Julianna
Margulies is a marvel as she commands the stage at the James Earl Jones Theatre
for nearly the entire 100 minutes of Delia Ephron’s Left on Tenth, the writer’s
autobiographical play based on her best-selling memoir. She’s absolutely radiant and a delight to
watch as she portrays a middle-aged woman surprised to find love and romance
six months after the death of Jerry, her beloved husband of 33 years, then is fully
convincing as she lies in a hospital bed on the verge of death from leukemia,
begging for release. Why has she been
away from the stage for so long? She’s a
natural.
Her last
Broadway performance was in Festen in 2006. I saw it but didn’t know who she was at the
time so I don’t remember noticing her. I
loved her in her starring role as Alicia Florrick in the six-year run of “The
Good Wife.” She’s a natural for the
small screen as well. With one of the
most expressive faces in the business, she was made for close-ups.
With only an
awareness of her TV persona, I wasn’t prepared to be so wowed by her stage
presence. She’s a megawatt up there,
looking fantastic in skinny black slacks and a large untucked shirt (costumes
by Jeff Mahshie). She gives that old
workhorse, the romantic comedy, a brilliant shine.
Under Susan
Stroman’s direction the story moves swiftly, and there’s a lot of story to reveal.
Margulies as Ephron addresses the audience like a storyteller, unveiling her
unusual background. Born to “angry
alcoholic parents,” a childhood in Beverly Hills, the second of four sisters,
all writers. “My childhood was scary,
often violent. With Jerry I found my
first true home. My first safe place.”
She was
closest to her older sister, Nora, a writer, director and “reinventor of the
romantic comedy. We collaborated on
screenplays for many of the movies she directed. She often said we shared half a brain.”
Nora died of
leukemia in 2012; Jerry of prostate cancer in 2015, “both with long illnesses
before.”
For all of
this she is alone on stage, except for a few minor characters coming and going.
Scenic designer Beowulf Boritt’s oval-shaped
study with floor-to-ceiling books looks as if it could be behind the façade of
the beautiful brownstones on Tenth Street in Greenwich Village. It’s delightful not only to hear her tell her
story, but to see her gracefully tap dance around the room as she relives the
tap dancing she and Jerry used to do.
The seismic
shift in her life, after so many seismic shifts, occurs after she writes an
essay about her frustration dealing with Verizon, her phone and Internet
carrier, that is published in the New York Times. She receives an email from Peter (Peter
Gallagher), a Jungian psychoanalyst and widower in the San Francisco Bay area
who tells her they dated while she was in college after being introduced by
Nora. She has no memory of him but is
intrigued enough to begin exchanging emails, followed by phone calls. Then Peter comes to town and after a slightly
awkward first date they continue getting to know each other until they both
realize they can love again. And survive
Delia’s cancer, which they do together. Peter
flies back to San Franciso to let his patients know he will be gone for at
least six weeks, then sleeps on a cot in Delia’s room. Recognizing the fragility of her condition he proposes
and they enjoy a hospital wedding, complete with friends.
The
difference in locations is portrayed mostly by Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew’s projections
set above and behind the wall of the study. They portray the Empire State and Chrysler
Buildings on the right and rain on the left. In one playful scene Yew even gives us a white
shadow man silhouette to dance beside Margulies. The hospital is a sterile white with little
more than the bed and cot. Lighting
designers Ken Billington and Itohan Edoloyi create the chilly atmosphere of a
hospital.
Kate
MacCluggage and Peter Franics James skillfully play about a dozen featured
characters, doctors, a Verizon repair man and friends. Left on Tenth runs through Feb. 2.
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