If you want to see a sublime actor live and up close, skip the movie stars who swan by now and then on Broadway. Instead, catch anything with Frank Langella.
Now 78, he’s one of the most compelling performers around, whether he’s impersonating Tricky Dicky in “Frost/Nixon” (Tony winner!) or chewing the scenery to splinters in “Man and Boy” (Tony nominee!).
That last one shares something with Langella’s new vehicle, “The Father”: Both are mediocre productions that the star single-handedly saves from the recycling bin.
While the role of an elderly man slowly losing his marbles could have lent itself to some mugging — Florian Zeller did subtitle his play “a tragic farce” — Langella is fairly restrained. Not quite as much as when playing the calmly menacing KGB handler of “The Americans,” but pretty low-key by his standards.
This makes his performance all the more effective as we watch his character’s descent into dementia — from his point of view. Admittedly this is clever writing, but it also feels slick and at times borderline gimmicky. Nor does the rest of the cast give Langella the support he deserves. As his character’s daughter, Kathryn Erbe mines the stoic resignation she perfected as Detective Eames on “Law & Order: Criminal Intent.” You’d have that look, too, if you’d endured years of Vincent D’Onofrio’s antics.
Meanwhile, director Doug Hughes is to blame for blinding the audience with abominably bright lights during the dozen scene changes. It says a lot about Langella’s charisma that he remains in focus throughout.
At the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, 261 W. 47th St., through June 12; 90 minutes, no intermission.