There has not been much worthwhile to write about the Los Angeles theater scene since the year began, but there are 2 revivals of Pulitzer Prize winning plays now playing in Los Angeles that are worth seeing.
The first is the Mark Taper Forum's revival of the 1965 Pulitzer winning drama The Subject Was Roses by Frank Gilroy, starring Martin Sheen, Frances Conroy and Brian Gereghty. The plays is unquestionably dated and plays like a standard Playhouse 90 domestic melodrama. If one knows the play, one might question why it is worth reviving today. The answer is simple if one could amass an expert cast as the Taper and director Neil Pepe have done here. Sheen, now playing the father rather than the role of the son he played on Broadway many years ago, is great, as is Gereghty. But the best acting is provided by Conroy, who inhabits her character with unbounded depth and emotion. The acting (and unfussy direction by Pepe) provide ample reason to see this show before it closes on March 21.
The other revival worthy of note is Wit, the 1999 Pulitzer winning drama that remains relevant and fresh today, and is given sensitive and expert treatment by the Actors Co-op in Hollywood. I saw this show at it 1995 premiere at South Coast Rep, and then again off-Broadway with Kathleen Chalfant in the starring role (not to mention the fine HBO tv movie version starring Emma Thompson). All of these prior versions had outstanding lead performances, and the Actors Co-op rendition does very well in that department in the form of Nan McNamara playing Prof. Vivian Bearing. In the first few minutes watching this show, I feared that that Ms. McNamara was not going to be able to navigate the frailties and vulnerabilities written into her role, but she not only pulled it off, she did so with flying colors. The play, by one time playwright Margaret Edson, is extremely well written, and the entire production here works. I highly recommend you seeing this before its scheduled closing on March 28.
Check back later in March for reports on winter/spring theater in New York, where the biggest excitement on the early part of the season is unquestionably off-Broadway.
