Theater Review - Behind the green door

Visiting Mr. Green feels so much like the pilot for a TV comedy, the Jewish Theatre of the South production might as well run “The Odd Couple” theme between the scenes. Director Heidi Cline and her two leading men gamely resist the network-ready instincts of playwright Jeff Baron but seldom transcend them.

Baron’s TV background includes “The Tracy Ullman Show” and “A Year in the Life,” but Green features a premise far more conventional than those shows. After a traffic accident, uptight Manhattan executive Ross Gardiner (Brik Berkes) faces the community-service sentence of spending an hour a week as caregiver for the injured party, elderly widower Mr. Green (Frank Wittow). Mr. Green’s memory isn’t what it used to be, giving Ross the excuse to restate the setup — “You’re stuck with me” — and their other conflicts multiple times throughout the show.

Their first rounds of punch line-driven bickering prove amusing enough that you hope they’ll hate each other for the whole play. But too soon, the life lessons kick in. Ross begins to sympathize with the octogenarian’s isolation, while Mr. Green teaches the younger man to renew his Jewish roots. Fortunately, Mr. Green never becomes as platitude-driven as Tuesdays With Morrie, and Ross discovers tragic problems in Mr. Green’s past that parallel his own family friction.

Berkes at first makes Ross a caricature of an annoyed yuppie, enunciating his lines through clenched teeth. When the script takes a dramatic turn in the second act, Berkes puts a catch in his throat that hints at Ross’ deeper emotions held in check, which helps sell the playwright’s heavier ambitions.

Visiting Mr. Green opens the Alliance Theatre’s City Series before moving to Jewish Theatre of the South, and benefits enormously from Wittow’s gravely gravitas as Mr. Green. Wittow peppers the part with enough self-absorption and hostility to avoid making the character a cute grumpy old man. Instead, he’s the kind of genuinely troubled soul who’d never fit in a TV set.

Visiting Mr. Green plays through May 2 at the Alliance Theatre’s Hertz Stage, Woodruff Arts Center, 1280 Peachtree St. Tues.-Fri., 8 p.m.; Sat., 2:30 and 8 p.m.; Sun., 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. $20-$27. 404-733-5000. www.alliancetheatre.org. The play continues May 5-23 at Jewish Theatre of the South, Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta, 5342 Tilly Mill Road, Dunwoody. Wed., Thurs., Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 3 p.m. $18-$24. 770-395-2654.