Warm ‘Birthday Candles’ on Broadway has Debra Messing age 90 years
There are flickers of beauty in the new play “Birthday Candles,” which opened Sunday night on Broadway.Noah Haidle’s warm-but-flawed dramedy, with great feeling and occasional poignancy, takes us through 90 years of an average Michigan woman’s life. 90 minutes, At the American Airlines Theatre, 227 W 42nd Street.Of course, when you condense nine decades into an hour and a half, both bliss and tragedy arrive faster than spam emails on a Monday. The name of Ernestine’s hometown, Grand Rapids, describes her rocky, unpredictable road well. After every victory for Ernestine (Debra Messing) — an invitation to prom, the birth of a child, the starting of a new business — a crushing blow soon follows.