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quinn222 at 04:55am on 21/11/2006
quinn222 at 04:55am on 21/11/2006Not So Hot
Tennessee Williams' "Suddenly Last Summer"swirls around a dog-eat-dog death match. In one corner: Violet Venable,monstrous, rich and ready to do something awful to protect the pretty fiction she's created about her dead son, Sebastian. In the other corner: her fragile niece Catharine Holly, who knows the facts about homosexual cousin Sebastian - how he lived and the gory way he died.Violet wants the woman lobotomized to cut away those truths.
Tennessee Williams' "Suddenly Last Summer"swirls around a dog-eat-dog death match. In one corner: Violet Venable,monstrous, rich and ready to do something awful to protect the pretty fiction she's created about her dead son, Sebastian. In the other corner: her fragile niece Catharine Holly, who knows the facts about homosexual cousin Sebastian - how he lived and the gory way he died.Violet wants the woman lobotomized to cut away those truths.
Williams may not be at his best in this 1958 melodrama, but he's at his most overwrought and overripe. Which is why it takes two top-notch performances to make the thing tick. As such, Mark Brokaw's production for the Roundabout Theatre Company, running through Jan. 14 at the Laura Pels Theatre, 111 W. 46th St., disappoints. Carla Gugino's lush beauty and extravagant performance makes her hypnotic as Catharine. But Blythe Danner lacks fire and ferocity - a shrunken Violet, all but swallowed up by Santo Loquasto's fussy costumes and overblown set. In the thankless role of the doctor, Gale Harold, as required by thescript, is simply handsome and blond.
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*ponders*
Re: *ponders*
Yes it can.
It's a commercial success, and sometimes it's more important than artistic one. What am I saying, it is the only one that counts in our world ;)
Re: *ponders*
Re: *ponders*
a production that rises and falls on reviews. It's not
a musical or a mainstream comedy. It's a production of
a rarely done and very difficult minor play by a major
playwright. The fact that it's basically sold out is
a coup for the theater company. Blythe Danner and Carla
Gugino get juicy roles and Gale gets seen and has his
name connected to a quality production. In NYC bad reviews
are really the norm (Frank Rich as the Butcher of
Broadway, anyone?). People in the theater take them as
a given, believe me. I'm sure Danner isn't losing
any sleep over them and neither is Gale (although that
bong hit before bed always helps!).
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he's handsome in a thankless role. That's what
he needs to be and that's what he is.
Seriously, do you think that CowLip cast Gale
as Brian Kinney for his finely honed acting
chops? Nope. They hired him for his looks,
his height, his sex appeal, his charisma.
That he grew into the role and made it much
more than what was on the page in almost every
scene he was in is a testament to what he
can do if he's given a chance -- and room to
grow. This play doesn't offer that and isn't
meant to. With "Vanished" we saw only sparks
of what he might have done with the role if
he wasn't required to yell "Clear!" and be
exploded in every ep.
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