Marvin's Room

Marvin’s Room is playing at the American Airlines Theatre located 227 West 42nd Street. The play runs two hours and fifteen minutes with one intermission. The play closes on August 27, 2017.

The play was written in 1960 by Scott McPherson. It is making its Broadway debut. Scott also wrote the screenplay for the movie in 1990.

Celia Weston was nominated for a Tony Award in 1997 for The Last Night in Ballyhoo.

The play takes place in Florida, the late 90’s.

Bessie (Lili Taylor) is in her doctor’s office. Dr. Wally (Triney Sandoval) doesn’t seem to know what he is doing. She is not feeling well and is brushed all over. He takes blood.

When she arrives home with groceries she is upset. Her Aunt Ruth (Celia Weston) lives with her. She is supposed to look after Bessie’s dad while she is away. He had a stroke twenty years ago. But she hasn’t looking after him.

The test results come back that she has leukemia. Her mother died from it. Bessie needs a bone marrow transplant. She calls her sister Lee (Janeane Garofalo) who she hasn’t seen her in twenty years. Bessie needs her and her sister’s two sons to come to Florida to see if their bone marrow is compatible.

Lee’s son Hank (Jack DiFalco) is in a mental institution. Charlie (Luca Padovan) is her younger son.

In act two we find out who the people are and how things came to be the way they are.

It seems act one introduces the characters and in acts two we learn more about them.

I thought act one boring. Act two had substance and gave us a reason to care for the characters. But by that time who cares.

Another problem was it was hard to hear the actors. Other people around me had the same problem.

Nedra McClyde played three roles. She wasn’t on stage long but when she was she shined.

Review by Rozanna Radakovich.

Photos by Annazor.

To read a candid interview with the cast, scroll down to the left for recent photos. Click on a photo, then click back to the album and finally back to the gallery for this and other shows.