Betty Field, Robert Phalen, John Harkins, Lee Lawson, Robert Symonds. |
"In Lieu of Reviews"
For background on how this previously
unpublished series—introducing all mainstream New York shows between 1970 and
1975—came to be and its relationship to my three The Encyclopedia of the New York Stage volumes (covering every New
York play, musical, revue, and revival between 1920 and 1950), please check the
prefaces to any of the earlier entries beginning with the letter “A.” See the
list at the end of the current entry.
Robert Phalen, Betty Field, Ray Fry. |
Jules Irving staged an excellent revival of this important, if ambiguous, Pinter work, set in a house on the English seaside, in its first New York production since the original one of 1967. There was surprising unanimity among the critics, given the generally tepid reviews plays at the Forum (later, the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theatre) had been encountering.
T.E.
Kalem wrote that “They deliver their lines with an easy fluency that makes the drama
itself a spirited pleasure rather than a tortuous skull-puzzler.” The English
accents were, however, poorly done, and there were no truly outstanding
performances, yet the work was unified and compelling, the result being “one of
the best shows” given by the Lincoln Center Repertory Company. It ran in
repertory with another Pinter revival, the one-acts “Landscape” and “Silence.”
Ray
Fry played Petey, Betty Field was Meg, Robert Phalen was Stanley, Lee Lawson
portrayed Lulu, Robert Symonds played Goldberg, and John Harkins covered
McCann.
Previous entries:
Abelard and
Heloise
Absurd Person
Singular
AC/DC
“Acrobats”
and “Line”
The Advertisement/
All My Sons
All Over
All Over Town
All the Girls Came
Out to Play
Alpha Beta
L’Amante Anglais
Ambassador
American Gothics
Amphitryon
And Miss Reardon
Drinks a Little
And They Put
Handcuffs on the Flowers
And Whose Little
Boy Are You?
Anna K.
Anne of Green
Gables
Antigone
Antiques
Any Resemblance to Persons Living or Dead
Applause
Ari
As You Like It
Augusta
The
Au Pair Man
Baba Goya [Nourish the Beast]
The Ballad of Johnny Pot
Barbary Shore
The Bar that Never Closes
The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel
The Beauty Part
The Beggar’s Opera
Behold! Cometh the Vanderkellens
Be Kind to People Week
Berlin to Broadway with Kurt Weill
Bette Midler’s Clams on a Half-Shell
Revue