Sweet Bird of Youth

T. Schreiber Studios has been granted special permission from the estate of Tennessee Williams to produce Sweet Bird of Youth; this terrific production proves that permission was justified.

The play hasn't been seen in New York since 1975.  It is concerned with the decline of youth, as seen from the point of view of a past-her-prime movie star named Alexandra del Lago (aka Princess Kosmonopolis) and her conniving gigolo Chance Wayne, who still harbors a pure love for his childhood sweetheart, Heavenly Finley.  When they check into a hotel in Chance's hometown, he attempts to contact Heavenly again, not knowing what's happened in the years he's been gone.  Like all of Williams' work, it is full of a beautiful desperation and symbolic pain.

At the head of this production are the brilliant performances by the two leads, Eric Watson Williams as Chance Wayne and Joanna Bayless as Princess Kosmonopolis. 

Bayless, who has come out of semi-retirement to play this role, owns every moment with a sure firey passion; jerking erratically from sardonic humor to tragic enlightenment, as the character demands, she is hypnotic and stunning. 

Williams is everything a Tennessee Williams anti-hero should be: charming, brooding, subtle, and looks fantastic without a shirt on.

The two play off each other with polished aplomb.

Other performances are equally good, especially David Donahoe as Boss Finley, Heavenly's corrupt politician of a father, Timothy Weinert as Tom, Jr., Margo Goodman as Aunt Nonnie, Andrea Jackson as Miss Lucy, and Shelley Virginia as Heavenly herself.

The direction (by Terry Schreiber) was highly effective.

A director's note in the program says that they "...decided to set the play in 2007 feeling that any good work is timeless and does not have to be necessarily limited to the time frame in which it was written.  The values of the play, from its bigoted and prejudiced world to its eternal cry for lost youth, are just as relevant today as it was in 1959. (...) We have altered a few period references, but not enough to disturb Mr. Williams' beautifully observed poetry of language".

This was puzzling, since, aside from a bottle of Absolut, the women's party dresses and Chance's bluejeans and sunglasses, I didn't see much that was modern about this production, or notice any changes in reference (e.g. phone numbers are still "Coldwater Five Nine thousand" and "Canyon seven-five thousand", the archaic names of the "famous millionaires" whose daughters Chance slept with have not been changed (would Paris Hilton have been so upset?), etc...  There were references to Chance being in "the war" (originally Korea) and the chorus of Oklahoma, "the biggest show in New York", that could have happened (since there have been wars recently, and Oklahoma was recently revived), though I wasn't sure about the time frames there.  And, if the Princess hasn't been on the screen in 15 years, that would place her heyday in the late 90s, as opposed to the mid-forties of the original script- it seemed unlikely to me that a movie star of a more recent era would be such a grande dame; also unlikely that Chance's "my song" would be "It's a Big Wide Wonderful World", if he was born in the 80s).  After act II, a mother (who apparently hadn't read the director's note) turned to her small child that was seated next to me and said, apropos of the racism and corrupt politics onstage, "See, that's how bad it used to be".

But all of this is mere quibble; the direction and acting is smooth, and the play works however it's done. 

The casting of Miss Lucy (Boss Finley's mistress) as a black woman (a modern bit of casting, especially contrasted with the two black male servants (Kelvin Cameron and Aaron Walker), who are written and played as barely inoffensive sterotypes) was an interesting choice and turned Boss Finley into even more of an hypocrite than Williams planned with his script.

The set design by Hal Tiné is beautifully simple but evocative; a raked stage and white chiffon curtains that support a variety of furniture styles.

The production features scenic and properties design by Hal Tiné, costume design by Karen Ann Ledger, lighting design by Andrea Boccanfuso, sound design by Chris Rummel and fight choreography by Robert McCaffrey. Glory Sims Bowen is assistant directing and Rod Goodman provides the photography and special effects. The stage manager is Ain Rashida Sykes.

SWEET BIRD OF YOUTH plays the following regular schedule now through Sunday, March 18:

     Thursday at 8 P.M.

     Friday at 8 P.M.

     Saturday at 8 P.M.

     Sunday at 3 P.M.

At the Gloria Maddox Theatre (151 West 26th Street, 7th Floor). 

A suggested donation of $20.00 is requested, and reservations can be secured online at www.theatermania.com or by calling 212-352-3101. Tickets may also be purchased in person one hour prior to the show at The Gloria Maddox Theatre (though reservations are recommended, as it often sells out).

Photos by RodGoodmanPhotographer.com

To post a comment, you must register and login.