214. THE GREAT GOD BROWN. From my (unpublished) ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE NEW YORK STAGE, 1970-1975

John Glover.

THE GREAT GOD BROWN [Dramatic Revival] A: Eugene O’Neill; D: Harold Prince; S: Boris Aronson; C: Carolyn Parker; L: Tharon Musser; P: New Phoenix Repertory Company; T: Lyceum Theatre; 12/10/72-1/14/73 (19)

Katherine Helmond, John McMartin.

First produced in 1925, and revived on Broadway only once, in 1959, before the present version, O’Neill’s The Great God Brown is an experimental, grim, symbolic, and heavily Freudian drama about people who wear “masks” to hide their inner selves from this world, as well as from themselves. It was now staged by musical theatre specialist Harold Prince, shifting momentarily to the dramatic stage, in a subtle, understated style that belied the melodramatic effects frequently suggested by the text. The play was given in repertory with Molière’s Don Juan. Few responded to the muddily plotted, expressionistically influenced drama with more than an academic interest in the chance to see it performed.  

David Dukes, Ellen Tovatt, Peter Friedman, Bonnie Gallup, John Glover.

Prince extended the time frame to run from 1916 to 1936, but his reasons were not clear. He was praised by Clive Barnes for the “admirable” way his direction “underlined the subtext of naturalism” running beneath O’Neill’s symbolism, but he also was censured for keeping everything so cool that the actors found themselves unable to capture the play’s innate qualities of theatrical power, as Walter Kerr noted. 

“There is very little movement,” sniped John Simon, “and what there is is ritualized, hieratic, pompous, and delivered without conviction, and the tempos throughout are unvaried and soporific.” Most critics cared little for the four principals, but a few appreciated the efforts of John McMartin as Dion Anthony, John Glover as William Brown, Katherine Helmond as Margaret, and Marilyn Sokol as Cybel.

John McMartin, John Glover.

The cardboard masks, designed by Carolyn Parker in a surrealistic style, were criticized for being both difficult to handle and unattractive.

John McMartin, Marilyn Sokol.

John Glover received a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Performance, Katherine Helmond was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress, Play, Tony, and Harold Prince was given the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Direction.