My membership to the Lincoln Center has been one of my favorite and most useful vehicles to see top-quality plays in NYC. Over the years I have seen the most marvelous acting and writing on stage. And this week, seeing Amy Herzog’s “40000 Miles” was no exception. It’s about a grandmother and grandson who live together for a few weeks, when they need each other more than ever, and it proves the meaning of companionship and making the most of life while we are here on earth.
It was also a thrill to see the fabulous Mary Louise Wilson on stage. She plays Vera Joseph, a widow and very blunt an eloquent woman. Her sidekick, Leo, played by Gabriel Ebert, shows in the middle of the night after just finishing a 40,000 mile bike trip across country. Though she is initially upset by his appearance, she sinks into an acceptance of his presence and becomes glad to have the company. Leo, on the other hand, needs a place to rest and think about the rest of his life. He has questions about what to do with the rest of his life, and his girlfriend, Bec, has zero patience for his empty procrastination.
Staying with Vera gives him a sense of meaning. He helps her with the laundry, he helps her find things, she listens to her argue with her neighbor on a daily basis. Wilson plays a woman who is grappling with the fact that all of her friends are dying and she is one of the last ones standing. She struggles to understand her daughter, Leo’s mother. As words escape her, and her memory is lapsing, she seems to be bracing for what’s to come.
Leo seems to have appeared at precisely the right time. Ebert, who I saw in Brief Encounter on Broadway, and remember that performance quite well, is a superb actor, an up and comer. Hurting from an experience that happened on the road, it takes his character a while yo open up to his grandmother about it. Ebert plays Leo with such control and his portrayal is very believable and worthy of some kind of theater award – a Tony, perhaps, though I hope that this is a play that will be considered carefully come time to grant awards.
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