A Time to Kill
Tickets from $70 Buy Tickets
Cititour.com Review
Broadway’s material recycling program continues. A Time to Kill, John Grisham’s 1989 breakout novel, which was turned into a hit film starring Matthew McConaughey seven years later, arrives on Broadway looking like a play that was picked out of a secondhand shop.
What could be a gripping, multifaceted story about race and the legal system in Mississippi instead spoon-feeds morality and sentiment to the audience, and not even in a very interesting way. It’s been adapted for the stage by Tony winner Rupert Holmes, whose bouncy musical The Mystery of Edwin Drood received a charming Broadway revival last year, but the skill that went into that show isn’t on display here.
The murder trial that dominates the second act is set in motion in the first, when Carl Lee Hailey (John Douglas Thompson), a black man, shoots dead the two white lowlifes who raped his 10-year-old daughter as they’re been taken from the courthouse to jail. (Neither crime takes place onstage.) He believes his actions were justified and expects young defense attorney Jake Brigance (Sebastian Arcelus, who seems to have been cast for his passing resemblance to McConaughey) will get him acquitted. But not so fast. District attorney Rufus R. Buckley (Patrick Page, dynamic as always) plans to seek the death penalty, and in a state with such a poor history of racial equality, there’s a good chance that the jury will rule in favor of it.
Problems abound for Jake, and for director Ethan McSweeny and his cast, because Carl Lee isn’t the most sympathetic of characters, yet the production refuses to acknowledge that. In the process of slaying his daughter’s attackers — who had yet to stand trial — Carl Lee also shot a deputy whose leg had to be amputated. But that’s only mentioned in passing. To fully explore it might force Holmes to venture into some dicey gray areas, like maybe that justice lies somewhere between first-degree murder and acquittal, and vigilante “justice” shouldn’t be condoned in a court of law.
There are some fine performances — including marvelous ones from Thompson and Tonya Pinkins as Carl Lee’s wife, and a suitably broad comic turn courtesy of Tom Skerritt as a former colleague of Jake’s — that could have uplifted a solid courtroom drama into something truly memorable. A Time to Kill doesn’t need 12 angry men; one honest, intelligent story would be enough.
By Diane Snyder
Visit the Site
http://atimetokillonbroadway.com
Cast
Sebastian Arcelus, Fred Dalton Thompson, John Douglas Thompson, Ashley Williams, Tom Skerritt, Tonya Pinkins, Patrick Page
Open/Close Dates
Opening 10/20/2013
Closing 11/17/2013
Preview Open/ Preview Close Dates
Preview Opening 9/28/2013
Closing Open-ended
Box Office
212-239-6200
Theatre Info
John Golden Theatre
252 West 45th Street
New York, NY 10036
Map
Comments
Sign up for our newsletter !