I saw the production last night and I thoroughly agree with Brantley's assessment. I don't, however, believe that Cerveris was so bad. He was simply doing his best trapped in this extremely misguided production. At least he appeared to be putting some effort into his characterization and providing motivations to develop a full character arc. Parker was terrible, though. I once thought she could do no wrong on stage. The woman should just stay far away from period pieces. She is brilliant naturalistic stage actress, and she needs to stick to modern works. A similar misstep that comes to mind is the modern stage actress Cynthia Nixon who attempted to step outside of her comfort zone with THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE a few seasons ago and failed miserably. Some actors are just meant to do modern plays, and just don't have the range to delve into the classics.
"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)