Judgment Day
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Cititour.com Review
More than 80 years since it was first presented in Germany, Odon von Horvath’s bald-faced morality play “Judgment Day,” now being seen in a sleek modern adaptation by Christopher Shinn at the Park Avenue Armory, eerily fits our current sociopolitical climate. Change the names and place, and the work could be as “ripped from the headlines” as any episode of a Dick Wolf TV show.
Indeed, the work has a double focus: Thomas Hudetz (2019 Emmy Award winner Luke Kirby), an essentially upright train stationmaster whose momentary lapse of behavior leads to the death of dozens in an horrific accident, refuses to confess to his crime (eventually more than one). He’s both caught up in his own self-image as a “diligent” public servant, and ultimately, equally scared of what taking responsibility for his actions might entail. As the work reminds us – as if we needed any such reminder --- Joseph McCarthy was hardly the first (or last) government official without a conscience.
Equally importantly, and even more timely, the play is an indictment of mob mentality (not surprising for a piece written in 1937 as Nazism was on the rise) as the people in Hudetz’s small town collectively first support him then condemn him, completely en masse. There’s no evidence anyone thinks for himself or herself. Worse yet, rumor (especially when it comes to Hudetz’s much older wife, shrilly if somewhat movingly played by Alyssa Bresnahan) and snap judgments clearly matter far more than any truth. Sound familiar?
Sadly, the play’s merits – and let’s make no mistake, this is no long-lost classic -- are almost completely buried in Richard Jones’ horribly misguided production. The 90-minute piece would benefit from subtlety and intimacy, which would perhaps make the audience feel implicit in the characters’ cowardly behavior, but Jones stages the show as if it were grand opera (an artform with which he’s highly familiar), which works horribly against the text.
Perhaps Jones felt a need to fill the Armory’s vast playing space, which would account for Paul Steinberg’s often impressive but unnecessarily unwieldy, constantly moving set, as well as the often-laughable large-scale movements of the ensemble. (At one point, as the townspeople run across the huge playing area brandishing rifles, I was tempted to shout out: “Be very quiet, we’re hunting wabbits.”) Still, kudos to costume designer Antony McDonald and lighting designer Mimi Jordan Sherin for their invaluable contributions.
In addition, because the actors seem to have been asked to play to the proverbial balcony – the Armory audience is seated in rows of more than 40 people each that practically reach backwards to heaven – Jones has upped many of the line readings and facial movements to melodramatic heights I’ve rarely seen in 40 years of watching “General Hospital.” (They also look and sound especially awkward to those of us who were privileged to sit close to the proceedings.)
Kirby is so stoic for most of the show, he seems like an automaton (perhaps a deliberate choice), but ultimately delivers a haunting performance. Susannah Perkins is especially touching as Anna, the not-so-innocent young woman who is also responsible for the disaster but has far more trouble living with the aftermath of her actions than she expected; the always-wonderful Henry Stram is superb as Hudetz’s brother-in-law Alfons, a man who has a sense of innate decency his compatriots lack; and Alex Breaux is effective as Ana’s fiancé, Ferdinand, a not-so-bright butcher. Meanwhile the great Harriet Harris and Broadway veteran Tom McGowan are both a bit broad in their respective roles, as the gossipy Frau Liemgruber and Anna’s imposing father, but each performer is compulsively watchable and thoroughly believable.
While the play has seldom been onstage since its debut, perhaps the day will come, maybe even soon, when a better-suited production will allow us to make a fairer judgment.
By Brian Scott Lipton
Visit the Site
http://www.armoryonpark.org
Open/Close Dates
Opening 12/10/2019
Closing 1/10/2020
Theatre Info
Park Avenue Armory
643 Park Avenue
Neighborhood: East 60s
New York, NY 10065
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