Picnic

      The Roundabout Theater company has revived William Inge's Pulitzer prize winning play Picnic on Broadway for the second time in as many decades. This production marks the fourth time the play has been done on Broadway (so far). We have been given a traditional production with not much new going on except for the casting.

     Each making their Broadway debut's, Maggie Grace (Lost, and the Taken franchise) and Sebastian Stan (most recently of Once upon a Time) are giving a great effort as Madge and Hal, respectively, with not much result. The center of the play hinges in our believing that these two young people have fallen madly in love with each other in a short period of time. Both of these individuals are not bad on screen (Stan is markedly better both on screen and on stage). They have absolutely no chemistry toward each other, and it ruins the dynamic of the play from beginning to end.

     Not only do these two important characters have any relation to each other, it doesn't seem as though the supporting cast are all acting in the same production of the play. Each actor is giving a fine performance, but there doesn't seem to be any cohesion, and the characters seem to be living in different worlds, orbiting around each other without belonging to the same galaxy.

    Elizabeth Marvel is giving an exquisite performance as Rosemary Sydney, an older teacher renting a room from Madge's mother. Her conviction and her comedy coupled with her economy of movement is breath taking. Equally fantastic in their roles are Ellen Burstyn (who reminded me very much of my Nana), and Mare Winnigham.

     This was not a bad revival of a great play. This was a mediocre revival of good play. There is some fantastic writing in Picnic and then there is some stuff that doesn't quite stand the test of time. The younger members of the cast as a whole were unable to believably sell the dated speech in a way that made you want to buy it.

     Picnic closed on Broadway at The American Airlines Theater on February 24th, 2013. The production played 36 previews and 49 regular performances. Picnic was directed by Sam Gold. Set design was by Andrew Lieberman, and costumes were designed by David Zinn. The lighting design for Picnic was done by Jane Cox.