God Of Carnage (The SOB Revisit)
God Of Carnage (The SOB Revisit) - Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre, New York, New York***1/2 (out of ****)
Late yesterday, it was announced that the closing for Yazmina Reza's God Of Carnage -- last year's Tony Award-winning Best Play -- would be advanced to June 6.
What a pity, especially now that the show is finally in about the best shape I've ever seen it, and that includes performances on both sides of the Atlantic.
With original London cast member Janet McTeer taking on the role of Vernonica, plus Jeff Daniels now portraying Michael -- which honestly is much better suited to his talent -- the riotous play is even funnier and more fierce than ever. Topping it off in losing her lunch is Lucy Liu alongside Dylan Baker as her smarmy attorney spouse.
My only quibble with the Broadway production is a seemingly tiny change en route from the West End to the Great White Way. I never had any real issue with the comedy's setting being altered from Paris to New York, which was the biggest change between the two productions, along with the characters' names being tweaked accordingly.
But when I first saw God Of Carnage in London two years ago, there was a line there that struck me to the point I even wrote about it in my initial SOB Review there. Janet McTeer's character essentially shouted at one key point, "We're all fundamentally uncouth." The line and its delivery gripped me. It brilliantly exposed the incivility of this and every other conflict in our modern world.
When I first saw the show on Broadway last year, I was waiting for, yet never heard, that remarkably transformative line. Neither did I hear it when I returned to see it with its current cast. I was left puzzled. Had I actually remembered the London incarnation incorrectly?
Since McTeer would certainly know, I decided to visit the stage door and pose the question to her directly to see if my recollection was just plain wrong. She told me that the line was replaced with "we're all f***ing neanderthals" for American audiences. Was I ever dismayed, particularly since the line had worked so well in London. Guess it just shows to go you what the director, the playwright and the translator must really think of their American audiences -- we're apparently so uncouth that we can't even understand the meaning of the word.
Oh well. Irrespective of that nit, my third time with the show was the charm. And Janet McTeer? Well, she's just plain charming.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
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Labels: Broadway, Dylan Baker, God Of Carnage, Janet McTeer, Jeff Daniels, Lucy Liu, Matthew Warchus, Play, The SOB Revisit, Yasmina Reza
posted by Steve On Broadway (SOB) @ Wednesday, May 19, 2010
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