Doggone it, elderly Midwesterners are nice folks, aren't they? By God, how could you not like the sweet simpletons in Paul Osborn's affectionate 1938 character study Morning's at Seven? They love pleasantries, almost never raise their voices and have names like Homer, Ida and Esther. Witness Myrtle (Hagerty) and her potential mother-in-law, Ida (Sternagen) discuss the virtues of the latter's backyard.
Myrtle: It's simply heavenly. I don't know when I've seen a more attractive backyard.
Ida: Yes, we're very fond of it.
Myrtles: Well I should think so. It's so nice and wild, too. Like being in a forest.
Ida: I'm glad you like it.
Myrtle: Well I certainly do. It's simply heavenly, that's all there is to it.
Ida: Well, it's nice of you to say so.
Myrtle: Well, I mean it.

If you think this sounds excruciatingly boring, well, that's the point. In this mileau, repeating platitudes and meaningless compliments is the way one deals with awkwardness. When Thor (McGuire) finds out that his neighbor Homer has knocked up Myrtle (hagerty), his endless string of okey-dokey cliches (I counted ten uses of the word well) is almost Beckettian.
And nobody makes tedium more interesting than this all-star cast of character actors. Everybody onstage looks vaguely familiar, giving the production of distant relatives you haven't seen in years. Hagerty and Tobolowsky (the stewardess in Airplane and the insurance salesman in Ground Hog Day, respectively) should both win Tonys as the dimwitted couple Myrtle and Homer. Lloyd (Taxi), who plays Ida's husband Carl, also finds laughs in the most unusual places with his usual stuttering weirdo routine. And at the center of the comedy are four sisters, played by a lineup of superior actors. Franz, a specialist at painted women (remember Robert Falls's Death of a Salesman?), makes audiences cry once again; Sternagen (The Heiress and Cliff Clavin's mom on Cheers) is a dingbat with a big heart; Lauie (the mother in Carrie) is the smart one; and in the most deceptively difficult part, Parsons (Blanche in Bonnie and Clyde) brings some real emotional heft to a very mild character.
Osborn's comedy is that rare pice of theater that treats seniors as real people, not just as grandparents. And it's great to see these actors playing complex older folks who have their own insecurities, egos and sexual urges. Sure, the play's theme is conventional, if not retrograde (the message seems to be that women will find happiness only in marriage), but that's par for the course on Broadway these days. What's really unique is that Daniel Sullivan's seamless staging does a wonderful job poking fun at these provincials without patronizing them. As Thor might say, Well, what do you know about that- Jason Zinoman

The article is accompanied by a black and white photo of the four sisters including Piper Laurie- FLOWER POWER- four midwester sisters dress for success in Seven.