What: A Broadway revival of Jon Robin Baitz's play about a family rocked by their adult daughter's upcoming memoir which reveals long-hidden secrets ... and leads to more revelations.
And? I saw the first Broadway run, about fifteen years ago, and over the course of this new production had my memory slowly jogged regarding upcoming revelations. It's well-acted, particularly Ed Harris as the patriarch Lyman. Lily Rabe has a very different take on Brooke, the catalyzer of the family catastrophe, than Rachel Griffiths, which affects the dynamic overall. Griffiths's Brooke was brittle and guarded but without the teeming warmth of Rabe. Either approach is valid, but it changes the nature of the audience's shifting loyalties. Overall a quality presentation of a solid play.
10/09/26: Night of January 16th
What: Ruth Stage presents Ayn Rand's courtroom drama, inspired by the death of Ivan Kreuger, in which a jury selected from the audience must vote on whether or not to convict the woman accused of his murder.
And? I'll confess I don't understand the meaning behind a number of director Theo Devaney's choices for this interpretation. Some things work very well: the ballet of Hannah Beemer's Lady Justice as she moves blind through the courtroom, the stillness of Christa B. Allen's Karen Andre in contrast to the almost frenetic movement of some of the witnesses. The sparseness of Tomas Calinao Correa's scenic design is effective as well with its floating chairs and podia but no actual physical grounding in a courtroom. The whole thing feels a bit like a dream, or a nightmare -- but here perhaps is where the vision loses me. There are a number of disparate elements that certainly feed the chaotic eclecticism of a nightmare but make very little story or metaphorical sense, like the prosecutor dressed as a dominatrix, the gradual undressing of both her and Karen (especially with no men onstage receiving the same treatment), the vision of the defense attorney as a hollow-eyed casino lounge sleeze, or cringing clerk Siegurd as a swaggering don with his peacoat draped elegantly over his shoulders. And of course the framing device of the cast as groaning, lumbering zombies awaiting their turn on the stand. I had hoped by the end of the production I would understand why, what statement was being made, but that did not happen. By and large these big swing choices distracted but did not fully obfuscate the play itself, but they still followed me home as unanswered questions.
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