Variety (January 05, 1955)

Anniversary January 5, 1955 Forty-ninth cal tone or instinct for giving theatrical value to her lines. Mario Alcade is rather stiff as the earnest Japheth and Osna Palmer isn’t able to give much color to the role of Leah. Odets’ staging seems strangely uneven, quite effective in the ominous, urgent scene just before the flood, for example, but lack- ing pace or a fluid quality at various other times, and unsuc- cessful in getting expressive play- ing from some of the cast. Mor- decai Gorelik’s impressionistic scenery has a folk-fable style. Feder’s lighting is dramatic and the Ballou costumes and Alan Hovhaness incidental music are helpful. But while “Peach” may be elo- quent and perhaps even profound to a special audience, its wrong- end-of-the-teleseope version of the Bible appears to lack general ap- peal. Ho be. the emotional impact of the key scenes between the Princess and the Empress. Miss Lindfors gives a lovely performance as the Princess. From the shuffling unkempt, miserable spectre of her first entrance, through the growing awareness, confidence and imperiousness of her final scenes, she gives a skill- fully dimensioned portrayal that is believable and touching. It estab- lishes her as a genuine star of legit, as well as of films. Miss Leontovich is also irresis- tably convincing as the lonely but proud old Empress whose disbelief and emotional reserve are melted in her recognition of and reunion with her royal granddaughter. The consciousness and authority of stardom going back to “Grand Hotel” and “Twentieth Century” are evident and just right for this role. Joseph Anthony is admirably suave as the villainous master- mind of the plot to palm off the supposedly sham Princess, while Boris Tumarin and David J. Stewart are properly varied as respectively cautious and excitable accomplices. Hurd Hatfield is acceptable as a shallow Romanoff fortune hun- ter, Vivian Nathan and Stuart Ger- main are expressive former Winter Palace servants, Michael Strong is passable in the synthetic role of a doubting ex-sweetheart, and Carl Low, Sefton Darr, William Callan and Dorothy Patten are competent supporting players. Schneider’s staging has impres- sive pace and compulsion, and the Edwards interior setting, changing from dinginess to bogus finery, is eloquently atmospheric. “Anastasia” is palpable make- believe—and first-rate entertain- ment. Hobe. _ . London. (Figures denote premiere dates) Air* Shoestring, Royal Ct. (4 22-53) All For Mary, Duke York (9-9-54). Beatrice Lillie, Globe (11-24-54). Bell, Book, Candle, Phoenix (10-5-54) Book of Month, Cambridge (10 21-54) Both End* Meet, ApoHo <6-9-54). Bey Friend, Wyndham's (12-1-53). Can-Can, Coliseum (10-14-54). Craxy Gang, Vie. Pal. (12-16-54). Dry Rot, Whitehall (8-31-54). Happy Holiday, Palace (12-22-54). Hedda Gabler, Westm’ster (11-2954). Hippo Dancing, Lyric (4 7-54). I Am a Camera, New (3-12-54). Intimacy At 8:30, Criterion (4-29-54). Joyce Grenfell, St. Mart. (6-2-54). King and I, Drury Lane (108-53) Manor of Northstead. Duchess (4-28 54). Matchmaker, Haymarket (11-4-54). Mousetrap. Amhas (11-25 52) Old Vic Rep, Old Vic (9 9 54). Party Spirit, Piccadilly (9-23-54). Pay the Piper, Saville (12-21-54). Pelations Apart, Garrick (8-3-54). S-Drina Fair, Palace (8-4-54). Salad Days, Vaudeville (8-5-54). Separate Tables, St. James's (9 22-54). Simon A Laura, Strand (11-24-54). Spider's Web, Savoy (12-14-54). Talk of Town, Adelphi (11-17-54). Teahouse Aug. Moon, Her Maj. (4 22 54). Wedding in Parts, Hlpp. (4-3-54) Witness Prosecution, W Card. 00-28 53). but simple, devout and lovable, and with a Menasha Skulnik sense of comic timing. His family tends to be an as- sortment of lower east side, or perhaps Bronx, stereotypes. There’s Esther, the momma, a Jewish matriarch of quiet dignity, surpassing motherly understand- ing, uncanny wisdom—and a drily effective comedy touch. The sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, are in- dividualists, one a schemer, one a cynic, one an idealist. And their respective wives are different, too, but all within an uncomfortably familiar pattern. “Peach” can be respected, not only as the deeply felt expression of the author’s conviction, but also for its several excellent elements. Some of its scenes are engrossing, some are agreeably amusing and one or two are genuinely touching. Even so, the play as a Whole seems talky (without the characteristic Odets incisiveness) and progres- sively ineffectual. And its theme, when it’s expressed at last, seems almost bromidic. The production is spotty. Skul- nik is generally fine as Noah, com- bining an endearing quality with affected honesty and a delicious comic style. Berta Gersten gives a skillful performance as the ma- triarch, while Leon Janney is thoroughly professional as the sneering Ham, and Barbara Baxley gives distinctive flavor and au- thority to the role of a skeptical outsider converted by the devout family. Martin Ritt is generally accepta- ble as the crafty Shem, although he is not always audible; and Jan- ice Rule is a beauteous Rachel, but reveals little knowledge of vo- Tho Flowering Poaeh Producers Theatre production of com edv-drama in two acts (eight scenes) and enilog. by Clifford Odets. Stars Menasha Skulnik: features Berta Gersten. Janice Rule. Barbara Baxley. Leon Janney, Mar- tin Ritt. Mario Alcade. Staged by the author: scenery, Mordecai Gorelik, hunt- ing. Feder: costumes, Ballou: music. Alan Hovhaness: producer. Robert Whitehead At Relasco, N.Y.. Dec. 28, 54: $5.75-$4.60 top ($0.90 opening). Menasha Skulnik Father ’" Berta Gersten Japheth .'.’ Mario u,„, Leon Janney ,eah Osna Palmer Rachel .* Janice Rule Goldie . Barbara Baxley Strange Man Sidney Armus Fawns Marjorie Barrett, Patricia tay G„ a t Barbara Kay Old Men .... Ludwig Roth. Sidney Kay Li on Sidney Armus In “The Flowering Peach,” Clif- ford Odets is apparently trying to say that the salvation of man. and therefore of God, lies in faith, self-respect and humility. Although his intention is admirable, his play is unsatisfying. “Peach” retells the story of Noah and the flood in terms of contemporary Yiddish idiom and affectionate family bickering. After an interesting start, how- ever, it drifts into seemingly end- less talk, and not until the final half-dozen lines does the author get around to putting his point into explicit words. When he does, it turns out to be a platitude. In Genesis, according to Odets, Noah is a very human character— overawed by the enormity of God’s assignment, prone to fortify him- self with nips at the bottle, in- clined to impatience at his family, SCHEDULED OPENINGS Glass Clock, Aldwych (1-3-55). Blame Adam, New Lind. (1-31-55), (Theatre indicated if set) BROADWAY Time of Lift, City Center (1-5). Festival, Longacre (1-12). Sailor's Delight, Imperial (1-13). Put All Together <wk 1-17). Fourposter, City Center (1-19). Plain A Fancy, Hellinger (1-20). Painted Days (wk 1 24). Grand Prlxe, Plymouth (1-25). Tonight in Samarkand (wk 1-31). Wisteria Trees, City Center (2 2>. Silk Stockings, Imperial (2-3). Dark Is Light Enough, ANTA (2 9). Desperate Hours, Barrymore (2-10). Three For Tonight, Plymouth (wk 3 20), OFF-B’WAY Dr.'s Dilemma, Phoenix (1-11). Passion of Gross, cle Lys (1-18). Thieves' Carnival, Cherry Lane (2-1). Three Sisters, 4th St. <2-10). CELEBRATING OUR 10th ANNIVERSARY by Guy Bolton, under the title “Anastasia,” it makes engrossing and occasionally stirring theatre. The play had a moderate run in London last season, but should do much better on Broadway. In fact, it looks like a hit. It also stacks up as spectacular screen material. Whether the Anastasia story is history or fiction is, of course, a mystery. Russian emigrees gen- erally regard it as a hoax, and are inclined to be bitter about it (the Russian language newspaper in New York reportedly gave the play a severe pan). Anyway, the legend is that when the royal Romanoff family was murdered by the Bolsheviki in 1918, young Princess Anastasia was somehow not killed, but terribly wounded, and was saved by two soldier-brothers. Instead of being thrown down an abandoned mine- shaft with the bodies of the others, she is supposed to have been spirited out of Russia, to Bucharest and finally to Berlin, where she became an inmate of an insane asylum. As stage material, this is a natural. It is wonderfully old- fashioned theatrical hokum of the Mayerling, “Prisoner of Zenda” and “Tovarich” brand of romantics, with a touch of “Pygmalion” in the transformation of the drowned-rat asylum patient into the handsome, self-possessed and regal Princess and Czarina-in-exile. “Anastasia” is superbly done. It is beautifully cast, particularly in its costars, Viveca Lindfors and Eugenie Leontovich, is expertly directed by Alan Schneider and artfully designed by Ben Edwards. It is an emphatic credit to producer Elaine Perry. The play starts quietly in the barnlike Berlin home of Prince Bounine, a venal former Czarist general who, it quickly transpires, hopes to exploit the supposed Princess to get possession of a huge Romanoff fortune believed to be on deposit in a London bank. The pace and interest quicken with the arrival of the pathetic asylum patient who has just been rescued from suicide in a canal. It reaches a climax in the en- thralling, affecting second-act meeting between the claimant Princess and the doughty, sceptical dowager Empress. Although the contrived third act doesn’t equal the tension or impact of the sec- ond, it wraps up the drama satis- factorily. Authoress Marcell Maurette and adaptor Guy Bolton take the premise that the self-styled Ana- stasia is, indeed, the actual Prin- cess. That may or may not be justified by the real-life facts, but it makes obvious theatrical sense, since it creates sympathy for the heroine and greatly strengthens ‘ ( They laughed then' heads offl BOOTH THEATRE 45th St., West of Broadway to the Profession and Variety Muggs Gloriously NEW! MACKEYS 234 West 44th Street ALSO HOLIDAY ON ICE, International HOLIDAY ON ICE, Great Britain, South America Asia and the Middle East NEW YORK, N. Y. 1775 Broadway Clrclo 6-8660 CORAL GABLES, FLA. 1500 Douglai Rd. LONDON. 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