By the Water Review

A simple photo of Hurricane Sandy’s 2012 devastation in NYC could inform dozens of harrowing, emotionally resonant family stories. Sharyn Rothstein’s By the Water—a new play performing at Manhattan Theatre Club’s Stage II through Dec. 7—ekes out one such tale, but with several decades’ worth of hoary melodrama subbing for the resonance. The Murphy clan has been reunited after Sandy has torn through Staten Island, and Marty and Mary (Vyto Ruginis and Deirdre O’Connell) intend on rebuilding their pummeled home, despite a looming government buyout. Older, responsible son Sal (Quincy Dunn-Baker) is all for the buyout so his parents can get back on their feet, but his Manhattan modernism clashes with their stubborn traditionalism. Younger son Brian (Tom Pelphrey, doing a strange, goofy riff on Ratso Rizzo) is a former addict and ex-con, and often favored by his bullheaded father, the same father who, it turns out, has a questionable relationship with the very community he’s trying to unite.