Review: REQUIEM FOR A HEAVYWEIGHT at Crystal Theatre

Rod Serling’s classic play, Requiem for A Heavyweight, well, packs a punch in Crystal Theatre’s production, now running through October 19. Yes, the pun was intended, but the play is perhaps even more powerful now than it was when Serling wrote it as a teleplay nearly 70 years ago. It was adapted into a movie in 1962 and later a Broadway play in 1985 and revived in 1996.

Requiem for A Heavyweight deserves new audiences, and Crystal Theatre’s production is drawing audiences who were too young even for the Broadway revival.

Mountain McClintock (played by Gus Bottazi) was close to becoming a world heavyweight champion, but boxing took its toll on his body and brain. Doc (Peter McLoughlin) warns that one more punch could leave him blind. Doc, also worn out and jaded, says he feels more like “a guy who grades meat in a packing plant” than a physician. Mountain’s handler, Maish Resnik (John Bachelder) is heavily in debt and bets against him because he knows he is going to lose. Although Mountain didn’t know about the bet, he knows he is nearing the end of his career, and he is struggling to find his identity and maintain his self-esteem outside boxing and dignity for his remaining years. “What did I do wrong?” Mountain asks Maish. The response: “You aged.”

"All I know how to do is fight,” says Mountain, but he goes to an employment agency where Grace Miller (Jennifer Prescott) kindly helps him fill out paperwork and tries to find something for him. When she calls him to tell him she set up an interview for him as a camp counselor, Maish answers the phone and doesn’t tell him. Instead, he makes a deal with the shady Perelli (Bruce Crilly) for Mountain to go into a wrestling match, something that he knows is demeaning for a boxer.

Other characters in the play include Army Hanks (Ray Szwec), Mountain’s trainer and the voice of conscience, and sleezy operators and hangers-on Max Greeny (Lenny Carlucci), Leo Loomis (John Fatteross), and Morrell (Robert O’Boyle). Roger Dykeman plays Charlie, the barman, and Bill Wiltsie, Jim Chiles, and Gabe in the ensemble. Janine Wolf plays Golda, a lady of the night who has a special affection for Maish. Jackie Warren provided the piano improvisations throughout the play, and Howard Lester was in a class by himself as the pre-show fight announcer.

The roles in this play are any actor’s dream performances. Every actor has an opportunity to shine, even if only briefly because it focuses on characters and is unflinchingly real – something rare for scripts from the 1950s, when life was depicted as homogenized milk. “Them that pays, I lets,” Golda tells him Maish. “Them I likes, I helps.” Throughout the gritty story are glimpses into humanity. Serling’s play was unintendedly prescient. Mountain is everyman today – every person who worked hard and was loyal and did all the right things only to be chewed up and spit out by the corporate world, by the government, and by society. That makes it more relatable now than it was in the 1950s through the 1990s, when people still had hope.

 Mark Ferguson did an awesome job of directing the show with all its nuances and Tom Nimen’s fixed but well-designed set. Nina de Guzman’s lighting design was clever and complemented the set, evoking the right mood for each scene. Kudos to George Holomakoff and Dominick Lettera for the set construction. Jack Singewald, the technical director and Patricia Berg, as stage manager, kept everything flowing seamlessly. Jacquie Carlsen’s costumes were just right for the period. Gus Bottazzi produced as well as starred in this formidable production. Special thanks to Cheryl Kemeny for continuing to grow Crystal Theatre with a production such as Requiem for A Heavyweight as well as its innovative musicals and nurturing of young talent.

See Requiem for A Heavyweight at Crystal Theatre, 66 Bayview Avenue, Norwalk. For tickets, contact info@crystaltheatre.org or call (203) 858-2709.