BWW Reviews: STICKS AND BONES Puts a Full Nelson on the Vietnam War

If Dave Rabe's 1971 dark anti-war satire Sticks and Bones were written today, the iconic mom and pop characters of the piece might have been named Mike and Carol or Howard and Marian, but to those who get the reference, the names Ozzie and Harriet fit perfectly.

Perhaps faded a bit from America's collective pop-culture memory, Ozzie and Harriet Nelson were stars of an enormously popular television sitcom (originally on radio) that ran from 1952 through to 1966. Co-starring their sons David and rock star Ricky Nelson, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet played as a fictitious version of their actual lives, and the program became a symbol for the kind of sweet, idyllic family comedy where dads were a bit bumbling, moms were supportive and sensible and there was no problem that couldn't be resolved in a half-hour.

In the second play of his Vietnam trilogy (following The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel and preceding Streamers), Rabe injected some real life into the fact-based fiction of the beloved TV family to instigate a battle between America as it is and America as it perceives itself. Originally produced by Joseph Papp at The Public, the production moved to Broadway and was awarded the 1972 Tony for Best Play. The next year a made-for-television movie of the play was broadcast by CBS, but many affiliates refused to carry it.

Director Scott Elliott's hard-working production for The New Group is certainly admirable, but without the shock factor of how the play would be accepted by its contemporary audience, the piece's flaws (overwriting and clunky symbolism) stand out a bit in an evening that clocks in at almost three hours.

Designer Derek McLane's duplex set seems inspired by The Brady Bunch in its depiction of 1970s upper middle class suburban taste and comfort. Bill Pullman's Ozzie comes off at first like a loveably goofy sitcom dad and Holly Hunter's tightly-wound Harriet is always ready to jump on an opportunity to be nurturing.

Their youngest son, happy-go-lucky Rick (Raviv Ullman), is never without his guitar and always seems to be heading to the kitchen for a snack. During a visit with Father Donald (a kindly Richard Chamberlain), Ozzie and Harriet learn that their oldest son David (Ben Schnetzer) is coming home from the war, but they're shocked and confused to discover that he's gone blind.

David's emotional baggage is represented by Nadia Gan as Zung, the Vietnamese woman he left behind. While Zung hovers silently in David's subconscious, his inescapable memories cause his anger and fear to bubble to the surface.

David's family has no interest in his post-war emotional needs and is actually quite miffed that his problems are upsetting the uneventful harmony of their everyday lives. As Ozzie's placid exterior gives way to inner hatred and bigotry (Pullman is terrific in depicting the character's cracking surface.) the play becomes a symbolic showdown between learning uncomfortable truths and hiding from them.

What was fresh and radical in 1971 seems a little over-the-top today, and Sticks and Bones might be best accepted now as an interesting theatrical artifact from an era when people still went to Broadway to absorb radical thoughts from creative artists.

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