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It's amusing that following his play Die Mommie Die!, Charles Busch is offering New York theatergoers, The Third Story, which examines a sentiment that's the converse of his earlier play. "Story," which opened last night in an MCC Theater production at the Lucille Lortel Theatre, follows a host of adult children who are unwilling, or unable, to let go of their controlling moms or maternal figures.

At the center of this new comedy are Peg (Kathleen Turner) and Drew (Jonathan Walker), a mother and son, who at one time were a screenwriting team. Drew's had enough of late 1940s Hollywood, and moved to Omaha, where he's not only getting to know his father, but he's become a mailman, literally following in his father's career footsteps. The somewhat blowzy and boozy Peg has come to Omaha to try to convince Drew to write one more movie with her. As they verbally spar in Drew's dreary rented flat (rendered as a sort of sepia cartoon by scenic designer David Gallo), story ideas do come up. Perhaps they could write a gangster film for one of Peg's aging actress cronies (the "coven" as Drew calls them) focused on the glamorous matriarch of a Mafioso clan. Or maybe it could be a science fiction flick. Peg imagines a Frankenstein-like female scientist who is having to control the monster that she's created. Drew and Peg even visit the fairytale that he remembers from his childhood about a Russian princess and a witch that helps her in her quest for love. Maybe this could be the inspiration for their film.

All of these tales come to life in "Story" and before long are intersecting with one another in initially amusing and increasingly bewildering ways. When the gangster film unfolds, Drew plays Steve, the son kept on short apron strings by Mafiosa Queenie Bartlett (played by the deliciously mercurial – as always – Busch). During scenes from the imagined science fiction epic, Peg plays the German confidante to Dr. Hudson (the often hysterically funny and scene-stealing Jennifer Van Dyck), who's unsure what to do about her seven-nippled creation, Zygote (Scott Parkinson). When the Russian tale comes to the fore, Busch, who swaps in and out of costume designer Gregory Gale's stunning period creations and into dingy rags with lightning like speed, plays the witch and Sarah Rafferty plays the awkward princess (Rafferty also plays to perfection the dumb blonde daughter-in-law in the gangster sequences).

It's a rich assortment of tales that all double back to the conflicts that Peg and Drew are trying to resolve. The stories also begin to overlap as the writers' feelings about one another and their work evolve. Before long, Zygote is betraying his creator to help Queenie even as Dr. Hudson and Stevie become romantically involved. As if this weren't enough, Peg slowly reveals contradictory stories about the circumstances surrounding Drew's conception and birth. Essentially, with the collision of soap opera, drama, fantasy and children's story, Busch has written a wonky overview of mid-twentieth century b-movies. Even westerns are vaguely referenced with some scenes taking place in the Nevada desert late in the play.

What's unfortunate is that for all of the careful thought that's clearly gone into "Third Story," and many terrific performances, director Carl Andress' production never spirals to the point of utter hilarity nor to the point of insightful contemplation found in Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's Into the Woods, a similar sort of exercise in fractured narrative. Instead, "Story" meanders from moment to moment. Occasionally it inspires gales of laughter, such as when Dr. Hudson begins to crack or whenever Busch delivers one of his signature double-takes. At other times, particularly during some of the more fraught moments between Peg and Drew, "Story" becomes quite moving, thanks in large part to Turner's shrewdly understated performance. Ultimately, there's a whiplash effect from the twists and turns, not only in tale, but in tone, and though this converse side to the Greek tragedy-inspired "Die!" aims high, it misses its glittering silver screen mark.

---- Andy Propst

The Third Story plays at the Lucille Lortel Theatre (121 Christopher Street). Performances are Tuesday and Wednesday at 7pm; Thursday and Friday at8pm; Saturday at 2 and 8pm, and Sunday at 3pm. Tickets are $65.00 and can be purchased by calling 212-279-4200 or by visiting www.ticketcentral.com. Further information is available online at www.mcctheater.org.

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