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FRIDAY, MAY 04, 2018
THEATER: TENNESSEE WILLIAMS ON SIMMER
WITH "SUMMER AND SMOKE"
SUMMER AND SMOKE ** 1/2 out of ****
CLASSIC STAGE COMPAN Y
Right after the towering, never-to-be-repeated success of A Streetcar
Named Desire in 1947, playwright Tennessee Williams delivered a
prequel of sorts with Summer and Smoke . It told the story of how a
Blanche DuBois character might come to be.
Alma (Marin Ireland) is the daughter of a preacher who yearns for
artistic refinement and a superior existence, not to mention thehandsome but callow son of the doctor next door. Their friendshipremains just that, from a childhood fancy to adult recriminations, with
Alma unable to accept anything other than a "spiritual" bond while
John (Nathan Darrow) enjoys more earthly pleasures with every otherwoman in sight. Needless to say, when Alma approaches spinsterhoodand is finally ready to savor the sins of the flesh, John has reformedhimself and pairs off with a pretty young thing. Heartbroken and
bitter, Alma tosses herself at the first of what is sure to be a string of
traveling salesmen. The clanging bell of that streetcar can almost beheard in the distance.
Summer And Smoke shows Williams beginning to reshuffle his
obsessions -- damaged women, simmering desire, the stultifying
mores of a small town and above all self-deception -- to less and less
effect. The melodrama would be produced fitfully over the years,marking a notable artistic triumph for actress Geraldine Page butnever really finding an audience. Williams overhauled it completely in
1962, retitling it with the precious name of
The Eccentricities Of A
Nightingale. No matter.
Classic Stage Company and Transport Group have staged this flawedMICHAEL GILTZ AT WORK
Michael Giltz is a freelance writer
based in NYC and can be reached atmgiltz@pipeline.com
FAVORITE LINKS
Americablog
Five O'Clock Lightning baseball blogDeep Pop -- Lori Lakin's Blog
The Back Page -- Jason Page on ESPN
Radio
Cine-Blog -- George Robinson's Blog
Documents On Art & Cinema - Daryl
Chin's Blog
Brucie G's Wondrous Blog Of
Adventure and Mystery -- Bruce
Greenspan's Blog
BLOG ARCHIVE
► 2019 (7)
▼ 2018 (34)
► December (7)
work with admirable restraint. Anchored by two excellent
performances, it avoids the magnolia-scented hysterics Williams can
tempt actors with. By underplaying the tragedy, the pain cuts deeper
and more realistically. So you can pinpoint both the symmetrical
tidiness of the plotting and the more lurid details of the story, all
thanks to the lucid direction of Jack Cummings III. They can't makeSummer And Smoke a successful drama, but they do make this
production an interesting one.
Photo ©2018 by Carol Rosegg
Classic Stage Company's space always brings out the best in set
designers and that's true here for Dane Laffrey, who offers up a clean,
well-lighted space with minimal props like a picture of a statue and ananatomy chart to indicate a park or doctor's office. The costumes byKathryn Howe are also on point, not to mention the lighting (R. LeeKennedy), sound design (Walter Trarbach, never intrusive) and
effective original music by Michael John LaChiusa. It's a top-notch
creative team all around.
Which makes it a shame that lesser roles are handled with less
aplomb. I blame the script by Williams and director Cummings.
Numerous lurid details litter the story and the less they're emphasizedthe better. Alma has a troubled mother and a dour minister father. Butin one scene her mother (Barbara Walsh) seems like a woman-child,perhaps the sufferer of a stroke or special needs. In another, she's a
truth-telling harridan, fully in command of her senses. So which is it?
Walsh and T. Ryder Smith as the Rev. seem to flounder. The less saidabout the "exotic" lure of a Mexican temptress and her gangster fatherthe better. But if those scenes couldn't be trimmed or cut somehow(like Williams I was immediately tempted to fix this show), Cummings
might have encouraged a lower key from the actors trapped in those
roles. Further, an unnecessary opening scene shows Alma and John aschildren and the show makes the fatal mistake of "playing" them aschildren, complete with exaggerated vocal performances. It's a misstepthat takes a good scene or two for the production to recover from.
In contrast, Hannah Elless as Nellie and Tina Johnson (very amusing
as a blunt townswoman) are both strong and Jonathan Spivey and► November (4)
► October (6)
► September (1)
▼ May (5)
THEATER: BROADWAY BY
THE YEAR -- 1956 AND 1975
THEATER: "MY FAIR LADY"
SAYS #METOO!
THEATER: TENNESSEE
WILLIAMS ON SIMMER
WITH "SUMMER...
THEATER: "TRAVESTIES" IS
NOT
THEATER: 'SAINT JOAN"
LACKS FIRE
► April (6)
► March (4)
► February (1)
► 2017 (6)
► 2016 (2)
► 2015 (14)
► 2014 (2)
► 2013 (5)
► 2012 (18)
► 2011 (15)
► 2010 (10)
► 2009 (43)
► 2008 (86)
► 2007 (781)
► 2006 (2412)
► 2005 (5)
Ryan Spahn are good in modest parts. Spivey underplays the sad sack
nature of his also-ran love interest and Spahn underplays the
potentially lecherous role of the salesman which is all to the best.
Still, that's a lot of problematic characters and performances that
Cummings should have and could have focused better. The marvel is
how -- despite all this and the essential flaws of the play -- that thetwo leads prove to be memorable. John Buchanan convinces as ascoundrel and ne'er do well, without ever exaggerating his prodigal son
nature. He's lost but not forever, a bad boy but not really bad, not
really. Yes, Alma wants to redeem him and he wants to wake her up,but you aren't forced into Greek tragedy by seeing them spar.Buchanan's charisma grounds the show as much as the heroine.
Somehow I've missed the acclaimed Ireland in all but a few stage
productions. She's marvelous here. You can't tackle a Williams heroinewithout some eccentricity, but Ireland never tilts into the grotesque.You're always on the side of Alma -- even if she frustrates, you don't sitthere thinking what on God's green earth could this man see in her?
I'd hate to see Summer And Smoke with two lesser actors in these
parts. And I'd hate not to see Ireland in whatever she does next. Her
Alma is sinking slowly at the end. The salesman agrees to a trip to thelocal casino (a den of inequity if ever there was one) and Ireland flingsup her arm in a game attempt at high spirits. Yes, it will become sad
and sordid all too soon for Alma. But Ireland lets you feel the deluded
romantic in her is still alive, still open to the possibility of magic, evenin a hotel room, even if for just one night. And for a moment, SummerAnd Smoke conjures a little magic too.
THEATER OF 2018
Homelife/The Zoo Story (at Signature) *** out of ****
Escape To Margaritaville **
Broadway By The Year: 1947 and 1966 ***
Lobby Hero ***
Frozen **
Rocktopia *
Angels in America ** 1/2
Mean Girls ** 1/2
The Sting **
Mlima's Tale ** 1/2
Children Of A Lesser God ** 1/2
Sancho: An Act Of Remembrance ** 1/2
The Metromaniacs ***
Summer: The Donna Summer Musical *
The Seafarer **
Henry V (Public Mobile Unit w Zenzi Williams) * 1/2
Saint Joan **
Travesties *** 1/2
Summer and Smoke ** 1/2
POSTED BY MICHAEL GILTZ AT 6:22 PM
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FRIDAY, MAY 04, 2018
THEATER: TENNESSEE WILLIAMS ON SIMMER
WITH "SUMMER AND SMOKE"
SUMMER AND SMOKE ** 1/2 out of ****
CLASSIC STAGE COMPAN Y
Right after the towering, never-to-be-repeated success of A Streetcar
Named Desire in 1947, playwright Tennessee Williams delivered a
prequel of sorts with Summer and Smoke . It told the story of how a
Blanche DuBois character might come to be.
Alma (Marin Ireland) is the daughter of a preacher who yearns for
artistic refinement and a superior existence, not to mention thehandsome but callow son of the doctor next door. Their friendshipremains just that, from a childhood fancy to adult recriminations, with
Alma unable to accept anything other than a "spiritual" bond while
John (Nathan Darrow) enjoys more earthly pleasures with every otherwoman in sight. Needless to say, when Alma approaches spinsterhoodand is finally ready to savor the sins of the flesh, John has reformedhimself and pairs off with a pretty young thing. Heartbroken and
bitter, Alma tosses herself at the first of what is sure to be a string of
traveling salesmen. The clanging bell of that streetcar can almost beheard in the distance.
Summer And Smoke shows Williams beginning to reshuffle his
obsessions -- damaged women, simmering desire, the stultifying
mores of a small town and above all self-deception -- to less and less
effect. The melodrama would be produced fitfully over the years,marking a notable artistic triumph for actress Geraldine Page butnever really finding an audience. Williams overhauled it completely in
1962, retitling it with the precious name of
The Eccentricities Of A
Nightingale. No matter.
Classic Stage Company and Transport Group have staged this flawedMICHAEL GILTZ AT WORK
Michael Giltz is a freelance writer
based in NYC and can be reached atmgiltz@pipeline.com
FAVORITE LINKS
Americablog
Five O'Clock Lightning baseball blogDeep Pop -- Lori Lakin's Blog
The Back Page -- Jason Page on ESPN
Radio
Cine-Blog -- George Robinson's Blog
Documents On Art & Cinema - Daryl
Chin's Blog
Brucie G's Wondrous Blog Of
Adventure and Mystery -- Bruce
Greenspan's Blog
BLOG ARCHIVE
► 2019 (7)
▼ 2018 (34)
► December (7)
work with admirable restraint. Anchored by two excellent
performances, it avoids the magnolia-scented hysterics Williams can
tempt actors with. By underplaying the tragedy, the pain cuts deeper
and more realistically. So you can pinpoint both the symmetrical
tidiness of the plotting and the more lurid details of the story, all
thanks to the lucid direction of Jack Cummings III. They can't makeSummer And Smoke a successful drama, but they do make this
production an interesting one.
Photo ©2018 by Carol Rosegg
Classic Stage Company's space always brings out the best in set
designers and that's true here for Dane Laffrey, who offers up a clean,
well-lighted space with minimal props like a picture of a statue and ananatomy chart to indicate a park or doctor's office. The costumes byKathryn Howe are also on point, not to mention the lighting (R. LeeKennedy), sound design (Walter Trarbach, never intrusive) and
effective original music by Michael John LaChiusa. It's a top-notch
creative team all around.
Which makes it a shame that lesser roles are handled with less
aplomb. I blame the script by Williams and director Cummings.
Numerous lurid details litter the story and the less they're emphasizedthe better. Alma has a troubled mother and a dour minister father. Butin one scene her mother (Barbara Walsh) seems like a woman-child,perhaps the sufferer of a stroke or special needs. In another, she's a
truth-telling harridan, fully in command of her senses. So which is it?
Walsh and T. Ryder Smith as the Rev. seem to flounder. The less saidabout the "exotic" lure of a Mexican temptress and her gangster fatherthe better. But if those scenes couldn't be trimmed or cut somehow(like Williams I was immediately tempted to fix this show), Cummings
might have encouraged a lower key from the actors trapped in those
roles. Further, an unnecessary opening scene shows Alma and John aschildren and the show makes the fatal mistake of "playing" them aschildren, complete with exaggerated vocal performances. It's a misstepthat takes a good scene or two for the production to recover from.
In contrast, Hannah Elless as Nellie and Tina Johnson (very amusing
as a blunt townswoman) are both strong and Jonathan Spivey and► November (4)
► October (6)
► September (1)
▼ May (5)
THEATER: BROADWAY BY
THE YEAR -- 1956 AND 1975
THEATER: "MY FAIR LADY"
SAYS #METOO!
THEATER: TENNESSEE
WILLIAMS ON SIMMER
WITH "SUMMER...
THEATER: "TRAVESTIES" IS
NOT
THEATER: 'SAINT JOAN"
LACKS FIRE
► April (6)
► March (4)
► February (1)
► 2017 (6)
► 2016 (2)
► 2015 (14)
► 2014 (2)
► 2013 (5)
► 2012 (18)
► 2011 (15)
► 2010 (10)
► 2009 (43)
► 2008 (86)
► 2007 (781)
► 2006 (2412)
► 2005 (5)
Ryan Spahn are good in modest parts. Spivey underplays the sad sack
nature of his also-ran love interest and Spahn underplays the
potentially lecherous role of the salesman which is all to the best.
Still, that's a lot of problematic characters and performances that
Cummings should have and could have focused better. The marvel is
how -- despite all this and the essential flaws of the play -- that thetwo leads prove to be memorable. John Buchanan convinces as ascoundrel and ne'er do well, without ever exaggerating his prodigal son
nature. He's lost but not forever, a bad boy but not really bad, not
really. Yes, Alma wants to redeem him and he wants to wake her up,but you aren't forced into Greek tragedy by seeing them spar.Buchanan's charisma grounds the show as much as the heroine.
Somehow I've missed the acclaimed Ireland in all but a few stage
productions. She's marvelous here. You can't tackle a Williams heroinewithout some eccentricity, but Ireland never tilts into the grotesque.You're always on the side of Alma -- even if she frustrates, you don't sitthere thinking what on God's green earth could this man see in her?
I'd hate to see Summer And Smoke with two lesser actors in these
parts. And I'd hate not to see Ireland in whatever she does next. Her
Alma is sinking slowly at the end. The salesman agrees to a trip to thelocal casino (a den of inequity if ever there was one) and Ireland flingsup her arm in a game attempt at high spirits. Yes, it will become sad
and sordid all too soon for Alma. But Ireland lets you feel the deluded
romantic in her is still alive, still open to the possibility of magic, evenin a hotel room, even if for just one night. And for a moment, SummerAnd Smoke conjures a little magic too.
THEATER OF 2018
Homelife/The Zoo Story (at Signature) *** out of ****
Escape To Margaritaville **
Broadway By The Year: 1947 and 1966 ***
Lobby Hero ***
Frozen **
Rocktopia *
Angels in America ** 1/2
Mean Girls ** 1/2
The Sting **
Mlima's Tale ** 1/2
Children Of A Lesser God ** 1/2
Sancho: An Act Of Remembrance ** 1/2
The Metromaniacs ***
Summer: The Donna Summer Musical *
The Seafarer **
Henry V (Public Mobile Unit w Zenzi Williams) * 1/2
Saint Joan **
Travesties *** 1/2
Summer and Smoke ** 1/2
POSTED BY MICHAEL GILTZ AT 6:22 PM
NO COMMENTS:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)Newer Post Older Post Home