Revivals on Broadway

Do you remember those old NBC commercials for reruns? "If you haven't seen it, it's new to you." That's how I feel about revivals. Though sometimes they seem like the safe choice, there will always be a new audience for a show. With all the theater I've attended in my life, there are still many classic plays and musicals that I've never seen. I recently had the chance to see You Can't Take It With You by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman and Love Letters by A.R. Gurney for the first time.

Photo Credit: Joan Marcus

The 1936 play You Can't Take It With You is frequently performed in school and community theaters, and it seems like most theater people were in it or involved with it at some point, but somehow I went this long without being exposed to it. After seeing the current production at the Longacre Theatre, I understand the lasting appeal. It's a delightful story about an eccentric family, the Sycamores. There is Penelope (Kristine Nielsen), a wannabe playwright, and her husband Paul (Mark Linn-Baker), who makes fireworks. Their daughter Essie (Annaleigh Ashford) is a dancer and candy maker married to Ed (a standout Will Brill), who plays the xylophone. Grandpa Martin Vanderhof (James Earl Jones) cares for his pets snakes and doesn't believe in paying income taxes. Alice (Rose Byrne, making a charming Broadway debut) is the normal one and when she falls in love with Tony Kirby (Fran Kranz), who comes from a respectable family, she is worried about how the two families will get along. For all the hilarity, it is also quite moving how much the Sycamores love each other. I saw an early preview of the show, but it could have been running for months for how in sync everyone was (as directed by Scott Ellis).

Photo credit: Carol Rosegg

To be honest, Love Letters--a 1989 two-hander in which actors sit and read letters--sounded boring to me, so I was surprised by how quickly I got into the story. Actors will rotate in the production at the Brooks Akinson Theatre. The first cast is Brian Dennehy as Andrew Makepiece Ladd III and Mia Farrow as Melissa Gardner. Conservative Andy and wild Melissa met in elementary school and the play is told through their letters, cards, and invitations to each other. They are convincing as children, but not too over-the-top, and they transition seamlessly into the different ages without the benefit of costume or makeup changes. Farrow, who has the more showy role, hasn't been on Broadway since 1980, but this performance, in which she conveys so much beneath the surface of the letters, proves she belongs here.

This season, I look forward to more revivals of shows I've never seen--The Real Thing, Side Show, On The Twentieth Century, to name a few--and also plenty of new works, maybe some of which will also become classics.