Theater Online - New York Theater Reviews

James Leynse ©2025  Lynn Cohen as Rennie and Jane Alexander as Catherine

Pure joy. Tina Howe’s “Chasing Manet” at 59E59, starring Jane Alexander, Lynn Cohen and a multi-talented cast, is pure joy. You have to wait a bit for that joy, but the journey to get there is mighty enjoyable.

At a nursing home, Bostonian Catherine Sargent (Jane Alexander, having a ball in this role) a cousin of John-Singer Sargent and a painter herself, spends most of her time in bed; blind, bad-tempered and increasingly alone due to the demise of her successive roommates. Her mind, however, is sharp as a tack, as is her tongue. Catherine’s son, “poor Royal” (Jack Gilpin) as she calls him, “afraid of his own shadow,” suggests she might be driving them to death. Their mother/son relationship is fraught with problems, not least that Royal is the one who put her in the home in Riverdale, not Boston, to be nearer to him. But Royal, an unhappy professor at Columbia who doesn’t like endings, visits her less and less. Enter the new roommate. Rennie Waltzer (Lynn Cohen) is wheeled in by her chic daughter Iris (Julie Halston, hitting just the right notes of care and concern) and has an enormous family to support her, visit her regularly, take her places, and care about her well being. But Rennie suffers from dementia, which she goes in and out of, and seems not to know her husband died five years previously, and calls Catherine by her sister’s name. Rennie also believes she is in a hotel.

James Leynse ©2025  (L to R) Robert Christopher Riley, Julie Halston, Lynn Cohen, David Margulies, Vanessa Aspillaga, & Jack Gilpin

During one of Rennie’s gatherings, it is pointed out that the painting above Catherine’s sleeping head is a Monet, “the one who painted the water lilies.” Catherine sits bolt upright, and gives the Waltzer family a lesson in art history. It is a Manet, not Monet, she tells them, “Le dejeuner sur l’herbe” and by deliberately putting a nude woman in an outdoor setting, surrounded by men fully clothed, he upset the bourgeoisie. Furthermore, Catherine tells them, she never keeps it far from her. That is the key to Catherine, and to Alexander’s outsized performance.

Catherine and Rennie hatch a plan to escape on the QE2, but to say much more would require a spoiler alert, so I’d rather not. Matching Alexander’s intensity is Cohen’s impeccable comedic timing. She is simultaneously adorable, funny, wistful and moving. They are perfect opposites, and complement each other beautifully. In addition to Julie Halston, who also plays multiple parts, Vanessa Aspillaga, Rob Riley and David Margulies portray their various roles expertly, particularly Aspillaga’s Esperanza, the patient and long-suffering nurse who cares for the inmates, and Riley’s jack-of-all-trades Charles, who dreams of flying his plane over Maui.

“Chasing Manet” is Tina Howe’s fairy tale, and she does it very well. The writing is frank as well as witty, at times unsparing in depicting and inspecting old age from all angles, both young and old. She respects Rennie and Catherine, their lives, flaws and frailties. Both parts are gift to the actors, as well as to the audience. May you come out gleeful, and covered in confetti.