Theater Review by Ron Fassler . . . .
In 2005, I sat in the sixth row of the orchestra at the Walter Kerr Theatre and luxuriated in the tall talents of Cherry Jones, Brían F. O’Byrne, Heather Goldenhersh, and Adriane Lenox in John Patrick Shanley’s Doubt: A Parable. Now, 19 years later, in its first Broadway revival, I sat in the sixth row at the Todd Haimes Theatre, thrilled at the music produced by this latest killer quartet of Amy Ryan, Liev Schreiber, Zoe Kazan, and Quincy Tyler Bernstine. When you hear the expression that lightning doesn’t strike twice, don’t believe it. The electric current charging with fierce energy through 42nd Street right now is enough to light up all of Times Square.
There’s a reason why Doubt won every major prize in the 2004-05 season, including the Pulitzer, the Tony, the Drama Desk, the NY Drama Critics’ Circle, and others (even the Touring Broadway Award, something I didn’t even know existed until my research brought it to my attention). It’s a taut, perfectly constructed, 90-minute drama in which each part is written with laser beam focus. You know who these people are, which is ironic since certain facts about them stay stubbornly elusive and out of our grasp for the entire play. As the story unfolds and drills into the tragedy at its center, innocence and guilt, and who’s right and who’s wrong refuse easy answers. Its riveting dialogue makes the audience feel like it’s eavesdropping, prying even, which is exactly the playwright’s intention. The product of parochial schools in the Bronx, the Irish Catholic Shanley’s ear is finely tuned to the way these characters speak. Confident of the story he’s telling, you feel you are in the presence of a master craftsman, easily slipping back and forth between sides. To my mind, there’s little doubt he’s ever written a better play. And he has written some awfully good ones throughout his forty-year career.
The plot of Doubt revolves around Sister Aloysius (Amy Ryan), the principal of the fictional St. Nicholas School in the Bronx, “in charge of 372 students” as she tells us. The year is 1964, not long after the assassination of John F. Kennedy. The Sister is a taskmaster feared by all, a woman of rigid ideas and of the belief that most people are doing things wrong, thus convincing herself everything she does is right. Her moral certitude causes her to investigate whether the new parish priest, the progressive Father Brendan Flynn (Liev Schreiber), might be molesting twelve-year-old Donald Muller, the school’s sole Black student. She enlists the aid of a young nun, Sister James (Zoe Kazan), a new teacher who is still getting the hang of working under Sister Aloysius’s strict discipline. Thus a cat-and-mouse game is set in action, with the nun very much the cat and the priest very much the mouse. It provides reasons for many doubts.
The play allows for just one other character, which is when Sister Aloysius summons the boy’s mother, Mrs. Muller (Quincy Tyler Bernstine) in an effort to enlist the woman in her crusade. Shanley provides so many unexpected twists and turns for Mrs. Muller that the role won Adriane Lenox a Tony for its original production and Viola Davis an Oscar nomination in its 2008 film version. It’s just one single scene—but what a scene!
Amy Ryan, a last-minute replacement for an ailing Tyne Daly, has had two weeks on stage to learn the role on her feet and she is nothing less than triumphant. It’s a helluva part and not an easy one to pull off. Having seen Cherry Jones on stage and Meryl Streep in the film, I can say that Ryan holds her own with those powerhouses. When she stands toe-to-toe with the transcendent Liev Schreiber, it’s not an exaggeration to say their scenes leave you with your heart in your mouth. Though a bit old for the part (Father Flynn is described as being in his late thirties), the world-weariness the fifty-six-year-old Schreiber brings to the role carries a lot of weight. Every time he produces a sigh it’s as if each breath expelled could blow down a house. Zoe Kazan, a personal favorite, once again brings unexpected depth and humor to the beautifully written Sister James. You will feel her pain. And Quincy Tyler Bernstine nails Mrs. Muller in all her perplexing, yet understandable manner. It’s a given that all four of these actors will be Tony-nominated later next month.
Finally, there is Scott Ellis’s sensitive and exquisite direction. Nothing has escaped his eye and he and his designers work well as a whole in realizing the play. David Rockwell’s set flows in all its iterations, bringing back strong memories of John Lee Beatty’s original design. Linda Cho’s costumes couldn’t be more dead on in flavor and period, and the always excellent Kenneth Posner does not disappoint.
And credit to the sound design by Mikaal Sulaiman. I spotted no mics (though there are probably ones on the floor, old-school-style). And since head-worn ones continue getting smaller and harder to spot, perhaps they were used and I just didn’t see them. Regardless, it was a pleasure to hear what sounded to me like strong theater voices emanating, unassisted, from these actors, putting forth every word with brilliant clarity. And with a play like this, you don’t want to miss a single syllable.
This limited engagement, produced by the Roundabout Theatre, has been extended a week and is now set to close April 21st. I recommend it without hesitation. Don’t miss such a first-class production of a first-class play.
Doubt: A Parable. Through April 21 at the Todd Haimes Theatre (227 West 42nd Street, between Broadway and Eighth Avenue). www.roundabouttheatre.org
Photos: Joan Marcus
