Susan and God: Reborn at The Mint

Though the name "Rachel Crothers" may not easily come to the mind of today's theatergoers, there were few seasons during the first forty years of the 20^th Century where this prolific playwright did not premiere at least one new piece in New York.  The thirty-four years from 1906 to 1940 saw no less than twenty-nine opening nights of a new Rachel Crothers Broadway play.

Her most successful was a starring vehicle for Gertrude Lawrence, a fascinating little artifact called Susan and God, which gave 288 performances in its original run.  A very contemporary look at religious fads when it opened in 1937, Susan and God is an unlikely candidate for a major revival nowadays.  That's why the Mint Theatre, with their mission to present "worthy, but neglected" jewels from forgotten Broadway, is one of New York's most valuable production companies.

Crothers' play was inspired by the trendy popularity of the Oxford Group, a religious movement whose appeal among the wealthier set was all the rage during the 20's and 30's.  Their practice of evangelical soirees and social gatherings is said to have been the inspiration for Alcoholics Anonymous.

"There isn't any dogma or anything hard to believe about it  .That's why so many intelligent thinking people are interested in it," Susan explains to her American friends who are taking breaks from tennis, horseback riding and screwing up their own love lives to hear of this new group of titled friends she has made in England.  "It's thrilling and alive and fun, so people aren't ashamed to be good."

Susan's epiphany apparently came when asked to confess her sins.At first she found the suggestion impertinent, but then she sucked it in and confessed to having her hair touched up in Paris.  "And after that, you don't know the joy and peace.When I saw people staring at my hair in the sun, I didn't give a damn."

Though her pals respectfully hide their smirks, Susan's alcoholic husband Barrie is uplifted by her new creed of spreading love and forgiveness, hoping to convince her to halt their divorce proceedings.  With their awkward fifteen-year-old daughter Blossom anxious to have her parents together again, he asks for a chance to prove his sobriety by having the three of them spend the summer in their country home, promising that if he slips just one time he'll grant her the divorce.

Leslie Hendrix is a screwball whirlwind as Susan, looking quite a bit like Katherine Hepburn in Seth Bodie's wig.  The joke of her character, as well as the play's source of drama, is that in her efforts to improve mankind she's inadvertently ignorant to the needs of her own family.  ("If you're not going to be pretty, at least we must make you interesting," she advises her daughter while grooming her.)  Timothy Deenihan, on the other hand, is a very quiet and sincere as the colorless Barrie.  Though both are quite good individually, the production tends to lack emotion when it needs it the most because it's difficult to see the two as a couple.Jennifer Blood meets them in the middle as a sympathetic, natural Blossom, who does indeed blossom once she believes her parents are staying together.

Though all the scenes are played indoors, Nathan Heverin's set provides a panoramic painted backdrop of green trees and blue skies, perhaps as a continual reminder of God's presence.  Having working doors cut out of this natural setting is a bit odd, but only a momentary distraction.  As is customary at the Mint, Artistic Director Jonathan Banks directs Susan and God with an eye toward replicating the theatrical style of the play's period without any concern for giving it a contemporary slant.The phrase "museum piece" is highly respected here.  Costume designer Clint Ramos has the difficult task of making the characters look wealthy and fashionable on an Off-Off Broadway budget, but does a fine job.

With its self-absorbed title character (I mean Susan, not God) and lead male character who is blindly devoted to her, it can be difficult to work up enough empathy to really care about what happens in the end.  Still, Susan and God remains interesting and when Crothers goes for the laughs Banks' cast, especially Hendrix, nails them.  The three acts fly by and despite some rocky spots, the decision to bring this one back gets my blessing.

Photos by Richard Termine:Top:Leslie Hendrix

Bottom:Leslie Hendrix and Timothy Deenihan

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