I believe I've mentioned before that The Glass Menagerie is one of my absolute favorite plays of all time. I've seen several productions of it - we did a fantastic production when I was in grad school, and we did it in rep at a summer theater I worked at long ago. I saw all fifteen performances, it was that good. The less said about the Jessica Lange/Christian Slater Broadway revival, however, the better... I tried to get my pennies together to head to Boston to see this particular mounting when it was ART, since Cherry Jones is one of my absolute favorite actresses of all time, but the scheduling never worked out. Imagine my rapture when it was announced they would be coming to Broadway. I asked my very kind boss if I could PLEASE be his Tony-ticket-date for this one and he generously agreed. Last night, finally, was the happy night...
Let me just say right off the bat: I was not disappointed in the least. For once, my high expectations were completely met. I was transfixed the entire evening and had my heart deliciously broken over and over again. I even cried most of the way home in the subway (to my seat neighbor's consternation), reliving the beauty and sadness of the evening. I'm always taken aback, every time I see The Glass Menagerie, how utterly devastating this play is. For as lyrical and poetic it is, it's also brutal and heartless. There's love and pain and sorrow, and the way it's expertly put together is magical for me every single time.
I will say that from our seats in the third row, we couldn't really see the critically-lauded set and its effect on the staging, so that was a little disappointing. And some of the lighting effects weren't really clear to those of us on house right. But those are quibbles. Well, I have another quibble which I'll mention later. From what we could see, the physical production was spectacular. [any production photos below are gathered from the internet and were taken by Michael J Lutch. I'll take them down if anyone asks]
This cast is truly firing on all cylinders - they are working as a unit and this production of Glass Menagerie seems more an ensemble piece than usual. All four actors take their characters into and out of the central limelight throughout and no one person dominates, which I found rather wonderful. Cherry Jones at first seems a rather robust faded Southern belle, but she is so touching in her desperate worries for her children. You see flickers across her expressive face throughout the evening - she knows she's going over the top, but her desperation is just increasing. And since the production really centers on Tom's memory of this last devastating event in their lives before he left home, it heightens everyone's desperation. Although I know the play so so well, I still held my breath at points, hoping that things would turn out differently this time. When Amanda came out in her old dress from Blue Mountain to meet the Gentleman Caller, my heart stopped. The way the years fell away from Amanda as she told the story of the jonquils, then came thudding back with a vengeance, was acting at its absolute finest.
Celia Keenan-Bolger is fantastic as Laura, quiet and realistic, where her mother and brother are dreamers. So when she allows herself to dream, during the scene with the Gentleman Caller, it's even more tragic. That scene was revelatory to me - Brian J Smith, as the Gentleman Caller, has found a fascinating tragic arc to his work in the scene, too. He's equal parts sure and unsure of himself and a bit of a dreamer, but you can see him lose something after he kisses Laura. And the way he parrots the words about 'love' with respect to his fiancee, you can see his life has irrevocably changed just as much as Laura's has. I was really blown away by this scene, which I already considered one of the finest in American theater. 
Zachary Quinto was terrific, too, though at times he seemed a bit too contemporary to me. Though, I guess that could make sense, since the play is taking place in his memory, and he could be talking to us right now instead of then. He has a way with the language that spins a web that pulls us right in. And the way his memories come to life at the beginning are directorial genius. The surrealistic movements are also interesting throughout. I enjoyed Tom's rappport with his mother - they were almost flirtatious with each other, during their peaceful moments, which powerfully shaded their push/pull relationship. But when he says to Jim, "I'm starting to boil inside," you have seen evidence of it through his body language throughout. I enjoyed him very much. Though, and this of course isn't his fault, my previously-mentioned other quibble is this: if we're seeing the play entirely through Tom's memories, how did we get such detailed scenes that only featured either his mother and sister, or his sister and the Gentleman Caller? Since he didn't witness them, how could he remember them in such detail? That's a directorial quibble and I guess I could rationalize it away, but it did stick in my brain, especially at intermission. But the second act, especially the Gentleman Caller scene, was so sublime that I really forgave everything.
It's been a long time coming, but I did leap to my feet at the end for my first standing ovation of the season. I was profoundly moved and thrilled to have seen such a wonderful production of an amazingly beautiful play. Clearly, I think everyone should see this. I may try to go back and see it from the mezzanine. I would love to catch staging and scenic details that I missed last night, but, of course, being so close got me right up against all that wonderful acting. So I can't complain too much...
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