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Regional Reviews: New Jersey Meet the Vivacious Pamela Harriman Swimming at the Ritz
The sumptuous Judith Hawking, bearing a striking resemblance to the widow Harriman, delivers a stunning and vivacious performance in the role. Initially, as she prattles on about her preparation as a socialite's daughter to be a desirable and valuable lady of high society, Pamela is glib and shallow. However, as the details of her affairs with and marriages to a plethora of men of great wealth and variable substance emerge, the account of her determination to provide honest value and her exceptional talent to do so are conveyed with an insouciance and joie de vivre that is irresistible. Thus, Hawking and her author make us admire and delight in a woman whose materialism and extravagance under other circumstances would be found deplorable. Christopher Daftsios is delightfully amusing as Pietro. Although this broadly comic role is played to the hilt by Daftsios, the rapacious, somewhat incompetent concierge to the rich is, certainly by 1995, closer to reality than Ralph Fiennes' idealized concierge in The Grand Budapest Hotel. New Jersey Rep and director SuzAnne Barabas have given us a grand production boasting maximum style and flair. Her exceptional direction is enabled and abetted by her ideal casting and the top notch work of her design team. Scenic designer Jessica Parks, whose consistently impressive sets have provided a treasure trove of delights for New Jersey Rep audiences, has transformed the narrow stage of this 65-seat theatre into an lived-in, luxuriously elegant hotel residence. She has stripped away the façade above the stage, extending the height of the stage to the building ceiling and, in the process, exposing the overhead lighting grid which extends forward of the stage. Resultantly, the eye is tricked into perceiving that it is viewing a large, enveloping proscenium stage. Although by this time, we should be beyond being surprised by anything that Parks might achieve it is an astonishing effect given the confines of the theatre. The flattering luxurious costumes designed for Hawking by Patricia E. Doherty and the lush lighting design of Jill Nagle are superb. Pamela Harriman had affairs with Averell Harriman, Jock Whitney, Bill Paley, Edward R. Murrow, Ali Kahn, Fiat heir Gianni Agnelli, and Elie de Rothschild among a number of other men of great wealth. She was married to Randolph Churchill (son of Winston), Broadway producer Leland Heyward and, ultimately, Averell Harriman. Following her marriage to Harriman, she became a major organizer and fundraiser for the Democratic Party. After his death, Pamela served as U.S. Ambassador to France in the Clinton administration until her death in 1997. Ambassador Pamela Harriman succumbed to a cerebral hemorrhage at age 76 while swimming at the Ritz. Swimming at the Ritz continues performances (Evenings: Thursday - Saturday 8 pm / Sunday 7 pm/ Matinees: Saturday 3 pm/ Sunday 2 pm) through February 1, 2015, at New Jersey Repertory Company, 179 Broadway, Long Branch, New Jersey 07740; box office: 732-229-3166; online: www.njrep.org. Swimming at the Ritz (American Premiere) by Charles Leipart; directed by SuzAnne Barabas Cast |
