A THOUSAND CLOWNS, Grand Theatre, through Feb. 10 (957-3322 or the-grand.org); running time: two hours, 40 minutes (two intermissions)
Herb Gardner's Tony-nominated 1962 comedy (it lost to the more rancorous "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?") is filled with humorous monologues and situations touching on responsibility, love and family.
Skillfully directed by John Caywood, the accomplished cast delivers strong, well-drawn performances in relating Gardner's tale of two eventful days in the somewhat chaotic life of a nonconformist, who is an unemployed children's TV show writer, and his unofficially adopted nephew.
Morgan Lund and young David Chardack have chemistry to spare as eccentric Murray Burns, who has quit his job as chief writer for the "Charlie the Chipmunk" childrens TV show, and Nick, the bright young nephew he's taken care of since his sister dumped him in his Manhattan apartment years before.
Uncle Murray's lackadaisical life is suddenly turned upside-down when Nick's school sends a couple of investigators from the Bureau of Child Welfare to look into the boy's haphazard living conditions. (Nick apparently stirred things up when he displayed some photos from the El Bambino Club for show-and-tell, as well as with his essay on the benefits of unemployment compensation.)
Jay Perry and Amy Caudill are perfectly cast as the BCW team — nerdish Albert Amundson and nervous Sandra Markowitz. He's a serious, by-the-book social worker; she's fresh from graduate school with a much more open attitude.
Adding to Murray's woes are his talent-agent brother Arnold (Gordon Jones) and the hilariously goofy host of the "Charlie the Chipmunk" show, Leo Herman (played by Kim Weiss).
The confrontations between Murray and little Nick are superb. Lund delivers just the right amount of sarcastic wit and Chardack is an immensely talented boy who really takes command of the stage when Nick is doing his best to help Uncle Murray bluff his way through. (A few years after "A Thousand Clowns" debuted, the playwright wrote the award-winning "Conversations With My Father," a much more serious look at parental obligations and failings.)
Caywood's finely honed direction, Thad Hansen's costumes, Marnie Sears' scenery and Spencer Brown's lighting were all top-notch.
James Mayo's sound was both good and bad. It worked best with the various sound effects, especially the well-timed intrusion of traffic sounds when the window onto the fire escape was constantly being opened and closed. But there was also badly muffled dialogue when Leo Herman was on the speaker-phone in Arnold's office.
Sensitivity rating: Minimal mild profanity. Some may be slightly offended by one of the pivotal props — a dancing girl lamp.
E-mail: ivan@desnews.com