David Hyde Pierce in Close Up Space (© Joan Marcus) David Hyde
Pierce in Close Up Space (© Joan Marcus) Tony and Emmy Award
winner David Hyde Pierce delivers a fine performance in Molly
Smith Metzler's Close Up Space, being given its world premiere
by Manhattan Theatre Club at New York City Center. However, the
play itself is only intermittently engaging, and relies on
outlandish plot devices instead of fleshing out character
relationships.  Pierce portrays Paul Barrow, a book editor who
has let work dominate his life, particularly following the death
of his wife, a famous author. Paul is estranged from his
daughter Harper (Colby Minifie), who has just been expelled from
a prestigious boarding school and shows up in New York to
confront her father in a most unusual fashion.  Speaking in
Russian and throwing snowballs, Harper seems as mentally
unstable as her mother apparently was. However, her madness may
be mostly for show, as she proves capable of elaborate plans to
get her father's attention.  Pierce hilar