Is Tropical Still Topical?

by Jack Craib, New Rep Reviewer

Inaugurating the current New Rep season with "Mr. Roberts", last seen on Broadway six decades ago, was a gutsy move. Not only is wartime nostalgia a rare commodity these days, but most folks are no doubt familiar with the film version that boasted more stars than the average general. The team of Fonda, Cagney and Lemmon (and William Powell too) is a memory hard to erase. It is a testimony to the shrewdness of this production's casting that audience members can manage to do so and appreciate the spot-on performance level this cast maintains.
The play itself, surprisingly after such a long hiatus, manages to remain relevant because it doesn't only deal with a navy cargo ship in the steamy South Pacific. Despite its specific period look and sound (sailors with such unsalty language?), it tackles much broader and grander issues. While it may be difficult for some today to empathize with the title character's lament that the war is "dying before he can get to it", there is no such problem with identifying with his compassion for his men and the realization that it is boredom that threatens to destroy their morale.
After a somewhat slow start due to a healthy dose of exposition that will later prove just how tightly written the play is, that concept moves front and center in the person of the officer ironically in charge of morale (and laundry), the morally ambiguous Ensign Pulver. As do the other men on board, he clearly worships the water their Executive Officer, Mr. Roberts, walks on. It is his validation Pulver seeks but doesn't find, at least initially; Mr. Roberts even bluntly states that he'll respect his morale officer if and when a threatened prank on the ship's megalomaniacal captain is actually carried off and when he has the guts to knock on the captain's door and admit to it. It is to the credit of the playwrights (Thomas Heggen, from his novel, and Joshua Logan) that the work's most memorable and heartfelt moment (the ultimate disposition of a botanical "malignant growth") is the bittersweet climax that amazingly unites humor and pathos, and resonates with an undeniable relevance.
As noted, the cast is pitch perfect, above and below deck. Thomas Piper exudes powerful strength and profound tenderness as the heroic Mr. Roberts, and Jonathan Popp provides an egaging Pulver who comes into his own in the second act as his character blossoms. As the Queeg-like Captain from Boston, Paul D. Farwell is the ideal foil for Mr. Roberts' foiled ideals, and Owen Doyle as Doc is his expressive anchor. All of the cast seem just right, including Ed Hoopman as Dolan, whose dashed hopes prove to be pivotal.
Technically, the production is virtually flawless. The sound, lighting and costumes (right down to the realistic sweat stains) are all shipshape, and the set design is ingenious in its versatility. ("Virtually flawless", because the set is easily the noisiest in memory, which enhances authenticity if not audibility). The ship is a bit less populated than on its first sailing in 1948 (fewer sailors, one fewer palm tree), but its impact survives. If this first offering is any indication of the directing abilities of new Artistic Director Kate Warner (and there are quite a few nice touches without being overdone), New Rep audiences have a good deal of great theater to look forward to. And that's without even considering the masterfully underplayed palm-chewing goat.