One last visit to OSAGE COUNTY

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 6/26/09 at 12:22am

My final visit with the Weston family of AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY was a distinctly tragic one. Not because the performances were bad, au contraire. But because this was the very first time, after seeing it twice before here and once on the closed-circuit television at the National Theater in London, that I noticed how tragic the play actually is.

Phylicia Rashad is a magnificent Violet, dead-eyed and slack-jawed, with no discernible trace of any brain power, yet still having all too much. She's not a fireball like Estelle Parsons, nor is she bats*it crazy like Deanna Dunagan. She's a mother, not a monster and you can really tell that Rashad's Violet deeply cares for her children.

Amy Morton, Sally Murphy and Maryann Mayburry have gotten stronger over time, now having done their roles as long as Yul Brenner had played the King of Siam. I haven't seen the same performance from Morton more than once; her desperation really came through tonight more than ever before. Murphy and Mayburry are equally as strong.

Guy Boyd doesn't have the same power as, say, Robert Foxworth, but he's got dynamite chemistry with Elizabeth Ashley, both rotund in their own ways.

Oh - and John Cullum: the best Beverly in any of the casts. Got laughs where I'd never seen them before.

It really is a lovely play, sorry to see it go, can't wait for the film and the inevitable revival in 10 years. Still, it won't be the same as this production. This marvelous production. Glad to see it go out on a high note, with a full house and a wildly vociferous crowd.

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 6/26/09 at 12:23am

I agree with every word. Glad you enjoyed it again, yankee!

[Testing1232]

Posted: 6/26/09 at 12:31am

Just got back from the show, and echo your sentiments.... The show (as usual) was amazing, and Rashad is absolutely astounding !!! For those that have not seen her.... beg, borrow, and steal to get a ticket for one of the final shows !!!

[adamgreer]

Posted: 6/26/09 at 12:35am

It's a shame Rashad didn't get a longer run in the show. I don't think the producers gave her enough time to catch on with audiences.

Again, a shame, because she's giving a brilliant performance, which I'm glad to have seen.

[everythingtaboo]

Posted: 6/26/09 at 12:43am

I'm going tonight (Friday), and I can't wait to revisit it since the first time I saw last year, shortly after it moved to the Music Box.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 6/26/09 at 1:05am

It is a very tragic play, and what's so brilliant about Lett's writing in this play is that he makes you think it's a comedy and then at the end of it it all hits you at once and it haunts you.
I can't express how deeply bothered I am that I won't get to see Rashad in the part and see Amy Morton in what truly is her last performance as Barbara Weston (I saw her in her last performance before she left to London, my second time seeing her, what a brilliant actress). I love the three Weston daughters.
So nice to hear that the show is going out with a bang. I can't wait for the film either!

[dramamama611]

Posted: 6/26/09 at 5:37am

I, too, am sad not to get to see Rashad. I was hoping to catch it again this summer.

Let's face it though, the box office had barely been hanging on BEFORE they brought her in...and we had plenty of notice she was comimng in.

I loved August and was thrilled to see it twice, one of those times bringing 100 HS students that were entirely enthralled with the production unlike any I'd ever seen. I was never more proud of my kids then by the discussion and enthusiasm they exhibited during the intermissions and afterwards.

Sorry to see it go....but it did have a great run!

[jewishboy]

Posted: 6/26/09 at 8:29am

I am not a fan of the show, but I am very upset that I will not be able to see Ms. Rashad's performance. And I'm only coming home four days after!

[singtopher]

Posted: 6/26/09 at 8:47am

I'll be there for my third time at Sunday's performance.

[BroadwayGuy12]

Posted: 6/26/09 at 10:14am

I saw the show for the first time this past Wednesday and I, too, thought Rashad was brilliant. A captivating performance all around.

In fact, the entire show was captivating. Shapiro's direction was fantastic, and every performance complemented the others. I'm actually happy that I lost the Hair lotto; otherwise, I wouldn't have had the chance to see this amazing production on Broadway.

[TalkinLoud]

Posted: 6/26/09 at 10:57am

Tracy Letts is my favorite contemporary playwright. I will basically see anything he does at this point.

[logan0215]

Posted: 6/26/09 at 1:18pm

Yankeefan, I think you've summed up the performance that Rashad is giving quite eloquently without pitting the former actresses against one another (I had only seen Estelle prior to seeing Rashad's first performance). I agree that she brings a fierce maternal sensibility to the character that was possibly a layer overlooked by her predecessors.

I do have to disagree with your raving about Sally Murphy as I (and I believe MiracleElixer said in another thread) feel that she has reduced her portrayal of Ivy down to two volumes: mumble or high-pitched shriek. Both inaudible, both much more ineffective than her more layered performance I had seen the first time around. It's bad when Elizabeth Ashley (who finds an effective way to use shm-acting to her advantage as Mattie Fae - this is not a pan) seems tame compared to you.

[legally_popular]

Posted: 6/26/09 at 11:24pm

It is a very tragic play, and what's so brilliant about Lett's writing in this play is that he makes you think it's a comedy and then at the end of it it all hits you at once and it haunts you.

Very well said.

I am very sad to see this go. I wish I could be there on Sunday.

[NakedMaid]

Posted: 6/26/09 at 11:45pm

Agreeing with most.
I saw the show 4 times (the only show I've ever done that with!)
2x with the original cast. I was so afraid to see a new cast, that it took me almost a year to see it again for the 3rd time. I didn't feel like the move did anything to the show and what I hoped was true: The piece is so stand alone brilliant that any good performer will look outstanding speaking Mr Lett's words.
I agree with the distinction of the 3 violets. Spot on. I was so nervous about PR's take on it, but yes. Her softer moments were so that they made her hateful moments towards her family THAT much worse. It was the only time since the fisrt time I'd seen it that I was having guttural reactions to her.
I was saddened that Morton called out on the Wed matinee. She is so fantastic that I was really looking forward to seeing her again. (And she deserved that Tony!)

[RippedMan]

Posted: 6/26/09 at 11:51pm

I saw it this past week and I thought it was fabulous. What a wonderful play, and the twists and turns were so unexpected. The crowd was with the show every step and I think everyone was just really enjoying it. I think Rashad brought in a younger, more urban demographic, which is a good thing. I'm glad the play is being exposed to so many young people because it's such a great piece of writing, and such an easy show to latch onto. The production is beautiful down to the suburb detailed set, and the awesome sound design. I still prefer the Barbara before Amy Morton, but I really liked Morton too, she def. grew on me, and "eat the ****ing fish" is my favorite scene of any play.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 6/27/09 at 1:34am

I'm sorry, I found every twist and turn completely predictable. When people gasped, a man in the row in front of me particularly loudly, I almost tapped him on the shoulder and said, "You're kidding, right? You honestly didn't see that coming or are you gasping because you thought you were about to be surprised by something that isn't the predictable reveal but it ended up being the predictable one and so you gasped because you thought the show would surprise you and it didn't and you can't believe it like I can't, right?"

dead-eyed and slack-jawed, with no discernible trace of any brain power, yet still having all too much.

I'm sorry, but, what? So many people in this thread are agreeing with your points so it must be clear to them what the hell this means but it makes no sense to me. I see that the words are strung together resembling a sentence, but what does that MEAN? Or are we beyond meaning, at this point, in our use of language?

have gotten stronger over time, now having done their roles as long as Yul Brenner had played the King of Siam.

I'm sorry, I don't even understand what this is trying to say. I'm starting to feel like Ethel Merman at Torch Song Trilogy.


both rotund in their own ways.

Again. I recognize that each individual word is from the English language, but strung together in a phrase they leave me with a question: What the hell do you mean?

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 6/27/09 at 2:00am

FindingNamo, I find it VERY hard to believe that you predicted every twist in the text.

And the dictionary definition of rotund is (besides physically round) "(of speech or literary style) indulging in grandiloquent expression." Which makes perfect sense in what yankee was saying.

The comment about Brenner is yankee's way of saying they've been doing the show for a long-ass time.

And his comment about Rashad's Violet not having brain power yet having too much refers to the fact that she is able to get across a character that is both ill and mentally unstable yet somehow is also mentally sharp, which is clear in both Rashad's performance and in Letts' writing. She's a sick woman who clearly has some brain damage but is also way ahead of the curve and says multiple times throughout the show that nothing gets past her and that she knows everything, which she somehow does.

If I'm wrong in any of my answers to these questions, yankee, let me know. But I don't think yankee's thoughts were unclear at all. And there's a way to ask what people mean without coming off as snarky for no reason. But then again what can I expect?
Updated On: 6/27/09 at 02:00 AM

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 6/27/09 at 2:36am

I was not surprised by the twists. Except for the cheaty one at the end. But that was a cheat so it didn't count. As for the other things that elicited gasps, YES, I knew each one before it happened. I saw the show by myself so I didn't blurt things out to somebody who could verify this fact, but it's true.

And his comment about Rashad's Violet not having brain power yet having too much refers to the fact that she is able to get across a character that is both ill and mentally unstable yet somehow is also mentally sharp

Again, the way I understand the construction of comparisons, it is impossible for one to not have something while simultaneously having too much of it.

[Kungaloosh1937]

Posted: 6/27/09 at 4:24am

re: RippedMan

Um... there was NO Barbara before Amy Morton. She originated the role at Steppenwolf, on Broadway and on the West End.

You may be thinking of Johanna Day, who while decent, hadn't the ferocity that Barbara needed.

[logan0215]

Posted: 6/27/09 at 8:18pm

"Again, the way I understand the construction of comparisons, it is impossible for one to not have something while simultaneously having too much of it. "

It's impossible for someone to act as though the are practically brain dead but then in turn really be quite maniacally ingenious?

Perhaps your lack of understanding of this dynamic comes from the fact that you haven't seen the performance but Rashad was able to both make you feel she was out of it- flying high on whatever pills she had popped- and in the next moment prove that she was entirely within her wits and planning a calculated take-down.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 6/28/09 at 11:34am

What you have written makes sense.