Worth a visit – Marco Players’ ‘Visiting Mr. Green’ opens at Town Center

MARCO ISLAND — Wednesday evening, Marco Island got its first chance at “Visiting Mr. Green.” Opening night for the play, written by Jeff Baron and directed by the Marco Players’ own president and artistic director Beverly Dahlstrom, commenced a run that will continue through March 3, in the troupe’s theater next to the Marco Island Brewery at the Town Center Mall.

The two-man show, which has become one of the most-produced plays since debuting with a year-long New York run in 1996, tells a poignant story, mixing laughs with insight into family relationships, and family expectations. Up and coming executive Ross Gardiner, played by Joseph Lang, is sentenced as community service to an extended series of visits with elderly shut-in “Mr. Green” (no first name given), after being convicted of reckless driving for nearly running him down.

The actors – and the director – milk the laughter from the situation of a young guy who doesn’t want to be there dropping in on an old guy who doesn’t want him there.

“I should pay good money to get wrong numbers?” demands the (very) Jewish Mr. Green, explaining why he has disconnected his phone. “You know, they charge you even if you don’t make any calls.”

But in time, in classic “buddy-picture form,” their relationship deepens. Mr. Green, played by Michael Hennessey, decides he likes Ross when he finds out that, like him, Ross is Jewish, and then decides he doesn’t like him when he finds out that Ross is a “feygele” – gay.

“You’re finishing the job for Hitler,” Green accuses Ross. “Thanks to you, no more Jews will be born.”

Spoiler alert: Ross’s problems with coming out to his family, and in climbing the ladder at American Express, form a mirror image of Mr. Green’s inability to accept his only daughter marrying a “goy,” or non-Jew. As a result, he has declared “I have no daughter,” and shut her out of his life.

The themes of persecution, group identity, and what one generation can expect or demand from the next, versus the need for the young to be themselves, give heft to the second act, and underpin the characters’ real pain. With a name like Hennessey, you have to figure Michael’s Mr. Green requires some acting ability, and for local ob-gyn Lang, whose gorgeous wife Lisa was in the audience Wednesday, the same is true for playing homosexual – although, as his character points out, he is far from the stereotypical gay.

Further mixing things up, Lisa Lang played Hennessey’ love interest in the Marco Players’ production of Neil Simon’s “Chapter Two” in the fall.

“The critical elements of this story are not what you may think,” said director Dahlstrom in her director’s notes. “This is the story of how we learn to heal and mend the lives around us so that each of us can live a more empowered life. I think that’s the message of this play.”

Jewish or Gentile, straight or gay, young or old, “Visiting Mr. Green” is a solidly crafted, finely rendered piece of theater, that rewards the audience with both comedy and drama.

“Visiting Mr. Green” continues with evening performances Wednesday through Saturday, and Sunday matinees, through March 3. Tickets can be purchased online at www.themarcoplayers.com, or by calling (239) 642-7270.