Cast List (with nomination possibilities out of 10)
NY TIMES REVIEW EXCERPTS: Mother-Daughter Angst, With Death in the Wings By BEN BRANTLEY:On the other hand, all that domestic industry only rarely disguises our suspicion that these two first-rate actresses are never quite at home in their roles. Or the uneasy realization that Ms. Norman's Pulitzer Prize-winning drama, which opened in revival last night under the direction of Michael Mayer, is looking more artificial than it did two decades ago. But - and this is an overwhelmingly important but - you are seldom persuaded that Jessie is ready to give up that life. There's a sly spark of intelligence and even malice in Ms. Falco's performance that reminds you that this is indeed the same actress who created Carmela Soprano. You can sense Ms. Falco's Jessie trying to will herself into a sort of zenlike placidity. Yet anger and score-settling satisfaction flicker betrayingly across her stark features as she itemizes the long list of minuses that make up her life: her failures as a wife and mother, her epilepsy, her lack of professional skills, the death of the father who appears to have been the only person she truly loved. Though Jessie says she doesn't blame Thelma, it's hard to avoid the impression that she really does. The play's title starts to sound less like a sad, exhausted farewell than a petulant cry of revenge. And it feels as if it would be more appropriate for the drama to end with the sound of a slamming door than with a gunshot.There could be an intellectual argument made for this interpretation, especially given that Jessie speaks about how people never really know one other. And there are several genuinely haunting moments of silence from both actresses, in which their features register an unfathomable loneliness. But without the sense of an umbilical cord, however frayed, that still binds Jessie and Thelma, the emotional stakes aren't as high as they must be. This means that all those household chores that Jessie performs stand out in ways they shouldn't, like the tasks assigned to students in acting class to help them sink into the moment. In an ideal production of " 'Night, Mother," everyday activity should be part of a persuasive, hypnotic spell woven by a woman who, for the first time in her life, knows exactly what she wants. That this version is less than hypnotizing is painfully signaled by your wondering, whenever Jessie leaves the stage, why Thelma does not hide the gun or simply call the police.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TONY AWARDS HAVEN OPINION: This production will probably not make the cut for Best Revival of a Play. A nod is assured for Ms. Blethyn, while her chances of winning are slim, however, Ms. Falco will most likely not receive a nomination. Possible nomination for set design of a play.
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