Blethyn is British. The character is supposed to have a Southern American accent. A lot of the critics complained that Blethyn failed at capturing the accent and she sounded more like she was from Wales than the deep American South.
I personally disagreed with this. I thought her accent and performance were exceptional, and I never would have known she was British if someone didn't tell me.
Falco, on the other hand, failed at the accent, and her performance was terrible.
It was a shame, because it is such an important play, and rather than cast the right actress as Jessie, they let Edie Falco use the revival as her own vanity project.
"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)