Kevin Kline: "American Classic"

"American Classic" seems to be designed for me; it's set in my town, Maplewood, and it's packed with theater titans (Kevin Kline, Laura Linney, Len Cariou, Jessica Hecht, Aaron Tveit).

Kevin Kline has a public meltdown after the failure of his revival of "King Lear." (He mistakenly thought, for a while, that the reviews were positive. But there is a difference between saying He is a fine anchor and saying He is an anchor, dragging the entire production down, down, down.) Kline is lectured by a weirdly nasty Aaron Tveit; having lost touch with his own humanity, Kline can no longer give an effective performance. At the same time, conveniently, Kline's mother dies--which means that he needs to return to Maplewood, to his roots.

I don't think I would continue watching this without Kevin Kline. The script is cliched. But it's a pleasure to see Kline in a crowded bar, screaming, "No, you unnatural hags!" He also does nice work with Len Cariou (though, again, he is unaided by a paint-by-numbers script).

I'll give this show a few more minutes--at the least.

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