#1
Posted: 2/12/08 at 11:14pm
Debbie Allen has directed the new revival of Tennessee Williams' classic drama, CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF, like it is an episode of a sitcom.
The audience was howling with laughter tonight. Allen has directed her ensemble -- with two exceptions who have seemed to escape this directorial choice bravely on their own -- to deliver every line for laughs, like one-liners, regardless of whether other characters on stage are in tears or are have just made life altering revelations.
Phylicia Rashad equals her recent CYMBELINE performance in level of campiness, and duplicates -- no, multiplies -- her characterizations from RAISIN IN THE SUN, GEM OF THE OCEAN and BERNARDA ALBA, to the point where the Big Mama we see on stage lends itself less to CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF than it does to "Big Momma" from Big Momma's House.
James Earl Jones is at the point in his career as an actor where, as listed in his bio long after his two Tony Awards, his most recognizable credits to today’s audience being that of the voice of Verizon, a role he played for 18 years, and the voice of Darth Vader in the Star Wars films, his audience receives every line as “James Earl Jones: The Character” as opposed to as a separate character he is trying to inhabit on stage in a specific play. The most serious lines get a laugh. Almost every line gets a laugh, in fact.
Terrence Howard fares beautifully in his stage debut. He starts out a bit restrained, but eventually turns out a Brick that works as remarkably potent contrast to Anika Noni Rose’s stage-stealer Maggie.
Anika Noni Rose is the reason to see this production. Act I is essentially a long monologue for Maggie, and from the instant she steps on stage, Ms. Rose has the audience’s enamored attention. She is charming, heartbreaking, and remarkably luminous with every move she makes, every emotion she exposes. This is a truly three-dimensional characterization in a production severely lacking much of a sense of humanity.
The production reads like one Sofia “Hell No!” line after another, and it is difficult to take many of the sensitive directions in which Williams’ play leads to in a very serious manner.
The set is beautiful, as are the costumes.
It was only the first preview of course, but from the audience’s reactions tonight, I can’t imagine Ms. Allen making any attempts to humanize her production from here on out, as the crowd was having a ball from start to finish.
The audience was howling with laughter tonight. Allen has directed her ensemble -- with two exceptions who have seemed to escape this directorial choice bravely on their own -- to deliver every line for laughs, like one-liners, regardless of whether other characters on stage are in tears or are have just made life altering revelations.
Phylicia Rashad equals her recent CYMBELINE performance in level of campiness, and duplicates -- no, multiplies -- her characterizations from RAISIN IN THE SUN, GEM OF THE OCEAN and BERNARDA ALBA, to the point where the Big Mama we see on stage lends itself less to CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF than it does to "Big Momma" from Big Momma's House.
James Earl Jones is at the point in his career as an actor where, as listed in his bio long after his two Tony Awards, his most recognizable credits to today’s audience being that of the voice of Verizon, a role he played for 18 years, and the voice of Darth Vader in the Star Wars films, his audience receives every line as “James Earl Jones: The Character” as opposed to as a separate character he is trying to inhabit on stage in a specific play. The most serious lines get a laugh. Almost every line gets a laugh, in fact.
Terrence Howard fares beautifully in his stage debut. He starts out a bit restrained, but eventually turns out a Brick that works as remarkably potent contrast to Anika Noni Rose’s stage-stealer Maggie.
Anika Noni Rose is the reason to see this production. Act I is essentially a long monologue for Maggie, and from the instant she steps on stage, Ms. Rose has the audience’s enamored attention. She is charming, heartbreaking, and remarkably luminous with every move she makes, every emotion she exposes. This is a truly three-dimensional characterization in a production severely lacking much of a sense of humanity.
The production reads like one Sofia “Hell No!” line after another, and it is difficult to take many of the sensitive directions in which Williams’ play leads to in a very serious manner.
The set is beautiful, as are the costumes.
It was only the first preview of course, but from the audience’s reactions tonight, I can’t imagine Ms. Allen making any attempts to humanize her production from here on out, as the crowd was having a ball from start to finish.
"Winning a Tony this year is like winning Best Attendance in third grade: no one will care but the winner and their mom."
-Kad
"I have also met him in person, and I find him to be quite funny actually. Arrogant and often misinformed, but still funny."
-bjh2114 (on Michael Riedel)
-Kad
"I have also met him in person, and I find him to be quite funny actually. Arrogant and often misinformed, but still funny."
-bjh2114 (on Michael Riedel)
Updated On: 2/12/08 at 11:14 PM
