America West Airlines' Valley Broadway Series' Art at ASU's Gammage Auditorium
(out of 
)Mark S.P. Turvin
(home office) (602) 912-0117
I can be reached for comment via e-mail at: mspt@goldfishpublishers.com
Reviewed 11/9/99
(out of )It's hailed as a masterpiece wherever it's played, from Paris to London to Broadway, and now Phoenix. This deceptively simple play about three men and a white painting, written a Français by Yasmina Reza (with English translation by Christopher Hampton of Les Liaisons Dangereuses fame) is stunning, quick, powerful and always thought-provoking. Art is open to many different interpretations. This battle between a man who is violently upset by his best friend's purchase of a seemingly white canvas for an exorbitant amount of money can be viewed as a simple and witty argument, or its outer layers can be peeled away to expose boundless commentaries on relationships, art, and even life and death. There will be some who will not enjoy the piece, or involve themselves enough to search through the layers, but the show holds many great treasures for those who take up the challenge.
Meticulously staged by the original West End and Broadway Director, Matthew Warchus, and headed by two-time Tony® Award-winning veteran actor Judd Hirsch, this Valley Broadway Series touring production is a must-see for Valley theatergoers. It is utterly professional, and perfectly timed and paced. Each silence held by those onstage is as perfectly acted as the many droll exchanges. Mr. Hirsch brings an arrogant, lofty intellect to his character, Marc, that sets up the enormous anger and inevitable depths to which he will sink. He can be hilariously entertaining one moment, and devastatingly cruel the next, while never losing his believability.
The actors that share the stage with him are nearly as wonderful. Cotter Smith plays Serge, the painting's loving owner, with a different style of sophistication and arrogance reserved for the newly intellectualized. Serge is haughty, yet well-meaning, a very dangerous combination for an actor to play. Mr. Smith, though, never telegraphs either. Even better, though, is the heartbreaking performance of Jack Willis as the permanent friend in the middle, Yvan, who masterfully balances humor with pathos as the character flounders between man and child, almost always achieving neither.
Mark Thompson's stark, cavernous setting, while almost too large for the intimate proceedings, becomes a potential mausoleum for the friendship of these three feuding compatriots. Despite it's grandiose dimensions, it has the right look for this battle between old smarts and the nouveau-sophisticate. Hugh Vanstone's lighting is wonderful, differentiating between day and evening, and the three separate flats of the participants. Gary Yerson's melodic musical underscoring helps to soften some of the scripts sharper edges, and is perfectly handled in Mic Pool's Sound Design.
There's so much more to say about this wonderful production, but part of the charm of the piece is the initial discovery of its situation and depth. If you want to see bickering become a life-or-death struggle, with some great wit and bile along the way, head to Gammage. Art like this is brief.
Production Details:
Art by Yasmina Reza,
Translated by Christopher Hampton
America West Airlines' Valley Broadway Series
Gammage Auditorium, Tempe
(480) 965-3434
November 9th - November 14th, 1999