Dad, Son Bitter Rivals in ‘Money’

John Saxon gives a dynamic performance as a blustering, bullying, testosterone-driven financial bigwig who locks horns with his ambitious son (Tom Astor) in Bruce Goldsmith’s flawed yet well-considered one-act “Talk About Money,” at the Tiffany Theater.

Although Tom Giamario’s set looks cheap and transitory, Saxon plays the father as a loud, crass man who scrapped and scratched and bluffed his way to comfortable millionaire status a couple of decades ago.

When his son asks him to co-sign a bank loan so that he can leave to start his own venture, the father talks about keeping business separate from family, while also pulling strings of filial duty. While asking for an explanation of the numbers, the father ruthlessly rips open old wounds--the son’s messy divorce and rivalry with an unseen brother-in-law.

Astor doesn’t evince the subtle intimacies of a son who has worked with his father for more than a decade, and his mannerisms make him seem more like a distant relative.

Goldsmith’s brief drama is a bit repetitive, but he does strike the often cruel truth: that sons and fathers are sometimes bitter rivals and to break free, a son must somehow metaphorically defeat his father.

Asaad Kelada’s direction doesn’t lift Astor’s performance to a believable height. Astor’s never a true adversary for Saxon’s manipulating screamer, but Saxon is riveting as he bristles with the explosive energy and aching humor of a father who is always a businessman first.

BE THERE

“Talk About Money,” Tiffany Theater, 8532 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood. Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 p.m. Ends Dec. 6. $27.50-$32.50. (310) 289-2999. Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes.