Cast List (nomination possibilities out of 10)
NY TIMES REVIEW EXCERPTS:Sailing into Collective Memory: By Ben Brantley: Walls turn into water in the second act of "Gem of the Ocean," the grandly evangelical new play by August Wilson that opened last night at the Walter Kerr Theater. And though anyone watching this metamorphosis may well describe it as miraculous, the moment is achieved without anything like the special effects associated with Cecil B. DeMille in biblical mode. "Gem" has acquired more warmth and vigor since I saw an earlier version last year, directed by Marion McClinton (and featuring Mr. Leon as Citizen) at the Goodman Theater in Chicago. And its big poetic moments, including Citizen's visionary journey on a slave ship, are now exquisitely enhanced by the technical production (especially Donald Holder's lighting). Yet the play's dramatic immediacy is still eclipsed by your awareness of the metaphorical resonance of every event, relationship and character. Sailing Into Collective Memory Published: December 7, 2004 (Page 2 of 2) "Gem" has acquired more warmth and vigor since I saw an earlier version last year, directed by Marion McClinton (and featuring Mr. Leon as Citizen) at the Goodman Theater in Chicago. And its big poetic moments, including Citizen's visionary journey on a slave ship, are now exquisitely enhanced by the technical production (especially Donald Holder's lighting). Yet the play's dramatic immediacy is still eclipsed by your awareness of the metaphorical resonance of every event, relationship and character. And though the dialogue is woven from the tasty, salty vernacular that Mr. Wilson is famous for, the characters, especially Ester and Solly, often speak in weighty aphorisms. ("I'd rather die in truth than live a lie." "If the wheel don't turn the right way, you got to fix it.") It's not easy playing a metaphor. As Ester, Ms. Rashad, who won a Tony Award earlier this year as another inspiring matriarch in "A Raisin in the Sun" (also directed by Mr. Leon), impressively mixes down-home coziness and great lady stateliness. (I kept thinking of the elderly Ethel Barrymore.) But she never connects convincingly with the immemorial, scary darkness of Ester's past. It is Ms. Hamilton and Mr. Jelks who ground the production in a firmer emotional reality, and it's a pleasure to watch their characters' awkward, tentative dance of mutual attraction. When Citizen describes to Mary his memory of a woman in a blue dress with whom he spent one night, it's in one of those rare and wonderful monologues in the theater where the plain and the lyrical, the particular and the eternal, merge into a luminous whole. It's a reminder that when Mr. Wilson is at the top of his form, there are few living playwrights who can touch him.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TONY AWARDS HAVEN OPINION: Raves almost across the board for "Gem" guarantee it a nomination for Best Play. A win is not out of reach, but it will have to last until May to be a serious contender. Leon could definitely be nodded for this. This looks like it could be back-to-back Tonys for Phylicia Rashad, with only Cherry Jones, and possibly Natasha Richardson standing in her way.
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