Review: GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER? Still Has an Edge

Written by Todd Kreidler; based on the screenplay by William Rose; directed by David Esbjornson; scenic design, Dane Laffrey; costume design, Paul Tazewell; lighting design, Allen Lee Hughes; sound design, Ben Emerson; production stage manager, Emily F. McMullen

Cast in Order of Appearance:

Matilda Binks, Lynda Gravátt; Hillary St. George, Wendy Rich Stetson; Christina Drayton, Julia Duffy; Matt Drayton, Will Lyman; Joanna Drayton, Meredith Forlenza; Dr. John Prentice, Malcolm-Jamal Warner; Monsignor Ryan, Patrick Shea; John Prentice, Sr., Lonnie Farmer; Mary Prentice, Adriane Lenox

Performances and Tickets:

Now through October 5, Huntington Theatre Company, BU Theatre, 264 Huntington Ave., Boston, Mass.; tickets start at $25 and are available online at www.huntingtontheatre.org or by calling the Box Office at 617-266-0800.

The fact that the Huntington Theatre Company's season opening GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER? is still relevant in 2014 is both good news and bad news. The good news is that Todd Kreidler's (Holler If Ya Hear Me) breezy adaptation of the popular 1967 William Rose film has many barbed laughs to entertain and enliven. The bad news is that the play's subject matter - the impending interracial marriage between a black man, Dr. John Prentice (Malcolm-Jamal Warner), and a white woman, medical intern Joanna "Joey" Drayton (Meredith Forlenza) - still raises eyebrows in some circles despite the fact that a black man is in the White House and the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that anti-miscegenation laws were unconstitutional 47 years ago.

In light of the recent racially charged homicides of Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO, Trayvon Martin in Orlando, FL, Renisha McBride in Dearborn Heights, MI, and John Crawford in Dayton, OH, GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER? does seem a bit tame. The most heated discussions between families and generations center not on deep-seated prejudices or institutionalized abuses of politics and power. Instead, when the Prentices and Draytons come together over dinner in the Drayton's elegant hillside San Francisco home, the greatest concern each parent expresses is for their children's safety and wellbeing. These are educated, affluent liberals, after all. Their roots may be in hard work and even harder times, but in 1967 they enjoy the benefits of their labors and want their children's futures to be better than their own pasts.

Still, between the polite living room banter and prescribed social pleasantries a caustic, bristling humor does emerge, giving the play a contemporary edge. That bite really takes hold in Act II once the Prentice parents arrive. Until then John Jr. is tasked with smoothing over the shock the Draytons experience when their daughter Joey unexpectedly announces that she and John are to wed - in Geneva, in two weeks. And they must depart tonight.

Best known as elder son Theo in the 1980s TV sitcom The Cosby Show, Warner acquits himself well in the role played with a quiet intensity by Sidney Poitier in the 1967 film. Warner endows his award-winning globe-hopping medical researcher with an easy charm that one by one wins over Joey's art gallery owning mother Christina Drayton (Julia Duffy), her activist/publisher father Matt (Will Lyman), and their quick witted black housekeeper Matilda "Tilly" Binks (Lynda Gravátt). Once his forceful father John Prentice, Sr. (Lonnie Farmer) arrives, however, Warner's considerable self-confidence melts into a quivering insecurity that is good for many laughs. He stands tall, too, though, when the time comes for the son to assert to the father how much his love for Joanna means to him.

As the enthusiastic Joanna, Forlenza is a socio-political naïf, full of optimistic energy and barreling ahead with her plans without any consideration for the impact her sudden announcement will have on her or her fiancé's families. A decade younger than her good doctor, whose first wife and child were killed in a car crash, she is a breath of fresh air for him, and it shows in Forlenza's performance.

Duffy is delightful as the dithering mother-of-the-bride-to-be, near fainting when her daughter's news first hits her like a ton of bricks, then rallying strength as the initial shockwaves subside. Lyman is equally understated in his befuddlement, wrestling between his liberal politics and his fatherly protectiveness borne of serious and worrisome real-world experiences.

The senior Mr. Prentice has his share of concerns about the union, as well, and Farmer is as passionate as he is pragmatic in his approach toward derailing any wedding plans. Through his eyes we see the painful history that has influenced his every decision - or indecision. Farmer's appearance in the play is brief, but his impact is the most lasting.

Tony Award winner Adriane Lenox brings a steadfast integrity to her quietly unruffled and spiritual Mary Prentice, while Gravátt adds sass to her strong-minded maid without resorting to easy stereotype. Wendy Rich Stetson draws the difficult assignment of playing the unsympathetic bigot Hilary St. George, and she does so with panache. Patrick Shea as Matt's golfing buddy Monsignor Ryan is a wise-cracking Irish priest who helps the families cut through the extraneous arguments to find the simple truth that will set them all free.

It is the total commitment of each actor to his or her character that makes this GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER? work. There isn't an ounce of guile in their performances, which makes the innocence and anguish seem effortless and natural. The smart fixing of the time period in 1967 through incidental music also lends an authenticity to the drama without making it seem distant or nostalgic.

As always, the Huntington's corps of set, costume, lighting and sound designers go above and beyond expectation. The elegant open dining and living room area suggests the proper affluence of the Drayton family, while a spacious balcony reached through French doors evokes the home's hillside perch high above the bustling streets of San Francisco. As the dinner hour draws near, a reddish gold sunset colors the off-white walls of the interior. Tasteful tailored clothing is less about the '60s and more about the people who wear them.

GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER? is a surprisingly funny (and not at all dated) stage adaptation of a ground-breaking movie remembered for its daring (at the time) subject matter and its three main stars - Sidney Poitier, Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy. Given a contemporary spark and directed with seamless ease by David Esbjornson, this Huntington production balances froth with poignancy. Its stellar cast creates a memorable evening in its own right.

PHOTOS BY PAUL MAROTTA: Malcolm-Jamal Warner as Dr. John Prentice and Will Lyman as Matt Drayton; Meredith Forlenza as Joanna Drayton and Malcolm-Jamal Warner; Will Lyman and Julia Duffy as Christina Drayton; Julia Duffy and Lynda Gravátt as Matilda Binks; Adriane Lenox as Mary Prentice, Lonnie Farmer as John Prentice, Sr., Julia Duffy, Malcolm-Jamal Warner, Meredith Forlenza, and Patrick Shea as Monsignor Ryan