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It roams among various recollections, never grabbing you by the shoulders for a dramatic crescendo.
Its slight but purposefully so.
In its self-deprecation,Anunciacultivates plenty of delicate gestures but holds back from digging deeper.
Andrea Burns (crucial in bothDear WorldandThe Light in the Piazzaat Encores!
this spring) has one of the most openhearted faces onstage and can do plaintively naive like nobody else.
Then, in news to no one, of course Mary Testa kills it.
She brings along her electric alto to LaChiusas score and knife-blade sarcasm to Grandmamas many one-liners.
Grandmamas songs had better live on as cabaret pieces for any number of character actresses.
Life is ordinary and manageable, sometimes even idyllic, until terror thrusts in.
The lack of sentimentality keeps you on your toes.
At any moment, the vines that make up Mark Wendlands suddenly look a lot like prison bars.
Both just arent sure what to say about the younger Anuncia, played by Kalyn West.
I wanted more of how that feels.
Anuncia exclaims, as the first deer skitters off, then Weird!
goes the second deer as he leaves the stage.
Those proclamations capture the pump-fake motion ofAnunciaitself.
Its got so much going for it but dodges away from total commitment.
What are we to make of the origins of a life in art?
The Gardens of Anunciais at Lincoln Centers Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater through December 31.
