The New York Times - November 16, 1986
Alvin Klein

The former is a personal account of a relationship. The latter is more a propaganda piece, sounding the alarm about society's apathy.

Since the plays opened, classification of AIDS has intensified from disease to epidemic to catastrophe, and the statistics have become more staggering.

While the premise of "The Normal Heart" - attention is not being paid - may now need to be redirected, "As Is" remains as potent as before, for Mr. Hoffman's drama is concerned with commitment, despair and, finally, an affirmation of life.

Productions of "As Is," are sprouting up everywhere, it seems. A French version - "Tel Quel" -opened in Paris last week. Madrid, the Netherlands, Germany, Japan, the Scandinavian countries and London have seen it recently or are scheduled to see it soon.

The New Jersey premiere is taking place at the George Street Playhouse here through Nov. 30.

"As Is" is written from the perspective of a rejected lover (Saul), who remains loving to the point of taking back Rich, the man who walked out on him, after it was discovered that Rich had AIDS.

By the end, Rich's rage and Saul's nobility have somehow blended into a peaceful oneness.

Mr. Hoffman's play is shot through with what has been called "gallows humor." Much of it is vulgar and blunt.

Although the play is affecting enough to send out a far-reaching meaning for all the victims of terminal disease, its milieu and language are rooted in a specific homosexual way of life.

Too bad that Maureen Heffernan's staging maximizes the play's structural flaws. The director has not found a way for the intrinsic choral commentaries - "the first time I heard about AIDS . . ." - or the overlapping group monologues to find their place. They come off in the manner of classroom recitations.

The steamier scenes, involving cruising in "leather bars," are played pompously and without wit.

A can't-miss dramatic moment, wherein Rich's brother visits him in the hospital and all defenses break down, does not miss. However, it does not hit as hard as it should, given the restrained playing of Glenn Alterman as the brother.

John O'Hurley's Rich holds on to his acerbic sophistication, flair and sense of style, but Brian Lasser's Saul is ineffectual.

But wait, there is a lovely casting coup here. Framing the play with addresses to the audience at the beginning and end is a hospice worker who speaks of her mission to minister to the dying.

Ronnie Gilbert delivers those addresses as though she had a direct line to everyone's heart, communicating all the caustic humor and compassion that Mr. Hoffman intended and capping it with her own radiance, warmth and generosity of spirit.

After tonight's performance, at about 10 P.M., a panel discussion on "The Medical, Legal and Legislative Impact of AIDS" will be held. Jack Wysoker, a lawyer and civil liberties activist, will moderate.

The session is open to the public. Information: (203) 846-2895.

PRINCETON

In 1968, "Little Murders" was an unsettling reflection of the time -and a portent. The unsettling thing about the McCarter Theatre production of what the playwright Jules Feiffer called his "post-assassination play" - it was also his pre-assassinations play - is that it no longer seems unsettling.

Under Paul Weidner's direction, Mr. Feiffer's mordant, bizarre comedy is performed as a rather quaint period piece. The eccentric gallery of Feiffer's people here almost seem like descendants of the Sycamore family in "You Can't Take It With You."

Mother Marjorie's hysterical indifference sets the tone for the Newquist clan. Father Carol does not want to be called Carol, and Patsy, their all-American daughter, "more brawn than brains," needs a man she can mold.

That man is Alfred, an "apathist" - and a nihilist, too. He gets beaten up once a week, daydreaming all the while, and drifting into oblivion. Patsy's brother, Kenny, wears high heels and spends most of his time in the bathroom.

Outside, shooting signals rampant violence in the streets. Inside, power failures and telephone calls from a heavy breather make up a typical night.

Somehow, for all the sound effects, the McCarter production establishes little connection between what is going on outside and inside.

One wonders what went wrong. Are we by now inured to urban anarchy? Are new targets needed? Or can Mr. Feiffer's points be sharpened?

The trouble may lie with certain characters. Mr. Feiffer's hippie minister seems to be a 1960's leftover. Lieut. Miles Practice, however, remains a valid symbol of the final collapse of law and order.

In Mr. Weidner's production, Lieutenant Practice's monologue (maniacally delivered by Jeff Brooks) is a comedy routine gone askew. The Rev. Henry Dupas (Henson Keys), pastor of the First Existential Church, goes nowhere and Patsy (Leslie Geraci) pushes too hard.

The rest of the performances are not interesting.

One would imagine that the cartoon curtain backdrop - a gun going BLAM! and a woman's voice shrieking "ARRGGHH!" - would mark the evening's style, but it just seems to be hanging there.

If Mr. Feiffer's play is relevant to such contemporary urban horrors as the Bernard Goetz incident, it must confront directed, rather than random, violence. Thus, the final tableau of the Newquists as the family that kills together, militantly, cheerfully, turns out to be, on any level, an alarmingly inappropriate symbol of survival.

If Mr. Feiffer's play has lost points, Mr. Weidner's direction does little to help reclaim them.

"Little Murders" resumes performances on Thursday and runs through next Sunday.

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