After Miss Julie (The SOB Review) - American Airlines Theatre, Roundabout Theatre Company, New York, New York*1/2 (out of ****)On paper, it must have seemed like a complete no-brainer.
Cast the fetching
Sienna Miller in the title role of
Patrick Marber's
After Miss Julie as a sexy, sultry seductress. It doesn't seem like much of a stretch. After all, Ms. Miller's acting prowess has been largely obscured by her more notorious one in both tempting men and her way right into tabloid fodder.
While it's often said that playwrights should write what they know, Ms. Miller should act what she understands. Instead, as the woman of privilege who seduces her father's valet John (
Johnny Lee Miller, who deserves a better Broadway debut than this), she comes up all thumbs, resulting in my own opposable ones appropriately pointing in a decidedly downward direction.
In this clash of power -- class vs. sexual -- you'd think Ms. Miller would be at ease with both. But in a display that is far too shrill, it's really unfathomable that John, who has watched this Julie from an early age, could possibly feel anything for her. He already knows what a screwy coquette she can be, so the sparks between the unrelated Millers seem manufactured.
Making matters worse is that as directed by
Mark Brokaw, Marber's adaptation of
August Strindberg 19th century work transposes the "action" to the kitchen of a large country estate outside of London on the evening of July 26, 1945. I use the term "action" loosely as virtually all of the action really occurs off stage in rooms unseen.
That includes a reception room where a party is taking place the very night the Labour Party wins its first independent majority over Winston Churchill's Conservatives. It's also where Julie demands John dance with her, twice, much to his embarrassment and chagrin.
Also unseen is a bedroom where Julie and John ultimately consummate their lust for one another, only to be found by his intended fiancée and household cook Christine (
Marin Ireland, who acquits herself as well as can be expected).
All this inaction in
Allen Moyer's beautifully appointed kitchen -- with hoots and hollering coming from Julie's party dancing display and Christine's tearful discovery coming from the door of the bedroom, not to mention the unseen crowds offering their derision from outside the kitchen window -- makes for one of the most interminable 90 minutes I've yet to spend in a theatre.
Simply put, I couldn't wait until
after After Miss Julie.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Labels: After Miss Julie, Broadway, Johnny Lee Miller, Marin Ireland, Mark Brokaw, Patrick Marber, Play, Roundabout Theatre, Sienna Miller, The SOB Review
After Three Miss Julies Comes After Miss JulieYou'd be forgiven for thinking that the
Mark Brokaw-helmed
After Miss Julie was yet another in a steady stream of
Roundabout revivals the nonprofit theatre company routinely mounts on Broadway. You'd be a tad bit wrong.
Currently in previews at the
American Airlines Theatre, this "new" play stars
Sienna Miller in the titular role alongside
Jonny Lee Miller and
Marin Ireland.
While
August Strindberg's 1888 Swedish play
Miss Julie certainly serves as the source material, this newer
Donmar Warehouse import written by
Patrick Marber takes place in London during the heady summer of 1945, shortly after the conclusion of World War II.
Roundabout describes the play as follows:
She was the girl with everything ... except him. Sienna Miller ("Factory Girl") and Jonny Lee Miller ("Trainspotting") make their Broadway debuts in this provocative American premiere.
Patrick Marber's new version of August Strindberg's drama about class and sex transposes Miss Julie to the English countryside on the eve of the Labour Party's landslide victory in the summer of 1945. Young Miss Julie crosses a dangerous line when she engages in a forbidden flirtation with her father's handsome chauffeur, John.
Over the course of one passionate and unforgettable night, their steamy affair escalates into a high-stakes power struggle that takes a shocking turn. Tony Award nominee Marin Ireland (reasons to be pretty) stars as John's intended, Christine, and Mark Brokaw directs.
Miss Julie has had many lives in many different forms. Even that 2003 Donmar production of
After Miss Julie in London was populated with a completely different cast (
Kelly Reilly, who earned a 2004 Olivier Award nomination for Best Actress, along with
Richard Coyle and
Helen Baxendale) and helmed by a different director (
Michael Grandage).
The first Broadway production of Strindberg's play in 1913 was only subtitled as
Miss Julie. Produced as
Countess Julie at the
48th Street Theatre, the
Mary Shaw-directed work lasted a mere three performances.
Rising from its ashes over 40 years later in 1956 at Rialto's
Phoenix Theatre as
Miss Julie And The Stronger, the
George Tabori-helmed revival lasted a bit longer: 33 performances. This incarnation was actually two Strindberg works playing in repertory.
Viveca Lindfors was cast in the eponymous role and appeared in both plays, as did
Ruth Ford and
Jamie Smith. Acting great
James Daly -- father to both
Tyne and
Timothy Daly -- portrayed the role of Jean in
Miss Julie.
The next time
Miss Julie paid a Main Stem visit was in 1962 at the
Cort Theatre. Once again, the Strindberg play only managed to eke out just three performances. It's understandable considering that it was not only playing in repertory with
The Father and
Long Day's Journey Into Night, but all three plays were performed as originally written ... entirely
in Swedish!
Inge Tidblad held the title role, along with
Irma Christenson as Kristin and
Ulf Palme as
Jean.
Given the rather bizarre track record of previous incarnations, does Marber's fresh take on Strindberg's original play have what it takes to make audiences sit up and take notice? Perhaps with the estimable Mark Brokaw at the helm, along with the eye-popping cast, Roundabout may very well have a steamy winner.
After Miss Julie is currently scheduled as a limited run through December 6, 2009. I'll be taking in the show just a day or so after its October 22 opening and will post my SOB Review then.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Labels: Broadway, Marin Ireland, Play, Roundabout Theatre
Reasons To CloseIt took less than 24 hours after going home empty-handed at Sunday's Tony Awards, but
Neil LaBute's Tony-nominated
reasons to be pretty posted its closing notice on Monday. The play, which was produced earlier by Off-Broadway's MCC, will shutter Sunday after just 85 performances on Broadway.
I rather liked this little play and am sorry to see it go.
Terry Kinney offered taut direction to
Thomas Sadoski,
Marin Ireland,
Steven Pasquale and
Piper Perabo, who were all first rate.
But
reasons to be pretty never really caught on with Great White Way audiences as it hovered around the 50% capacity mark. In a week when its Tony nomination should have mattered with the public, its capacity actually dropped last week to just 47.4%.
While an award could have helped it attract more theatregoers, producers pulled the plug
seeming to feel that with a lack of major names, it was lost in the flurry of openings this spring.
That alone give me more than enough reasons to be a little sad.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Labels: Broadway, Closing Notices, Marin Ireland, Neil LaBute, Piper Perabo, Play, Reasons To Be Pretty, Steven Pasquale, Terry Kinney, Thomas Sadoski
reasons to be pretty (The SOB Review) – Lyceum Theatre, New York, New York
*** (out of ****)There are plenty of reasons to like
Neil LaBute’s surprisingly endearing
reasons to be pretty, but the biggest is
Thomas Sadoski as the comedy’s protagonist Greg, a lunkhead stuck in a dead-end job and a relationship going nowhere in a hurry.
Right before our eyes, Greg transforms from a juvenile jerk into a principled man.
But getting there is anything but pretty. I count myself among LaBute’s legion of fans, with his
The Shape Of Things ranking among my favorite plays of the past ten years. For other LaBute fans, if I were to describe his latest work -- expertly directed by
Terry Kinney -- as a
Shape Of Things flipped inside out, I think you’d get my meaning.
That earlier work lulls you into thinking that the central, seemingly beautiful relationship is founded on trust, but ultimately gets upended with a startling revelation. There's no lulling about in
reasons to be pretty, where the honesty that alternately seems too much or completely lacking in Greg's relationship with Steph (a marvelous
Marin Ireland) is actually right down the middle all along. Although, quite frankly, it’s hard to believe anyone could possibly find Steph as anything close to ugly, unless you get a huge heaping load of ugliness spewing from her acid tongue.
reasons to be pretty epitomizes a coming of age story for a new generation, even if its hero is a little late to life’s game of standing up for what's right. It’s that courage of conviction and taut cast that makes
reasons to be pretty so compelling.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Labels: Marin Ireland, Neil LaBute, Play, Reasons To Be Pretty, Terry Kinney, The Shape Of Things, The SOB Review, Thomas Sadoski
