Tuesday, May 18, 2010

WE HAND IT TO CHRISTOPHER WALKEN

…for making A BEHANDING IN SPOKANE a truly wonderful theatrical experience.

This is not typical Mother’s Day fare but since we see almost everything on Broadway it was very difficult to find four tickets to a good show on Mother’s Day. Wanting of course to be with their mom, Jason & Danielle (Cathy’s kids) joined us. The day started with a great brunch at 44 & X that we would have liked to linger at a little longer but as Jeffrey pointed out, Mother’s Day is the busiest day of the year for most restaurants, so we left after eating and walked a bit. We actually tried to get tickets to FENCES however; when we got to the box office at 2:50; we were told (at the Advance Sale window) that they would not sell us tickets for a future performance until after 3:00 pm. Since we had to be at the Schoenfeld Theatre for a 3:00 pm curtain, that didn’t work. Being somewhat obstinate, Jeffrey announced that we would boycott FENCES because of this. We’ll see. Rushing to the Schoenfeld, we tried to figure out what “behanding” meant as we dodged an unusually cold and windy day.

We had great seats and were thrilled the show would have no intermission (we typically love a show that runs straight through). With really no idea what to expect and still wondering what “behanding” meant, the tattered curtain rose on a great set if you like a very, very dingy motel room. Christopher Walken was center stage and remained there for most of the 90 minutes. During the scene in which Sam Rockwell had a monologue we were amused but were already missing Walken.

So what is this about? Walken lost his hand when he was a young boy and has apparently been terrorizing people his whole life in search of said lost hand. We both agreed this is certainly a never before used idea and playwright Martin McDonagh wrote a rather clever script. The supporting cast, including Rockwell, Zoe Kazan and Anthony Mackie were perfectly cast and did a great job interacting with and supporting Walken. Need we say more? The show is Walken. Several of the very best moments of the show are when he is on the telephone with his unseen and unheard Mother; those scenes were just wonderful.

We can’t say you can’t live without seeing a BEHANDING but it is good solid theater and Walken is worth your time and money and perhaps even deserves the Tony Award for this performance.

Next up: NEXT FALL

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