Marc Miller takes a look at Philadelphia, Here I Come! at Irish Repertory Theatre:
Philadelphia, Here I Come! was Brian Friel's first major success, and the new revival at Irish Repertory Theatre, part of its Friel Project retrospective, offers ample evidence why. It's a small play, easily produced, with familiar characters and conflicts, one of several mid-1960s family comedy-dramas that populated Broadway and West End stages. It has Friel's usual mastery of language, and Irish Rep's revival is cozy and likable. But Philadelphia, Here I Come! hasn't aged all that well, mainly because, well, nothing very much happens. |
