Did Critics Think Sons Offered Its All?Last evening, Broadway's second revival of of
Arthur Miller's
All My Sons opened at the
Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre. Helmed by
Simon McBurney, the productions stars
John Lithgow,
Dianne Wiest,
Patrick Wilson and
Katie Holmes.
Most critics were taken with the high-concept approach offered by McBurney, with one notable exception.
Praising the show as a "striking new production,"
Joe Dziemianowicz of New York's
Daily News awards four out of five stars: "Lithgow is outstanding as the conflicted family man whose self-interest proves his undoing. He seems to evoke every stage of grief as Keller's life crumbles before him. As his devoted wife, Wiest marvelously conveys steel beneath Kate's soft-focus eyes and deep-set denial, while Wilson shows he's more than just apple-pie handsome in his highly emotional and physical performance in the shattering showdown. Holmes, a TV and film vet, makes a fine Broadway debut."
Heralding
All My Sons as "a commanding illustration of the power of theater and a searing drama,"
Variety's
David Rooney also praises: "McBurney acknowledges those diverse traditions as well as more experimental forms. He shows us the tricks and mechanics of theater, uses film devices like underscoring and projections to intensify drama or foster evocative connections, and coaxes layered interpretations from the actors that embrace grandiose, melodramatic theatricality on the surface while scratching away underneath to uncover the characters' wounded humanity in painfully real terms. There's no playing it safe here on any level, yet the complex approach feels organic -- every unconventional touch serves to break open the drama, not simply to embellish it. Some no doubt will find the treatment overwrought, but like it or not, this is far more interesting than another reverential remount."
Saying "This really shouldn't work, but it does,"
Newsday's
Linda Winer joins in the positive notices: "John Lithgow and Dianne Wiest are shattering as Joe and Kate Keller.... The real news, however, is the high-concept rethinking by director Simon McBurney. This should be a stylistic hodgepodge, but, miraculously, the fusion honors the Ibsen-inspired moral authority of early Miller, the distancing modern techniques of Brecht and the special effects of an old-time Hollywood melodrama. We are warned from the prologue, which Miller never wrote."
Citing McBurney's staging as "unexpectedly effective,"
Clive Barnes of
New York Post offers two and a half stars: "A starry cast has been assembled to yell their lungs out.... The fault lies not with them but with the play.... [T]oo much of the acting is two-dimensional, at best. Lithgow starts in a sunny, benign fashion, but eventually finds himself screeching alongside Holmes, looking tough under a glossy wig, and the all-American Wilson. In all of this emotional clutter, the finest performance comes from Wiest, a silent pool of grief in a most touching portrayal of woe."
Calling McBurney's work an "intriguing but disconnected interpretation,"
Ben Brantley of
The New York Times is a bit more incisive: "The preview performance I saw of this one left me stone cold, despite some electric moments from a very fine Mr. Lithgow and Mr. Wilson. The very different leading actresses -- the stage veteran Ms. Wiest and the neophyte Ms. Holmes, in her Broadway debut -- are sad casualties of Mr. McBurney’s high-concept approach.... Mostly this vaunting interpretation falls into that same limbo between intention and execution where so many of Miller’s baffled American souls find themselves."
After carefully reading each of these reviews, I must say that I've never agreed more with Ben Brantley than I have in his critique. You'll find my own SOB Review by clicking
here.
This limited run of
All My Sons is currently slated to close on January 11, 2009.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Labels: All My Sons, Arthur Miller, Ben Brantley, Broadway, Critics' Capsule, Dianne Wiest, John Lithgow, Katie Holmes, Patrick Wilson, Play, Revival, Simon McBurney
All My Sons (The SOB Review) - Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre, New York, NY** (out of ****)There's an insidious little secret in
Simon McBurney's revival of
Arthur Miller's
All My Sons.
No, it's not that Joe Keller (
John Lithgow) may or may not have purposely sold faulty plane parts to the U.S. military during World War II. Instead, it's that McBurney has layered on the histrionics so high that the brilliance of Miller's original script is largely obscured and only peeks through near the end.
All natural elements of surprise are removed, thanks in no small part to the sound design offered by
Christopher Shutt and
Carolyn Downing. Their underlying music betrays the production with its impending sense of doom.
With the staging itself, McBurney seems to be going for an
Our Town motif. Yet it screams small town theatricality (think "
Waiting For Guffman") or even satire. It's exacerbated whenever its female leads,
Dianne Wiest (as Joe's wife Kate) and
Katie Holmes (as Ann, the fiancée of Joe and Kate's MIA son), take to the stage.
Where the women reign supreme in the current revival of
The Seagull, it's the men of
All My Sons who are left to do the heavy lifting. Lithgow and
Patrick Wilson as the Kellers' son Chris offer affecting, nuanced performances. Sad to say, there's nothing subtle about Wiest's surprisingly over-the-top performance. As for Holmes, well, she's a decent enough actress, but when Ann should be demure, Holmes is full-throttled and stays in the same gear throughout.
All My Sons still ranks as one of my all-time favorite plays. Maybe someday, we'll have another chance to see a production that just lets the story unfold more naturally.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Labels: All My Sons, Arthur Miller, Broadway, Dianne Wiest, John Lithgow, Katie Holmes, Patrick Wilson, Play, Revival, Simon McBurney, The SOB Review
Third Generation Sons Opening TonightThis evening, the third Broadway revival of of
Arthur Miller's seminal classic
All My Sons opens at the
Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre.
Directed by
Simon McBurney, this latest incarnation of the post-war play -- which
originally graced a Main Stem stage in 1947, just two years after the close of World War II -- stars
John Lithgow as Joe Keller,
Dianne Wiest as his wife Kate,
Patrick Wilson as their son Chris, and
Katie Holmes as the fiancée of their other son.
Will critics take to this latest retelling? Find out tomorrow as I provide a snapshot of their reviews in my critics' capsule.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Labels: All My Sons, Arthur Miller, Broadway, Dianne Wiest, John Lithgow, Katie Holmes, Opening Night, Patrick Wilson, Play, Revival, Simon McBurney
Broadway Preview: All My SonsThe way recent news reports have been dissecting the upcoming Broadway revival of
Arthur Miller's seminal classic
All My Sons, you could be forgiven for thinking this was
all about Mrs.
Tom Cruise. Seems tickets just aren't selling to average Joes the way ticket brokers anticipated.
Indeed,
Katie Holmes, who has to her credit earned such dubious honors as an MTV Movie Award and a
Razzie Award, is making her much discussed Broadway debut. Alas, she's no
Nicole Kidman.
But if you ask me, the real news in this
Simon McBurney-helmed revival is that three of the stage's brightest stars are taking on some of the meatiest roles in their careers.
Three-time Tony and four-time Emmy Award winner
John Lithgow is taking on the play's shamefully conflicted father Joe Keller. Try as this character might, he's hardly your average Joe. This will mark Lithgow's 20th Main Stem production. I've had the pleasure of seeing Lithgow in a number of roles that demonstrate his incredible range, including his Tony-winning turn as J.J. Hunsecker in the underappreciated dark musical
Sweet Smell Of Success (2002); as a detached husband named Edward opposite
Eileen Atkins' Alice in
The Retreat From Moscow (2003-04); and most recently in his Tony-nominated role as suave con man Lawrence opposite
Norbert Leo Butz's Tony-winning turn as Freddy in
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (2005-06).
Portraying Joe Keller's wife Kate will be two-time Oscar and one-time Emmy Award winning actress
Dianne Wiest, whom I last saw in
Estelle Parsons' 2003 Rialto revival of
Oscar Wilde's
Salome alongside
Al Pacino,
David Strathairn and
Marisa Tomei.
All My Sons serves as Wiest's eighth Great White Way production.
Finally, two-time Tony nominee
Patrick Wilson will assume the role of Joe and Kate's son Chris. I've seen Wilson tread the Broadway boards in both of his nominated roles: first as Jeff Lukowski in the Americanized musical version of
The Full Monty (2001) and then as Curly in the 2002 revival of
Oklahoma! All My Sons will be Wilson's fifth credit in a full-fledged Broadway production.
As for the play itself,
All My Sons ranks as my personal favorite Arthur Miller work, and certainly would be on my list of all-time favorite stage shows. In fact, when
All My Sons was first produced on Broadway sixty-one years ago, Miller won the Tony for Best Author. Helmed by
Elia Kazan (who would win the Tony for this work), that production starred
Ed Begley,
Arthur Kennedy and
Karl Malden. That incarnation would run for 328 performances.
The only other time
All My Sons was ever revived on Broadway was in 1987 at the
John Golden Theatre. Although it would only enjoy 31 regular performances, the production went on to score the Tony for Best Revival of a Play, while its star
Richard Kiley also earned a Tony nomination.
Previews for the new revival of
All My Sons begin on September 18 at the
Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre, with opening night scheduled for October 16. The limited run is slated to end January 11, 2009. Almost in spite of Katie Holmes, I'm making this revival a priority to see.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Click here for tickets.Related Stories:Broadway Preview: A Man For All Seasons (July 3, 2008)
Broadway Preview: To Be Or Not To Be (July 2, 2008)
Broadway Preview: The Seagull (July 1, 2008)
Broadway Preview: Equus (June 30, 2008)
Broadway Preview: A Tale Of Two Cities (June 28, 2008)
Broadway Preview: for colored girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow is enuf (June 25, 2008)
Broadway Preview: [title of show] (June 24, 2008)
Broadway: What's Next (June 20, 2008)
All My Sons Revival Bound For Broadway (September 7, 2007)
Redford Ready To Return For Right Role? (October 20, 2006)
Flashback: Best of 2002-03 (May 25, 2006)
Labels: All My Sons, Arthur Miller, Broadway, Dianne Wiest, John Lithgow, Katie Holmes, Patrick Wilson, Play, Revival, Simon McBurney
