Review - The Trip to Bountiful

As soon as I saw the press release announcing that Cicely Tyson would be starring in Horton Foote's The Trip to Bountiful, I knew I wanted to go.  As you may recall, I adore Horton Foote plays.  The gentle way he writes about family, regret and home is just so powerful to me.  And I've been a huge fan of Cicely Tyson's for many years.  This production has gotten quite a lot of accolades, so it's taken awhile for the show to hit TDF.  It finally did and I finally got my ticket.  Last night was the big night.

 

When I arrived, I realized I haven't been to the Stephen Sondheim Theatre - the last time I was at that venue was when it was still the Henry Miller and I saw Urinetown.  So I was very interested in seeing the renovations.  Wow, the theater is really swanky!  It wasn't anything like I expected.  Well, generically swanky.  But comfortable.  The ladies' restroom is happily very large, so lots of ladies can get in and out of there quickly.  There are some cool touches with relics from the old theater scattered throughout.  I snuck one photo of old doors, but when I tried to get another photo of a cool wallhanging, I was chastized by an usher.  Oop.  But I'll post my photo anyway.  I'm such a rebel. 

The orchestra section is actually down two levels, which is interesting.  I don't remember the Henry Miller being designed like that.  My TDF seat was in the third row, off to the far left side.  There weren't any sightline difficulties, though Cicely Tyson was a tad obstructed from my view for the few first minutes.  But the stage is high enough that I had a neckache after the show was over.  Fortunately, I was so entranced throughout the show, I didn't notice then.  I did, though, notice my seat neighbor's unpleasant aroma.  Wow.  Guess it's time to get used to summer theater viewing...

I love The Trip to Bountiful.  This story where seemingly not much, but everything happens, is so touching to me.  I've seen the movie dozens of times, and seeing the Signature production a few years ago starring Lois Smith was a transcendent experience.  Seriously.  I was in the front row and I felt like I'd never been so close to such beautifully real and tender acting.  Actually, it was living.  Glorious.  And last night's performance was beautifully real and tender as well.  If not the same lived-in manner, well, that's ok.

Cicely Tyson is majestic as Carrie Watts.  In the first scene, when she's so depressed and beaten down, it's like she's 100 years old.  As the play progresses, and she gets closer and closer to her long-cherished dream of returning home, the age just falls off her.  By the end, she is radiant and shining with love and hope.  Although she wanted to see Bountiful one more time before she died, at the end of the play, you get the sense she's going to be around for a long time because she's made peace with herself.  It was beautiful.  And if this is Tyson's acting swan song, I think she's made peace with that, too.  She is just magic onstage.  I got seriously weepy during her curtain call.

Vanessa Williams was wonderful as the bossy daughter-in-law.  She got just the right combination of humor, intelligence and annoyance that makes you understand why she's such a bother to Carrie, but also why the son, Ludie, stays with her.  Well, that and the fact that she is just so goshdarned beautiful.  Cuba Gooding, Jr., as Ludie, wasn't as successful for me.  I just thought he wasn't subtle enough for a Horton Foote character.  It's all about what's underneath and NOT in the text, but Gooding was always just playing the words and not the actions or the feelings.  Plus, it seemed like he was trying to act 'young,' which was weird, so he came off oddly.  Though he did have a couple of affecting moments in the last scene, when he was telling his mother he actually did remember the past, he just chooses not to.

The rest of the cast is grand, too.  Tom Wopat is gallant and no-nonsense as the sheriff, and Arthur French makes the most out of his role as the stationmaster.  And Tony nominee Condola Rashad was luminous as Thelma, the young girl Carrie meets on the bus to Bountiful.  She was sweet and smart and loving.  A really lovely performance.  It was so moving when Carrie told her that she thought her daughters would've been just like her, if they had lived.  SO moving.  Almost everyone in the audience went 'awwwwwww.'  Actually, the audience was quite responsive throughout, though we didn't get the spontaneous sing-a-long that has been so talked about.  But I did love hearing those hymns.  They're the hymns my grandparents used to sing, and they just give me the warm fuzzies.  They add to the warm experience I always get at a Horton Foote play.  I know there are some people who find Horton Foote plays boring, because 'nothing' happens, but I disagree.  Life happens in his plays.  And seeing this particular life happen, as so beautifully rendered by Cicely Tyson (the photo at right is by Joan Marcus - I got it off the internet and will remove it if requested), is so worth your time.  Go see it.