`Down the Garden Paths' Reviewed

NEW YORK (AP) â€” ``Down the Garden Paths,'' Anne Meara's comedy-drama of recrimination, is an unpleasant rehashing of a defining moment in the lives of the Garden family, hence the cutesy

Monday, November 20th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

NEW YORK (AP) â€” ``Down the Garden Paths,'' Anne Meara's comedy-drama of recrimination, is an unpleasant rehashing of a defining moment in the lives of the Garden family, hence the cutesy title.

The play, running at off-Broadway's Minetta Lane Theatre, has little to recommend in it except the considerable presence of Eli Wallach and Anne Jackson, two troupers who invest ``Garden Paths'' with a credibility not redeemed by the writing.

They play an old-time show-biz couple, Sid and Stella Garden, whose son, Arthur, is receiving a major award from the scientific community. His acceptance speech leads immediately to a family party where past hurts and old wounds are reopened with an unnerving shrillness.

This party scene is replayed at length three times, each time with one important element changed. The defining moment in the Gardens' lives seems to have occurred years ago when one of their sons, Max, was in a boating accident on a lake in the Catskills. In the first variation, Max is saved by his brother Arthur; in the second, Max dies, and in the third, he survives, but is brain-damaged.

But no matter what version is played, this family still fights â€” on and on and on. Meara's combative dialogue is peppered with a few laughs, most of them delivered by Wallach, as the patriarch of the family. He's quite a commanding presence, able to make the feeblest of domestic disputes sound truthful.

Wallach gets marvelous support from Jackson, his wife in real life. The actress has a wide, warm smile and an enthusiasm that refuses to give up. John Shea, an actor of considerable charm, is saddled with the role of Arthur, who, by the time he gets to the third variation of Meara's tale, has turned into a predictable whiner.

A supporting cast that also includes the Wallachs' daughter, Roberta, and Meara's daughter, Amy, is loud and unconvincing. Director David Saint doesn't do much to turn down the volume.

``Down the Garden Paths'' contains one enjoyable gimmick. Showing up in the play from time to time is Jerry Stiller, Meara's husband. He makes an appearance on video. Stiller portrays the wealthy benefactor of the award being given to Arthur Garden. His funny, faux biography, shown between the quarrelsome party scenes, is quite a relief from all the bickering. Meara's writing for her husband has a sly, winking theatricality that unfortunately doesn't find its way into the rest of the production.