Nostalgic Narrative

  Woronicz, new to APT, provides the play with a wonderfully conceived moral touchstone, creating appropriate chemistry with his earnest, albeit lost son and his doting wife, whom Arnold plays as a cross between old scold and mother hen. Less evident, and perhaps more effective because of it, is the romantic tension between Essie’s brother Sid (Kenneth Albers) and Lily (Sarah Day), Nat’s spinster sister and Sid’s former betrothed. Albers, an APT director who later this season will helm George Bernard Shaw’s Widower’s House, steals his scenes with a broadly comic take on the loveable alcoholic. But it’s only through Day’s earnest but arm’s-length admiration of Sid that both roles gain verisimilitude. The pair is a pleasure to watch.

  Director John Langs provides a steady hand to the play’s narrative rudder, which helps APT’s production steer clear of the sentimental shoals that could have wrecked what in the end results in an enjoyable and engaging summer evening.