The Iceman Cometh produced by the Goodman Theatre
I am starting out with a
warning. The Iceman Cometh is a
very long play. Four acts, three
intermissions, and nearly five hours is the run time for this production. The time spent to watch is worth it.
Starring
Brian Dennehy and Nathan Lane at the Goodman Theatre, this work by Eugene O’Neill
is about a group of men (and a few women) who live at a rooming house run by a
man named Harry. While the men have
rooms they can go to, most of their time is spent in the house’s bar. Day after day, the men, full of alcohol, lament
about the lives they once had and dream of things they say they will do…
tomorrow. Nothing ever changes, until it
comes time for Harry’s birthday. The
play opens as the men anxiously await the arrival of their friend Hickey, a salesman
who is a rare visitor but throws his money around whenever he shares their
company.
On
all the other occasions, Hickey (Nathan Lane) has joined in on the
drinking. This time is different. Hickey is now a changed man. Happy with his life, he no longer
drinks. He does still joke around and
have a good time, but Hickey has made the decision to not drink alcohol. This confuses the men as they in no way
expected this kind of change in their old friend. What they do not know is Hickey is on a very
determined mission. He wants to share
his happiness with those he cares about and believes, by ridding themselves of
their pipe dreams, he can do just that.
All
the men are quite reluctant at first.
They do not understand where all of this is coming from and it would
definitely be a change in their lifestyle.
Eventually they decide to go along with Hickey’s plans and try to
accomplish all the dreams they have spoken about. Everyone that is except for Larry (Brian
Dennehy). He does not understand this
abrupt change in Hickey and questions the reason for it. After pushing for the real story, Larry
uncovers truths that are very unpleasant.
This
is a very wordy play. Put that on top of
so many drunken ramblings, and I could not always follow what was going
on. With the greatness of acting this
production had, the confusion did not really matter. While the headliners were definitely Mr.
Dennehy and Mr. Lane, the rest of the cast held their own with strong
performances. This was a very good
ensemble cast. One of my favorite characters
was Joe, a man who wants to run a gambling house. I do not know why, but there was something
about that character I really liked. He
was funny, seemed a bit stronger than the others, and had a clear direction as
to what he wanted the end result of his life to be.
Throughout the
play there was some language I did not agree with. That is why it was important for me to
remember when this play was written and what time period it was set in (both
are the first half of the 20th century).
All in all,
despite the length, confusion, and language, I am thrilled to have seen this
play. It was wonderful to see Nathan
Lane in a dramatic role. To my recollection
I have never personally seen him do that before and it was a pleasure to
see. Then there was Brian Dennehy. How can you go wrong with Mr. Dennehy? As much as I adore Mr. Lane, Mr. Dennehy
alone was worth the ticket price. The
two men together, this was a production I could not miss.
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