This is a dazzling production. I saw it Wednesday. The stage is filled with pros doing top-drawer pro work. Everyone is cast perfectly. Even Bill Irwin is perfect.
The sets are spectacular and add a degree of magic to the development of the richness of the script -- and changes in the internal lives of the characters -- that I have never seen or imagined with this play. There was some minor tinkering with the ending, but as directed it's a knockout. Wolfe handles some clumsy aspects of the script in brilliant ways. Sometimes I wonder if O'Neill visualized the staging problems with this script. There are long stretches when the stage is filled with characters who do nothing and at the same time are not supposed to be aware of the central action. Weird, but handled well here.
With all these great performances (and any one of those actors could have played Hickey) and the performances in Angels, the most hotly contested category at this year's Tonys will be Best Supporting Actor. How will they narrow it down to five?
Denzel is Denzel. He has a bag of tricks that he puts to great use here. There is a darkness missing, I think. But that will probably come.
My only disappointment? After seeing David Greenspan do all the parts in Strange Interlude, seeing Denzel doing only one part seems almost like a cheat. (Greenspan had no prompter.) |
