|
New York 1 News
review by Roma Torre
I am very proud to have been among the chorus of those singing the praises of 'I
Am My Own Wife" when it opened off-broadway at playwrights Horizons six
months ago. Back then I said it was a tour de force that must be seen. The big
question...how would this tiny one-man drama about a German transvestite play on
Broadway? The answer...very well!
-------------------------
sot:
-------------------------
Jefferson Mays is a force of nature, an acting machine who brilliantly embodies
the role of the elderly eccentric German right down to her piercing gaze. But
the accomplishment is even greater than that. Mays portrays some 40 characters
in all - seamlessly shifting from brutal soldiers to kindly women to a smarmy TV
talk show host...each one impeccably delineated complete with body language and
dialect. The fact that there is no understudy for this incredible actor is a
testament to Mays incomparable talent.
It all started with the fascination of playwright Doug Wright who discovered the
true story of Charlotte Van Mahlsdorf some ten years ago. His periodic
interviews with the gentle transvestite revealed a hardy survivor who had
managed to live as a woman through two of the world's most brutal regimes: the
Nazis and Communists.
Charlotte's obsession with her furniture collection and museum helped to explain
the drive to survive but it also served as a metaphorical and physical backdrop
to this story about the human capacity to persevere in the face of history's
random cruelty.
Director Moises Kaufman admirably resisted the temptation to expand the
production for the larger Broadway stage. With the exception of added sound
effects and some script tweaking, it's essentially the same show.
---------------------------------
sot;
--------------------------------
The same show and yet inexplicably better. This delicate, deliberately
slow-paced work may not appeal to everyone, but the combined effects of Wright's
exquisite writing, Kaufman's sensitive direction and most especially May's
unparalleled performance makes "I Am My Own Wife' one of the theatre's most
artistically satisfying ventures in years.
# # # # #
|
