The Balusters ★★★★★

At intermission of The Balusters, the uproariously funny new comedy premiering on Broadway at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, it becomes clear that if any playwright could be described as the American Alan Ayckbourn — and that is a high compliment, that triple A — it’s David Lindsay-Abaire.

Both authors use razor-sharp wit to dissect and skewer the lives of middle- and upper-middle-class suburbanites to reveal the truth behind perfected appearances, veering from tragedy to comedy on a tightrope that keeps its audience in suspense and guessing as to what’s coming next. It’s little wonder that Manhattan Theatre Club is an artistic home to both, and that MTC is now presenting Lindsay-Abaire’s newest offering, which it commissioned.

The premise is straightforward, the characters anything but. Newcomer Kyra (Anika Noni Rose), a Black woman in her 40s who’s recently moved from Baltimore, has joined the board of her HOA, The Vernon Point Neighborhood Association, and is hosting her first meeting for the group in her beautiful Victorian home. It’s a diverse lot, this board of nine, and include a cross-section of ages, races, and classes, a mix ripe for cultural friction.

As the board assembles, the association’s vice-president, Melissa (Jeena Yi), an Asian-American woman in her 40s, and Willow (Kayli Carter), an ultra-liberal white woman in her 30s, chastise Ruth (Margaret Colin), the board’s treasurer, a glamorous, self-aware white woman in her 70s. To their minds Ruth has inadvertently insulted Isaac (Ricardo Chivara), a Latino construction company owner in his 50s. Watching it all unfold is the earnest secretary of the neighborhood association, the perpetually confused Penny (Marylouise Burke), a widowed white woman in her 70s.

ISAAC: Hey Ruth, I stopped outside your house yesterday.

RUTH: Oh yeah? Were you casing the joint?

MELISSA: Ruth, no. You can’t say that.

RUTH: What? Why not?

WILLOW: You just asked a Latin-X man if he was planning to rob your home.

RUTH: Oh for godsakes, it was a joke. It’s one of my lines. I say it to everyone.

PENNY: And it never gets old.

ISAAC: I was more bothered that you called me Latin-X.

PENNY: Sounds like a superhero.

ISAAC: Sounds like retro woke bullshit, you mean.

WILLOW: Come on Isaac.

MELISSA: Here we go.

KYRA: Uh-oh.

ISAAC: You know who I’ve never heard use that word? Latin people.

PENNY: So I shouldn’t call you Latin-X?

ISAAC: No, for me Latino is fine.

PENNY: Huh. May I also call you Hispanic?

ISAAC: Sure, you can call me Hispanic.

PENNY: And what about Spanish?

ISAAC: I’m not from Spain, so no, not Spanish.

PENNY: Interesting.

The remaining three board members — all men — are no wallflowers either: Brooks (Carl Clemons-Hopkins), a married gay Black travel writer in his 40s; Alan (Michael Esper), a white schoolteacher in his 50s; and last but not least, Elliot (Richard Thomas), an affable white realtor in his 70s, and the board’s long-standing president.

Hostess Kyra wants to make a good impression at this first board meeting, but she also has an ask that she thinks is imperative. She wants a stop sign installed on the corner of her block, the prettiest of the enclave. In her short time in the neighborhood, she’s seen multiple accidents from her window, and she wants to make the road less dangerous. Elliot, on the other hand, thinks it more vital to preserve the street’s aesthetics and the neighborhood’s history.

KYRA: I see. Obviously I don’t want to detract from how beautiful the street is.

ELLIOT: Obviously. It’s why you moved here.

KYRA: Well, it’s one of the reasons. But I think I also mentioned safety.

PENNY: You did. I wrote it down.

KYRA: And I don’t know what the solution would be, but I worry for – Honestly, I just don’t want my girls getting hit by a car.

ELLIOT: Well, so long as they don’t play in the street, they should be fine.

And so the melting pot begins to roil, and by show’s end, no one is left unscathed, including Luz (Maria-Christina Oliveras), Kyra’s housekeeper, who previously worked for Eliot but left his employ under mysterious circumstances.

The Balusters is a satirical comedy of manners where the manners gradually dissipate, only to be replaced by anger, fear, and resentment. As the days and months go by, small digs turn to larger insults, which in turn reveal grievances long-standing and new. The internecine battles would all be painful to witness if they weren’t so damn funny.

The creative team is at the top of their game. Kenny Leon directs this first-rate cast of ten with splendid precision. The ensemble’s timing is comic perfection, and watching them go at it in Derek McLane’s gorgeous set while wearing Emilio Sosa’s character-enhancing costumes is to luxuriate in top-tier theatrical craft.

It’s almost churlish to single out any of the actors as they’re all wonderful, but one performer deserves an extra bouquet: Burke, Lindsay-Abaire’s longtime muse, who finds pathos and humor while remaining grounded in every moment. The two have collaborated seven times, including Fuddy Meers, Kimberly Akimbo, and Ripcord, but this is the first time Burke has performed one of his plays on Broadway. Hopefully it’s not the last. They’re a magnificent duo.