A Moon for the Misbegotten
Cherry Creek Theatre: 2/3 – 2/26
CHRIS KENDALL
(photo credit: Brian Miller)
Let me begin by saying that we owe a debt of gratitude to Producer Susie Snodgrass and the folks over at Cherry Creek Theatre for choosing O’Neill’s play for their season. (Since Ed Baierlein and Sallie Diamond closed Germinal Stage Denver, nobody has attempted to produce the great artists of American and World Theatre.)
That said, they (Cherry Creek Theatre) have also been wise enough to choose a talented director to oversee the proceedings.
Tara Falk astutely delivers O’Neill’s tragic realism while brilliantly mining the salty humor which arises organically from the compost of these characters’ gritty reality.
Falk’s clear-eyed direction has blessed the show with a powerhouse cast.
Featuring three of our premiere actors, Falk introduces a new actor who fits in with ease and chutzpah.
There are few actors in town who could portray Josie Hogan with the great heart and diamond-bright talent of Emily-Paton Davies. Commanding the stage from curtain to curtain, hers is a compelling and finally, endearing performance you simply can’t miss.
L-R: Cajardo Lindsey and Emily Paton Davies (photo credit: Brian Miller)
Cajardo Lindsey’s riveting performance in the role of Jim Tyrone is Powerful! Embodying the playwright’s memories of his older brother’s final attempt to find love, this actor’s portrayal is exemplary and unforgettable.
Chris Kendall’s dynamic performance in the role of Josie’s father, Phil Hogan, is extraordinary! Doing his best to hold a family together, to raise pigs, and eek out a living from the land, Kendall gives us a grizzled, gravel-voiced farmer, who can stave off any challenge with guts and vulgar humor.
New to this reviewer, Christopher Robin Donaldson gives superb readings of Hogan’s son, Mike, as he runs away to find his fortune at the top of the play. As the trouble-makin’ neighbor, T. Stedman Harder, Donaldson does a great job of intentionally providing comic fodder for the Hogans’ derisive laughter.
Director Falk has also assembled an incredible group of artists for the technical end of things.
Upon entering the Pluss Theatre we are regaled with Tina Anderson’s superb fragmentary scenic design, which is constructed in such a way that we as audience get to observe the action going on inside the shanty as well as outside.
Nicole M. Harrison’s costume design for each of the characters is spot on.
Emily A. Maddox is constantly shifting the mood with her eye-pleasing lighting design.
The excellent sound design by Max Silverman makes one wonder whether the Pluss theatre has got a new sound system. His choices of folk fiddles and the like to bridge the scenes work incredibly well.
Eugene O’Neill won four Pulitzer Prizes for literature. They were for “Long Day’s Journey into Night,” “Beyond the Horizon,” “Anna Christie,” and “Strange Interlude.” Influenced by Chekhov, Ibsen and Strindberg, O’Neill’s tragic realism is ranked right up there with Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams in American literature. In fact, O’Neill’s plays were, for a long time, the most produced in America after Shakespeare and Shaw.
“A Moon for the Misbegotten” is O’Neill’s last completed play. It’s often thought to be a sort of sequel to his autobiographical “Long Day’s Journey into Night.”
For tickets call: 303-800-6578 or go online at cherrycreektheatre.org
