Nathan Lane and Zoë Wanamaker Bring Life to Fading ‘Pictures From Home’

Open a scrapbook. Dig into a family past. What were your parents like back in the day? The questions of Sharr White’s play Pictures from Home, (Studio 54, booking to April 30), the first big Broadway opening of the spring season, may echo with its audience, and even generate the odd powerful moment. These moments come from its trio of performances—Nathan Lane, Zoë Wanamaker, and Danny Burstein playing Irving, aka Irv, Sultan, Jean Sultan, and their son Larry Sultan.

The three actors try to wring as many of the laughs and jolting moments from the script as possible. But they are navigating a mostly flaccid narrative which feels like a boring treasure hunt with lots of clues and teases, but ultimately no glinting treasure.

Even on a rudimentary level, the play is confusing—it knows what and who it’s talking about, and somehow expects the audience to. If, say, you do not know the story of Pictures From Home, and even if you do, what or who are the images and snatches of vintage home movie we see projected on the back of the stage? This visual aid is central to the performance.

Read more at The Daily Beast.