March 27, 2004
Usher Nonsense #37 – Twentieth Century
TWENTIETH CENTURY - At American Airlines Theatre (Roundabout)
by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, Directed by Walter Bobbie
Based on a play by Charles Bruce Millholland, in a new adaptation by Ken
Ludwig
With Alec Baldwin, Anne Heche, Tom Aldredge, Terry Beaver, Patrick Boll,
Robert Jimenez, Dan Butler, Stephen DeRosa, Julie Halston, Kellie
Overbey, Ryan Shively, Jonathan Walker
Set by John Lee Beatty, Costumes by Wiliam Ivey Long, Lighting by Peter
Kaczoroski
Who was the person that had the idea to REWRITE this show? Come on now, if
Richard Clarke is fessing up, someone should come forward about this rewrite.
Ken Ludwig took a script that was "screwball" and watered it down so much that
the actors have no sticking place. It is neither period nor contemporary, and it has
no heart. There is no passion between Oscar Jaffe and his old love, Lilly Garland.
Without that there is no story. Anne Heche is left to fill time flopping around the
stage like a fish on a little dock. Alec Baldwin's Oscar Jaffe pouts and rages,
alternately sounding like Richard Burton and then, carrying on like Jackie Gleason.
It is an unattractive combination. His performance is not helped by the fact that he
literally sweats through his shirt in the first act. Baldwin doesn't look well either,
and that is unsettling.
The supporting cast fares no better. They swat away at their flat lines like tennis
players in search of elusive insects who only end up clunking each other over the
head. They try, though. By God. They try.
As well, the costumes and wigs lack the panache of the 1930's. Heche has a small,
very muscular body, and nearly every outfit she wears detracts from her form -
from the halter topped gown in the first scene that shows too much muscle
(women in the 30's didn't look muscular) to the crepe slacks she wears in the
second act that are too long even though Heche is wearing high heels. And her wig
has one stray lock falling over her right eye that just does NOT want to stay in
place. My kingdom for a bobby pin!
The one redeeming feature of this production is the set. John Lee Beatty has
created a train that is so inviting you want to get on and take a nice long ride
somewhere, far away from it all. "It all," in this case, means this production.
Usher Nonsense #37 – Twentieth Century
TWENTIETH CENTURY - At American Airlines Theatre (Roundabout)
by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, Directed by Walter Bobbie
Based on a play by Charles Bruce Millholland, in a new adaptation by Ken
Ludwig
With Alec Baldwin, Anne Heche, Tom Aldredge, Terry Beaver, Patrick Boll,
Robert Jimenez, Dan Butler, Stephen DeRosa, Julie Halston, Kellie
Overbey, Ryan Shively, Jonathan Walker
Set by John Lee Beatty, Costumes by Wiliam Ivey Long, Lighting by Peter
Kaczoroski
Who was the person that had the idea to REWRITE this show? Come on now, if
Richard Clarke is fessing up, someone should come forward about this rewrite.
Ken Ludwig took a script that was "screwball" and watered it down so much that
the actors have no sticking place. It is neither period nor contemporary, and it has
no heart. There is no passion between Oscar Jaffe and his old love, Lilly Garland.
Without that there is no story. Anne Heche is left to fill time flopping around the
stage like a fish on a little dock. Alec Baldwin's Oscar Jaffe pouts and rages,
alternately sounding like Richard Burton and then, carrying on like Jackie Gleason.
It is an unattractive combination. His performance is not helped by the fact that he
literally sweats through his shirt in the first act. Baldwin doesn't look well either,
and that is unsettling.
The supporting cast fares no better. They swat away at their flat lines like tennis
players in search of elusive insects who only end up clunking each other over the
head. They try, though. By God. They try.
As well, the costumes and wigs lack the panache of the 1930's. Heche has a small,
very muscular body, and nearly every outfit she wears detracts from her form -
from the halter topped gown in the first scene that shows too much muscle
(women in the 30's didn't look muscular) to the crepe slacks she wears in the
second act that are too long even though Heche is wearing high heels. And her wig
has one stray lock falling over her right eye that just does NOT want to stay in
place. My kingdom for a bobby pin!
The one redeeming feature of this production is the set. John Lee Beatty has
created a train that is so inviting you want to get on and take a nice long ride
somewhere, far away from it all. "It all," in this case, means this production.
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