The Master Builder

I’ve heard there’s a first time for everything, but experience had led me to believe that as far as the Irish Rep is concerned this wouldn’t be true. Their shows have consistently been first rate, so I assumed they always would be. Sorry to say, with the current staging of The Master Builder, I experienced a first at that theatre -- a really disappointing production.

Director Ciaran O’Reilly has mounted what sounds more like an initial run-through than a finished product. The weakest link is, unfortunately, the main character. James Naughton’s portrayal of Halvard Solness is stiff and lifeless. Every line is delivered in such a wooden monotone that I had trouble staying awake during the 90-minute first act. If it hadn’t been that I care about this play, I would have left at intermission.

I don’t know whether Naughton, a two-time Tony Award winner for his performances in musicals, was miscast or merely misdirected, but in the second most important role, that of Hilde Wangel, Charlotte Parry seems to have been both. Miscast because she seems too old and misdirected because she seems downright dangerous. Ibsen meant for Solness to feel threatened by youth, but not in the way Parry comes off. Her portrayal has a dark undercurrent that makes Hilde seem subversive. When she reminds Solness of the time she met him 10 years before when she was about 12, she tells him he kissed her many times. Rather than being playful and teasing, she sounds as if she’s about the spring a child sexual abuse suit on him. This is not how it should be. Hilde should be youthful, fresh and idealistic. She wants “castles in the air,” but with Parry she seems like someone who would settle for the monetary equivalent.

Getting the characterization right is crucial because the plot revolves around this relationship. Solness is a successful but embittered architect and builder in a small Norwegian town. Afraid that the younger generation will replace him, he mercilessly dominates his employees. His marriage holds no love and his twin infant sons died years ago. Then Hilde arrives unannounced. A vivacious young woman, Hilde has idolized Solness for 10 years, since he built a large church in her hometown and, when it was completed, climbed to the top of the tower to place a wreath at its dedication. He had promised to return and build a “kingdom” for her and now that the 10 years are up she has come to collect.

Hilde’s illusions are understandable -- she’s young. Parry makes her too calculating. Solness is a man who has given up on illusions until Hilde’s spirit infects him, and his judgment. Naughton’s lifeless portrayal never captures that vulnerability.

This production of The Master Builder, which was commissioned by the Irish Rep, marks the world premiere of Irish playwright Frank McGuinness' adaptation of the 1892 classic, one of Ibsen’s last. McGuinness’s past adaptations of Ibsen's work by have received acclaim, including a Tony Award for Best Revival in 1997 for A Doll House.

Besides Naughton and Parry, the cast includes Letitia Lange, Kristin Griffith, Daniel Cameron Talbott, Herb Foster and Doug Stender. Performances continue to Nov. 30. The Irish Repertory Theatre is at 132 W. 22nd St. For more information, call (212) 727-2737 or visit irishrep.org.

Amazing Grace update

All of us who are eagerly awaiting a production of the new musical Amazing Grace: The True Story can now enjoy new recordings online of several of the show’s songs. Check out http://agmusical.com/concept_recordings.html.

Christopher Smith, who wrote the music, lyrics and book, tells me he’ll soon be shooting a new video about the production in NYC featuring all of the stars. Fundraising has begun for the New York company, headquartered at producer Carolyn Rossi Copeland’s offices on Broadway  -- Carolyn@agtts.com .

More exciting news that Chris shared with me is that he and Carolyn have started talks with a major East Coast regional theatre about an out-of-town tryout. The theatre, which I can tell you is a really good one, contacted them, not the other way around, so that’s encouraging.  Please keep this show in your prayers.  With its message of the amazing power of God’s love to change lives, it needs to be out there in the world in a big way. It needs to be on Broadway!

Check out the site, listen to the songs -- and pray.
 

Democratic National Convention 2008: Obama’s Mile High Moment

Fulcrum Publishing, Colorado’s leading independent publisher -- and the wonderful publisher of my first book, Journalism Stories from the Real World -- has released Democratic National Convention 2008: Obama’s Mile High Moment, a celebration of the recent Democratic National Convention held in Denver. The book, done in cooperation with The Denver Post, features more than 100 color images captured during the convention by the Post’s award-winning photographers.

“This November, the torch will be passed again to a new generation of Americans. The work begins anew. The hope rises again. And the dream lives on.”
—Senator Ted Kennedy

For more information on Democratic National Convention 2008, please visit www.fulcrumbooks.com.

And let's pray that by this time next week he will be President-elect Obama!

Spoken Dreams

Thought you would enjoy this delightful essay by Ginger Lingo that appeared in Guideposts magazine.

More than anything I wanted a new bike. I dreamed about it every day while walking to school. My father was a pastor so we didn’t have much money. The only way I was going to get that bike was to earn my own money for it. So I worked hard, doing odd jobs like babysitting, weeding and raking leaves. I stashed every penny I earned from those jobs and my allowance in my piggy bank.

Then one day at Sunday school our teacher told us of a letter she had received from Chile about a boy who had hepatitis. His missionary parents said he was recovering, but his spirits were still low. “Can you think of anything that might cheer him up?” our teacher asked us.

“A new bike!” the whole class exclaimed eagerly, and we agreed we would raise the money.

All week long I agonized over what to do. My conscience could only come up with one answer—give up my savings for the boy in Chile. So I emptied out my piggy bank and brought every cent to Sunday school. It was the hardest thing I had ever done, and maybe that’s why it felt so right.

In college years later I found myself praying for something even harder than I had prayed for the bike—a man meant just for me. All my friends were dating. Why wasn’t I? Was God asking me to wait again?

At last I met someone named Steve. We had a lot in common. He went to the college where my father taught, and my roommate was engaged to his best friend. He was earnest, smart and hard-working. But I couldn’t help wondering, Is he really the one?

One evening our families got together for dinner, a chance for everybody to get to know each other better. Over dessert and coffee Steve’s mother talked about some of the places they had lived when they were missionaries. “Once when we were in Chile,” she said, “Steve got hepatitis. You know what cheered him up?”

Of course, I knew. He got a bike—my bike. And I got the husband I have been married to for 29 years.
 

From false self to true

"The shell must be cracked apart if what is in it is to come out, for if you want the kernel, you must break the shell."
-- Meister Eckhart

Seize the day

"Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die tomorrow."
-- James Dean

Rage and Glory: The Volatile Life and Career of George C. Scott

George C. Scott created some of the 20th century’s most memorable performances on stage and screen—the cunning prosecutor in “Anatomy of a Murder,” the manipulative gambler in “The Hustler,” the buffoonishly warmongering chief of staff in “Dr. Strangelove,” and, of course, the brilliant and rebellious Patton. He also played Willy Loman, Richard III, Mussolini, Scrooge, Fagin, and countless others. But his offstage life was as filled with drama and controversy as any of the lives he portrayed with such intensity.

He refused the Oscar for “Patton,” battled with TV networks to include realistic elements in his series “East Side/West Side,” invested (and lost) his own money on Broadway and in the scandalous film “The Savage Is Loose,” married five times (twice to Colleen Dewhurst) and had a tempestuous affair with Ava Gardner, traveled to Vietnam at the height of the war to write an article for Esquire, and weathered a damaging sexual harassment suit.

In the first complete biography of this actor, David Sheward documents Scott’s artistry as well as his roller-coaster career. Featuring interviews with numerous colleagues including Nathan Lane, Karl Malden, Piper Laurie, and Eva Marie Saint, as well as friends and family members, Rage and Glory pays tribute to one of our finest and fieriest actors.

David Sheward is the executive editor and theatre critic for Back Stage, the weekly publication for actors. He is also the author of It’s a Hit: The Back Stage Book of Longest-Running Broadway Shows and The Big Book of Show Business Awards, and he is a contributing correspondent on NY1’s program “On Stage.” Sheward lives in New York City.