The Golden Oldies

By rights, there ought to be a handful of good new plays about the lives of the 65-and-older crowd — the millions of seniors who have relocated to retirement communities and reckoned with reconstituting both their everyday lives and their social circles.Alas, “Flamingo Court,” now at New World Stages, fails to lift the beleaguered genre above the level of the middling sitcom. Penned by 80-year-old Luigi Creatore, a former New York record producer who retired to Florida decades ago,“Flamingo Court” is pretty much exactly what you would expect from a collection of one-act plays that began life as sketches for the Boca Raton Community Theater. It’s Borscht Belt meets Sunbelt, a treacly blend that seems to work best for those who already have dentures, judging from the crowd response the night this critic attended. The characters tell fart jokes, obsess over sitcoms, and search for romance — and none of it is especially fresh or insightful. As flatly directed by Steven Yuhasz, two of the acts play like lesser Neil Simon; the middle play, a meditation Alzheimer’s, devolves into melodrama.The three acts are set in three different condos in the same midrange apartment complex. Jamie Farr and Anita Gillette, a seasoned Broadway actress familiar from her Johnny Carson appearances, play multiple roles. Mr. Farr fares best with the broad comedy of the third act; Ms. Gillette, a more versatile and comfortable stage actor, is fun to watch in all three. The character actress Lucy Martin provides some fine supporting work in a range of roles.The trouble is that the thin plots play more like acting-class exercises or sketch comedy than like true one-acts. In the first, a widow gets caught pretending her husband is still alive; in the second, an Alzheimer’s patient argues with her husband about going into a home; in the third, an old codger asks his buddy to find him a hooker.Ironically, the moments that work best in these sketches are the least broad ones. There is a touching conversation between two widows about what happens after the funeral’s over, and a nice moment when a best friend steps graciously aside as her two buddies leave her behind for a last chance at love.Such moments are too few in “Flamingo Court,” but they suggest the possibilities of the genre. There is certainly life after retirement. One wishes there were more serious playwrights to mine it.Open run (340 W. 50th St., between Eighth and Ninth avenues, 212-239-6200).

The Golden Oldies

The Golden Oldies

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