Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Edward Albee’s masterful THREE TALL WOMEN stuns on Broadway

• By drediman
• March 30, 2018
• No Comments

Laurie Metcalf, Glenda Jackson, and Alison Pill in Edward Albee’s “Three Tall Women” at the John Golden Theatre.

Last night, the late Edward Ablee’s masterful Three Tall Women made its stunning debut on Broadway at the John Golden Theatre. The play won the 1994 Pulitzer Prize for Drama – Albee’s third – and originally played New York in an Off-Broadway production at the Vineyard Theatre. The work finds Albee continuing to mine his difficult relationship with his mother. In the play, a quickly deteriorating elderly widow, seemingly a stand-in for Albee’s own mother, reflects on her life, particularly her complicated relationship with the two central men in her life – her husband and her son. She’s depicted by three versions of herself – one in her mid-twenties, another in her mid-fifties, and lastly one at the twilight of her life. The play deftly compresses time and space, exploring themes such as memory and identity, all the while maintaining a high level of literary finesse. In my book, it’s one of Albee’s richest, most accomplished works.

Joe Mantello has directed the play with great compassion and startling theatricality. He takes the play’s metaphysical elements and brilliantly theatricalizes them. Indeed, there are a number of just breathtaking visual coups throughout the production – all in service of the play – that will leave you in awe. As for the performances, they were flat-out sensational. The fine young actress Alison Pill makes for an assured yet somewhat vulnerable young version. As the staunch middle aged version, the great Laurie Metcalf once again delivers a forceful performance full of wit and bite; she really is one of our most valuable stage actresses. As the wise, world-weary elderly version, Glenda Jackson is simply a knockout. She wrings every last ounce of dramatic juice from Albee’s text with such command and virtuosity that you simply cannot take your eyes off of her.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

THREE TALL WOMEN
Broadway, Play
John Golden Theatre
1 hour, 45 minutes (without an intermission)
Through June 30