#1
Posted: 1/6/10 at 5:54pm
Let's tell it like it is: Scarlett Johansson delivers the worst performance I've ever, EVER seen, and manages to bring down a very decent production of Arthur Miller's A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE, one of my very favorite plays.
It's a real feat to watch her give absolutely nothing to anyone around her and how they struggle to give back. Some succeed, others don't.
Liev Schreiber, god bless him, tries SO hard to provoke something out of her so that way HE could create a character, but comes up short. He has a great one opposite his colleagues, Jessica Hecht and Michael Cristofer, who are always reliable. But in trying to craft the other side of Eddie, the one who's in love with his niece, he's just given nothing. She's not flirtatious, she's not sexy (and in her costumes, she's just frumpy), so it's impossible for there to be any attraction. And that bit is clear from Schreiber.
Santino Fontana, on the other hand, manages to create a wonderful Rodolpho opposite Johansson's Catherine. Corey Stoll is also very strong.
Greg Mosher's production doesn't try to reinvent the wheel, and that's a good thing. A groundbreaking production? Not really, but it doesn't need to be. It's a solid production of a classic and the key moments work - and, even more remarkably, still illicit gasps, 50-odd years later.
It's just a shame that Schreiber, who could turn the phonebook into a gripping yarn, is brought down by his co-star. Actually, it's just a shame that his co-star is his co-star.
It's a real feat to watch her give absolutely nothing to anyone around her and how they struggle to give back. Some succeed, others don't.
Liev Schreiber, god bless him, tries SO hard to provoke something out of her so that way HE could create a character, but comes up short. He has a great one opposite his colleagues, Jessica Hecht and Michael Cristofer, who are always reliable. But in trying to craft the other side of Eddie, the one who's in love with his niece, he's just given nothing. She's not flirtatious, she's not sexy (and in her costumes, she's just frumpy), so it's impossible for there to be any attraction. And that bit is clear from Schreiber.
Santino Fontana, on the other hand, manages to create a wonderful Rodolpho opposite Johansson's Catherine. Corey Stoll is also very strong.
Greg Mosher's production doesn't try to reinvent the wheel, and that's a good thing. A groundbreaking production? Not really, but it doesn't need to be. It's a solid production of a classic and the key moments work - and, even more remarkably, still illicit gasps, 50-odd years later.
It's just a shame that Schreiber, who could turn the phonebook into a gripping yarn, is brought down by his co-star. Actually, it's just a shame that his co-star is his co-star.
Updated On: 1/6/10 at 05:54 PM
