‘THE ICEMAN COMETH’: (left to right) Michael Potts, Denzel Washington & company. Julieta Cervantes

THE ICEMAN COMETH
Written by Eugene O’Neill
Directed by George C. Wolfe
Through July 1, 2018
Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre
242 West 45th Street
(212-239-6200),www.icemanonbroadway.com

By David NouNou

Eugene O’Neill’s classic has been and still is hailed as a classic. Clocking in at nearly four hours, you have to have the stamina of a bull elephant to sit through a repetitious, “slosh fest” babblethon of has-beens and “never weres” who sit all day and night boozing and bemoaning their pipe dreams and wallow in the lies they conjure for themselves to see life through another day.

Set in 1912 at Harry Hope’s bar in the Lower West Side of New York City, the denizens of this dive are awaiting the arrival of Theodore Hickman or “Hickey” (Denzel Washington). The audience in the theater must wait over an hour until Mr. Washington makes his entrance (so you have to endure all the wallowing as well). He is a traveling salesman, a drunkard like themselves, to come and cheer them up from their life of misery with his brand of humor and open pockets to buy the drinks. However, on this arrival Hickey doesn’t bring fun, but instead brings them sobriety to face the next day and get out and do something with their lives.

They all pull it together to go out in the world and face their fears, except for the disenchanted Socialist and resident cynic, Larry Slade (David Morse) who knows the reality of things. They all return more despondent because what they were hoping to find were only untruths and pipe dreams. Hickey’s mission wasn’t so much as to help them go out to find jobs or connect with the world; he wants to help them face their future without fear or living in pipe dreams.

Denzel Washington and David Morse provide solid performances and manage to make this ponderous evening bearable. Honestly speaking, spending eight hours at Angels in America, which deals with the advent of AIDS and Roy Cohn, is more uplifting and epic than this miserable evening of self-pitying and self-loathing, but if one is a Denzel Washington or Eugene O’Neill fan, it should not be missed.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published May 29, 2018

‘THE ICEMAN COMETH’: (left to right) David Morse, Denzel Washington & Colm Meaney in ‘The Iceman’. Photo Credit: Julieta Cervantes

‘THE ICEMAN COMETH’: Denzel Washington. Photo: Julieta Cervantes

‘THE ICEMAN COMETH’: Denzel Washington & David Morse. Photo: Julieta Cervantes

‘THE ICEMAN COMETH’: Denzel Washington & cast. Photo: Julieta Cervantes

‘THE ICEMAN COMETH’: Denzel Washington & cast. Photo: Julieta Cervantes

‘THE ICEMAN COMETH’: The company. Photo; Julieta Cervantes

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‘LONG DAY’S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT’: Gabriel Byrne & Jessica Lange. Photo: Joan Marcus

LONG DAY’S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT
By Eugene O’Neill
Directed by Jonathan Kent
American Airlines Theatre
227 West 42nd Street, (212-392-1652)
www.roundabouttheatre.org

By Scott Harrah

You’ve not truly seen Jessica Lange perform until you catch Roundabout’s revival of Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey Into Night— for this is probably her best performance in years, if not ever. The tragic epic runs three hours and 45 minutes. However, this production is so wonderfully paced by director Jonathan Kent, and Ms. Lange’s portrayal is so haunting, that this marathon of family dysfunction circa 1912 almost seems like a breeze to sit through.

Ms. Lange plays Mary Cavan Tyrone, the wife of successful Irish actor James (Gabriel Byrne) and a woman battling decades of morphine addiction, broken dreams and a volatile relationship with her two sons. Many have portrayed Mary throughout the years, but Ms. Lange, at this point in her career, seems tailor made for the part. She is a marvelous mix of maturity, incandescent stage presence, vulnerability and strength. From the moment she enters the stage, she has us spellbound as she paces, full of nerves and emotion, with her hands running across her hair, or throat or smoothing out her dress. One minute she’s sweet and coquettish; the next, she’s yelling at the family. Watching Ms. Lange is exhausting as she recounts both the happy and painful details of her past, and it’s impossible to keep our eyes off her.

Long Day’s Journey Into Night, first produced on Broadway in 1956, is Eugene O’Neill’s autobiographical saga of his family in the early 20th century. It is a foggy August day at Monte Cristo Cottage, the seaside Connecticut estate of the Tyrones. Mary has recently returned from a sanitarium and has failed to kick her morphine habit (which she claims is medication for her arthritic hands). Elder son James (Michael Shannon) has a serious alcohol problem and visits the local brothel too much, while the family fears the constant coughing of younger son Edmund (John Gallagher, Jr.), modeled after O’Neill himself, means he probably has consumption (tuberculosis) and may soon be sent to a state sanitarium.

With his thick Irish brogue and elegant demeanor, Gabriel Bryne is certainly everything Eugene O’Neill had in mind for the character of James Tyrone: A man eager to maintain the love of his wife as she unravels.

Michael Shannon gives a solid depiction of a man overcome by his demons, one who admits his kid brother is his “only pal.” Unfortunately, John Gallagher, Jr. is less effective as Edmund, the youngest son.

The drama has never been easy to watch with its heavy talk about death, alcoholism, disease, an overly frugal father, and so on. Yes, it is melodramatic and repetitious at times. Although the play could use some trimming, it’s still a masterpiece and O’Neill’s greatest work. Perhaps that’s why director Jonathan Kent keeps everything intact here, with all the touches that remind us of O’Neill’s real-life family back in 1912, from Jane Greenwood’s elegant period costumes to Tom Pye’s gorgeous set. In a season of unorthodox revivals, it’s refreshing to see one that’s simple, straightforward and free of gimmicks, allowing audiences to appreciate everything that is great about an American classic.

Long Day’s Journey Into Night has received seven Tony nominations, including Best Revival of a Play, Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play, Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play, Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play and Best Director of a Play.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published May 3, 2016
Reviewed at press performance on May 1, 2016

‘LONG DAY’S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT’: John Gallagher, Jr. & Jessica Lange. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘LONG DAY’S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT’: Jessica Lange & Gabriel Byrne. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘LONG DAY’S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT’: (Left to right) John Gallagher, Jr. & Michael Shannon. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘LONG DAY’S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT’: Jessica Lange. Photo: Joan Marcus

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‘HUGHIE’: Frank Wood (left) & Forest Whitaker. Photo: Marc Brenner

HUGHIE
By Eugene O’Neill
Directed by Michael Grandage
Through March 27, 2016
Booth Theatre
222 West 45th Street
(212-239-6200), www.HughieBroadway.com

By David NouNou

In all my years of writing, the thing I always found to be the hardest was to criticize a most honorable actor/movie star. I have admired Forest Whitaker for a long time. I first noticed him as a standout in Good Morning Vietnam, then Bird, The Crying Game, The Butler (robbed of an Oscar nomination), and, of course, his Oscar-winning role in The Last King of Scotland. He is an incredible actor to watch and so it pains me to say he is making his Broadway debut in Hughie, a non-existent Eugene O’Neill play and his interpretation of the beleaguered character Erie Smith is all wrong. To be sure, Mr. Whitaker is giving an earnest performance, but unfortunately it is a misplaced one.

Erie Smith is a lost soul. He is a drunken gambler who on this particular 1928 night happens to be sober and is returning to his hotel room. Also on this night he meets the new night clerk (the wonderful Frank Wood). The topic of choice by Erie is the former night clerk, the now deceased Hughie. Erie is trying to engage the night clerk with stories of his lucky halcyon days and anecdotes about Hughie. For Erie is afraid of the outside due to his debts, and afraid to go up to his room and be left alone with his demons. His safe haven is the dilapidated hotel lobby.

That’s the play, a 60-minute monologue by Erie prattling on about what he imagines to have been his glory days. Erie has to be full of bravado and has to have a certain charm to be likable. Mr. Whitaker has the charm but has chosen (or maybe it is a joint decision by him and the director Michael Grandage) to lose all of Erie’s bravado and play him as a schlemiel. Considering there is no plot or point to this play, the bravado has to be an essential part of the show, for without it the show becomes a big snooze.

The set by Christopher Orem, a decaying hotel lobby, is a piece of art and the ghostly lighting by Neil Austin is a vision. The expressionless, almost silent night clerk, Frank Wood, is as otherworldly as the set and the lighting and just as effective. Although it is not intentional, the three conspire to envelop and swallow up Erie/Forest Whitaker as if he never existed.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published March 3, 2016
Reviewed at press performance on March 2, 2016

‘HUGHIE’: Frank Wood & Forest Whitaker. Photo: Marc Brenner

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