Of course, if Allison Janney couldn't sell the show, Ziemba definitely couldn't have either...
I had a friend in Ziemba's production at The Old Globe--which, like Janney's on Broadway, was directed by Trip Cullman. I went in skeptical because I thought her middle America warmth was all wrong for Ouisa. And, in some ways, it was. But it paid off in unexpected ways. Her sense of longing was palpable. She was desperate for human connection, a quality that I think is the subtext of Channing's performance in the film. But Ziemba wore her heart on her sleeve. Ouisa's storyline was no longer about a woman who is defrosted by her experience with Paul (which is what I get from Channing in the film), but a woman who learns to accept own humanity and vulnerability.
And her realization that she and Flann (an absolutely perfect Thomas Jay Ryan--who ALSO should have done the show on Broadway) were a terrible match was heartbreaking. You saw a woman's entire understanding of her life shattered. |
