‘The Starry Messenger’ represents bad news for Matthew Broderick

The New Group premieres a tedious, talky drama by Kenneth Lonergan

BY MICHAEL SOMMERS

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

OFF BOADWAY REVIEW

Too bad: That usually excellent writer Kenneth Lonergan — "This Is Our Youth," "Lobby Hero," the film "You Can Count on Me" — returns after seven years to the New York stage with a dud.

A nearly three hour-long yawn, "The Starry Messenger" is a dull play about a dull man, duly and dully played by Matthew Broderick.

Unlike Lonergan in this tedious case, let's be brief about the particulars. This heavily digressive modern-day Manhattan story regards Mark (Broderick), a mild-mannered, middle-aged astronomy teacher stuck in a humdrum marriage and a stalled career in the basement of the old Hayden Planetarium.

Mark falls into a luckless affair with nice single mom Angela (Catalina Sandino Moreno) who becomes wracked by religious guilt.

Tons of talk ensues about the universe and relationships and the meaning of it all, none of which adds up to anything profound.

The world premiere has been flatly staged by the playwright, who really should leave such business to the experts. In secondary roles, J. Smith-Cameron as Mark's nagging wife and Merwin Goldsmith as a dying old man provide sharp portrayals. But Broderick and Moreno are undone by the aimlessness of their characters and the pointlessness of the play.

Boosted to Off Broadway prominence in part by premiering "This Is Our Youth" back in 1996, The New Group apparently repays the author by permitting Lonergan to produce this show exactly as he pleased. Had Lonergan been convinced to edit down his often repetitive text — by like an hour or so — a better play might emerge from under the excessive weight.

Although it's nice in theory to see a theater company give an established artist the room to fail creatively, it's a pity audiences still have to watch the unfortunate results.

"The Starry Messenger" continues through Dec. 12 at Theatre Row, 410 W. 42nd St., New York. Call (212) 279-4200 or visit www.thenewgroup.org.