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Regional Reviews: St. Louis Tenn Also see Richard's review of Guys and Dolls
The set changes take too long, and there are about eleven of them. But it's worth the wait each time, thanks to director Julie George-Carlson. Gradually, Tenn goes from waiting tables to becoming legend, in a highly credible performance by Matt Newlin. It's not well known, but the author had a collaborator before this project, Donald Windham (the very fine Kyle Reeves), who remained in a relationship with him in 1945, and who strikes a great balance with Williams in this backstage story. For every glum, angsty moment from Donald, there's a youthfully wry rejoinder from the future author of A Streetcar Named Desire, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and Sweet Bird of Youth, plays that would follow along after this ordeal. He's not necessarily hopeful here, as his most personal show struggles toward opening. But we get a gentle grasp of the playwright's own resilience in the nearly two hour play. Like a lot of writers, he had an inauspicious beginning, in this case in New York with Battle of Angels, a notorious flop. As a matter of fact, he was also roundly laughed at in writing class years earlier, for the first play he wrote at Washington University in St. Louis, but that's another story. And he got fired from a writing job in Hollywood somewhere in between. In fact, it's a little hard to believe, at first, that this gentle soul had the intestinal fortitude to go on. But thanks to Mr. Newlin's very authentic and naturalistic performance, we also see a lot of lonely evenings spent banging away on an old typewriter. And from his ruthless tenacity, we realize he had no other choice. He also has cheerleaders, in the form of an agent who seeks him out, played here with sometimes grim determination by Kelli Rao. And Kevin Bailey runs ahead of all their fates as the young director who will also be on stage as the young Tom Wingfield. The great obstacles here are money and a leading lady who tends to get blackout drunk. Charles Huevelman has a Broadway level of clarity and intensity on stage as the play's financial backer. And Dorothy LaBounty is sly and penetrating as Laurette Taylor, the actress who immortalized Amanda Wingfield in the original production, which ran for a total of about a year and a half on Broadway (at two theaters, consecutively). In 1945, The Glass Menagerie was named "Best American Play" by the New York Drama Critic's Circle. The first-rate costumes are by Lauren Smith Beardon, and the set design is very nice for this small company, which only does world premieres. Producer Brad Slavik gets credit for the revolving fire escape and a gallery of cast-off table lamps, which become a meaningful part of the show, under lighting by Mike Gasparich. Through the whole thing, Mr. Newlin's Tennessee is genteel and pleasantly beseeching, a much younger man than we probably recall, and utterly devoid of ego through this lovable recreation. The only thing I missed along the way was more interplay between the actors preparing for their roles. It seems like there's plenty of room for a fictionalized version of Julie Haydon, who first played Laura, a stand-in for Williams' sister Rose. I've mentioned this before, but there's quite a shocking theory about why Rose was subjected to a lobotomy as a young adult, and my natural tendency toward meddling makes me want to see that referenced (at least elliptically) on stage here. But Tenn does bring to life the most obscure character in The Glass Menagerie, the father of the Wingfield clan, whose photo can be seen on stage in most productions. It almost seems like you can't have both, though: Laura and that photo, together, being brought to loggerheads in even a remembering way. Their hidden story, suggested by Henry I. Schvey in his book "Blue Song," might take over this delicate, authentic-feeling show, and rip it in half. Tenn, produced by First Run Theatre, runs through August 9, 2026, at the Kranzberg Arts Center, 501 N. Grand, St. Louis MO. For tickets and information, please visit www.firstruntheatre.org. Cast: Production Staff: |
