Went to Delphine’s before going to the Pantages last night. They’d taken the hamburger off the bar menu, so Gordon had French onion soup and I had crab cakes instead. The food was good, but I would have preferred the burger. Bartender also said we couldn’t watch Jeopardy because people were watching the basketball game. BS. Nobody was watching the game. But it wasn’t worth fighting over. We finished our drinks and crossed the street for the show. We were almost late. They normally start 10 minutes after eight. Last night they started right on time because the show runs 3 hours, and they have to close by 11. The doors were closed after we got in.
I wasn’t sure what to expect with this play. Loved the book, of course, but Sorkin wrote the adaptation and he’s Far Left. I also heard that although all the critics loved the show, it wasn’t reopening in New York. So, I didn’t have high hopes. I wasn’t disappointed. Sorkin is a good writer, but he changed the emphasis from the viewpoint of a young girl and made her just one of many narrators. The Sorkin adaption is a re-telling of the of the story from an adult’s (his) point of view. And it’s focused on race. It touches on incest, but the main focus is racism. Racism, racism, racism. We’re told how ugly racism is, how pervasive, and how hopeless the struggle against it is. Sorkin subjects us to the ugly way some white people refer to black people. Calpurnia, the family housekeeper (black lady,) is bitter and shames Atticus because he seems to expect gratitude for defending Tom Robinson. Atticus is finally in despair at the end of the show. He doesn’t know his neighbors and he fears they’ll never change. It’s kind of a hopeless piece of theater.
Richard Thomas plays Atticus. I’ve always appreciated his acting and I appreciated this performance. The girl playing Scout had some trouble with the accent. She sounded like a New Yorker half the time. Oh hell, maybe there’s a Brooklyn in Alabama. The actress who played Scout in the movie is playing Mrs. Dubose and she’s quite effective. I liked the staging. The show is well-done and if you like your nose rubbed in the ugliness of a small percentage of the population, you’ll probably like it. For me, it was a meh. I’ll go back to the book where I can disapprove of the ugliness of racism and not be slimed by it. My God, you’d think nothing had changed in the last 80 years.
This is the second show I’ve seen recently where Far Left people have re-imagined classics. They suck the joy and charm out of everything and all that’s left is ugliness. They should leave well enough alone and come up with something original. Of course, no one would pay to see it. They have to suck us in with the classics and then ruin them for us. No wonder the theater is dying.
