In the Shadows of Greatness

Last night I went to see All My Sons on Broadway,Arthur Millers first biggie. My uncle died last year and a big part of his love affair with both my aunt and New York was regularly going to the theater. While I am a pore substitute for his huge vacancy, my aunt and I have become regular dates. About every 2 months one or the other will give each other a shout out of something we want to see and off we go to midtown.

Her daughter is a biggie at People magazine and asked us to go see Katie Holmes do her thing in her first stage appearance.Let us be at first positive. John Lithgow and Diane Weist are everything one wants out of an artist. They are astounding. They are skilled,they have history and stature on their side. But they also continue to take huge risks. They don't rely on their track record to get them by, they are still out there kicking ass and taking names, as it were.

With computer technology there seems to be this trend to try and make the theater experience more like going to the movies. Sometimes it works, like in last years Sunday in the Park, where you saw the painting form in front of you. That was breathtaking. But so much of it is just distracting. And worse, manipulative. It's like the production team doesn't have faith that they audience can get the point unless there is a soundtrack and dolly shot.And this production did in fact have a soundtrack. It was kind of insulting. A performer would start going to a new emotional depth and up would come the clarinets.

And now the soapbox. I love and respect Miller. About 10 years ago I saw him paid tribute to at PEN human rights eventing and I just walked away weeping and rev ed up. Oh yes the arts can change things for the better! ( Cut me a break, I was still in my 20s.)I found his autobiography a little creepy. All he seemed to want to talk about was the Anti -American hearings and Marilyn's skin. But over all we owe the gloomy dude allot.

All My Sons is the over dramatic work of a young man just trying on the play writing thing.It's a first try. Its good but not great. Why are we having to see the lesser work of gifted men being reproduced again and again while young new forces are getting no national forum? grumble grumble........ I got to give the box to someone who wants to say something obvious about off shore drilling........

Finally Katie. She was fine. She is very tall. She has very shiny hair. At the end of the evening my aunt wondered aloud if she gotten costume approval because the dress she wore in the second act didn't seem to fit the era. I thought it wasn't the dress , it was that Katie doesn't suit it. She has no plushness or curve. We gals were supposed to have softness for the boys to come home to. Katie's elbows look like they could poke out someones eye.