Gordon Edelstein Discusses Critics Split on THE GLASS MENAGERIE for Lortel Awards

Director Gordon Edelstein recently discussed the critical split over his recent endeavor, THE GLASS MENAGERIE, and the six nominations it received for the Lucille Lortel Awards.

Edelstein said he generally avoids reading critical opinions of his shows until the show is long closed. The show had a marked split in critics, who either loved or hated the productions. Edelstein said of the split, "Emotionally, it doesn't help me."

Specifically, Edelstein said he disagreed with the opinions of Michael Feingold of the Village Voice and John Lahr of the New Yorker. Edelstein said he holds the two reviewers in the highest esteem. "They are both very smart people and I guess they thought I missed the play."

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The Glass Menagerie, presented in association with Long Wharf Theatre, is directed by Gordon Edelstein and features Patch Darragh (Tom Wingfield), two-time Tony® Award winner Judith Ivey (Amanda Wingfield), Keira Keeley (Laura Wingfield) and Michael Mosley (Jim O'Connor).

The Glass Menagerie is playing a limited engagement now through June 13, 2010 at the Laura Pels Theatre at the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre (111 West 46th Street).

The design team includes two-time Tony® Award winner Michael Yeargan (Sets), two-time Tony® Award winner Martin Pakledinaz (Costumes), two-time Tony® Award winner & MacArthur Fellow Jennifer Tipton (Lights), David Budries (Sound).

In this fresh interpretation of Williams' haunting memory play, Tom Wingfield (Darragh) sits writing in a hotel room, trying to forge his past into art. Soon Tom's space is overtaken by the cramped apartment he once shared with his mother Amanda (Ivey), his beloved sister Laura (Keeley) and unrequited dreams as fragile as Laura's collection of tiny glass animals. There, Tom relives the Gentleman Caller's (Mosley) visit - the night that changed his family forever.

Generous support for The Glass Menagerie provided by the Laura Pels Foundation.

Tickets are available by calling Roundabout Ticket Services at (212)719-1300, online at www.roundabouttheatre.org or at the Laura Pels Theatre at the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre box office (111 West 46 Street). Ticket prices range from $75-85.

The Glass Menagerie plays Tuesday through Saturday evening at 7:30 p.m. with Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2:00 p.m.

Roundabout Theatre Company is one of the country's leading not-for-profit theatres. The company contributes invaluably to New York's cultural life by staging the highest quality revivals of classic plays and musicals as well as new plays by established writers. Roundabout consistently partners great artists with great works to bring a fresh and exciting interpretation that makes each production relevant and important to today's audiences.

Roundabout Theatre Company currently produces at three permanent homes each of which is designed specifically to enhance the needs of the Roundabout's mission. Off-Broadway, the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre, which houses the Laura Pels Theatre and Black Box Theatre, with its simple sophisticated design is perfectly suited to showcasing intimate plays and musicals. The grandeur of its Broadway home on 42nd Street, American Airlines Theatre, sets the ideal stage for the classics. Roundabout's Studio 54 provides an exciting and intimate Broadway venue for its musical and special event productions. Together these three distinctive venues serve to enhance the work on each of its stages.

American Airlines is the official airline of Roundabout Theatre Company. Roundabout productions are made possible, in part, with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, the National Endowment for the Arts; and the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.

Roundabout Theatre Company's 2009-2010 season includes Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's Sondheim on Sondheim starring Barbara Cook, Vanessa Williams and Tom Wopat; Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie, directed by Gordon Edelstein. The 2010-2011 season will include Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest, starring and directed by Brian Bedford; Julia Cho's The Language Archive, directed by Mark Brokaw & Kimberly Rosenstock's Tigers Be Still, directed by Sam Gold.. Roundabout's sold out production of The 39 Steps made its third transfer to the New World Stages after a successful Broadway run at three Broadway theatres.

For more information, visit www.roundabouttheatre.org.

Photo Credit: Joan Marcus

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