theater review

The American Plan & Hedda Gabler

gordin & christiano

Richard Greenberg's drama The American Plan, set at a lakeside home in the Catskills during the summer of 1960, is an engrossing play with interesting spins on love and identity. When a handsome young man swims across the lake from a nearby resort hotel, he sets in motion an escalating series of conflicts between a beautiful young heiress and her German-Jewish emigrant mother.

Lily Rabe is excellent as the fragile Lili meeting the demanding moments of the play beautifully. If her performance lacks shading it doesn't really matter she displays much depth and is particularly effective in the evening's final scene. Mercedes Ruehl's over the top scenery chewing performance as her domineering mother Eva is a sight to behold, but her bold calculated portrayal leaves little room for surprises. Kieran Campion plays Nick, the flirtatious young writer for Time, who ignites Lili's passion.

The play has elements of Tennessee William's The Glass Menagerie - overbearing mother, delicate daughter and an already spoken for gentleman caller - woven into the storyline of being trapped not only by birth, but by time and situation. When another handsome young man Gil, played by Austin Lysy, shows up revelations will spill forth in David Grindley's Broadway revival of Greenberg's well crafted tale for the Manhattan Theatre Club.

Ibsen's Hedda Gabler, another play about being trapped, starring Mary-Louise Parker in an odd, but handsome revival of the classic drama also opened on Broadway. With a blunt new adaptation by Christopher Shinn the evening directed by Ian Rickson for the Roundabout Theater Company has an aggressive contemporary tone that is obvious and uneven.

The Tony, Emmy and Golden Globe winning star hasn't been seen on Broadway since her 2004 Tony nominated performance in Craig Lucas' Reckless. She looks great in the elegant costumes by Ann Roth, but her portrayal displays annoyance with everyone, not a woman feeling trapped by her situation and the social limitation of her times. She is her father, the General's daughter, ensnared by the restraints of being a woman in a man's world. But Rickson's revival paints our bored heroine as a petulant housewife instead.

One thing is for certain, whether you like this Hedda or not, the evening is bizarrely entertaining. And the opening with Parker lying on the drawing sofa mooning us with her dressed pulled up above her waist and the mirror above her reflecting the image out to the audience again speaks volumes about the evening's obtuse choices. The men Michael Cerveris as her husband Tesman and Paul Sparks as Lovborg come off better than the women displaying more depth and nuance in Rickson's misfire.

The American Plan opened on Broadway January 22, 2009 MTC's Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, 261 West 47th Street. Tickets are available at telecharge.com or by calling 212-239-6200 or the box office. Hedda Gabler opened on Broadway January 25, 2009 at the American Airline Theatre, 227 West 42nd Street for a limited engagement through March 24. Tickets are available online at roundabouttheatre.org or by calling 212-719-1300 or at the box office.

Theater critics Barry Gordin & Patrick Christiano are members of the Drama Desk. Barry is an internationally renowned photographer. Patrick is the artistic director of SivaRoad Productions. Visit their website at www.theaterlife.com.

Back to Contents