Judith lights up ‘Parties’ on Broadway
‘The Assembled Parties” follows a happily assimilated Jewish family through two Christmases, where sparkly oneliners are lobbed like tinsel.
Take when brazenly brittle Faye (Judith Light) demands a Valium, with nothing to wash it down: “Water isn’t necessary — water is a garnish.”
The verbal volleys continue in Richard Greenberg’s warm-hearted but wispy group portrait of how families regroup. As in his “Three Days of Rain,” Greenberg’s latest work at Manhattan Theatre Club, directed by Lynne Meadow, leaps decades, reminding that time works in odd ways.
In 1980, Julie (Jessica Hecht), an ex-actress, and her husband, Ben (Jonathan Walker), and their grown son Scotty (Jake Silberman) and 4-year-old Timmy (Alex Dreier) entertain guests.
That includes Faye, Ben’s sister; her husband, Mort (Mark Blum); and their clumsy 30-year-old daughter, Shelley (Lauren Blumenfeld). Also on hand: Scotty’s ingratiating college pal, Jeff (Jeremy Shamos).
The play’s first half is mostly exposition. We learn that a pregnant Faye married down and that an heirloom ruby necklace becomes a bitter bone of contention.
After intermission, the plot leaps leaps to Dec. 25, 2000. There’s new challenges and the necklace resurfaces.
Julie is a tricky role. Hecht’s airy, slow-talking take alternately fascinates and grates. But Light gleams as a smartmouthed mensch. She’s the life of the party.