Friday-After-Thanksgiving Flashback!

Happy, day-after-Thanksgiving!  I hope you had a warm and happy day.  I was looking through old reviews and came upon another play at Playwrights Horizons that featured the amazing Lois Smith.  So, I thought I'd flash back to that review.  Please keep in mind that I just used to do these reviews for a small group of friends, hence the extremely casual quality.  This review also describes a very scary seat neighbor, one who would probably not be out of place at a current climate political rally...

11/27/10:  Hi gang.  I saw a new play last night at Playwrights Horizons, After the Revolution, by Amy Herzog.  It was done in Williamstown over the summer, but this is its New York premiere.

I liked this play a lot.  I think it had some really great things to say about how your identity is tied up into your family, and what do you do when what you’ve believed in turns out to be a lie.  There was a lot of good meaty conversation about something concrete and I enjoyed it.  These characters are all smart and funny, yet dumb about life.  I liked these people.

The acting is all spot on—we’ve got three generations here of leftist political activists, with all their blustery pomp and individual quirks.  Peter Friedman and Mark Blum (an especial favorite of mine) are brothers and sons of a famously blacklisted father.  The great Lois Smith is their tough stepmother who still espouses all the Marxist attitudes of her late husband, and Katherine Powell is the younger generation who just graduated from law school and who is seemingly ready to take this politically active family into the next generation by establishing a foundation in her grandfather’s name.  When it’s revealed that the famous father/grandfather actually wasn’t who he seemed to be, it rocks everyone in the family to their core, all in different ways.  I liked all of the complexity in the plot and in the characters very much.  There’s no who’s right/who’s wrong and I liked that, too.

Mare Winningham is terrific as the milder second wife of Peter Friedman, and I also got a kick out of the other daughter who is just out of rehab and who is suddenly relishing her new status as the ‘good’ daughter.  Friedman and Blum are really grand as well.  I especially felt for Blum’s character—he never really bought into all of the politics, so he brought up his children in a different way and now regrets that choice.  Oh, and David Margulies is wonderful as a donor to the fund and potential suitor to Lois Smith.  His gentle and humorous take on this older gentleman was quite lovely and he has some terrific dialogue.

I was the least sold on Katherine Powell in the pivotal role as the granddaughter.  She was fine, but I thought she made some pretty generic acting choices throughout and I could feel her acting technique all over the place.  I would’ve rather seen a less polished, more real performance, than such a studied one, but she didn’t bother me enough to think she was terrible.  I was just really aware of her ‘acting’ throughout.  But I have to say that most of my friends who saw the show really liked her, so maybe I'm wrong.  Now that I think about it, she does kinda look like someone who was once mean to me.  Yes, I'm just that shallow to take out my grudge on an innocent bystander.  Moving on.

The last scene between the father and daughter is really wonderfully written—one of my favorite scenes in a long time.  I just really felt a part of it and it seemed so real and right.  Thumbs up from me on the whole piece.

I do want to mention my (potentially) terrifying seat neighbor.  Before the play started, the man behind me came in, sat down, looked at the set, and started saying (in his outdoor voice) “Oh god, oh no, is that a Free South Africa sign?  Oh no no no no no, wait, is that a picture of Nelson Mandela?  Oh my god, oh nonononononononononoo.”  I’m thinking, eek.  Obviously, someone hadn’t read the blurb about the play before coming.  Then he read some of the author’s notes in the program talking about Mumia Abu-Jamal, and he started moaning again, “Oh god, oh no no no no no no.”  Sigh.  He was relatively quiet during the first act, thank heavens, but then at intermission, he stood up and said (in his outdoor voice) “Oh my god, SO WHAT?!?!?!”  His friend said, “I think it’s fascinating.”  Pause.  Then Mr. Oh No said, “I need a drink.”  He left, but unfortunately came back for the second act.  During which he was quiet and then I left through a different door so I wouldn’t run into him.  Yikes.