What I liked
See review. I watched a virtual performance.
What I didn't like
Um…. It’s been 86 years since WAITING FOR LEFTY premiered.
My overall impression
There are people who revere the Group Theatre in the same way others revere the Beatles, Ernest Hemingway or Pablo Picasso. They have read every memoir, history, (auto)biography of Harold Clurman, Lee Strasberg, Stella Adler, Elia Kazan and Clifford Odets. They have read and/or seen performances of every play the Group mounted or even thought of producing. They have hunted down and watched every snippet of every studio system screen test of any actor who was a member of the Group, even if only for one season. And they strive to fully understand how—for seven or eight months in 1935—the voice of everyday Americans was … a theatre company.
I am one of those people.
You have to admire the cojones of Greg Crafts and Theatre Unleashed in trying to renovate the play that broke Odets and launched the Group into the pantheon of the greatest theatre companies of all time. Crafts’ dramatic choices in updating the original LEFTY’s vignettes ranges from solid to intriguing. A sturdy cast, well directed by Richard Piatt (who also contributed the original concept for the production), grapples with the lives of people who fear speaking out, but fear the whip of poverty even more. Graydon Schlichter (sound design), Michael Teoli (original music), Jenn Scuderi Crafts (producer/ props), Denise Barrett (costumes) and others contribute robust support. The show has a few rough edges, but that’s part of its Fringy charm. At the final curtain, I was amazed at how brave playwright, cast, crew and company were in their attempt to update this watershed classic.
