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August 6, 2004
TT: Travels of a critic
As regular readers know, I saw two out-of-town plays last week, Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie, performed at Washington's Kennedy Center, and Noël Coward's Design for Living, performed at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in Massachusetts. I wrote about both in this morning's Wall Street Journal--enthusiastically.First, The Glass Menagerie, in which everything and everybody was good:
The Kennedy Center's "Tennessee Williams Explored" festival, which struck out last month with an unevenly cast "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," has covered itself in glory with Gregory Mosher's spare, unmannered production of "The Glass Menagerie." It's a winner in every way--not least because of Sally Field. Miscast movie stars have killed many a promising show, most recently last year's Broadway revival of "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," in which Ashley Judd crashed and fizzled. But Ms. Field, brief though her stage resume may be (she made her Broadway debut just two years ago in Edward Albee's "The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?"), plays the famously difficult role of Amanda Wingfield not in the overbearing fashion of a slumming celebrity but with the simplicity and directness of a true artist.
It helps, of course, that "The Glass Menagerie" is Williams' best play--to my mind, the only first-rate thing he wrote--and that Ms. Field is but one part of an evenly matched ensemble. I wish I had three times as much space in which to rave about Jason Butler Harner (Tom), Jennifer Dundas (Laura) and Corey Brill (the Gentleman Caller), each of whom brings something uniquely personal to Williams' autobiographical portrait of three lost souls trapped in a shabby St. Louis apartment, longing to change their pinched, cramped lives. For that matter, I'm half tempted to say that John Lee Beatty's set, a desert island of dark-brown drabness fenced in by rusty fire escapes and lit by the glaring neon signs of movie houses and dance halls, is as much the star of the show as any of the actors....
Design for Living had one weak link, but otherwise it was a delight:
Campbell Scott, who hasn't been seen on Broadway since 1988 (he's been busy making such fine films as "The Secret Lives of Dentists"), gives a performance worthy of Alfred Lunt, who created the role of Otto in 1933. Cracker-crisp and coolly witty, he hits the bull's-eye with every punch line. As Leo, Steven Weber makes no attempt to imitate Coward, opting instead for a Bertie Woosterish silly-ass tone that plays off nicely against Mr. Scott's suavity. Marisa Tomei, alas, is never quite right as Gilda--she seems at times to be doing Katharine Hepburn, and not very believably, either--but she's sufficiently decorative and doesn't get in the way. Stir in suitably elaborate sets by Hugh Landswehr and a solid supporting cast (Jack Gilpin is especially good as Ernest) and what do you get? Pure pleasure....
No link, so if you want to know what else I had to say, either buy today's Journal or subscribe to the online edition by going here.
Both shows close Sunday.
Posted August 6, 2004 12:05 PM
