Review Roundup: LCT3's 4000 MILES

LCT3's production of 4000 Miles, a new play by Amy Herzog, directed by Daniel Aukin, opened  last night, Monday June 20 at The Duke on 42nd Street, a New 42nd Street® project (229 West 42 Street). LCT3 is Lincoln Center Theater's programming initiative devoted to producing the work of new artists and developing new audiences. 4000 Miles is the final of three productions during its 2010-2011 season. 4000 Miles features Greta Lee, Gabriel Ebert, Mary Louise Wilson and Zoe Winters, has sets by Lauren Helpern, costumes by Kaye Voyce, lighting by Japhy Weideman and sound by Ryan Rumery.

After losing his best friend while they were on a cross-country bike trip, 21 year-old Leo (Ebert) seeks solace from his feisty 91 year-old grandmother (Wilson) in her West Village apartment. 4000 Miles examines how these two outsiders find their way in today's world.

All tickets to 4000 Miles are $20 and are available at the Duke on 42nd Street box office, by visiting Dukeon42.org or by calling 646-223-3010 . For additional information on LCT3 please visit www.lct3.org.

Charles Isherwood, NY Times: Every aspect of the director Daniel Aukin's production for Lincoln Center Theater's LCT3 program enhances the delicacy and honesty of Ms. Herzog's writing. The set, by Lauren Helpern, reflects Vera's bohemian past as a classic midcentury liberal in subtle ways, from the ethnic art to the drab filing cabinets used as end tables, a particularly telling touch. Japhy Weideman's exemplary lighting bathes Vera's living room in evening light or morning glare or 4 a.m. gloom, underscoring the tone of each scene, never more affectingly than during a cathartic late-night speech from Leo in which soft light caresses his face as Vera sits in shadow behind him, silently listening.

Marilyn Satsio, Variety: There's little to fault in helmer Aukin's whipsmart handling of Herzog's generational play about a 21-year-old college student who takes refuge in his 91-year-old grandmother's New York apartment after his best friend is killed on their cross-country bike ride. If anything, the classy production shrewdly disguises the fact that this is a dull play, constructed of disjointed scenes that say nothing and lead nowhere.

Jennifer Farrar, Associated Press: The sensitive play, filled with small, revelatory and often humorous moments between a grandmother and her grandson opened Monday night Off-Broadway at The Duke on 42nd Street, part of Lincoln Center Theater's LCT3 emerging artists initiative. Herzog has a flair for writing natural-sounding dialogue and interactions among family members, as displayed in her smart drama "After The Revolution" which recently performed at Playwrights Horizons.

Elizabeth Vincentelli, NY Post: Ebert's Leo can be affectionate but also brusque, unaware that his self-absorption sometimes makes him a jerk. Living with Vera, he starts getting more perspective and looks outside of himself. Ebert's scenes with Wilson have a lovely, tentative delicacy, and you wish Herzog had given them even more interactions -- particularly about politics, which are given short shrift.

Joe Dzeimianowicz, Daily News: Except for a few outbursts from Leo, it is a quiet play. But it's one that gently flows and tugs us along, powered by detailed conversation and warts-and-all characters. That includes the young women in Leo's life, played by Zoe Winters and Greta Lee. Playwright Herzog had a head start on Vera. The character appeared in the more politically charged "After the Revolution," which ran last November with Lois Smith in the role. Wilson, a stage vet who won a Tony for "Grey Gardens," fills Vera with an earthy warmth and lived-in believability.

Michael Sommers, New Jersey Newsroom: Daniel Aukin sensitively directs the fleeting moods of Herzog's melancholy but quietly charming 100-minute piece, which is nicely enhanced by set designer Lauren Helpern's carefully-detailed apartment, Japhy Weideman's lighting and the propulsive music between scenes provided by sound designer Ryan Rumery.

Photo Credit: Erin Baiano