From the beginning it's obvious that The 5th of July is a deliberate variation on the theme of Cherry Orchard. It's equally clear by the end that melancholy comic naturalism has become a hollow structure, which, though it can still enclose a core of affectionate humaneness, has decayed toward soap opera and the quiet but unambiguous happy ending….

There are many tender, tart, and funny moments and clever sections of contrapuntally overlapped dialogue. It is also a relief to see gay relationships taken for granted. But the central metaphorical anecdote (about dying from hunger through fear of eating something contaminated) is heavy-handed, Ken's Vietnam memories are cliched and unconvincing, and two of the women characters are treated very nastily…. The message is, I suppose, upbeat: Life can be warm and rooted, even for a legless homosexual, a lonely single mother, a 67-year-old widow with a mild stroke, a...