I saw it last night and thought it was OK but somewhat disappointing. The cuts were too severe, in my view. To me, it seemed like someone decided that there were certain "major points" that had to be touched on, and any variations on those points could, with a couple of exceptions, be safely eliminated.
Gaines' big speech suffered the most -- unless my memory is really failing me, they basically eliminated his whole borderline eugenicist argument about breeding cows, poodles who can do tricks, etc.
Also, I missed some of the Jesus parallels that were removed, like in the final scene where Gaines's character (as written) says that he'll need at least 12 students (echoing the number of apostles) for his new school.
And the absence of his sons from the final scene, with new dialogue about how they're in their rooms recuperating after fist-fights, was a weakness, because Gaines was merely talking about the children in the third-person rather than addressing them and getting responses from them. To me, it came across as a change that was obviously made for the sake of saving money and effort in the production, even though the presence of a very young, new generation is a crucial aspect of the play's conclusion.
Also, I didn't really care for the lead performances, which surprised me, because I usually like both Gaines and Thomas.
Updated On: 9/27/12 at 08:31 PM