All The King's Men - Now playing!

And we're off! Last night was the highly anticipated opening night for the 20th Anniversary production of All the King's Men!

Are you are a longtime subscriber who saw the original in 1987? Did you just stop by the theater for the first time? Either way - we want to hear from you!

Feel free to post your thoughts on the show or a review below! 

Comments

[anon]

Trinity Rep’s 2007 production of All the King’s Men is an ideal season opener for this year’s theme of “Leaders, Liars, Lovers, and Legends” -- All the King’s Men hits them all.

Mauro Hantman beautifully carries the show with more maturity than we’ve seen from him before. Rather than presenting us with his almost-over-the-top comic standard, Hantman takes us inside his head and heart, showing us new range and depth. As Jack Burden, his acting is interior and sophisticated, and at times heart-breaking; he captures the semi-objective distance of the journalist caught in a web, and lets the audience struggle with him. I commend Hantman for his performance, and director McEleney for his choice in stretching Hantman by casting him in this role. Much has already been written about Joe Wilson, Jr.’s powerful performance, so I will not focus on that here.

Michael McGarty’s set was an active performer in and of itself. Although all designs both enable and constrain actions and interactions, this one takes the metaphor and makes it literal. First, McGarty tore the stage in half, placing half of the set on the left and half on the right, with a gaping empty space in between. That space inevitably functioned as the contact zone between the classes, sometimes belonging to the have’s, sometimes the have-not’s, but always with an uneasy tension between the two. It was the site of clashes and dissonance, of compromises and conquests. A brilliant choice.

Second, the contact zone was populated with audience members on rolling bleachers who themselves became part of the action – unwittingly, and perhaps (judging by the look on a few faces) unwillingly. Through the course of the play, the audience was literally manipulated and moved about, pulled into Willie Stark’s political trajectory. They couldn’t help but applaud his speeches, even if they didn’t want to. Another brilliant choice.

However, on the down side, the decision to include so much Randy Newman music from his 1974 album Good Old Boys was heavy handed at best. I rarely drive home feeling patronized by Trinity Rep; that’s one reason I continue to subscribe. The first song, “Louisiana 1927,” sets a perfect tone for the production, building empathy by introducing us to the characters’ tensions and struggles, while also invoking today’s news stories as we watch families along the Mississippi Delta continue to rebuild their homes and lives. However, the satirical song “Rednecks,” following shortly after, killed the effect. The cheap laughs provoked by “Rednecks” made it too easy for the audience to create distance again, disengaging from those people most effected by political motives and moves. Later, “Kingfish” added little (in part because its melody echoes “Rednecks”), and its reprise after Stark’s demise was superfluous and contrived. In fact, I was so irked by the music that I felt compelled to research whether it was part of Adrian Hall’s 1987 version (those songs had been floating around for at least a decade by then), or if it was a recent Trinity innovation. I also searched through “Trinity Square” and the playbill for any discussion of this choice, but found none. It appears that the songs were added for this production – in which case I have to say that a little Randy Newman goes a long way. Trinity, give your audience more credit, please.

[marilyn busch]

Thanks for your comments! In answer to your question, the Randy Newman songs were indeed a part of the original 1987 production.

[Molly B. Allen]

This performance was extremely powerful. Mauro Hantman and Joe Wilson Jr. and Phyllis Kay were outstanding! I loved the show and everyone on it. Overall it was a phenomenal production.

[Jean Marrapodi]

Leaders, Liars, Lovers and Legends. Hmmm. I didn't know that was this year's focus. I suppose as a subscriber, that's in my stuff somewhere, but indeed this was a fitting opening for that theme.

Even though I disagree with the commentary on the music by the first poster, I appreciate the thinking through the set design with him/her. I was at tonight's closing performance, and part of the rolling bleacher group, which was an interesting vantage point. I'd seen Putnam County's 25th Annual Spelling Bee on Broadway this year, and was a wee bit concerned about being part of the production numbers, but it wasn't like that at all. It merely gave us a different vantage point and allowed for the set change. The conversion to high school bleachers was brilliant. It was wonderful to be close enough to see Phyllis Kay's tears in the sanitorium scene and the sparkle in Mauro's blue eyes. It was like being in the scene instead of just an observer.

As to the music, I think Rednecks was important. As a 21st century viewer, and a northerner at that, how biting it is to hear those racist comments! It was necessary to capture a point in time; one I'm glad we are through. It was a poignant reminder of the line if there was no past, we'd have no future, and the future being shaped by the past that was a theme of this production.

It's always amazing to me, being a Trinity subscriber for about 5 years now, to see the players assume such diverse roles. It's like watching our friends perform, and enjoying their growth and building maturity. It was great to see the inclusion of the Brown Consortium in this production to showcase some of that new talent. My goodness, the stuttering was amazing!

I was sorry to have missed the talkback this evening. This was a play that I needed processing on, so I'm off to google for commentary. I do miss the Humanities Rep section of the playbill that used to provide some of that. I also hope some of those quotable lines are in IMDB or some equivalents source. I'd like to ponder them some more.

Thanks Trinity, for never disappointing us in our choice to subscribe. I appreciate your hard work and gifting of thoughts to ponder afterward.