Revival of dull ‘Knife’ is Hollywood babble-on

SOAPY, DATED DRAMA: Marin Ireland (left) & Bobby Cannavale in ‘The Big Knife’. Photo: Joan Marcus

THE BIG KNIFE
Written by Clifford Odets
Directed by Doug Hughes

American Airlines Theatre

227 West 42nd Street

(212-719-1300), www.RoundaboutTheatre.org

By David NouNou

Platitudes are bandied around at a dizzying pace in this first revival of Clifford Odets’ 1949 play, The Big Knife. Having lived in Hollywood and written screenplays out there, I’m sure Odets got wind of a lot of the cover-ups that existed in Tinsel Town and the major studios. In the heyday of the studio system, moguls like Louis B. Mayer, Jack Warner, Darryl F. Zanuck, etc., had enough publicity henchmen to protect their most valuable assets, “the movie star.” Be it abortions, accidents, drunken binges, extramarital affairs, divorce, dare I say homosexuality in Hollywood, and yes, even murder, they had the PR departments working overtime, concealing all the dirty laundry. They could even get a flunky to take a murder rap if the star was big enough

Such a star is Charlie Castle (Bobby Cannavale), for he is his studio’s biggest moneymaker; and in a drunken binger one night, he ran over a child. In order to protect his image, the studio boss Marcus Huff (Richard Kind) and his publicity man Smiley Coy (Reg Rogers) manage to pin the charges on Charlie’s friend, Buddy Bliss (Joey Slotnick), who went to jail and kept Charlie’s image perfectly clean. Yes, studios had the power and the means to do such cover-ups. Forget about today’s “hot mess” starlets and their tabloid-addled lives; these are small potatoes compared to murder.

To further complicate Charlie’s life, his estranged wife Marion (Marin Ireland), whom Charlie claims he loves very much, despite his drinking and womanizing, will only come back to him if he doesn’t sign his new $3.5 million-dollar contract with options because she wants to leave Hollywood and move back to New York and the “theater” to get away from all the muck and mire. However, the catch here is that Charlie is bound to the studio for the cover-up they did for him and the new contract stipulates another 14 years of servitude. Oh, the dilemma.

Of course such events/cover-ups were real, just read Hollywood Babylon and you’ll see the dirty laundry of some of your favorite stars. The set-up of The Big Knife is certainly interesting. After all, it deals with Hollywood and its tawdry goings-on. However, the dialogue is so stilted that it would confound the most ardent of Odets fans. Could he really have written such unconvincing, banal lines? At times, it seems like homilies being strewn from the stage.

The highest point of this production is the gorgeous set designed by John Lee Beatty. My God, I would have loved to live in it. Now to the assets of the show: Bobby Cannavale, who usually explodes on stage; was electric in The Motherf***ker with the Hat a couple of seasons ago and great in last fall’s revival of Glengarry, Glen Ross, seems ill at ease here. Must be those silted lines he has to spout and the fact that he lacks any chemistry with the woman he loves, Marin Ireland. You see no connection between them. There is no passion or love in her delivery, and she performs her role in a one-dimensional manner.

I am glad to report that there are four wonderful supporting performances: Richard Kind, who is usually in comedies, is absolutely great as the hell-bent, venomous studio mogul explaining his motives and the savagery that takes place in the third act with Charlie, and finally gets the play to crackle, but what ensues soon turns to the mawkish. Reg Rogers as the studio publicity man is wonderfully reptilian; two other affecting performances are from Chip Zien as Charlie’s agent; and Joey Slotnick as his friend who took the rap.

It’s not that the show doesn’t have interesting moments, it does, but the dialogue is so hackneyed and preachy that it turns the proceedings into one big, melodramatic soap opera. It’s not up to par to the earlier revival of Odets’ Golden Boy, with the same type of tortured characters. but with much better lines.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published April 19, 2013