Clear as Glass
Strong performances and production values do Tennessee Williams classic justice

By Mary Damiano

Amanda Weakly and Betsy Graver prepare for a special dinner in The Glass Menagerie.

Broward Stage Door’s first straight play of their 2009-2010 season is a handsome production of the Tennessee Williams classic The Glass Menagerie.

Faded Southern belle Amanda Wingfield (Janet Weakly) is the original helicopter mom—her constant hovering drives her adult children crazy. Amanda and her son Tom (David Hemphill) butt heads over every tiny detail, but things come to a head she goads Tom into inviting a work friend, Jim, (Nick Duckart) home for his sweet but emotionally stunted sister Laura (Betsy Graver). Tom is the play’s narrator—he’s looking back at a specific time in the life of his small family, right before he left his mother ad sister behind to pursue his dreams and live his life on his own terms.

This is the second time this year that Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie has appeared on a local stage—the play spent last March on stage at New Theatre in Coral Gables. It’s interesting to see two different theatres do the same play and what the director of each brings to the piece.

Director Michael Leeds has done an excellent and imaginative job at breathing fresh life into a play we’ve seen before. The Glass Menagerie is a memory play—it takes place in Tom’s head—and Leeds reminds us of that every step of the way. He illustrates Tom Wingfield’s memories beautifully.

Janet Weakly, Betsy Graver and David Hemphill play members of the Wingfield family in the Stage Door Theatre production of The Glass Menagerie.

The talented design team adds to this richly nuanced production. The sound design by Martin Metts is haunting and eerie, with snippets of music and sounds drifting in and overlapping, punctuating the dialogue. The choice of music is evocative, and blends seamlessly with Ardean Landhuis’s subtle lighting. The set, credited in the program to Stage Door Scenic, does the play’s time period well.

Hemphill portrayal of Tom hits all the right notes. Tom is a complicated young man, and Hemphill layers his performance to illustrate the tortured soul beneath Tom’s sarcastic exterior. Weakly is animated and annoying as Amanda, but that’s good because she’s supposed to be annoying—with all that scheming and hovering how could she not be? Duckart does a sensitive yet dashing turn as Jim, while Graver does a good job with Laura’s paralyzing shyness. The two are especially good in their extended second act scene together.

This is a beautifully crafted production and should not be missed.


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THE GLASS MENAGERIE GLISTENS

    Once again the Stage Door Theatre has taken a theatrical masterpiece and created a mesmerizing production of Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie. Michael Leeds, who directed the Stage Door's recent wonderful production of Stephen Sondeheim's "A Little Night Music," has stage a flawless production of a timeless drama. The cast, led by a sensational performance by Janet Weakley (Amanda Wingfield), portrays every nuance of a Tennessee Williams' character.

    David Hemphill (Tom-Amanda's son) is also the narrator and vividly brings back memories of this southern family now living in an alley in St.Louis. He is joined by Betsy Graver (Laura - his crippled sister) and, finally, by Nick Duckhart (Jim O'Connor - Tom's fellow worker). Tom invites Jim to his home for dinner and Amanda is thrilled that Laura will finally meet a man.

    There is never a dull moment in a play that runs over two and a half hours. The family has been in financial straits since Amanda's husband took off and abandoned the family. Their only income is the meager salary earned by Tom. Amanda tries to earn money by telephoning neighbors to renew their magazine subscriptions. Some of the most hilarious moments are her telephone conversations.

    The story comes to a dire conclusion when Tom imitates his father by leaving home and the city for greener pastures. Bur for Amanda and Laura (who learns Jim is engaged), life is not a bowl of cherries.

    If you enjoy top-notch theatre, tinkle down to Sample Road and witness a great play and a great cast. Call 954-344-7765 for your tickets - the play runs until November 1st.
       
Cobrua Reporter
Al Horowitz
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THIS GLASS MENAGERIE BECOMES KEY VEHICLE FOR YOUNG ACTORS
By Ron Levitt
Florida Media News / ENV Magazine

    It isn’t often that one sees one of the modern world’s most  highly regarded plays  whose dominant characters are women and comes home feeling that he has just witnessed two  talented, up-and-coming male actors in South Florida.

    This is by no means a slur on the two female stars in The Glass Menagerie currently at the Broward Stage Door theatre in Coral Springs.   These women --  a striking, powerful   Janet Weakley and charmer  Betsy Graver – are excellent as the mother/daughter  in the Tennessee Williams drama. It’s just that recent New World School of the Arts alumni  David Hemphill and Nick Duckhart   are so dynamic in the challenging roles of the brother Tom  and the gentleman caller respectively, it would be a disservice to ignore their characterizations.    It is a pleasure to see  two relatively unknown newcomers to the area’s theatre scene nail their characters so adeptly.   Hemphill (formerly in Knish Alley and Summer Shorts ) –as Tom – has the juiciest role and makes the most of it, and  Duckhart (who got rave reviews last month in The Whipping Man at Caldwell Theatre) also received well-deserved applause at curtain time for his second act dominance.

    What is also interesting about this production of The Glass Menagerie is how different it is in scope and setting to other fabrications of the same play.  Director Michael   Leeds  uses his own sense of imagination in his Stage Door interpretation of the Williams’ classic.  The set  by the Broward Stage Door team is  vintage 1930s. Williams’ characters are  just as intense living in their fantasy worlds as they have been in earlier productions , yet, there is a sense of freshness and vitality to this staging.   Perhaps it is the acting by four powerhouse performers which catches one’s attention.  Of course, one has to respect a script whose every word drips with sensitivity and meaning.  Yes, kudos to the playwright (naturally), but a truck-load of  ovations to Director Leeds and  the stunning cast.

    The Glass Menagerie was Williams’ first success, written as a movie (1950) and actually based on his short story  (written in 1948) which most say mimicked  his own youth.  Filmed twice in Hollywood, once in the Orient and even one-time for television, it has become one of Williams’ most produced plays.  Who can ever forget (if you are old enough or watch late night TV movies) the Jane Wyman film, for which she received an Academy Award which also starred Gertrude Lawrence and two up and coming actors – Kirk Douglas and Arthur Kennedy ?   Or, who can ever forget the first time he or she saw this play or the  versions which starred Katherine Hepburn  (1973) or Joanne Woodward (1987)?  Even in South Florida, the play has been revitalized dozens of times, including just months ago at the New Theatre in Coral Gables.

    Yes, the play is an oft-produced and often-seen American original, but this production takes nothing for granted.  Its vitality stems from attention to detail and a cast which plays Williams’ words with riveting emotions  Williams – one of America’s most highly regarded playwrights  –  surely would have found this newest interpretation to his liking.

    Tom (Hemphill) is the narrator  – a wannabe poet stuck in a meaningless factory job so he can care for his family --  his living-in-the-past, demanding  mother Amanda  (Weakley) and his lame, emotionally shy sister Laura (Garver).  Tom (that was Williams’ real first name)  hates his every-day existence and spends his spare time watching movies in cheap cinemas. Amanda is obsessed with finding a suitor for Laura, who pretends about life with her glass collection. Tom  eventually bring a co-worker  Jim (Duckhart) home for dinner  at the insistence of his mother, who hopes the “gentleman caller”  will be the long-awaited suitor for Laura.  In a twist of fate, Laura realizes that Jim is the man she admired in high school. Despite his kindly attention to her, he tells her that he is planning  to be married.  Tom leaves to be on his own –  like his father before him – as the mother and daughter remain behind to a questionable fate.

    When a theatre group produces a classic which seems new no matter how often you have seen it, then it is entitled to be called “fresh”.  Calling a classic play “fresh,” is a well deserved term for this production as well as for its stars – including those two  actors who get your attention at an early part  of their acting careers.

The Glass Menagerie runs through Nov.1.  Call 954 -344-7765 for tickets.