NY1 Theater Review: "Desire Under The Elms"
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No stranger to Eugene O'Neill, Brian Dennehy returns to Broadway in Robert Falls' new production of "Desire Under The Elms." NY1's Roma Torre filed the following review. Director Robert Falls has taken some bold liberties with "Desire Under The Elms," starting, most conspicuously with the elimination of the trees. Instead of elms, we get rocks, tons of them piled high and suspended overhead.
Eugene O'Neill's lengthy text has been condensed, characters cut and the volume ratcheted up to operatic heights. Eye-catching as it all is, this stylized production seemed to be more about the style than substance.
Perhaps because "Desire Under The Elms" doesn't quite rank in the same league as O'Neill's better known masterpieces, Falls and his designers felt the need to jazz it up – and so it starts with a literal bang, followed by a lengthy bit of stage business complete with the gutting of a pig carcass. There's plenty of moody music and even a montage sequence set to a Bob Dylan right out of MTV.
But that's not all. This play, inspired by Greek tragedy, is all about passion. And that prompted Falls to whip his company into overdrive with an emphasis on the sensual. Translation: expect to see a lot of skin and sex.
They generate plenty of heat, but at the expense of the play's full impact. The story about a brutal and abusive farmer in 1850 New England who weds a much younger woman only to discover that she's having a torrid affair with his son, is a powerful allegory about human desires both carnal and material. Somehow the deeper meaning is overshadowed by all the stage business.
The performances are strong. Brian Dennehy as Ephraim Cabot establishes a loud, bullying presence. He also effectively captures the tragic fate of a man brought down by his own flawed nature. Pablo Schreiber's Eben is a tortured soul. His emotional awakening in the arms of his stepmother, while lurid, blazes with honest intensity.
But it's Carla Gugino as Abbie who deserves much of the credit for selling this production. More than her seasoned co-stars she exudes a natural power on stage that even manages to counteract the stagy manipulations.
"Desire Under The Elms" is not an easy show to do. And you have to applaud the effort to re-invigorate the 85-year-old work. But in cutting it down to 100 minutes, we ended up with a lot of skin and not enough heart.