‘MOTHER PLAY’: Jim Parsons & Jessica Lange. Photo: Joan Marcus.

MOTHER PLAY: A PLAY IN FIVE EVICTIONS
By Paula Vogel
Directed by Tina Landau
Second Stage at The Hayes Theater
240 West 44th St.
(212) 541-4516
https://2st.com/shows/mother-play

By Scott Harrah

A stellar cast and outstanding performances make Mother Play: A Play in Five Evictions one of the year’s must-see dramas. Paula Vogel, the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright best known for her masterpiece How I Learned to Drive, delves into painful recollections of her own family with shades of Tennessee Williams’ classic memory play The Glass Menagerie.

Like Amanda Wingfield in Glass Menagerie, the narrative centers on a single mother from the South and her unrealistic dreams for her kids. Jessica Lange stars as Phyllis, a strict and demanding mother who wields power over her two teenage children, Martha (Celia Keenan-Bolger) and Carl (Jim Parsons).

The plays opens in 1962 in suburb of Washington, D.C. Phyllis and her kids have just moved into a new apartment. Phyllis is a divorcée with a drinking problem. Son Carl, 14, is starting to realize he’s probably gay. Daughter Martha, 12, is also learning she might be gay too, and her mother makes her read—in a passive-aggressive demand—the lesbian classic novel The Well of Loneliness as a cautionary tale.

Jessica Lange gives one of the best performances of her career as Phyllis, a woman who keeps moving her kids into disheveled apartments infested with roaches and mice. Phyllis is not exactly a likable character. She is shrill, demanding, volatile and homophobic, but Ms. Lange gives depth to this villainess with her seamless delivery of rapid-fire dialogue and manic mannerisms. It’s hard to take our eyes off Ms. Lange whenever she’s on the stage, and that’s because her performance is so heartbreaking and engrossing.

Reportedly based on playwright Paula Vogel’s real life, Mother Play is both a dramatic confessional and a portrait of a woman with unrealistic dreams for both herself and her children. The story unfolds in five different scenes spanning the decades or “evictions” as we see the family descend into more grief and all are on the edge of madness. Each attempt by Phyllis to control her children’s lives fails, and she just becomes more domineering and despicable.

Jim Parsons as Carl and Celia Keenan-Bolger are both exceptional and demonstrate a believable brother-and-sister chemistry that truly makes the show worth seeing. They are forced to mix their mother’s drinks and find her chic outfits while they both put up with her constant criticism and disapproval.

Mother Play, performed in one act, is not an easy drama to watch despite its brevity. Ms. Vogel’s portrait of family discord is brutally real, and while the show is not always perfect, director Tina Landau gets such fine performances from the cast that the flaws don’t matter in the end. Mother Play is a trenchant American tragedy for these troubled times.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published May 12, 2024
Reviewed at April 30, 2024 press  performance

‘MOTHER PLAY’: Jessica Lange & Celia Keenan-Bolger. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘MOTHER PLAY’: Jim Parsons & Celia Keenan-Bolger. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘MOTHER PLAY’: Celia Keenan-Bolger & Jim Parsons. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘MOTHER PLAY’: Jessica Lange. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘MOTHER PLAY’: Jim Parsons. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘MOTHER PLAY’: Jessica Lange. Photo: Joan Marcus.

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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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