Seared (MCC Theater) by Theresa Rebeck #SEAREDMCC

Seared is the kind of theater that I adore.  A straightforward story with writing so gorgeous and acting so adept that it becomes something bigger than it at first appears.

Harry (Raul Esparza) and Mike (David Mason) are the somewhat uneven partners in a tiny Brooklyn restaurant.  Harry is the genius at the stove; making magic from the top-shelf, freshest ingredients he sources daily at dawn, plus lots of butter.  Mike is the man at the front of the house and the money behind the idea.  Having sunk his life savings and years of sweat into the endeavor he would love for Harry to be just a tad less demanding and the restaurant to be a lot more profitable.  The third member of this little ‘family’ is the restaurant’s only full-time waiter and de facto peacemaker, Rodney (a fantastic W. Tre’ Davis). Rodney is the calm in the center of the storm that is the, seemingly never-ending, conflict between Harry and Mike.  He admires Harry’s talent, as well as Mike’s hard work.  He sees both sides of the story while trying not to take sides.

When Harry’s scallops get a mention in New York Magazine, spurring an increase in business and a call for replication of the dish, things really get going.  Using an inability to source the ingredients he needs, Harry refuses to make the scallops, no matter how many people are asking for them.  Tired of Harry’s perfectionism and petulance and worried about the imminent demise of the restaurant, Mike takes matters into his own hands and hires Emily (a feisty and forceful Krysta Rodriguez). 

Emily is a ‘consultant’ out of central casting; ingratiating, bossy, manipulative and over-bearing, while maintaining enough charm and actual knowledge to get her way. Emily very quickly takes over, increasing the seating capacity of the restaurant, fine-tuning the menu, getting Harry to endorse a cutlery company as well upsetting the balance of the family triangle by sleeping with him.

Everything is going swimmingly when the upcoming visit of an important food critic throws the entire dynamic out of whack.  Emily and Mike know that the critic is coming but decide not to inform Harry and when Rodney finds out and wants to let Harry know, Mike threatens to fire him.  When the critic shows and Harry is informed, he is livid and then paralyzed.  Even with the ingredients at hand, he simply can’t, or won’t, make the scallops and he just walks out, leaving the other three to figure out a way to save the restaurant and themselves. 

Both Mr. Esparza and Mr. Mason are terrific. They are passionate, personable and primal on either side of the age-old argument about the intersection of ‘art’ and commerce.  You believe that Mr. Esparza’s Harry, literally, doesn’t care about anything but the food and the eloquence with which he argues that points to the glories of Theresa Rebeck’s writing.  The same can be said of the brilliant exasperation and humor with which Mr. Mason’s Mike tries to convince Harry that making money from his talents isn’t a sin. 

The ‘working’ kitchen set by Tim Mackabee, allows the sights and smells to become part of the story.

You’ll have to see it for yourself to find out how the story ends but it is a story that resonates with us all.  The intersection of ‘art’ and commerce, like so many other situations is, ultimately, about that most difficult of human things to achieve—balance.  In Seared the balance of humor, passion, anger, angst and the mundane of daily routine is perfect.