Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Richard Jones’s massive production of JUDGMENT DAY is a mismatch for the suffocating noir of Christopher Shinn’s adaptation

• By drediman
• January 5, 2020
• No Comments

The company of Richard Jones’ production of Christopher Shinn’s new adaptation of “Judgment Day” at the Park Avenue Armory. Photo by Stephanie Berger.

For a limited time this winter at the Park Avenue Armory, British director Richard Jones has taken over the Wade Thompson Drill Hall to mount the world premiere staging of Christopher Shinn’s new adaptation of Ödön von Horváth’s 1937 play Judgment Day. I’ve historically been a fan of Mr. Jones’ work – I consider his opera productions of Pelléas et Mélisande and Hansel and Gretel to be works of art, and the integrity he brought to the Broadway production of Maury Yeston’s Titanic saved the musical from being the disaster it could have been. Mr. Jones is also no stranger to the epic proportions of the armory’s main playing area, having staged an acclaimed production of Eugene O’Neill’s The Hairy Ape in the same space a few years back. It was therefore with great anticipation that I approached Judgment Day.

There’s no question that the production is big, very big. In fact, Judgment Day just may be on the same scale as a Cecil B. DeMille cinematic spectacle (as was its predecessor The Hairy Ape). Mr. Jones’s production is sprawlingly staged, taking full advantage of the drill hall’s cavernous depth and width. The result is a staging that’s undeniably visually dazzling, almost overwhelmingly so. However, a part of me thinks that it’s a bit at odds with the expressionistic, noirish underlying play. Indeed, the suffocating atmosphere Mr. Shinn attempts to create seems nearly diffused in the large room, especially when huge set pieces and actors need to traverse expanses that seem to be multiple sizes longer than the stages of even the largest Broadway theaters.

The cast – led by an emotive Luke Kirby and New York theater stawarts like Harriet Harris and Henry Stram – and stage crew are excellent. They do as good a job as anyone to keep the momentum and psychological nuance of the play intact within the context of Mr. Jones’s excessive vision, no matter how relatively diminutive they may register. But ironically, I would recommend a trip to the Park Armory for the opportunity to simply experience the sheer size of Judgment Day, despite the flawed production’s mismatched agendas. There are few places on earth where you can encounter live theatrical performances on this scale. The visions will linger in your head, even if the play ultimately does not.

RECOMMENDED

JUDGMENT DAY
Off-Broadway, Play
Wade Thompson Drill Hall at the Park Avenue Armory
1 hour, 30 minutes
Through January 10