"The Old Masters" interesting but dull

NEW HAVEN — Often plays about real people can be interesting intellectually, but dull in performance. “The Old Masters,” a world premiere at Long Wharf Theatre by Simon Gray, is fortunately far from dull.
It stars Sam Waterson as Bernard Berenson, the art historian and scholar who identified hundreds of paintings by Renaissance masters such as Goya, Titian, and Georgione, and whose reputation was indisputable.
Waterson has a way with playing irascible, egotistical, spoiled adult males and making them feel human and compelling, as he did at Long Wharf in last season’s “Have You Seen Us?”
Berenson, or B.B., is married to one woman, Mary, played by Shirley Knight, and has a mistress who is also his assistant, Nicky Mariano, played by Heidi Schreck, and they all live together, apparently content with the triangulation.
B.B. has another marriage of sorts, with his employer, Joseph Deveen, an Englishman who in real life linked the great Robber Barons of the early to mid 20th Century, such as Henry Frick and Andrew Mellon, to some of the most glorious art works ever created.
The play is set at B.B.’s Italian villa in Florence, in 1937 and later in 1965, in the gardens and then in the library and office, with lovely set design by Alexander Dodge.
World War II is about to break out, and the Berensons have money problems.
In steps Deveen, played with robust expansiveness by the fine Brian Murphy, with an offer to alleviate all of B.B.’s financial worries in exchange for changing his opinion of a painting from a Titian attribution to the more rare, and therefore more valuable, Georgione — Titian’s teacher.
It’s a fascinating dance between the Capitalist dealmaker Deveen, and the more scholarly but less financially successful B.B.
The qualities that make B.B. so valuable to Deveen are the same qualities that drive Deveen to distraction.
At one point, Mary sagely observes to her husband, “You are so busy dancing you don’t recognize that the tunes are all his.”
Mary, B.B., and Nicky dance an intriguing dance themselves; revealing a level of tolerance and acceptance that not everyone would embrace.
The play’s accompanying playbill provides a wealth of information, including a chronological timeline, along with quoted passages from biographies about B.B. and Deveen.
If you love art and want to learn about a fascinating period in history, see this rich and intellectually stimulating play at Long Wharf through Feb. 13.

THE OLD MASTERS

3½ Stars
Location: 222 Sargent Drive, New Haven
Production: Written by Simon Gray. Directed by Michael Rudman. Set design by Alexander Dodge. Costume design by Toni-Leslie James. Lighting design by Peter Kaczorowski. Original music and sound design by John Gromada.
Running time: 2 ½ hours including one 15-minute intermission.
Show Times: Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Sundays at 7 p.m., Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 8 p.m., with Wednesday and Sunday matinees at 2 p.m. and Saturday matinees at 3 p.m. through Feb. 13.
Tickets: $40 to $70. For more information call their box office at 203-787-4282, or visit their website at www.longwharf.org
ACTOR…CHARACTER
Sam Waterston … Bernard Berenson
Brian Murray … Joseph Deveen
Shirley Knight … Mary Berenson
Heidi Schreck … Nicky Mariano
Rufus Collins … Edward Fowles