AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY at Seattle’s Paramount

Tracy Letts' Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winning play "August: Osage County" is playing at Seattle's Parmamount Theatre for only one week.  And if you thought your family was dysfunctional then you've never met the Westons.  But do yourself a favor and pay them a visit before they're gone! 

The play (which won the Tony Award for best play on Broadway in 2008) focuses a microscope on the Weston family from Oklahoma as they disintegrate through secrets, lies, booze and pills, the things that were barely holding the family together in the first place.  All brought back together by a tragedy, the family, now led by the pill popping, acid tongued matriarch Violet, goes on a quite destructive journey of self discovery.  As each dirty truth is revealed the next one gets in line to come into the light.  And they just keep falling like a vile set of dominos.  All presented by Letts' brilliantly powerful and tightly woven tapestry of words.  There is not one single wasted moment in this play.  You can see why this was such a hit on Broadway.  And all of it is handled with heartbreaking humor.  You laugh only because it would be too uncomfortable not to.  But trust me, you will laugh.

The cast is nothing less than superb.  They deliver outstanding performance after outstanding performance.  A true ensemble cast in a rich meaty script that any actor would sell their Mother to be a part of.  Which is why, I'm sure, they have the cream of the crop for the tour including Academy Award winner Estelle Parsons as Violet.  Parsons is known to most as "Roseanne"'s Mother from TV, and she makes that Mother look like Mrs. Brady.  She turns in a stunning, subtle and nuanced performance of a woman who on the surface has no apologies.  But there are so many chinks in her armor that it's only due to her shear Will Power that she is able to hold anything together.  She is a woman you can hate and love all at the same time and Parsons conveys that beautifully.  And she is merely the tip of the superb performance iceberg.  Every single member of the 13 member ensemble has something to say and does so in style.  I also must point out a stellar performance by Shannon Cochran as Violet's daughter Barbara.  Her turn as a woman barely holding on to a crumbling family was heartbreaking.  Especially the moment where she sees that she is a hair's breath from turning into her Mother.

Now for those of you who may be of the faint of heart, I must mention this show is not for the kids.  It deals with very mature subject matter and language and is an emotional roller coaster.  But what a ride it is!  Also, with two intermissions and at a run time of just over three and a half hours, it's a long evening.  But the time flies by as you are riveted by this collection of complex, excellently performed and superbly developed characters who are both joyful and painful to witness.  Be sure to make it out to this finely crafted piece of art on stage that will leave you reeling.  And if your dysfunctional family can beat the Westons, then you have my sympathies.

"August: Osage County" plays at Seattle's Paramount Theatre only through November 1^st.  For more information or tickets contact Ticketmaster at 206-292-ARTS (2787) or visit them online at www.ticketmaster.com or visit the theater sites at www.stgpresents.org or www.BroadwayAcrossAmerica.com.

 

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