave their parents predicament.  The play is full of two and three person scenes that are true gems.  Nothing is radically new here – it becomes the very best of TV scripts.

The real treat n seeing this production was the masterful and celebrity-filled cast which  included Tony & Emmy Award winner Jane Alexander (as Nancy), Emmy Award winner James Cromwell (as Bill), Tony Award winner Priscilla Lopez (as Carla), Ben McKenzie (making his Broadway debut as Ben), Maulik Pancholy (as Tommy), Tony Award nominee Ashley Park (as Jess), and Michael Urie (as Brian).

Does casting get any better than this?  It is such a comic treat just to see Jane Alexander as she prepares a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for James Cromwell.  You can sense their skill and celebrity status in the simplest of things.