A DELICATE BALANCE, Edward Albee's Pulitzer Prize and Tony-winning masterwork returns to Broadway with an extraordinary cast.
In A DELICATE BALANCE, Agnes (Glenn Close) and Tobias (John Lithgow), a long-married couple, must maintain their equilibrium as over the course of a weekend they welcome home their 36-year-old daughter (Martha Plimpton) after the collapse of her fourth marriage, and give shelter to their best friends (Bob Balaban and Clare Higgins), all the while tolerating Agnes' alcoholic sister Claire (Lindsay Duncan).
The Daily News calls A DELICATE BALANCE "a beautiful play- easily Albee's best and most mature, filled with humor and compassion and touched with poetry." It "proves that old-fashioned stage virtues- originality of voice, depth of feeling, richness of language- can still provide a thrill" (TIME Magazine). "If you really care about serious theatre, brilliant theatre, great acting, and great playwriting, this is the only play to see on Broadway" (New York Post).
There are few things more terrifying than a calm Glenn Close...Agnes, who sees it as her task to maintain order, never entirely loses her cool. But in Close's revelatory performance, she evolves from a woman who seems almost preternaturally composed -- even as she contemplates going mad, in her first lines -- to a more intimidating and sadder creature striving desperately for 'maintenance,' as she puts it...MacKinnon certainly doesn't shy away from Balance's absurdist leanings...Tobias and Agnes and their decades of baggage are central throughout, of course, and MacKinnon and her actors make it abundantly clear that this marriage is not a loveless one. The tenderness and regret in Lithgow's expression as Tobias looks at his wife, and the barely repressed agony Close brings to some lines, convey something greater than tolerance or co-dependence. These fine actors find the warmth in Albee's stinging message. It's a pleasure to see them in roles that accommodate both their intensity and their flair for nuance.
When you put a bunch of great actors together...and get them to perform a Pulitzer-winning drama (by no less than Edward Albee), you expect fireworks. But the starry new Broadway revival of Albee's 1966 drama 'A Delicate Balance' is surprisingly flat and likely to disappoint both those unfamiliar with the three-act play, as well as those who still remember its much acclaimed revival from two decades ago with Elaine Stritch and Rosemary Harris...Despite the witty lines and a handful of exciting moments, the production is a three-hour, very static bore. Pam MacKinnon, who directed the 2012 Broadway revival of Albee's 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?', never manages to combine these accomplished performers into a unified ensemble. Perhaps that balance will be reached as the run continues.
1966 | Broadway |
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1996 | Broadway |
Broadway Revival Broadway |
2014 | Broadway |
Broadway Revival Broadway |
2022 | Off-Broadway |
Transport Group Off-Broadway Production Off-Broadway |
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