The AndyGram - Broadway Theatre Reviews and Commentary

Brian D'Arcy James and Laura Linney in Donald Margulies' Time Stands Still Photo: Joan Marcus

Every now and again a piece of theatre comes along that is so multifaceted and satisfy; Donald Margulies’ new play Time Stands Still which recently opened at Manhattan Theatre Club’s Samual J. Friedman Theatre is that gem.  In it he tackles complicated issues that plague all couples relationships.  This case, however is complicated by the fact that this couple are a war photographer and a free-lance reporter.  Both have seen war and both have suffered for their work, he in psychological ways, she in physical. 

At a time when Haiti has just suffered an earthquake with more than 200,000 dead, and the last eight years of war with hundreds of thousands dead, Margulies also confronts us with the morality of chronicling the misery of these people.  Is it just for our own voyeuristic curiosity or does it serve a purpose.  If you are reporting that kind of carnage, how much can the human mind be expected to absorb before it can’t take any more. 

Laura Linny (Sight Unseen) is Sarah Goodwin, a war photographer who is tough-as-nails even after a run-in with a roadside bomb.  Brian D’Arcy James (Shrek), in a well deserved break from theatrical prosthetics and heavy green make-up is her boyfriend of eight years, James Dodd, a free-lance reporter.  They were both working in Iraq covering the war.  She has just returned after being seriously hurt by a roadside bomb.  He returned prior after suffering a mental breakdown.  He bears the additional weight of having left Sarah there alone, or so he thought.  After his departure, Sarah had an affair with their “fixer” (a translator hired by reporters).  He was killed by the road-side bomb that injured Sarah.

Laura Linney and Brian D'Arcy James in Donald Margulies' Time Stands Still Photo: Joan Marcus

Linny and James give outstanding performances as the conflicted Sarah and James.  They both come to an impasse by their careers and what they want from life.  It quickly becomes apparent that they’re trajectories, while they may have intersected these past eight years are starting to diverge.

Sarah’s boss Richard and his new, young girlfriend Mandy, played with a dry comic wit by Eric Bogosian (Talk Radio) is a man some might see as in the throes of a mid-life crisis.  He admittedly lives his life vicariously through Sarah and James and is, after all, a man with a girlfriend half his age.  Mandy is played with believable naiveté by Alicia Silverstone (The Graduate) returning to Broadway for the first time since her ill-fated debut in The Graduate several years ago.  We begin to like Mandy the more we get to spend time with her.  This appears to be the case with both Sarah and James who initially make no bones about the fact that they think this spring/fall relationship is nothing more than physical.

In fact, Richard and Mandy’s relationship at first appears to be that of, in Richard’s own words “one of those creepy middle-aged guys who prey on women half their age .”   But there is more to it than that and that makes James jealous, even more so after finding out that Mandy is pregnant.

Mandy is a terrific role for Silverstone.  During the time span of the play (a year) Silverstone gets the chance to grow from a naïve young girl to a mother who can speak for herself.  In one of the plays many funny moments James is describing getting Sarah out of Iraq after being injured; he says it was like “Brazil” (referring to the 1985 Terry Gilliam film.)  Mandy replies “I’ve never been to South America.”

Alicia Silverstone and Eric Bogosian in Donald Margulies' Time Stands Still Photo: Joan Marcus

James longs to settle down and even gets Sarah to marry him.  But Sarah thrives on the adrenaline rush of being a war photographer, never knowing what is coming next.  Their needs are not the same.  Anyone who has had a grown-up relationship will identify with both couples in this play.

Daniel Sullivan has directed a talented cast to perfect, layered performances in this terrific new play.  The physical elements with scenery designed by John Lee Beatty, lighting by Peter Kaczorowski and costume design by Rita Ryack serve the production well. 

As of this writing, Time Stands Still has just announced an extension through March 27.  If you can get a ticket, I’d advise you not to miss it.

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Read full production credits at the Internet Broadway Database.

Scarlett Johanson and Liev Schreiber in Arthur Miller's A View from the Bridge Photo: Joan Marcus

Arthur Miller’s 1955 drama, A View from the Bridge which recently opened on Broadway at the Cort Theatre focuses on the rough-hewn family of a longshoreman, Eddie Carbone.  He lives in Red Hook, Brooklyn in a small unimpressive apartment with his wife Beatrice and her niece Catherine.  The tale was originally told to Arthur Miller by a longshoreman.  He writes in the introduction to the script “I had never thought to make a play of it because it was too complete, there was nothing I could add.”  Oh how wrong he was.  It is that completeness, told well by talented actors that makes this an engrossing evening.   

Each evening Catherine greets her Uncle’s return from the docks with the inappropriate exuberance of a young bride.  Her uncle seems to love the positive attention he obviously no longer gets from his wife.  The talented Liev Schreiber (Talk Radio, Glengarry Glen Ross) plays Eddie with genuineness and subtlety.  His Eddie organically evolves from a man seemingly satisfied with life into a tempest of self-destruction.

Scarlett Johansson (“Lost in Translation”) plays Catherine with equal subtlety and nuance.  Johansson, a native New Yorker with a long and esteemed Hollywood pedigree makes a striking Broadway debut.  Beatrice, his wife, is played by Jessica Hecht who was last seen in an eerily similar role, Blanche in Brighton Beach Memoirs.   She is the conciliator, the referee.

Catherine starts the boat rocking by announcing she wants to leave stenography school to take a job as a stenographer.  Eddie reluctantly agrees only after Beatrice’s intercession.  The rocking boat ultimately lands when word is received that Beatrice’s cousins, expected to arrive in a week or so to stay with them have arrived a week earlier. 

The brothers arrive at the apartment under a veil of secrecy.  Marco, played by Corey Stoll, is here to send money back to  his wife and kids in Italy.  Rodolpho, Morgan Spector, is the dreamer.  He also happens to be a dancer, singer and tailor.  These “unmanly” pastimes don’t sit well with Eddie.  When Rodolpho and Catherine express a romantic  interest in one-another and start to get serious, Eddie explodes.  He seeks the council of his family lawyer Alfieri who tells him there is nothing he can do about Rodolpho just because in Eddie’s words “the guy ain’t right.” 

Eddie’s homophobia seems intensely personal, almost like he doth protest too much.  During the heat of an argument in the second act Eddie gives us another reason to question this.  What may have seemed in 1955 like an attempt to emasculate Rodolpho, comes off today as a potential closet case. 

Scarlett Johansson, Jessica Hecht and Liev Schreiber in Arthur Miller's A View from the Bridge Photo: Joan Marcus

Director Gregory Mosher’s touch on this play is barely felt and the heartbreaking lives of this family are left to unfold with Miller’s naturalistic dialogue.  John Lee Beatty’s set is as simple as the play itself.  As you enter the theatre the brick street façade of mid-century Brooklyn is plain and undistinguishable.    Peter Kaczorowski’s lights coming up on the scene at the top of the show make the set pop to life.  Jane Greenwood’s costumes are simple and reflective of the period and the socio-economic status of the Carbone’s.

It’s hard to imagine that with two revivals since the 1980s alone, A View from the Bridge could find an audience; this one deserves it.  This is thanks in large part to a first-rate cast and a story that’s so “complete.” 
I’m predicting that Mr. Schreiber will have an aisle seat in Radio City Music Hall come this June 13th. 

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Read full production credits at the Internet Broadway Database.