'Secrets of the Trade' Asks a Lot, But Doesn't Tell Much

James Leynse

Backstage Broadway bait-and-switch: John Glover, Bill Brochtrup, Amy Aquino, and Noah Robbins

Details

Secrets of the Trade
By Jonathan Tolins
Primary Stages
59 East 59th Street, 212-753-5959

Related Content

• Many NYC Private Schools Now Charge More Tuition Than Harvard
  January 30, 2012
• Study: Alcohol Linked to Breast Disease in Teens
  November 15, 2011
• Harvard to USDA: Our Plate Is Better Than MyPlate
  September 16, 2011
• Unnatural Acts: The School for Scandal
  June 29, 2011
• Metro-North Conductor Screeched At By 'Well-Educated' Woman
  June 16, 2011

More About

• Jonathan Tolins
• Martin Kerner
• Harvard University
• Theater
• Off-Broadway

His verbal skills, fortunately, keep mitigating one's cumulative frustration. Even at their most factitious, his characters find pungent, pointed things to say. The gifted actors Shakman has assembled, whom he moves about with speed and dexterity, don't overlook the faintest turn of a syllable: Bill Brochtrup, as Kerner's downtrodden assistant, builds a full tragicomic portrait from a few scraps of dialogue; Robbins brings range and authenticity to his extremely sketchy role; Aquino serves a hearty plateful of pained vulnerability, spiced with freshly ground asperity, which Nelson decorates, contrapuntally, with sly, flavorsome twists of rue. Best of all, there's Glover, seizing every opportunity in a role that travels from aristocratic hauteur to falling-down drunkenness, the latter charged with such inventive body English that I now want to see this invaluable actor in a dance role.

mfeingold@villagevoice.com