(Ben Brantley’s article appeared in The New York Times, 3/1; via Pam Green.)
Growing up isn’t easy. Just take a look at Richard Linklater’s “Boyhood” if you need reminding. But imagine how difficult it must be to do so — and I mean the hard part, from early childhood to the end of adolescence — in less than two hours, and in song, and in front of a live audience.
That’s the task that’s been assigned to Kate Baldwin and Conor Ryan, the appealing stars (and entire cast) of the Keen Company’s 20th-anniversary revival of “John & Jen,” Andrew Lippa and Tom Greenwald’s blunt button pusher of a musical about changing times and a fraying family. Yet these agile performers find a beguiling grace in the ungainly process of fast-forward maturation.