The Glass Menagerie
THE GLASS MENAGERIE (27 March to 5 April,
2009) Theatre Works, 142 Clinton Street,
Woonsocket, RI 1 (401) 766-1898 or
www.twri.org
The third show of Theatre Works' 26th season is Tennessee
Williams' American classic "The Glass Menagerie". The show first
opened on Broadway on March 31, 1945 and ran for 563 performances.
it starred local actor from Woonsocket Eddie Dowling as Tom in the
1945 production. It was Williams' first successful play and seems to
be an autobiographical of Williams's life more closely than any of
his other works and is set in 1937. Williams whose real first name
is Thomas, would be Tom, his Mother, Amanda, and his sickly and
(supposedly) mentally ill sister Rose would be Laura (whose nickname
in the play is "Blue Roses", a result of an unfortunate bout of
Pleurosis as a high school student). The story is written from the
point of view of the narrator, Tom Wingfield. The play is introduced
to the audience by Tom as a memory play, based on his recollection
of his mother Amanda and his sister Laura. Amanda is a faded, tragic
remnant of Southern gentility who lives in poverty in a dingy St.
Louis apartment. Amanda's husband left the family 16 years ago and
she remains stuck in the past. Tom works in a warehouse, doing his
best to support them. He chafes under the banality and boredom of
everyday life. He is driven to distraction by his mother's constant
nagging, spends much of his spare time watching movies in cheap
cinemas and seeks escape in alcohol, too. Amanda is obsessed with
finding a suitor for Laura, who spends most of her time with her
glass animal collection which are as delicate and fragile as she is,
after having dropped out of business school. Tom eventually brings
Jim home for dinner at the insistence of his mother, who hopes Jim
will be the long-awaited suitor for Laura. Laura realizes that Jim
is the man she loved in high school and has thought of ever since.
He builds her up by telling Laura she has an inferiority complex and
needs to build up her confidence. In the candlelit scene Jim kisses
her then dashes her hopes, telling her he is already engaged to
Betty, and then leaves. The world of illusion that Amanda and Laura
have striven to create in order to make life bearable collapses
about them. Tom leaves too, and never returns to see his family
again. However, Tom still remembers his sister, Laura and shows his
regret at leaving his sister behind. One of Tom's last lines is
"Blow out your candles, Laura" and the character does that
onstage. Director Mark Anderson directs this show wonderfully and
is given a touching rendition by its four talented cast members. It
will leave you shedding a tear or two while doing so.
Not only does Mark direct the show beautifully but he constructs
a two room set with the dining area on a platform upstage with
beautiful blue flowery curtains and white shears on the back wall
with a photograph of the missing father hanging on it. Downstage is
the living room area with a gramophone, sofa and arm chair with an
actual screen door of their apartment, a porch area and stairs. The
eating and drinking is pantomimed because of the multitude of eating
and drinking scenes. Hard working stage manager, Melissa
Chenail keeps the show moving smoothly all night long while costume
designer Sharon Charette supplies all the 1930 style costumes
especially impressive was Laura's pink party gown. Edward Benjamin
III does a terrific job as Tom. He delivers his monologues in the
"supposed present day" and his dialogue with the right amount of
humor and pathos. He throws his coat in anger after an argument
with his mother accidentally breaking some of Laura's menagerie
and he shows his love for his sister while also displaying the need
for adventure in his real life. Ed gives the role the needed depth
and plays the character on many different levels to keep if from
getting monotonous. The ending with Laura blowing out the candles
gives the closing moment the poignancy Williams intended as a
tribute to his sister, Rose who ended up with a lobotomy for her
"different" kind of behavior. Mark's real life wife, veteran
actress, Connie Anderson gives a powerful performance as Amanda who
dreams constantly of the long ago days when she was a Southern belle
in the Blue Mountains and had seventeen suitors pursuing her. She
captures this woman's larger than life persona as she runs her
children's lives. Her Southern accent is perfect and her "Rise and
Shine" is met with much laughter from the audience as are the gay
deceivers she places in Laura's dress because she is
flatchested. Connie blends the comic and tragic moments together in
her interaction with Tom and Laura and sparkles as the giddy
Southern belle trying to entice a husband for her painfully shy
daughter. Her most poignant moment comes at the end of Act 1 when
she has Laura wish on the crescent moon for happiness and good
fortune with tears in her eyes, evoking tears from the audience at
that point. Another serious moment is when she mentions she had
malaria, and proclaims to Laura "Malaria, jonquils and your father."
(congrats to Connie and Mark who will be grandparents this August/
September with their son, Josh and his beautiful wife Tina's first
baby!)
Sarah Nicklin who is a beautiful brunette, plays the
crippled, Laura perfectly. Her ethereal beauty captures the essence
of this role and her line delivery is excellent. She cringes and
hides from the real world into her glass menagerie world and like
that imaginary world, her world crumbles at her only attempt to
entertain a suitor who is engaged to another girl. Sarah becomes a
tragic wallflower as Laura and remains trapped in this dumpy
apartment with her mother. Kevin Broccoli as Jim, the Gentleman
Caller, is wonderful on the stage with his energetic delivery of all
his lines. Jim tries to help Laura out of her shell by telling her
to look on the positive aspects of life which he learned in public
speaking class. Kevin's powerful character adds to the enjoyment of
the evening and brings life to the stale atmosphere of the Wingfield
family trapped in that St. Louis apartment. The show brings back
pleasant memories of the time I directed the show back in 1986 for
Warwick Players. So for a trip back to when powerful American shows
were first written. be sure to catch this topnotch show at Theatre
Works. You will be glad you did. <P>
