Review: TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD at the Eccles Theater is a Masterful Reimagining

 

It is rare for a straight play on Broadway to tour the country and even rarer for one to visit Utah. With its masterful writing and world-class acting, one could not think of a better choice for a transplant from NYC to SLC than the national tour of Harper Lee'S TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD at the Eccles Theater.

 

TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD is a new adaptation of the acclaimed novel by Harper Lee from celebrated playwright and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin. When Atticus Finch, a small-town lawyer in 1934 Maycomb, Alabama, defends a Black man accused of rape, the effects ripple through his family and town. Nominated for nine Tony Awards in 2019, this version is a bold reimagining of the source material told in non-linear form.

 

It's a miraculous adaptation of any well-known work that can cause a familiar audience to sit on the edge of their seats in suspense and anticipation of what will happen next. This one succeeds in doing so not just because of its non-traditional structure, but because Sorkin has an uncanny ability to enrich the inner lives of the characters and uncover new facets to events we thought we knew. Treating the novel as if it is true history rather than a storyline that must be followed beat by beat, he dramatizes many moments that have always been in the shadows, bringing to light new perspectives we hadn't previously thought about.

 

Emmy winner Richard Thomas as Atticus Finch brings a heavy helping of star power to this production, with pensive depth and majestic authority in his interactions with Maycomb's citizens, as well as his children.

 

A trio of child narrators played by adult actors is the linchpin of this piece, and Melanie Moore as Scout, Justin Mark as Jem, and Steven Lee Johnson as Dill are luminous as they brilliantly balance both the introspective commentary and the rambunctiousness of youth.

 

Additional highlights of the superb cast include Jacqueline Williams as Calpurnia, Yaegel T. Welch as Tom Robinson, Ogden native Arianna Gayle Stucki as Mayella Ewell, Joey Collins as Bob Ewell, and Anthony Natale as Link Deas.

 

The sparse set by Miriam Buether and costumes by Ann Roth are elegantly designed with a nostalgic, Southern (but also vaguely industrial) tinge, and the lighting by Jennifer Tipton subtly pulls various elements and performers into focus with virtuosity.

 

Director Bartlett Sher sleekly stages the script, pulling together the disparate design components and purposefully fractured scenes to create a warm, intellectually stimulating atmosphere in which we are first reacquainted with Maycomb and then galvanized to rise in unified aspiration.

 

TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD plays the Eccles Theater for a limited engagement through Sunday, September 11, 2022. For tickets, call ArtTix at 801-355-ARTS (2787) or visit www.artsaltlake.org.

 

 

Photo Credit: L-R Melanie Moore (Scout) and Richard Thomas (Atticus).

 

 

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