Napoli, Brooklyn--A Family in Crisis

By Joseph Cervelli

Meghan Kennedy’s upsetting new play “Napoli, Brooklyn” at the Roundabout at Laura Pels Theater is very well intentioned, but she is tackling so many topics in this family drama that  there is a scattershot feel. She writes quite well for individual scenes but as a whole the show becomes overbaked and, at times, not quite believable. 

Taking place in 1960 which has a significance that comes at the end of the first act, it  concerns an Italian family with the patriarch Nic Muscolino (Michael Rispoli) a brutish and tyrannical father and husband who runs the family not so much sternly but with physical abuse. We discover that when  his youngest teen  daughter Francesca (Jordyn DiNatale) whom we learn is gay cuts off most of her hair he forcefully attacks sister Vita (Elise Kibler) who is protecting her. He does such forceful damage to Vita that it sends her to the hospital with a broken nose and ribs among other injuries. He has near psychotic rage that Vita eventually ends up in a convent for protection much to her dismay. There is also another sister Tina (Lilli Kay) who works in a factory and either has learning problems along with probably dyslexia since she has an inability to read. She works with Celia Jones (Shirine Babb) whom she has a good relationship with although it is unclear if Celia is doing something that could cost her her her job.
  

The matriarch of the family is Luda (Alyssa Bresnahan) who also bears the brunt of the sadistic Nic who burns her with his cigarette during lovemaking.  Kennedy indicates the subservience of women from foreign countries to be a “good” wife no matter what. No matter how vicious Nic becomes (she does not even wince when he burns her) she is there for him. 

There is a desultory feel to the writing in the first act in which we go from the home, to factory, to convent and to the butcher shop run by Albert Duffy (Erik Lochtefeld) who is secretly in love with Luda. Unbeknownst to them, his teen daughter Connie (Juliet Brett) is in love with Francesca and both decide to stow away on a ship to France. In their way of thinking lesbians are more acceptable in that country. 

All these episodic scenes come to a crashing halt when something catastrophic, which I cannot reveal,  occurs just at the end of the first act. Set designer Eugene Lee has devised something quite amazingly effective which may jolt you from your seat.

The second act does gel better than the first and the Christmas dinner scene is powerfully played out.  While Nic makes a declaration of being a better man you know that can only last a short amount of time. Yet, the problem with the second act is that a number of the scenes just don’t ring all that believable. It is hard to believe the advice Luda gives to Corrine at the last scene in the play. While admirable, it is also rather foolish considering Corrine’s young age.  A decision that Nic makes which helps the family immensely just does not appear to be something he would do. 

While Gordon Edelstein has directed the show admirably and with a pride in  standing up for yourself and the cast is quite good, most especially, Bresnahan, the playwright would have been more successful in focusing on limited scenes. While I admired her stance on the fortitude that women especially need to take to survive in a destructive household and wanting more for their children, the play is in overdrive mode which lessens its effect.

As an aside, I suggest you go into the lobby during intermission to read the information dealing with the true life event that occurs at the end of the first act. 

Tickets are available at the Roundabout Theatre Company--Laura Pels Theatre 111 46th Street or by calling 212.719.1300. As of this date the limited engagement ends September 3. 

PHOTOS: JOAN MARCUS