SITE GUIDE
SEARCH
REVIEWS
REVIEW ARCHIVES
ADVERTISING AT CURTAINUP
FEATURES
NEWS
Etcetera and
Short Term Listings
LISTINGS
Broadway
Off-Broadway
NYC Restaurants
BOOKS and CDs
OTHER PLACES
Berkshires
London
California
New Jersey
DC
Connecticut
Philadelphia
Elsewhere
QUOTES
TKTS
PLAYWRIGHTS' ALBUMS
LETTERS TO EDITOR
FILM
LINKS
MISCELLANEOUS
Free Updates
Masthead
A CurtainUp Connecticut Review
The Orphans' Home Cycle: Part II
Review of Part I
Review of Part III
|
Pride is fine if you can afford it
— Mr. Vaughn.
|
Maggie Lacey and Bill Heck
(Photo by T. Charles Erickson) |
It's 1912 and Horace (Bill Heck) is off to business school and misses out on the possibility of a more serious relationship with the widow Claire (Virginia Krull), despite the fact that her children, Molly (Georgi James) and Buddy (Dylan Riley Snyder), prefer him to a long list of gentleman callers whom the children take delight in comparing.
Instead of the widow Horace later courts Elizabeth Vaughn (Maggie Lacey) over the objections of her parents (James DeMarse and Hallie Foote), who think he's too wild for their daughter. The couple elopes and enjoys wedded bliss.
Estranged from her family, Elizabeth spends time with Bessie (also played by Kull), a fellow rooming house boarder and mentally challenged friend while she awaits the birth of her child. The Vaughns, softened by the impending arrival of a grandchild, make an unexpected visit to reconcile their differences.
Though of the nine parts in the cycle that seems the least at home in the story and that probably could have been cut, the story is a delightful look at the bond that forms between Horace and Elizabeth, and with Horace and her parents. In one of the plays most moving moments, Horace explains just how marriage to Elizabeth has brought him the only happiness he's ever known following a lifetime of feeling rejected by his mother and sister. Foote's wonderful gift for storytelling, the excellent cast of chameleons who transform themselves into various characters (Annalee Jeffries often has audience members gasping when they recognize her in four very different parts over the course of the cycle). Leave us wanting even more despite the three-hour run time (and we will get it in Part III).
The cycle runs through Oct. 24 at Hartford Stage, then moves to partner Signature Theater Company in New York, where the production runs Nov. 5-March 6. The links to reviews of other parts of the cycle are once again: Part I . . . Part III
|
The Orphans' Home Cycle: Part II By Horton Foote Directed by Michael Wilson Cast: Annalee Jeffries (Lucy Vaughn Stewart), Dylan Riley Snyder, (Buddy,), Virginia Kull (Claire Ratliff, Bessie Stillman), Georgi James (Molly), Maggie Lacey (Elizabeth Vaughn Robedaux), Justin Fuller (Ed Corday, Dr. Greene), Jenny Dare Paulin (Laura Vaughn), Hallie Foote (Mrs.Vaughn), Bill Heck (Horace Robedaux), Devon Abner (Roger Culpepper, Bobby Pate), Lucas Caleb Rooney (Val Stanton, George Tyler), Bryce Pinkham (Felix Barclay, Brother Vaughn), James DeMarse (Mr. Vaughn), Pamela Payton-Wright (Sarah Vaughn, Ruth Amos), Stephen Plunkett (Archie Gordon, Steve Tyler), Pat Bowie (Eliza) Scenic Design: Jeff Cowie and David Barber Projections Design: Jan Hartley Lighting Design: Rui Rita Original Music and Sound Design: John Gromada Costume Design: David C. Woolard Choreographer/Movement Director: Maxwell Williams Wig and Hair Design: Mark Adam Rampmeyer Fight Director: Mark Olsen Running time: 3 hours and 20 minutes with two 10-minute intermissions Hartford Stage, 50 Church St., Hartford Performances: Last marathon this Saturday. Visit http://www.hartfordstage.org/. Through 10/24/09-- before moving to New York Review by Lauren Yarger based on performance of Oct. 17, 2009 |
|
Subscribe to our FREE email updates with a note from editor Elyse Sommer about additions to the website -- with main page hot links to the latest features posted at our numerous locations. To subscribe,
E-mail:
 esommer@curtainup.comesommer@curtainup.comput SUBSCRIBE CURTAINUP EMAIL UPDATE in the subject line and your full name and email address in the body of the message -- if you can spare a minute, tell us how you came to CurtainUp and from what part of the country. |
|
REVIEW FEEDBACK Highlight one of the responses below and click "copy" or"CTRL+C"
Paste the highlighted text into the subject line (CTRL+ V): Feel free to add detailed comments in the body of the email. . .also the names and emails of any friends to whom you'd like us to forward a copy of this review. |
South Pacific
In the Heights
Playbill 2007-08 Yearbook
Leonard Maltin's 2008 Movie Guide
