BWW Reviews: SCR's Splendid 4000 MILES Stirs Deep Emotions

Early on in the splendid, superbly-performed new South Coast Repertory production of Amy Herzog's play 4000 MILES-now on stage in Costa Mesa through November 17-the character of Leo, a scruffy, tattoo-emblazoned neo-hippie man-child has just woken up in the morning. He emerges from the bedroom, still yawning with bed-hair, then plops down atop an ottoman, crossing his legs to sit Indian-style on it. He looks a bit hung-over, perhaps even a bit high. But as he looks up at his grandmother, listening with a naughty smile beaming from ear to ear, his serene joy quickly becomes palpable.

His still-spry grandmother, though, doesn't notice this happy expression because, as usual, she's too busy yammering on, always intermittently searching for the right words and phrases to complete the thoughts log-jammed in her aging brain. Finally, her rant is interrupted when Leo spontaneously springs up from his seat and leaps over to surprise her grandmother with the biggest and longest of bear hugs. It's an early heartwarming scene that took me by surprise-a lovely, word-less event that smacks of affectionate authenticity.

Though inaudible, you can just feel the audience thinking aloud... "awwww."

In hindsight, that quiet, tender moment of cross-generational love ended up, at least for me, encapsulating the entire raison d'être of this beautifully-rendered, stylistically-nuanced play: that sometimes, all we really need is a silent, comforting, non-judgmental hug of a loved one to make things seem better.

Funny, intelligent, and profoundly moving, 4000 MILES takes place entirely in one room-a shockingly spacious Greenwich Village apartment designed by Ralph Funicello-yet its emotional, earnest resonance feels boundless.

Sometime after 3 in the morning, 91-year old Vera (played with sincere charm and masterful brilliance by Jenny O'Hara), is awakened by an incessant knocking on her apartment door. When she answers it, she is surprised to see her 21-year-old grandson Leo (the impressive Matt Caplan) standing there, noticeably haggard. Leo-armed only with a bike, a couple of bags, and the pungent odors and grime of outdoor life-has just arrivEd Penniless and a bit weary from spending some time on a long cross-country trek.

It doesn't take a genius to realize the troubled Leo had no where else to go, and Vera isn't about to shove her grandson out the door, especially at that ungodly hour, despite how jarring the late-night interruption may have been. With his grandmother insisting he spend the night in order to eat, get a shower and get a good night's rest, Leo happily agrees. Suddenly you see both of them take on the look of mutual relief.

As one may have expected, what was supposed to be an overnight stay soon expands to several weeks. To their delight (and, really, to ours as well), something emerges: a burgeoning caring relationship between the two. Though they seem, yes, miles apart in age, experience and worldly knowledge, the two clearly are cut from the same cloth-and, as such, perhaps understand each other more than anyone else in their respective lives, past and present.

An odd-couple cohabitation to say the least, the two do cautiously butt heads-as most family members tend to do-but seem to also relish in their mutually beneficial relationship. Vera gets to dote on someone again and in return can relay stories and have someone do the more difficult household tasks around the apartment. He, in turn, gets a stable, rent-free roof over his head, a few bucks here and there, and-most importantly-a place he can hide out from the outside world.

It's very clear to Vera-and to us-that all is not okay with young Leo.

With each subsequent vignette, the play progresses by carefully uncovering layer after layer, revealing why Leo-a seemingly independent, open-minded, easy-going nomad-has sought safe harbor in Vera's New York City home. Among the myriad of discoveries, we soon learn that something has happened in his parents' home in St. Paul, Minnesota causing him to bolt for his cross-country bike tour. And, most important of all, something also happened during that bike trip (which started in Seattle, hence the title) that has shaken Leo to the core, enough to make him retreat to Vera's like a lost puppy.

In her own way, Vera-once an active communist with very leftist views herself-wants to champion the granola-loving individual thinker her grandson has grown into; but she also knows that he is obviously quite fragile, and perhaps, just needs his grandma to make it all alright. Maybe this "temporary" arrangement is just the reset button he needs to snap out of his current shell-shocked state.

With that in mind, rather than overly nag him about his unemployment, laziness, and, well, poor-ness-as is often the easy, go-to route most elders take when dispensing "advice" to lost, young vagabonds-Vera instead treads lightly with Leo, hoping that at least her willingness to listen is an acceptable antidote to the sermons he gets from his parents back home. Additionally, she probably also hopes the compact stability of her NY apartment will be a welcome change from the wide open spaces of the great outdoors.

During his extended stay, we also meet Leo's girlfriend Bec (Rebecca Mozo) who desperately wants to break up with Leo, and fun party-gal co-ed (and would-be one-night-stand) Amanda (Klarissa Mesee), who apparently has a striking resemblance to Leo's adopted Asian sis he left behind back home.

A realistic, vividly detailed character study of two disparate people strengthening their family bond, 4000 MILES-first developed at New York's Lincoln Center Theatre and was a finalist for this year's Pulitzer Prize-is a bittersweet, emotionally rich play filled with heart-tugging situations and amusing true-to-life moments. Expertly helmed by David Emmes, Herzog's stirring play feels mostly like a well-paced collection of interesting and intriguing heart-to-heart conversations that we just happen to eavesdrop on like proverbial flies on a wall.

This loose, of-the-moment quality makes you feel like there's maybe no story at all-even though, yes, there is definitely quite a good one unfolding. The intent here is to focus on individual interactions-and how and with what words these fully-formed characters choose to express and, perhaps, suppress their thoughts to one another. We also watch how characters choose to react with one another-bemusement, empathy, anger, joy, exhaustion, love-especially when the topic at hand involves diving deep into troubling waters or tragic occurrences.

The play, naturally, is further aided by an outstanding cast. As the oft-tongue-tied Vera, O'Hara is a wonderful, mesmerizing interpreter of Herzog's words. Her commanding delivery and stage presence feels so natural and effortless that you feel like you're watching a Master Class in in-the-moment, stream-of-consciousness improvisation. But it's not just how she says the words that give her performance its brilliance-it's even in the quiet moments where her character stumbles on her words or doesn't say anything at all. What a memorable performance!

Her discernible acting prowess, of course, elevates the performances of everyone around her, particularly the intriguing Caplan, whom she shares most of her scenes with in the play. For his part, Caplan creates a perceptible portrait of a charismatic yet sensitive young man in a deep state of flux. As his girlfriend Bec, Mozo is appealing in her brief scenes, while the very funny Mesee (as Amanda) milks her brief, almost comically over-the-top role for all its worth and turns in one heckuva memorable scene that adds some much-needed yuks toward the end of the intermission-less 100-minute play.

Though the ending feels rushed and a bit anti-climactic (perhaps I just didn't want the play to end right then and there; I wanted to keep hanging out with Vera and Leo), overall, 4000 MILES is one of the most emotionally-satisfying new plays I have seen this year. It also made me wish I had a cool grandmother like Vera in my life.

Follow this reviewer on Twitter: @cre8iveMLQ

Photos by Debora Robinson/SCR. From top: Leo (Matt Caplan) arrives at the apartment of his grandmother Vera (Jenny O'Hara); grandmother and grandson sit down for a heart-to-heart; Bec (Rebecca Mozo) fights Leo's advances.

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Performances of Amy Herzog's 4000 MILES continue at South Coast Repertory through November 17, 2013. Tickets can be purchased online at www.scr.org, by phone at (714) 708-5555 or by visiting the box office at 655 Town Center Drive in Costa Mesa.

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