Sticks and Bones
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Cititour.com Review
Watching the New Group’s bracing, brilliantly acted revival of David Rabe’s 1971 drama “Sticks and Bones,” now at the Pershing Square Signature Center, what we might expect to shock us sadly doesn’t. Vicious racism still exists in America. Boys come back from unnecessary wars haunted spiritually and damaged physically. The nuclear, All-American family is often dirty even underneath the shiniest of surfaces. No, the only thing really shocking is that this play found a home – and a Tony Award – on Broadway once upon a time. Even in the age of “Disgraced” and “Clybourne Park,” I wonder if today’s audiences would willingly pay three figures to sit through a play this raw, this challenging (and almost three hours long)?
At first, all seems bright and cheery in the split-level suburban home (another superb set design by Derek McLane) occupied by spouses Ozzie (Bill Pullman) and Harriet (Holly Hunter) and wholesome-seeming, guitar-playing, fudge-loving son Rick (the excellent Raviv Ullman). If you recognize those first names, that’s the point; Rabe is purposely giving us a skewed portrait of the beloved sitcom Nelson family (a clan who is far more familiar to audiences of the 1970s than ours).
But where’s David? Soon enough, the eldest son (passionately portrayed by Ben Schnetzer) is back in the nest –home safe if not sound from Vietnam. He is blind, alternately terrified and terrifying, and joined by the ghost of Zung (the impressive Nadia Gun in a silent performance), the Vietnamese girl he loved, or screwed, or killed, or more likely all of the above. His torment and confusion not just eats away at him, but at everyone he loves – eventually forcing all of them to face the rot, anger, and fear they try so desperately to camouflage.
Harriet -- whose sunny moods evaporate instantly and imperceptibly into rage in Hunter’s remarkable, if slightly idiosyncratic performance -- attempts to find salvation in the church, particularly in the ministering of Father Donald (a stately, amazingly well-preserved Richard Chamberlain), who proves to be little more than a messenger of useless homilies and false comfort.
Meanwhile, Ozzie, shatteringly embodied by Pullman, begins to question the value of everything he has believed in, the legacy of his life, and the choices he made, including marrying Harriet and siring their children. His near-breakdowns are painful to behold, even as they’re recognizable to so many of us. As to Rick, his still waters run deep.
Like almost of all of what precedes it, the show’s denouement is anything but predictable – and will likely engender much discussion. While not every audience member will embrace (or understand) this groundbreaking work, others will find that it has seeped into their bones.
By Brian Scott Lipton
Visit the Site
http://www.thenewgroup.org/sticks-and-bones.html
Cast
Richard Chamberlain, Nadia Gan, Holly Hunter, Morocco Omari, Bill Pullman, Ben Schnetzer, Raviv Ullman
Open/Close Dates
Opening 10/21/2014
Closing 12/14/2014
Box Office
212-279-4200
Theatre Info
Pershing Square Signature Center
480 West 42nd Street
New York, NY 10036
Map
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