Musicalized ‘Red Eye of Love,’ Gurney’s ‘Wayside Motor Inn’ Short of Must-Sees

In the revival of The Wayside Motor Inn, A. R. Gurney’s 1977 play, at The Pershing Square Signature Center, Ray (Quincy Dunn-Baker) strides onto set designer Andrew Lieberman’s amusing take on a Jimmy Carter-era bad-taste motel room. Ray is agitated. Shortly after that, Frank (Jon DeVries) and Jessie (Lizbeth Mackay) come through the door. They’re in a quiet tizzy to which Ray doesn’t react. For a second, the effect is confusing, but only for a second. The ah-hah moment quickly hits. Ray, trying to get a business matter settled on the phone, is in one room at the Cambridge establishment; Frank and Jessie, having marital disturbances concerning her distracted nature and his health, are in another. So when father-son combo Vince (Marc Kudisch) and Mark (Will Pullen), then young unmarried-but-thinking-about-it Phil (David McElwee) and Sally (Ismenia Mendes), then also agitated Andy (Kelly AuCoin) drag their valises into the same space, it’s clear they’re all in different spaces and not getting onto the twin beds, checking the view from the balcony or using the bathroom together. They’re living out their problems simultaneously in a dramedy that has the feel of an Alan Ayckbourn conceit but as it unfolds doesn’t rise to the English playwright’s level. Gurney’s premise is catchy, but he doesn’t go far enough with it. Not only that, Unfortunately, his characters aren’t sufficiently engaging.