A most enticing prospect among the February theatrical openings is the Old Globe’s world premiere of Itamar Moses’s “The Four of Us.”One might ask, “Who is Itamar Moses?”Some years ago, the Globe gathered an audience for a private, staged reading of Moses’ “Bach at Leipzig.” Though the Globe did not produce the play, the reading was a knockout. Among the actors was Tony Award winner Richard Easton (Tom Stoppard’s “The Invention of Love”), who repeated his “Bach at Leipzig” role in 2005 at New York Theatre Workshop, where Moses is what they call a Usual Suspect. Pam MacKinnon staged the play.At the time, Janice Paran wrote in American Theatre magazine: “Moses has a knack for philosophic inquiry by way of the Mad Hatter.” In other words, his writing is not for intellectual laggards. It is highly entertaining and rich.In fact, Moses has been compared to Tom Stoppard, whose monumental trilogy, “The Coast of Utopia,” is being mounted at Lincoln Center by Old Globe artistic director Jack O’Brien. Easton plays a starring role in the production.MacKinnon makes her Old Globe Theatre directorial debut with “The Four of Us,” which concerns the friendship of two young writers: Benjamin, a novelist (Gideon Banner), and David, a playwright (Sean Dugan). The friendship is sorely tested when Benjamin’s first novel is a raging success.”The Four of Us” plays Feb. 8 through March 11 at 7 p.m. Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday; 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday; and 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday in the Cassius Carter Centre Stage of The Old Globe, 1363 Old Globe Way, Balboa Park. Tickets ($39-$58) may be purchased at www.theoldglobe.org or (619) 23-GLOBE.***The other play vying for playgoer attention in February is Donald Margulies’ “Brooklyn Boy,” which opens Friday, Feb. 9 at San Diego Repertory Theatre’s Lyceum Space. Margulies received the Pulitzer Prize for “Dinner With Friends” and is the author of “Collected Stories” and “Sight Unseen.” All three originated at South Coast Repertory Theatre in Costa Mesa.San Diego Repertory Theatre associate artistic director Todd Salovey, also artistic director of the Lipinsky Family San Diego Jewish Arts Festival, stages “Brooklyn Boy.”He is a 17-year veteran of San Diego Repertory Theatre and is on the acting faculty at University of California, San Diego (UCSD).Salovey admires Margulies’ use of language, the natural qualities of his dialogue and his ability to tell stories through scenes. Salovey said with some pride that when casting a piece like this, a director attracts the very best actors.Eric Weiss (Oregon Shakespeare Festival veteran Jamie Newcomb), a successful author with a bestseller that’s about to become a Hollywood film, returns to his Brooklyn roots to attend to his dying father (Broadway actor Robert Levine). Ira, Eric’s childhood friend (Matt Henerson), owns a deli and, as Salovey says, “feeds people all day.” Ira is happily married and surrounded by the love of family and friends “” everything Eric lacks or is losing (he and his wife are divorcing).Eric seems unable to connect on an intimate level with the very ones he should. Thus the “Brooklyn Boy” questions the very meaning of success. Regardless of one’s origins, Salovey says, it makes each of us feel that we are from Brooklyn.”Brooklyn Boy” plays through March 4 at 8 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday and at 2 p.m. Sunday (except Feb. 4) at San Diego Repertory Theatre, 79 Horton Plaza. Tickets range from $28-$46 and may be purchased at www.sandiegorep .com or (619) 544-1000.
