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Past Reviews Regional Reviews: Seattle Ascendant Orpheus Descending Also see David's review of Wicked
Orpheus Descending might well have been Williams' first Broadway show, but it was halted on its road there (under the title Battle of Angels), closing due to a theatre fire during the Boston run. It had the briefest of Broadway runs when it did arrive (68 performances) in 1957, and then was revised and retitled again in the starry 1959 The Fugitive Kind film with Marlon Brando, Anna Magnani, and Joanne Woodward before returning to the Broadway stage in a Peter Hall directed version starring Vanessa Redgrave, and filmed in 1990. The familiar Williams hallmarks, a Southern setting and intense character monologues of memory of times past, are here, but this early work is more in line with his later plays and one-acts, less realistic and more experimental. The play is a modern retelling of the ancient Greek Orpheus legend and deals, in the most elemental fashion, with the power of passion, art, and imagination to redeem and revitalize life, giving it new meaning. The tale is set in a dry goods store in a small Southern town where conformity, sexual frustration, narrowness, and racism reign. Valentine Xavier, a young man with a guitar, a snakeskin jacket, a questionable past, and palpable erotic energy and appeal, is the play's catalyst. He gets a job in the store run by an Italian-American woman named Lady, whose elderly husband is dying. Lady has a past and passions of her own. She finds herself attracted to Val and to the possibility of new life he seems to offer, in contrast to her loveless marriage and boring, small-town life. With humor, sadness, regret and incomparably poetic dialogue, Williams spins a tragic tale with horrific consequences for its main characters. Director Purcell turns convention on its ear, and makes a potentially lumbering Southern Gothic tale burst with new life. Most of the actors are young for their roles, and cast non-traditionally, with men playing women, African Americans as bigoted Southern archetypes—the effect is bracing. Charlie Thurston as Val brings a softer air to the role than one might expect, but it is not hard to see why the townswomen and the much hurt and susceptible Lady are won over by his understated charms. Thurston also handles his vocal and instrumental chores admirably (a guitar being played in this production by an accordion). Kemiyondo Coutinho is alluringly lovely, and makes her character's shifts of mood utterly convincing. Nearly stealing the show as one of the principal townsbiddies Beulah is a radiant actress named Tiffany Nichole Greene. Her nuanced recounting of the rise and fall of Lady's father's vineyards paints a picture that I can only describe as cinematic. Another dynamic performance is given by Elise LeBreton as Carol Cutrere, the black sheep daughter of a preeminent town clan. LeBreton takes a character that could stray into stereotype and makes her vulnerable and pitiable, despite her excesses. In multiple roles there is fine work by Grant Chapman (a particular delight as gadfly Dolly Hamma, a crony of Beulah's), Rebecca Gibel (notably as painter Vee Talbot), Richard Prioleau (a formidable Nurse Porter), and Max Rosenak (a standout as the Conjure Man). Purcell's staging has people all over the house, which is staged in ¾ format. There is something electric about actors directing Williams' words directly to you, sometimes literally in your face. A scene of pandemonium with the town harpies run wild will long stay in my memory of vivid and electric theatrical Many thanks to Intiman for sharing their mission with this exciting young company. I greatly look forward to seeing future Williams Project endeavors. With any luck the milk train may even stop here one day soon! Orpheus Descending, a production of The Williams Project, performs at 12th Avenue Arts as a part of the Intiman Theatre Festival through August 2nd, 2015. For tickets or information contact the box office at 206-315-5835 or visit them online at www.intiman.org.
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