Theater

‘A Loss of Roses’ is a classic worth revisiting

“I can’t bear to see lovely things go to waste,” declares the fading actress of William Inge’s “A Loss of Roses.” The same can be said of this play, which hasn’t been seen in New York since it flopped on Broadway in 1959. Now, the Peccadillo Theater Company’s performing the published version, bringing us the play as Inge wanted it to be seen.

Set on the outskirts of Kansas City in the 1930s, it follows the glamorous but down-on-her-luck actress Lila (Jean Lichty), who comes to stay with her widowed friend, Helen (Deborah Hedwall), and Helen’s headstrong, 21-year-old son Kenny (Ben Kahre, in the part that won a 22-year-old Warren Beatty a Tony nomination).

Lila — sensitive and sensual — is catnip to the sexually starved young man. Abandoned by her abusive lover, she soon succumbs to Kenny’s ardent promises of love and marriage, with tragic results.

Director Dan Wackerman delivers a polished production of this old-fashioned drama, filled with many fleeting, minor characters. Lichty and Kahre make strong impressions as the ill-fated lovers, while Hedwall is moving as a woman desperate to keep her son close.

This is no lost classic from the Pulitzer-winning author of “Bus Stop,” “Picnic” and “Come Back, Little Sheba.” Lila’s character is too much like Tennessee Williams’ Blanche DuBois, its themes are baldly stated and it veers heavily toward melodrama.

Still, it’s a fascinating footnote to a distinguished career that ended in 1973 with Inge’s suicide at age 60.