August:Osage County

January 3, 2008 | Filed Under Main, Theater |

Last Broadway show… for a while.

And this caps a fantastic year for me and Broadway that started last Christmas with Julianne Moore and The Vertical Hour. I would like to thank my Drama League membership for signing me up for all the discounts and allowing me the opportunity to go see theater. (‘Cause I can’t afford $100 per ticket and I don’t have time to stand in line at TKTS.)

August arrives in NYC via the Steppenwolf Theatre Company of Chicago. It is a new play by Tracy Letts. I haven’t seen his other plays (Killer Joe and Bug) but I heard great things about them. August is about “Family”. In particular, this one family 60 miles outside of Tulsa after the death of the patriarch. The house is on the Plains. As one character says, “Sort of a state of mind. Like the Blues. I’ve got the Plains.” And there is all the usual family baggage – secrets, lies and the awful truth. But there isn’t a stereotype in the bunch. And the show is hilarious! The lines are true and honest. They snap and spin out of the mouths of this wonderful cast with great timing and execution. I originally noticed the play because the young girl from “Californication” (Madeleine Martin) is in it – as the cute, pot smoking 14 year old granddaughter. Also, the actor who plays Grey’s father in Grey’s Anatomy is in it (Jeff Perry).

But the play belongs to the mother (Deanna Dunagan) and the eldest daughter (Amy Morton). Wow. Whether they are riffing off each other or cutting each other to pieces with words, those two filled the stage and kept this three hour play (yes – three hours) skipping along. As I said – the whole thing was laugh out loud funny. But this is NOT Steel Magnolias. Blood is shed and it is not cleaned up.

Catch it if you can. The Tony’s are going to be all over this.

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