The Quadrangle

Issue date: 4/13/05 Section: Arts & Entertainment

Ruining a classic play like "The Glass Menagerie" is quite a daunting task. Nevertheless, the latest Broadway revival of Tennessee Williams' autobiographical masterpiece is up to the challenge. Under the direction of David Leveaux, the production is devoid of feeling. Instead of being two hours of great theatre, it is a two hour lesson in the problems that arise when people try to rethink works that need no fine tuning.

"Menagerie", one of the most beloved American dramas, tells the story of the Wingfields, an unhappy family who cannot let go of the past. The cast is led by Jessica Lange and Christian Slater, who each deliver bland, uninspired performances.

Lange would have been wonderful had she been playing Blanche in "A Streetcar Named Desire". She fails to deliver a convincing performance as Amanda, an ex-southern belle still living in the past. For his part, Slater's acting is completely flat. His character, Tom, never progresses. From the beginning of the play to the end he is on the same note. Sarah Paulson, who plays Tom's terribly lonely and shy sister, suffers from the same problem.

Her character also never changes or grows. Of course it does not help that Paulson uses a terribly annoying and whiny voice. Perhaps Paulson is attempting to offer some kind of new explanation for Laura's loneliness-maybe the problem is not that she is shy, but that she has a voice that would grate on anyone's nerves.

The only bright spot in the cast is Josh Lucas as the gentlemen caller. Lucas has great charisma and a genuine likeability about him. It is, however, very hard to believe that less than ten years ago he was in high school.

It is evident that Leveaux completely missed the point of the play. He does not fully utilize many of the devices that Williams wrote into the play. Leveaux makes several bizarre choices that put the story on the back burner.

One of the most prominent would be a lace curtain separating upstage from downstage. Any symbolic value it has is lost by the awkwardness in which the cast opens and closes it. And then there are the accents. If it were not explicitly stated in the script that the show takes place in the south, then the audience could easily have assumed that the Wingfield family lives in New Jersey. The show is also terribly paced, especially in the first act.

"Menagerie", however, is not a complete failure. Williams' script is wonderful and that alone makes it worthwhile. Nonetheless, it is a shame that the production was not able to fall into more capable hands.

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