BWW Reviews: Stoppard's THE REAL THING Sings Its Heart Out

Tom Stoppard's plays aren't exactly known for their warmth to begin with, so at first it seems like director Sam Gold is upping the chill factor with a clever little move to deny demonstrative Broadway audiences a chance to welcome the stars of Roundabout's revival of The Real Thing with entrance applause.

The curtain rises even before the pre-show announcement about cell phones and candy wrappers has ended. As scripted by Stoppard, Josh Hamilton's Max and Cynthia Nixon's Charlotte are already on stage, but Gold adds Maggie Gyllenhaal's Annie to the mix. The two women are joined by Madeline Weinstein's guitar-playing Debbie and before a single clap can be clapped, the ladies are huddled together in a pajama party style sing-along while Max broods at the other end of the stage.

Classic pop hits play a part in Stoppard's 1982 text. Ewan McGregor's Henry is a well-admired playwright of intellectual dramas who's a bit embarrassed and defensive about his musical taste leaning towards The Crystals, The Beach Boys and The Archies. Between scenes, actors enter and prepare the stage while casually singing along with selections from Henry's record collection. It seems a bit out of character, but the instinctive joy does offer some momentary relief from the guarded emotions that dominate the evening.

Henry's marriage to Charlotte is on the skids and his new play about a marriage on the skids isn't in great shape either. Max and Charlotte play the leading roles in his drama and Stoppard sometimes mixes moments from the fictional stage work with his own.

Henry and Annie, who is also an actor and married to Max, are in love but both are cautious about being the first one to make a firm move toward commitment. In one scene they half-seriously make a bet over who has to tell their spouse first.

As exemplified by his taste in music McGregor's gently charismatic Henry hides a romantic heart beneath a snobby exterior. The character's passion for superior writing and the power of words is wonderfully captured in an animated speech where he compares the composition of a great script with the composition of his cricket bat.

Gyllenhaal's caring and casually sensual Annie reflects Henry's softer side and their awkward chemistry is endearing. Nixon's sharp and glib Charlotte is more in tune with his wittier public exterior.

Fine support is offered by Weinstein as Henry and Charlotte's teenage daughter, who sees monogamy as a political weapon (Nixon famously played the role in the original Broadway production while simultaneously playing a role in David Rabe's Hurleyburley.), Ronan Raftery as a romantically aggressive co-star of Annie's and Alex Breaux as a political prison whose poor writing skills become an issue between Henry and Annie.

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