New Play in Manhattan

Little A (by Hugh White; produced by Sam Nasser) is a story of the turning worm--suddenly up against a hissing cobra. Little A, as middle-aged Aaron Storm is called, is a kindly, sensitive man who was first overshadowed by Big A, his tycoon father, then squashed by his contemptuous, ambitious wife. He has come to loathe her, and when he learns that their son is really his father's, he is spurred to action. Her world threatened, his wife speedily emerges a fine old-fashioned villainess, and Little A becomes melodrama with a big M. The curtain bangs down retributively on a woman who, meaning to shoot her husband, has killed her son.

Playwright White's aim is not a great deal better, partly because he does not know what he's aiming at. What seems designed as normal-voiced domestic drama all at once ascends to the shrillest coloratura. But though the plot becomes incredible only toward the end, the main characters are unconvincing almost from the start. Mr. White is too much tempted by the passing moment. Save for an occasional taut scene, the play scores only through its playing: Otto Kruger is excellent as Little A, Jessie Royce Landis forceful as his ten-twent-thirt mate.

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