![]() ![]() ![]() But the details that the playwright omits are just as fascinating to contemplate. The exaggerated voices, motion, humor, hate, and humility are but a few of Sorkin’s successful imaginative choices, which also include the three children down on the courtroom floor for Tom’s trial, weaving amongst the session’s players, unseen in their spectral presences from the future. Welch’s Tom, and the holier-than-thou bile of Mary Badham’s Mrs. ![]() It’s the most varied vocal performance of the ensemble, but ranks up with the backwoods drawls of Joey Collins’ Bob and Arianna Gayle Stucki’s Mayella, the big-hearted kindness of Yaegel T. The primary narrator of the three, Moore is likewise electric as overalls-clad tomboy Scout, though her accent work bounces between textbook Southern, toddler, and even old-school New Yawk. Wholly believable as children, despite Mark and Johnson towering over the 5′ 9″ Thomas, the secondary trio offers steady delights - particularly Johnson’s Dill, whose precocious musings gleefully recall his real-life inspiration, Truman Capote. Though he commands each scene - outdone only by Jacqueline Williams’ razor-sharp Calpurnia - Thomas receives ample support from his talented supporting cast. Any John-Boy dismissals are as outdated as The Waltons, though you can’t help but wonder how playing one of TV’s favorite sons informed this decidedly grown-up performance.) (The guy’s got Mamet, McNally, and Shakespeare on his resumé, after all. ![]() Inhering the role Jeff Daniels originated on Broadway, the actor feels firmly at home as arguably the most adored father in literature, balancing the part’s potent mix of humor, wisdom, grace, and humility with class. Once the bare columns of this eerie transitional space ascend into the rafters and are replaced by more grounded, terrestrial sights, including the branches of a towering tree, the beloved story kicks in, pulling Richard Thomas’ Atticus into the fray. Like the literary Scout, this narrator reflects from an ambiguous future date, but here she’s joined by the other two youths, and the trinity of adults channeling their memories through their childhood selves in those fateful, humid 1934 days produces a lively interplay, keeping attendees informed and entertained. The rare non-musical on the Peace Center’s annual Broadway touring show slate, director Barlett Sher’s production fills the stage with kinetic scene changes that showcase Miriam Buether’s impeccable sets, smoothly transitioning from the Maycomb courtroom to the Finch’s front porch and other spots with symphonic precision.īut before we get to those familiar locales, Sorkin begins this To Kill a Mockingbird in a strange quasi-purgatory with Scout Finch (Melanie Moore), her big brother Jem (Justin Mark), and visiting summer Dill (Steven Lee Johnson) reflecting on the events yet to transpire. They’re all here in familiar, largely faithful forms, but with just enough of Sorkin’s trademark witty edge to render these household names distinct incarnations. Like Harper Lee’s masterful 1960 source novel and Robert Mulligan’s iconic 1962 film version starring Gregory Peck as noble Alabama lawyer Atticus Finch, Sorkin’s interpretation appeals to an array of emotions through unforgettable characters and exchanges that live rent-free in receptive audience’s hearts and minds. Aaron Sorkin’s stage adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird is destined to go down as one of the all-time great works of theater. ![]()
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