The Check Is in the Mail

Description
**** [FOUR STARS] Now in its tenth year at the Fringe, Genesis Repertory stages Robert Liebowitz’s slick office drama about a good business gone bad. Petty acts of bad faith by the boorish coowner of a successful printing company, Leon Lipkin (Allen Lewis Rickman), have caused a saleswoman to defect to a competitor; so Lipkin’s partner, Jerry Case (Jay Michaels), and their politically connected lawyer, Thomas Kavanagh (Francis Callahan), plot a euphemistic “dissolution” of the rogue employee. The ensuing escalation of events plays out nicely against the backdrop of a spiraling economy, thanks in part to witty, well-written dialogue—Kavanagh: “Illegal is a sick bird”—and verbally violent outbursts that drive the play along. Murderous businessmen may be an attractive trope these days, but Genesis doesn’t deal in stereotypes. The potentially sympathetic Lipkin—a hilarious old-school salesmen with patter to match—is a character of murky morals, and the seemingly redemptive finale takes a dark turn.—Jonathan Shannon, Associate Web Editor**** [Four stars] Now in its tenth year at the Fringe, Genesis Repertory stages Robert Liebowitz’s slick office drama about a good business gone bad. Petty acts of bad faith by the boorish coowner of a successful printing company, Leon Lipkin (Allen Lewis Rickman), have caused a saleswoman to defect to a competitor; so Lipkin’s partner, Jerry Case (Jay Michaels), and their politically connected lawyer, Thomas Kavanagh (Francis Callahan), plot a euphemistic “dissolution” of the rogue employee. The ensuing escalation of events plays out nicely against the backdrop of a spiraling economy, thanks in part to witty, well-written dialogue—Kavanagh: “Illegal is a sick bird”—and verbally violent outbursts that drive the play along. Murderous businessmen may be an attractive trope these days, but Genesis doesn’t deal in stereotypes. The potentially sympathetic Lipkin—a hilarious old-school salesmen with patter to match—is a character of murky morals, and the seemingly redemptive finale takes a dark turn.—Jonathan Shannon, associate web editor