Theater: “Pictures from Home” starring Nathan Lane @ Studio 54

The famous/infamous Studio 54 nightclub opened on April 26, 1977 in New York City at the peak of the disco era. The brainchild of Ian Schrager and Steve Rubell, it was famous for its celebrity guest lists (the Liza-Halston-Bianca set), and infamous for its restrictive and subjective entry policies and rampant club drug use. Studio 54 closed in early 1980.

Thus it may be personally hard for some to square this former setting of debauchery with the sentimental, very traditional “Pictures from Home,” Sharr White’s new dramedy at Studio 54 theater.

PFH is based on the real-life story of fine-arts photographer Larry Sultan (Danny Burstein), a professor of photography at California Center of the Arts, and his relationship with his elderly father Irv (Nathan Lane) and mother Jean (Zoe Wanamaker), ex-New Yorkers who live in the San Fernando Valley.

One day, Larry explains at the play’s outset, he finds a suitcase in his parents’ home, filled with old 8mm films and family photographs. Curious, he decides to dig deeper, and begins visiting Mom and Dad on a biweekly basis, quizzing them about every aspect of their lives, past and present, and snapping photographs of them at every opportunity. This went on for nine years.

Irv and Jean are somewhat bewildered by Larry’s frequent visits. Their reactions, and their back-and-forth quibbles among themselves, supply much of the play’s wit which is strictly of the Neil Simon variety. Nathan Lane, who I am convinced can do anything, is especially effective as the 70-something who’s bored in retirement, having been pushed out of a job where he was a top salesman. Not until the end of the play do we discover why Larry is so obsessed.

PFH is certain to find a large audience among Baby Boomers and Gen Xers who have parents of a certain age and who are themselves getting older. Maybe I’m in the minority here, but if you’re looking for an exciting night of theater, I suspect you’re going to be bored. And you’re going to wish you were instead on line, hoping upon hoping to get past the doorman at the original Studio 54, where the real action was.