Review
of: A Few Good Men from the
Schenectady Gazette
Curtain
Call staging of
Sorkin play worthy of
audience's enthusiasm By
Paul Lamar
Aaron
Sorkin is interested in who's in power and
what he/she does with it. The creator of
the TV series "The West Wing"
and the screenwriter of the current film
"Charlie Wilson's War," Sorkin
came to fame with his play "A Few Good
Men" and later adapted it for the hit
Rob Reiner film.
If the script is boilerplate, it generally
keeps our attention throughout, and Curtain
Call's cast nails enough crackling good
exchanges to justify the enthusiasm of Saturday's
crowd.
In a series of short scenes, Sorkin tells
the story of the death of a Marine at Guantanamo
Bay, Cuba, killed not by enemy fire, but
rather by other men in his unit, whose leader
is the all-powerful Lieutenant Colonel Nathan
Jessep (John Phillip Cromie). Taking the
fall for the death is Lance Corporal Harold
Dawson (Jean-Remy Monnay), and, under the
terms of Code Red, he's not unwilling to
do so.
Code Red: punishment by members of a company
to help a fellow soldier get back on track
after misbehaving. In this case, the dead
soldier, Santiago, had violated the chain
of command in reporting the misdeeds of
another soldier.
Jessup's men believe their loyalty is first
to the unit, then the Corps, then God, and
finally the country.
Enter three young Navy lawyers, defenders
of the Constitution: Sam Weinberg (Joe Russo),
Daniel Kaffee (Richard Mathiasen), and Jo
Galloway (Casey Cieszynski). Galloway smells
a rat in the official story of Santiago's
death and wants to probe Jessep's actions,
while Kaffee is content to defend Dawson
by cutting a deal. Living in the shadow
of his famous lawyer father, he'd rather
never lose a case than go out on a limb
for his client.
PERSONAL
TEST
The trial, then, turns out to be a personal
test for Kaffee as well as a legal proceeding.
A number of veteran actors at Curtain Call,
many of whom have worked with resident director
Steve Fletcher, help anchor the production.
For example, Jack Fallon provides needed
straight-ahead energy at the top of the
show; Aaron Holbritter leavens the seriousness
with a comic turn on the witness stand;
and Theodore Zeltner scores as the prosecutor.
CCT newcomers Emmett Ferris and Michael
Moffre and seasoned performers David Campbell
and Tim Orcutt ably round out the cast.
Monnay is deeply moving as the stoic young
soldier torn between truth and loyalty.
Cieszynski's line readings are solid, and
with more time on stage, she'll gain the
physical ease that Russo, for example, exhibits.
I like his work. Cromie is properly threatening
from the start and comes unglued at just
the right time.
Finally, Mathiasen delivers a nuanced performance:
his Kaffee is bright, funny, insecure, and
capable of growth. Terrific.
The military music covering the efficiently
executed scene changes fits, and the American
flag backdrop is apt, if a bit coarse. However,
the backstage noise and visible clutter
sometimes detracted from the onstage action
on Saturday.
At one point or another I thought of Captain
Queeg (Jessep's gumballs indeed!), Alexander
Haig, and the recently destroyed CIA interrogation
tapes. You can understand why.
By
Michael Eck - a freelance writer from Albany
and frequent contributor to the Times Union
John Phillip
Cromie is not Jack Nicholson and Richard Mathiasen
is not Tom Cruise, and we thank God for small
favors.
Curtain Call Theatre is offering a compelling
production of Aaron Sorkin's "A Few Good
Men."
Sorkin - creator of TV's "The West Wing"
- actually made his name with the stage version
of "A Few Good Men," and ensured
his path to Hollywood by selling the screen
rights even before the show premiered on Broadway.
At Curtain Call, Cromie and Mathiasen are
under the watch of resident Director Steve
Fletcher, who has staged the show simply and
cleanly.
A waving flag (rendered by William E. Fritz)
serves as the backdrop for all scenes, with
a few tables and chairs providing the rest
of the setting. Fades between scenes leave
the actors in dark silhouette, which works
effectively with Sorkin's flinty dialogue
and with the nature of the story.
That story is the same as the classic 1992
film, although certain details of rank and
dialogue differ.
Summer 1986; a young Marine has been killed
in a hazing incident at Guantanamo Bay naval
station and a brash young lawyer, Lt. Daniel
Kaffee, is given the task of defending his
assassin. The assignment is meant to aid in
a cover-up, but Kaffee rises to the challenge
and brings down the power-mad power base of
the bay.
Mathiasen plays Kaffee - the Cruise role in
the film - and he is very able at balancing
the character's sides. He's a wiseacre and
a slacker who transforms into a shark. Kaffee
never really becomes likable but he does become
honorable, and Mathiasen makes that shift
work.
Cromie is Lt. Col. Nathan Jessep, the bulldog
Marine in charge of Guantanamo.
Sorkin delights in handing the characters'
classic lines, including the on-the-docket
"you can't handle the truth" speech
that won Nicholson so many hurrahs.
Local stage vet John Phillip Cromie delights
in delivering those lines, too.
Jessep is a man who has confused his ideas
of loyalty and country, and when Kaffee catches
him at it the confrontation is impressive
and full of real sparks.
The men - Mathiasen and Cromie - spar fiercely
and excellently.
The large supporting cast is a mixed affair.
Newcomer Emmett Ferris is strong as Capt.
Mathew Markinson; Tim Orcutt is properly loathsome
as Lt. Jonathan James Kendrick; and Jean-Remy
Monnay - as the accused, Lance Cpl. Harold
Dawson - is simply fantastic.
Unfortunately the weak link in the cast is
Casey Cieszynski, whom Fletcher allows to
play Lt. Cmdr. Jo Galloway (Demi Moore in
the film) as a faintly sweet, mildly annoying
nudge. The character begs for more teeth and
just doesn't get them. Cieszynski says her
lines in the right spots, but all are equally
weighted and without dynamic range.
In sum, Sorkin's script is almost flawless,
and strong performances from Mathiasen and
Cromie make this production, despite a few
missteps, well worth seeing.
