Debra Messing (Will & Grace) returns to the stage as Ernestine Ashworth, who spends her 17th birthday agonizing over her insignificance in the universe.
Soon enough, it’s her 18th birthday. Even sooner, her 41st. Her 70th. Her 101st. Five generations, dozens of goldfish, an infinity of dreams, one cake baked over a century. What makes a lifetime…into a life?
A writer of "freewheeling ambition" (Charles Isherwood, The New York Times), Noah Haidle makes his Broadway debut with a poignant new play as fearless in scope as it is tremendous in heart.
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Haidle is big on concepts. For his play 'Smokefall,' he told the story of four generations of one family, and even took us inside the womb to explore the development of two characters. In 'Birthday Candles,' he visits the character of Ernestine (Messing) on several of her birthdays, from age 17 to well into old age. Since 'Birthday Candles' is a one-act play clocking in at around 100 minutes, Haidle's writing involves major compression of time. Some of those birthdays last 10 minutes; others are covered in seconds.
Too much rests on Messing's shoulders, and it's simply the wrong play for her gifts. She has some odd ideas about playing young - her 17-year-old Ernestine has the physicality of a stomping kindergartner - and during the play's long middle she's inert, unable to strike sparks from her family. Even in moments of heightened emotion, Messing seems disconnected from those around her, twinkling at her children but not quite meeting their eyes. She's strongest when Ernestine gets into her nineties, because Messing's faraway gaze and abstracted air begin to take on poignancy. What is she seeing? What can she hear? Maybe there's some other life clamoring for her attention. Or maybe her mind is finally up there amid the constellation of lifetime things. Perhaps she's finding her place in the expanding universe, traveling farther and faster away.
2022 | Broadway |
Roundabout Theatre Company Original Broadway Production Broadway |
Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
---|---|---|---|
2022 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Actress in a Play | Debra Messing |
2022 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding New Broadway Play | Birthday Candles |
2021 | Theatre World Awards | Theatre World Awards | Enrico Colantoni |
2021 | Theatre World Awards | Theatre World Awards | Crystal Finn |
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