In the 5,000 years they’ve been married, George and Maggie Antrobus have survived wars, plagues, floods, and everything in between. Now they're running low on food – and a massive glacier is headed toward their New Jersey home. An epic, timely comedy about the endurance of human spirit, Thornton Wilder’s THE SKIN OF OUR TEETH follows one “everyfamily” through the great struggles and triumphs of the human experience. Led by innovative director Lileana Blain-Cruz in a production that speaks directly to our current moment, this Pulitzer Prize-winning classic with additional material by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins is a profound reminder that life is always worth living – no matter how difficult things get.
Based on the number of empty seats at the Vivian Beaumont Theater after the intermission between Act II and Act III-there is also a pause between the first and second acts-many people share her mixture of confusion and dismay. The Skin of Our Teeth was ahead of its time in 1942 but is not ahead of ours; although the text has been tweaked by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins-a quote from Aristotle, for instance, has been replaced with one from bell hooks-it often seems dated, even when the material is startlingly applicable to our particular moment in time. (When a stage manager steps forward to announce that the company has been ravaged by illness and understudies will be stepping into their roles, you may think that's a new addition to the text. It is not.) The repetition gets numbing, and the conceit wears out; by the third act, you acutely feel the nearly three-hour length.
Looking at the big picture, this gorgeous monster of a production brings together two urgent trends in theatrical discourse today: casting reparations by creating Black space in the white canon and also, embracing a sprawling meta-drama that feeds a hunger for stories that are not merely sociological but cosmological. We know that patriarchy, greed, and white supremacy have spawned misery across ages; without pretending they have the solution, theater artists can find deep bass strings of commonality to pluck. For me, The Skin of Our Teeth is a boisterous hymn to humanity, the most moving and inspiring work of the season. Even so, Skin won't be to everyone's taste. There are tonal fumbles in the second act-the French accent laid on a bit thick, Priscilla Lopez's Fortune Teller too wispy, the chaos before the flood overly manic-but I think a certain degree of failure has always been baked into this idiosyncratic classic. Yes, It's long and taxing on the brain, but the exhaustion you feel while leaving has the afterglow of exhilaration. We survived this speeding glacier, this world-drowning deluge of a play; we're spent and dazed; but isn't life a miracle, and aren't you glad for tomorrow?
2022 | Broadway |
Lincoln Center Broadway Revival Production Broadway |
Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
---|---|---|---|
2022 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Puppet Design | James Ortiz |
2022 | Drama League Awards | Distinguished Performance Awards | Gabby Beans |
2022 | Drama League Awards | Founders Award for Excellence in Directing | Lileana Blain-Cruz |
2022 | Drama League Awards | Outstanding Revival of a Play | The Skin Of Our Teeth |
2022 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Scenic Design (Play or Musical) | Adam Rigg |
2022 | Tony Awards | Best Costume Design of a Play | Montana Levi Blanco |
2022 | Tony Awards | Best Direction of a Play | Lileana Blain-Cruz |
2022 | Tony Awards | Best Lighting Design of a Play | Yi Zhao |
2022 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play | Gabby Beans |
2022 | Tony Awards | Best Scenic Design of a Play | Adam Rigg |
2022 | Tony Awards | Best Sound Design of a Play | Palmer Hefferan |
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