"City of Conversation"

"City of Conversation"

Kristin Bush and Jan Maxwell (photo: Stephanie Berger)

Anthony Guardina's "The City of Conversation" is a good play with a fine plot and chock full of enlivening dialogue. It has been well-directed by Doug Hughes, excellently cast and handsomely produced, in this instance by the Lincoln Center Theater.

Topical, timely, as well as smart and snappy, it traverses three decades of political and social intercourse, estrangement and reconciliation between familial adversaries. As played out within the elegant living room of Washington D.C. liberal-leaning hostess Hester Ferris (Jan Maxwell), the varyingly disparate aspects of liberal vs conservative agendas are brought to the fore when Hester's son Colin (Michael Simpson) brings home his bride to be Anna Fitzgerald (Kristin Bush) for approval.

Anna may be savvy and smart when it comes to her own right-leaning political posturing, but her scheme to manipulate Colin's career serves as a call-to-arms for Hester. This, when her future daughter-in-law's true intentions are revealed during a dinner party for a conservative Kentucky senator  George Malonee (John Aylward) and his wife  Carolyn (Barbara Garrick) .

Hester's plan is to not only win the senator's support for Teddy Kennedy as a presidential nominee, but also to give a boost to her married lover Senator Chandler Harris (Kevin O'Rourke) whom she would like to see as VP on the ticket. At the same time, Anna has plans to boost her own career by ingratiating herself to the senator with her own skillfully introduced conservative views. The war is on.

Into the mix is Hester's widowed sister Jean (Beth Dixon) who seems to be in service to Hester, a role that implies more than we are told, but one that Dixon discharges with a gracious sense of humor. Politicking at dinner parties given by D.C.'s well-heeled and quietly influential was the custom for decades, but is now long gone. Guardina's play is set in the midst of its decline from 1987 - to 2009 as we observe family ties and unities becomes knotted in tension and dissention. A feel-good resolve that is just a little too queasily predictable is the only detour in the plot.

"The City of Conversation" is the first important play of the new season and I hope it isn't forgotten. Certainly Maxwell's vibrant performance is the play's stunning  and unforgettable centerpiece, as we see her not only age credibly, but also progress mindfully in her determination to be true to herself and in what she believes at the risk of losing her son's love and loyalty.  

The play is a class act and helped in no small way by designer John Lee Beatty's handsome living room setting, costume designer Catherine Zuber's period-perfect couture, and the expert lighting by Tyler Micoleau. It was nice to learn from the program that the title was inspired  by Henry James's observation that Washington was "a city of conversation." This fine new play should certainly inspire some lively dinner conversation.

"The City of Conversation" (through July 6, 2014) at the Mitzi Newhouse Theatre,  

For tickets ($77.00 to $87.00) go to box-office, or Telecharge.com or www.lct.org