Theatre Aficionado at Large

Matthew Lombardo’s new play High closes today after only 8 performances, despite the megawatt presence of star Kathleen Turner. The concept is fascinating. A “been there, done that” addiction counseling nun with the mouth of a sailor tackling the case of a teenage meth addicted male prostitute. Adding to the complications is the priest, whose ulterior motives become clearer as the play progresses. However, the resulting play isn’t as fascinating, failing to offer the insight and nuance one would hope for. However, in spite of its shortcomings, High remains compulsively watchable.

Turner – in her first Broadway outing since her triumphant Martha in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? – is Sister Jamison, a takes-no-guff nun unlike any I’ve ever known in my life (and I was brought up in Catholic school). Ms. Turner commands the stage with every fiber of her being, coolly decked out in lay clothes that make her look like a Chase Bank teller. She’s a recovering alcoholic who harbors some deep seated regrets that inform the plays ideas of redemption and forgiveness. Turner rises above the banal dialogue and weak jokes to create an intriguing portrait of a most unlikely nun. She’s a fountain of energy and while perhaps a bit too theatrical at times, the Tony-nominated star is never short of fascinating.

Her scenes partners are Stephen Kunken as Fr. Michael, her superior and newcomer Evan Jonigkeit who plays an exceptionally troubled young addict named Cody. There are ulterior motives involved – including all-too-convenient revelations (the priest is the addict’s long lost uncle). Kunken, whose character is the most understated of the three, anchors the play and serves as the catalyst for much of the action, butting heads with Sister Jami, but also covering up her falls off the wagon. Kunken gives Fr. Michael a profound sense of dignity and moral obligation, which leads him – an experienced head of a substance abuse center – to bend and break rules and ultimately enable his nephew’s addiction.

Mr. Jonigkeit has given an exceptional debut performance as Cody, for whom the deck has been stacked: unwanted by his addict prostitute mother, raped by and pimped out by her boyfriend, beaten, abused and emotionally neglected. While his performance early in the first act was pitched too high, Jonigkeit eventually walked away with the show with his riveting portrait of an addict. He simultaneously demands the audience’s sympathy and revulsion. There was a particularly terrifying scene at the end of the first act where a high Cody removes his clothes and sexually assaults Sr. Jamison. I think the nudity was a bit gratuitous, but the intent behind the scene was chilling. (It was a relief to me when she overpowered him and body slammed him). In spite of the show’s failure, I think Jonigkeit will be a young performer to watch, especially considering how well and played opposite Ms. Turner.

There is nothing unpredictable about this downbeat play, with one minor exception – when Cody confesses his sins to her (which required more than a stretch of my imagination), she rejects him on learning the truth and at the moment when he needs comfort most, which is about as far from the compassion expected of someone in the religious order. It offered the most fascinating moment for Turner in the entire play, and one that showed the highly skilled actress at her most riveting.

The main problems go back to the text. The idea, like I said, is interesting. But too much of the dialogue feels like the cliches we’ve heard in other pieces about addiction and veers too easily into the melodramatic. There are no real surprises and you know how the play will end from the first scene, the rare attempts at humor only go so far (he stretches the joke of Sr. Jamison’s foul language too far) and the curtain line felt rather cheap.Sister Jamison’s confessional monologues in between scenes feel tacked on. Also, in terms of the conflict between a nun and priest, I was too often reminded of the far more riveting Doubt. The tension between Fr. Michael and Sr. Jamison never reaches the fever pitch as it does between Fr. Flynn and Sr. Aloysius, but there are parallels in the struggle to reconcile one’s duty with one’s faith and the moral ambiguity of the religious life.

I didn’t see Looped, Mr. Lombardo’s play about Tallulah Bankhead that played 33 performances last season, but I am familiar with his Tea at Five, the one woman vehicle he wrote about Katharine Hepburn. In both Tea at Five and High, the playwright tends to go for style over substance – offering strong female characters, divas in their own right (Kathleen Turner as a nun? No way she’s going to be a shrinking violet) but little depth. However, because the idea behind the play is so fascinating, I do think that Mr. Lombardo was perhaps several drafts away from a more finished work. I wish it was that finished play that had played the Booth Theatre.