Theater Review - Snooze alarm

The set of Morning’s at Seven depicts a back yard shared by two neighboring houses, just as Paul Osborn’s play itself neighbors two theatrical genres. The 60-year-old script often strives for the zaniness of screwball comedy, but also features a streak of twilight melancholy like the works of Chekhov. Osborn persistently opts for the laughs, but Georgia Ensemble Theatre doesn’t do right by either the humorous or poignant elements.

Morning’s depicts four elderly sisters, all at crisis points in their lives. Married, scheming Cora (Elizabeth McCommon) hates living under the same roof as her spinster sister Arry (Jackie Prucha). Next door, flighty Ida (Edith Ivey) worries that her 40-year-old son Homer (Randy Weinstein) will die a bachelor. And down the street, cheerful Esther (Adriana Warner) butts heads with her misanthropic husband David (Eric Brooks).

Like You Can’t Take It With You, Morning’s triggers its plot with a “normal” outsider marrying into a quirky family. But some of the roles’ eccentricities have sharp edges, like the bitter loneliness of “old maid” Arry, the naked hostility of cerebral David and the identity crises of Ida’s husband Carl (Barry Stoltze). The play doesn’t take them very seriously — the others roll their eyes at Carl’s over-dramatic “spells” — but a thread of sadness runs through the frivolity.

Unfortunately, director Robert Farley and his cast seldom match the right tone to the action. The production lacks a snappy, jokey pace but doesn’t take time to draw out the more deeply emotional moments either. The play occupies a bland, bloodless middle ground.

Georgia Ensemble Theatre bills the four leads as a kind of Dream Team of actresses of a certain age. But Warner and McCommon give tentative, uncertain performances and though Ivey makes Ida an amusing scatterbrain, she fades into the background. Prucha stands out with forceful acting that’s alert to Arry’s tragic shortcomings as well as her comic connections with the other actors. Arry may be the “mean” one but Prucha makes her the most engrossing and even sympathetic sister, and gives a shot of caffeine to an otherwise sleepy Morning.

Morning’s at Seven plays through March 7 at Georgia Ensemble Theatre, Roswell Cultural Arts Center, 950 Forrest St., with performances Thurs.-Fri. 8 p.m., Sat. 4 and 8 p.m., and Sun. 2:30 p.m. $16-$33. 770-641-1260. www.get.org.