If the best that can be said of how you approached
directing John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men is that
you cast it well, staged it cleanly and otherwise gave the appearance of
staying out of its way...well, that's high praise indeed. And that, at least in
terms of a successful theatrical illusion put forth, is what Anna D. Shapiro
gives the impression of having done. A compact, simple yet elegant
American classic—almost a folk tale—Of Mice and Men features
iconic characters who defined their archetypes, and Ms. Shapiro hasn’t layered
on anything overtly interpretive; she’s just allowed what it is, intrinsically,
to breathe free.
The
contrast between the two itinerant farm workers at the core is of course the
key. George has to be short, clever, cautious and quick to improvise a
solution. His companion Lennie has to be big, guileless, simple and like a
little child in a giant’s body. James Franco and Chris
O’Dowd fill the bill perfectly. Once you establish that, it’s
impossible to fight the obvious; actors playing other characters like the
no-nonsense farm boss (Jim Ortleib), his bully of a son (Alex
Morf), the son’s floozie of a wife (Leighton Meester), the
old-timer facing the onrush of obsolescence (Jim Norton)—and
the rest, as the first iteration of the Gilligan’s Island theme
song insufficiently put it—have to embrace the bold strokes and extremes
because therein are the elements that make the tale dynamic. And at the
Longacre Theatre they do…and it is.
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