Estelle Parsons as Violet Weston. Photo by Joan Marcus.I recently returned to August: Osage County at the Music Box Theatre on West 45th St. to see if the play's magic depended upon its original cast of Chicago actors, or if it still crackles now that virtually the entire cast has changed out. I was happy to find that the new cast is an impressive ensemble and the play continues to send out sparks of energy. Estelle Parsons has taken over the role of the tough, pill-popping Violet Weston from Deanna Dunagan, and she puts her own spin on this juicy role. Amy Morton continues in the cast as the eldest daughter Barbara, and I was even more aware of how central her role is to this busy, jam-packed play. The play won numerous Tony awards last year, including best play.
Upon the disappearance of their alcoholic patriarch, an award winning poet who hasn't published any poetry in decades, the Weston clan gathers at their three-story home in rural Oklahoma to respond to the crisis and help mom, a pill addict with an attitude. The three Weston daughters bring in their significant others and all the attendant baggage. The stage set is huge, an open view into a three-story house that effectively allows the audience to view all the interactions among the family members inside the house and on the doorstep. The play is bursting with activity and emotions; it is a dark and corrosive comedy which violates all of the viewer's sentimental hopes for a silver lining and happy ending. August: Osage County satirizes feel-good family dramas in which a family crisis causes all to pull together and eventually find a hopeful resolution.
The best parallel I can give is that AOC is like "Long Day's Journey Into Night" with constantly shocking humor. The play also brings to mind "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" in mood and in its constant shifts and surprises. It is long - 3 hours plus, with two 10-minute intermissions, but the show never dragged, and it held my attention from start to finish. Compared to most recent plays, the cast is very large. The ensemble acting is superb,with no celebrity stunt casting.
Upon viewing the play for a second time, I was struck by two impressions. First, Tracy Letts is the rare modern male playwright who can write credible and interesting female characters. Second, the opening scene, in which we meet the patriarch Beverly Weston (he is missing for the rest of the play and does not appear again) and he hires the young native American woman Johnna to care for his wife and oversee the household, is probably unnecessary and is to blame for the excessive length of the play. Letts could have cut this scene and tucked one or two bits of exposition in other spots to make the play more concise.
Check for ticket discounts at TKTS, www.broadwaybox.com, and www.theatermania.com.
-- ELLEN
