I'm just back from today's matinee, and I'd say that it's definitely getting there. The nearly three hours sailed by with relative smoothness. The production is far from flawless, but it has a lot going for it; chiefly, Ben Daniels as Valmont. He truly is a stage animal. He was able to project the appropriate raw sexuality that the role requires without going overboard; hardly the easier bargain to negociate with a role like this. I've seen it done in a very chewy manner before, but Daniel handled it perfectly, with the right balance of abandon and restraint. I think he'll be a major Tony contender.
My main quibbles have to do with some of Rufus Norris' directorial choices. Several scenes that are meant to illuminate the chemistry and sexual tension between Valmont and The Marquise fall flat simply because there's a peculiar physical distance between Daniels and Laura Linney. They deliver their lines in a kind of "stand and pose" style that you'd expect to see in grand opera of yesteryear. They face the audience when they speak rather than looking at each other. Despite the best efforts of the performers, very few sparks fly.
Linney was extremely solid and manipulative. While the role might not be a perfect fit, she has an immeasurable presence that makes her utterly watchable. Sian Phillips was another standout. Mamie Gummer was embarrassingly bad; I've seen better acting in community theatre. No presence, weak voice, and doesn't know how to use her body. You begin to forget about her even when she's right in front of you. Jessica Collins also seemed oddly disconnected from the action Madame de Tourvel, although her chemistry with Daniels was strong.
Great lighting, but the set by Scott Pask was a touch dull. It's essentially the same six pieces of furniture endlessly being rearranged. The incidental music seemed to come in at rather inoppurtune times.
Overall, if I were to use the "A to F" grading scale, I'd say that the production is in B- territory.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
