Celia Once Again Works Her Magic, In Paula Vogel's "Mother Play!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

                                   When the divinity that is Celia Keenan-Bolger, enters from an audience curtain, ascends the stage to face out at the audience, stage right, at the start of "Mother Play," the American theater is instantly reclaimed!!!!!!!!!!  And when that throat catching voice, with its razor-sharp diction, begins to speak Vogel's dialogue, beauty and heartbreak are sure to follow.  And they do.

                                       What Celia brings to this play is invaluable and remarkable.  Invaluable because there isn't much else here, and remarkable, because, without her, the play would not be worth sitting through.

                                            But let me back up a minute.  Paula Vogel has assembled a sterling cast, including Jim Parsons and Jessica Lange, and gathered them all in a sort of "Glass Menagerie" update.

                                             There is nothing technically wrong with this.  I know Vogel had a hard life, and what she achieved is remarkable.  But, unlike some of her other works, the language is flat, and the poetry is missing.  I kept thinking of Tennessee Williams or William Inge during this, but the beauty of their writing is lacking here.

                                                 Celia, brilliantly, does her eternal child-woman thing, and no one does it better. Vogel was extremely lucky to get her.  And Jim Parsons, as brother Carl, amazingly keeps up with Celia's technique, going from child to man with ease and conviction.

                                                    Unfortunately, Jessica Lange, to me at least, demonstrates she is uncomfortable on the stage.  Oh, she knows her lines, and her projection is OK, but watching her act, one can see the wheels turning.  In a solo scene on stage, in a red robe, devoid of speech, she comes across as Amanda Wingfield and Blanche Du Bois.  Does she know what play she is in?  I am not sure.

                                                      That Celia and Jim can make the audience care so much speaks volumes about their performances, especially when both are off the stage.  Had "Mother Play" been done with a lesser cast, no one might have seen it at all.

                                                         I was disappointed Paula's writing did not live up to what has gone before.  But thanks to an extraordinary cast, especially Celia, theatrical magic is generated.

                                                           It is she for whom this play should be seen.  No one else!!!!!!!!!!!