The Last Vig at the Zephyr Theater (Photo – Ed Krieger).
I (as well as the six friends who went to the play with me) was really looking forward to this, hadn’t seen Burt Young (“Rocky,” “Chinatown,” “The Pope of Greenwich Village,” and numerous other roles as a rough-around-the-edges character) in anything recently, wondered what he was up to.
By Carol Edger Germain
Love this small theater on Melrose, conveniently close to the wonderful “Crossroads Kitchen” for dinner before the show. As I entered the theater, I was impressed by the set, the back room of a Chinese restaurant, where Big Joe (Burt Young) the aging mobster had his “office” – detailed, interesting, and full-bodied for such a small stage (really loved the sound effects, steam, etc., when the door opened and you could hear what was going on in the kitchen of the Chinese restaurant just outside the back room). Kudos to Joel Daavid, Kelley Finn and Phi Tran for the set. Unfortunately, by intermission, we were wishing there was real booze in all those liquor bottles, we needed a shot!
The plot never quite became clear, something about a deal gone wrong, who was going to cover it, danger from the mob and cops, Big Joe’s dying wife, couldn’t quite follow it. Burt Young’s performance just sucked the energy right out of the performance. The supporting actors (Ben Adams, Clint Jung, Bruce Nozick, and Gareth Williams, with a nice dossier of acting credits among them), tried their best to infuse some energy, intensity, and drama into the plot and the banter, but the rhythm was lost every time Big Joe spoke.
I found myself leaning forward by the end of each of his sentences, trying to decipher the mumbled lines, which usually ended with a few unintelligible words, although you could imagine the gist of it, but after a point you didn’t care. His expression never changed throughout the play. It was excruciating to endure, and nearly half the audience took the opportunity at intermission to leave (including 3 of my group). Such a disappointment.
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