READ TODAY'S STORIES AND E-EDITION SUBSCRIBE |  CONTACT US |  SIGN IN

Print story only Print story with comments Email Twitter Facebook Pinterest
Tracy Letts earns raves for "...Virginia Woolf?"
Published: 10/15/2012 11:48 AM
Last Modified: 10/15/2012 11:48 AM

It seems that whatever role Tulsa native Tracy Letts has on Broadway, he makes of it a triumph.

The last time was in the 2007-2008 season, when Letts’ play “August: Osage County” debuted on the Great White Way, winning every major award possible and prompting some critics to call the play – now being filmed in Oklahoma – the greatest American play since Edward Albee’s “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”

On Saturday, Letts was back on Broadway – this time as an actor, playing the role of George in Albee’s “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”

This production, which originated a couple of years ago at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre, where Letts is one of the company artists, opened on the 50th anniversary of the play’s Broadway debut.

The New York Times review devotes the bulk of its space to praising Letts’ performance, calling it the “revelation” of the production, adding that he “brings a coiled ferocity to George that all but reorders our responses to a play that many of us probably thought had by now vouchsafed all its surprises.

“Stalking the stage like an animal ever on the verge of pouncing, hands stuffed deep in the pockets of his cardigan -- as if only vigilant restraint could keep him from pummeling everyone in his orbit -- Mr. Letts's George sets the production's tone of incipient threat from the opening moments,” writes Christopher Isherwood. “Alternating simmering disquiet with bursts of spine-chilling viciousness, Mr. Letts's shlumpy but somehow magnetic George keeps stoking the suspense, moment by moment, for three harrowing and yet highly entertaining hours.”

The Associated Press echoes these sentiments, saying “Letts as George … is quick to anger and will happily grapple, but also will back down if need be. He’s playing a long game and Letts allows years of pain and frustration to seep out of a semi-broken man. It is simply a stunning performance, an actor at the top of his game.”

USA Today’s Elysa Gardner writes that “Letts delivers a performance as richly nuanced and ferociously entertaining as his (play ‘August: Osage County).”

She writes: “Though Martha (played by fellow Steppenwolf member Amy Morton) immediately establishes herself as the alpha figure in one of theater's most famously contentious marriages, the play derives its punch from the power struggle that develops, and the sense of interdependence that emerges, as George crawls out of his shell.

“Letts relays this dark-horse quality as powerfully as any performer this critic has seen in the role. From his masterfully acerbic rebuttals to Martha's initial barrage of insults, this George proves that he isn't the mere simp his wife describes but rather a simmering cauldron of frustration and disappointment. And he lets the lid off with an unmannered intensity that is as bracing as it is convincing.”

The Steppenwolf cast – Letts, Morton, Madison Dirks and Carrie Coon – originated this production in Dec. 2010, and after it completed its Chicago run moved to the Arena Stage in Washington D.C.

Morton also directed Letts as George in a 2004 production at Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre.

And coincidentally, the last Broadway revival of Albee’s play, in 2005, also featured a former Tulsan in the role of George, when Bill Irwin was paired with Kathleen Turner.

To get a sense of Steppenwolf’s “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” here’s a video of select scenes from the original Steppenwolf production:




Reader Comments


To post comments on tulsaworld.com, you must be an active Tulsa World print or digital subscriber and signed into your account.

ARTS

James D. Watts Jr. has lived in Oklahoma for most his life, even though he still has people saying to him, "Don't sound like you're from around these parts." A University of Oklahoma Phi Beta Kappa graduate, Watts has received the Governor Arts Award, Harwelden Award and the National Conference of Christians and Jews Beth Macklin Award for his writing. Before coming to the Tulsa World, Watts worked for the Tulsa Tribune.

Contact him at (918) 581-8478.

Subscribe to this blog


Archive

 
James D. Watts Jr's Blog Archive:

2/2013  1/2013  12/2012  11/2012  10/2012  9/2012  
8/2012  7/2012  6/2012  5/2012  4/2012  3/2012  
2/2012  1/2012  12/2011  11/2011  10/2011  9/2011  
8/2011  7/2011  6/2011  5/2011  4/2011  3/2011  
2/2011  1/2011  12/2010  11/2010  10/2010  9/2010  
8/2010  7/2010  6/2010  5/2010  4/2010  3/2010  
2/2010  1/2010  12/2009  11/2009  10/2009  9/2009  
8/2009  7/2009  6/2009  5/2009  4/2009  3/2009  
2/2009  1/2009  12/2008  11/2008  10/2008  9/2008  
8/2008  7/2008  6/2008  5/2008  4/2008  








Home | Contact Us | Search | Subscribe | Customer Service | About | Advertise | Privacy
Copyright © 2013, World Publishing Co. All rights reserved.