From the Archives - Not for Women Only: Luce's 'The Women' a Triumph of Style, Substance

This article appeared in The Metro Herald (Alexandria, Virginia) on February 19, 1999:

Not for Women Only: Luce's The Women a Triumph of Style, Substance

Rick Sincere

Metro Herald Entertainment Editor

Dr. Laura would approve. The popular radio moralist (heard locally on WMAL-AM) nags her callers and listeners frequently about the evil nature of gossip. To gossip, she says, is morally wrong, both intrinsically and because it inevitably hurts someone, if not the object of the gossip, then the one who spreads it.

And The Women, Clare Boothe Luce's classic 1930s play now at the Arena Stage, is nothing if not a moral tale of the evil consequences of gossip, especially that practiced by catty (and witty) women of leisure in the upper crusts of society. To get to the moral of her story, however, Luce delivers a funny, bitchy, cynical script that, under Kyle Donnelly's direction, is as relevant today as it was when first produced on Broadway back in 1936.

What's more, Luce (wife of Time magazine founder Henry Luce, and later Ambassador to Italy and U.S. Representative from Connecticut) does not limit herself to the society matrons (and mistresses) that so titillated Depression-era New York audiences. Like Shakespeare, she sometimes turns to the lower classes -- in this case, the servants -- to comment on the action in a clownish but insightful manner. This offers a perspective that allows us to see the protagonists not just as victims (or vixens) but also as fools who fail to recognize their own imperfections.

Arena's production of The Women has its share of great performances -- Nancy Robinette is positively manic as the Countess de Lage, Stacey Leigh Ivey is seductive as Crystal Allan, Sarah Marshall is Gertrude Steinish as the professional writer, Miss Blake, and Ellen Karas is steadfast as Mrs. Stephen Haines, the evening's primary divorcée.

Still, the real stars of The Women are the sets and costumes. Thomas Lynch's set design is sleek, convertible, and practicable. At the same time, Paul Tazewell's costumes are breathtaking. Moreover, the two designers have worked for convergence -- no costume seems out of place vis-à-vis the set decoration, and no aspect of the set overshadows the costumes. And, like the play itself, which builds through several scenes to a climax and denouement at a rooftop party, the final scene's evening gowns are absolutely fabulous. (Karas' red gown is worth the price of admission by itself.)

On leaving the theatre on opening night, my companion and I discussed the possibility of a musical adaptation of The Women. Only later did I find out that such a thing exists -- a 1956 musical film called The Opposite Sex, starring June Allyson, Joan Collins, Agnes Morehead, Ann Sheridan, Charlotte Greenwood, and Ann Miller, and including men in the cast. The movie obviously did not have much of an impact -- the composer, Nicholas Brodszky, apparently wrote nothing else of consequence -- but might make a fun video to rent. Nonetheless, if your only choice is to rent The Opposite Sex or the original film with Norma Shearer, Rosalind Russell, Joan Crawford, Marjorie Main, Paulette Goddard, Joan Fontaine, and Hedda Hopper, go with the 1939 non-musical. Or, even better, wander over to the Arena Stage and see it live.

The Women continues through February 21 at the Arena Stage, 1101 Sixth Street, S.W., in Washington. Performances are Tuesday, Wednesday, and Sunday evenings at 7:30 p.m.; Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings at 8:00 p.m., with selected Saturday matinees at 2:30 p.m. and selected Sunday matinees at 2:00 p.m. Ticket prices range from $24 to $45. For ticket information, call the box office at 202-488-3300.

Review of 'The Color Purple'

Here is my review of The Color Purple, now playing in the Kennedy Center's Opera House, prepared for publication in The Metro Herald.

The Color Purple: Flawed but Inspiring
Musical Adaptation of Award-Winning Novel Now at Kennedy Center
Rick Sincere
Metro Herald Entertainment Editor

Adapting a controversial, popular, epistolary novel to the stage is a delicate task, one with as many pitfalls as it has possibilities. The task is made even more difficult when it requires the translation of an intensely personal, introspective journey to the more gregarious needs of the musical play, with its attendant melody, dance, and spirited rhyme schemes.

The task was just as delicate for Steven Spielberg when he adapted Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning The Color Purple for the screen, which provides a much wider palette for a story that sprawls from the Mississippi Delta to West Africa and across nearly a half-century of time. Spielberg’s effort was rewarded with eleven Oscar® nominations and it catapulted Whoopi Goldberg to stardom.

The musical stage adaptation of The Color Purple, although it received eleven Tony Award® nominations (winning one category), is a noble attempt that ultimately fails to satisfy.

Now playing to capacity audiences at the Kennedy Center Opera House, the production’s strongest claims to success are in its design elements: sets (by John Lee Beatty), lighting (by Brian McDevitt), and especially costumes. Costume designer Paul Tazewell’s creations are almost the only way audiences can follow the chronology of the piece: as fashions change, we know that time goes by in a story that begins before the First World War and ends after World War II. Tazewell’s costumes also signify poverty and wealth, glamour and mundanity – facets that define the characters almost as well as their words and actions do.

As for the characters themselves, several performances stand out, not least of which is American Idol winner Fantasia in the leading role of Celie. Not only must Celie age from 14 to 54 over the course of two hours, she must do so almost without a break: there is hardly a scene in The Color Purple in which Celie does not appear. As weak as the material is (more on that later), Fantasia carries it with aplomb and maturity beyond her years.

Also notable is Felicia P. Fields as Sofia (reprising her Tony-nominated role), whose self-assured character is brought low by the social establishment of the Jim Crow South only to be resurrected when her sister-in-struggle, Celie, asserts herself in Act II. Similarly, Angela Robinson as Shug Avery (the woman every man wants to be with and every woman wants to be, but whom Celie gets to be with) is sexy, sensual, strong, determined, and sharp-witted: a role model for anyone.

Book writer Marsha Norman has added a sort of Greek chorus in the Church Ladies (Doris, Darlene, and Jarene; respectively Kimberly Ann Harris, Virginia Ann Woodruff, and Lynette DuPree) whose gossipy nature, vulgar comments, cutting remarks, and ever-changing costumes nudge the play along lightheartedly when it otherwise might become bogged down in melancholy and hopelessness.

Another performance worth singling out is that of Stu James as Harpo, Celie’s stepson (and Sofia’s husband) who may be the only man in her orbit who displays a sense of humanity and decency.

The major problem with The Color Purple as a piece of musical theatre is its lack of musicality. The score – which seems to have been written by a committee – is bland, undistinguished, and unmemorable. (In a good musical, one finds oneself humming the tunes on the way out of the theatre. I found myself humming a tune from a different musical, one that bore some resemblance to a song in The Color Purple, but that was far superior.)

Unsurprisingly, given that the songwriting duties were divided up among three composer/lyricists – Brenda Russell, Allee Willis, and Stephen Bray – whose backgrounds are more in pop music than in musical theatre, the score is scattered all over the place. It is not grounded in time (or location) and it fails to deliver any integrated sensibility (such as, for instance, providing motifs that follow characters through the story and link their development).

There are problems, too, with Norman’s book, which turns Walker’s wrenching portrayal of misogyny and cruelty into an anodyne pabulum that condescends to the audience, as if a producer said to the playwright, “Tone down the beatings and the rapes; I don’t want tired businessmen to walk out during intermission.”

Moreover, Norman forsakes clarity in an effort to compress the story (and fit it into a reasonable running time, which even now is nearly three hours). For instance, in the climactic scene, which takes place during a picnic, Alice Walker tells us that the gathering is meant to celebrate the Fourth of July. The play does not, raising the question of why Celie is so non-chalant about attending a party put together by her cruel ex-husband. One line could have avoided that question.

Walker’s criticism of African patriarchy is completely missing from this adaptation. In its stead is a second act dream ballet that, were it not meant to be taken seriously, could easily be misinterpreted as bad-taste minstrelsy. Add to this the absence of any mention of the Great Depression, Prohibition, or World War II in a story that spans all those major periods, and you have to wonder what the writers were thinking.

The Color Purple is a flawed musical play. Nonetheless, it will continue to draw audiences, as it did for 910 performances on Broadway. The underlying story of one woman’s triumph over adversity and evil remains inspiring. If that is enough to satisfy the “tired businessman,” then nothing more need be said.

The Color Purple runs through August 9, 2009, at the Kennedy Center Opera House. Performances run Tuesday through Sunday evenings at 7:30 p.m. with matinee performances on Saturday and Sunday afternoons at 1:30 p.m. Tickets cost $25-$95 and may be purchased at the Kennedy Center Box Office or by calling Instant Charge at (202) 467-4600. Patrons living outside the Washington metropolitan area may dial toll-free at (800) 444-1324 or visit the Kennedy Center web site at www.kennedy-center.org. (NOTE: During the matinee performances on July 12, 19, and 26, and on August 1 and 2, and during the evening performance on July 31, the role of Celie will be played by Phyre Hawkins or Brandi Chavonne Massey.

Photo credit: Paul Kolnik. Production photos courtesy of the Kennedy Center.



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The New S&M Meme?

Was it just a coincidence that two articles in the Outlook section of Sunday's Washington Post both ended with nearly the same sentence? Or, if not precisely the same phrase, at least the same sentiment? Should we be on the watch for this rhetorical device in the era of Obama?

Here is how Naomi Wolf ended her review of Jennifer Scanlon's new book, Bad Girls Go Everywhere: The Life of Helen Gurley Brown (headlined "Who Won Feminism?"):

Surely we can find a way between the merely personal and the mostly political -- a synthesis of Brown and Friedan. If Michelle Obama's generation is getting closer to it, maybe Sasha's and Malia's generation will find it at last.

And then, a couple of pages later, in a symposium on whom the President might choose to succeed Supreme Court Justice David Souter, former Tennessee Congressman Harold Ford said this in closing:

I hope there's a new litmus test: The court needs a broad thinker -- someone who will listen closely to the facts of cases, promote an even application of the law and not hesitate to engage fellow justices about the effect their decisions will have for future generations.

The president should be also mindful that Sasha and Malia could use another role model on the high court.

Liberals are fond of saying proposed laws to circumscribe peaceable adult conduct are "for the children." Will we, for the next four years, be stuck with the greater specificity of "for Sasha and Malia"?

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This Is a Hit?

I was catching up with the Sunday paper late Sunday night -- actually, early Monday morning -- when I read an article in the Daily Progress by Martha Burk, identified as author of Cult of Power: Sex Discrimination in Corporate America and What Can Be Done About It. (Readers might recognize her as the leader of a vocal group of critics of the Augusta National Golf Club for excluding female members.)

I don't know what Ms. Burk knows about corporate America, but she doesn't seem to know much about television. Here's her first paragraph (excerpted from The Newtown Bee -- because the Daily Progress doesn't put its non-staff-written opinion pieces on its web site):

These days you don't have to try very hard to find material for a column on sex discrimination. From Friday Night Lights, the hit TV series that could more properly be called "Friday Night Stereotypes," to former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina's new book on her career, and Warren Buffett's latest ethics advice, we are served up a wealth of opportunity.

What's that? Friday Night Lights is a "hit" television show? Someone please tell Ms. Burk that her research assistants need some research assistance.

Here's Mark Washburn writing in the Charlotte Observer on Saturday:

Gasping for breath in the ratings are "Friday Night Lights" on NBC and "Men in Trees" on ABC. Both deserve better.

That not clear enough? Try TV critic Austin O'Connor in the Lowell Sun:

NBC's Friday Night Lights is a fine television show, but it's not generating much offense on the Nielsen scoreboard. Ratings for this week's episode improved a bit, though it still finished in fourth place in its Tuesday 8 p.m. time slot, behind the inexplicably popular Dancing with the Stars on ABC, NCIS on CBS, and the baseball playoffs on Fox. Maybe NBC should think about moving the show to - oh, I don't know - Friday night, perhaps? Nah, makes too much sense. I hope it survives, because it would be hard to live without both FNL and Two-a-Days, MTV's addictive reality show about the Hoover (Ala.) High School football team that wrapped up its run Wednesday night. If you missed the finale, MTV is re-airing the final two episodes of Two-a-Days Saturday night at 10:30. Set your TiVos!

People in Texas know about "Friday night lights." Here's what the Beaumont Enterprise has to say about what Martha Burk calls a "hit TV series":

"Friday Night Lights," is a one-hour drama that airs at 7 p.m. Tuesdays, chronicling the ups and downs of the fictional Dillon High School Panthers. The TV show, of course, is based on the movie - which, of course, was based on H.G. Bissinger's bestselling book, an account of the 1988 Odessa Permian team.

But the television version is unique from the screen and print versions in at least one other way: Apparently, it's not successful. In fact, it has tanked in the Nielsen ratings.

Writing in that same article, the Enterprise's Perryn Keys adds:

But evidently, "Friday Night Lights" is getting an audience just barely larger than those reserved for Ron Popeil and other infomercials.

Ouch!

I don't wish to belabor the point, but I've never seen Friday Night Lights (neither the TV series nor the movie), and I don't know or care about football (high school or otherwise). Yet, without paying attention, even I was aware that Friday Night Lights has proven to be a ratings disappointment for the Peacock Network.

There's a lesson here. Others may disagree, but I think what we can learn from this is that out-of-touch elites should not try to make pop-culture references about things they don't truly understand. With this article, Martha Burk made herself look as adept with the TV remote as George H.W. Bush was with a supermarket scanner.