Top Girls, 6/25/08 @ Biltmore Theater in NYC

Manhattan Theater Club Production
Directed by James Macdonold
With: Marisa Tomei, Elizabeth Marvel, and a set of ineffective compatriots
Closed 6/29/08

I went to see Top Girls with my parents. It was unfortunately awful. Granted, I know every word of that play intimately given that I spent about 2 months with the script in rehearsal AND granted, our production was probably one of the best pieces of theater i have been involved in, I think any theatrically objective and educated individual would find the MTC production a let down. Beyond the easy gripes of affected performances and meaningless choices which mitigated the power of Churchill's wonderful writing, there were some structural choices that really really really cannot be forgiven.

No, actually, lets start with discussing the overarching problem: until act 3 they were playing the text for cheap moments. Sensible conversation and communication between the actresses rarely happened until Tomei and Marvel fought at the closing of the play. Often enough, one actress began to connect with some honesty! Unfortunately, her efforts were usually foiled by her scene partner. Moving on.

My primary concern lied with the choice to reorganize the casting. Churchill's act 1 characters represent allegories to the characters in act 2 and act 3, so arbitrarily reassigning act 1 characters to actresses based on ability meant actors were moving in and out of characters' dramatic arcs. There is no way Pope Joan and Angie have anything in common with respect to Marlene's journey. Likewise, Patient Griselda really has nothing to do with Shona/Kit's psychology.


Anyway, All things together, I'd say it's a good thing this production closed.

On second thought, to be fair, while the stage direction and acting could've been better, i was very impressed with the set and original sound (though i believe the latter was vastly underutilized). Each act would see a bare stage transformed as set pieces flew in/backdrops swept across the stage. Quite impressive...Not $90 impressive, but impressive.

They also used the same ikea chairs we did. WTF.