Sons of the Prophet

Written by Stephen Karam, directed by Peter DuBois and currently at the Roundabout Theatre via The Huntington Theatre in Boston, SONS OF THE PROPHET opened last week to a rave from the NY Times. They're billing it as "the funniest play about human suffering you're ever likely to see" and that is an apt description. I laughed solidly for two hours and still left the theatre with a lump in my heart. Every character has their own pain, physical or psychological, which they are trying to overcome in their own way.

 Joseph (Santino Fontana), a former school athlete, works for a publishing company and endures the interference of  his self absorbed boss Gloria (Joanna Gleason) so that he can get medical coverage for a mysterious condition affecting his knees. Gloria has an agenda: she has "fallen from grace" after publishing a Holocaust memoir that turned out to be a hoax and she has discovered that Joseph is a descendent of Kahlil Gibran, author of "The Prophet". She wants him to write a book and restore her reputation.

Joseph and his younger brother Charles (Chris Perfetti) are still reeling from the death of their father in a car accident caused by a college boy prank when they are forced to take in their ailing Uncle Bill (Yusef Bulos).

Joseph begins an affair with reporter Timothy (Charles Socarides) but is suspicious when he continues following the case of the college footballer reponsible for the death of Joseph's father.

Dee Nelson and Lizbeth Mackay provide a richly comic gallery of nurses, doctors and teachers. The final scene of Joseph with his kindergarden teacher is extremely moving. All the performances are marvellous and the show has already extended into 2012.