With nearly forty-five years worth of hindsight at his disposal, you’d think Arthur Miller would have ended up with something more penetrating—or funnier—for his latest effort, receiving its world premiere in a beautiful-looking but rather empty-feeling production at the Goodman. After years of refusing to publicly discuss his short marriage to Marilyn Monroe, Miller broaches the subject—well, sort of—by basing the play on the notorious, real-life events that plagued the set of “The Misfits,” the 1961 film Miller penned for Monroe. Depressed and popping pills, Monroe was often late, unprepared or simply too zonked out to work. At the same time, her marriage to Miller was on the rocks, adding to the behind-the-scenes complications. Though presented under a very thin pretext of fiction (the names are changed and Monroe is called, derogatively enough, Kitty), the story feels like a regurgitation of what we (presumably) already know: Kitty’s disastrous behavior is superficially tolerated because she has star power and box-office clout, which doesn’t stop her friends and colleagues from endlessly analyzing (and bitterly complaining) about a circumstance they help to perpetuate. It’s the theatrical equivalent of a spinning teacup ride—around and around you go, covering ground but never making much progress. Not to say that futility itself, when examined and satirized, can’t be compelling fodder. It’s just that here, it isn’t. Director Bob Falls lays it all out in a carefully measured fashion when what this material really needs is less hand-wringing and more whiz-bang timing—more Larry David, less Willy Loman. As the parasitic acting coach based on Paula Strasberg, Linda Lavin nails her role, but the other performances here feel so earnestly respectful, they all but cancel out the acidic absurdity of the situation. The big picture remains unfinished. (Nina Metz)
This production is now closed.
Related Stories
Duplicitous Dissolution: A Review of The Picture of Dorian Gray at City Lit Theater Company What City Lit's adaptation of Oscar Wilde's novel—transported nearly one hundred years into the future—picks up in contemporaneous reference it loses in tact and taste.- Out For Blood: A Review of The Wolves at Goodman Theatre Vanessa Stalling directs this invigorating Chicago premiere at the Goodman about a high school girls soccer team.
- In Truthiness: A Review of Dana H. at Goodman Theatre A world premiere of Lucas Hnath's most truthful play, one about his mother's kidnapping. Or is it?
- No Holiday: A Review of Lady in Denmark at the Goodman Theatre The Goodman Theatre stages the world premiere of this bland and meandering reflection on the life of an artist who was anything but.
- Blood and Tears: A Review of Sweat at Goodman Theatre The first woman in history to win two Pulitzer Prizes for Drama, Lynn Nottage's latest play arrives direct from Broadway but its spirit can be found in countless barstools and beer steins around the country.
- Antihero For Our Time: A Review of An Enemy of the People at Goodman Theatre Intelligence minus sympathy and compassion equals arrogance in this Goodman Theatre production.
