Word: sternhagen
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...beach banter of an aging couple is interrupted by the appearance of two visitors from the sea: reptiles, the first in their class to reach land. Contact, of an edgily entertaining sort, ensues. It's a treat to see the pitch-perfect work of two grand troupers: Frances Sternhagen, hopping about like a perky tern, and George Grizzard (Nick in the original 1962 production of Virginia Woolf), who's equally convincing as either a cranky-adorable coot or a statesmen to the lizard world. As seascapes should be, this one is sunny and genial - the lightest of Albee's plays...
...three facts: her favorite child grew up to be gay; he was murdered by gay-bashers; and the assailants were black, which has triggered a racism she alternately vents and recoils from. Her companion, seemingly prim, is given a deeply pragmatic and adaptive grasp of life by Frances Sternhagen in a performance as fine as any in her long career. This woman also lost a child, her firstborn, in an accident. For decades she has told no one, not even her other children, and she cannot bring herself to tell Caldwell's character at the moment when it would most...
...hits one note loud and often: she speaks nearly all her lines in a sort of loony, distracted haze. Though her performance lacks shadings, she creates a memorable monster. Doug McKeon and Corey Parker are at once scary and pathetic as her sons. E.G. Marshall, John Wood and Frances Sternhagen do nice turns in support...
...these the Cleavers or the Bunkers, this family of four preparing for an ordinary Thanksgiving in 1973? There's Dad (Carroll O'Connor), screwing himself into his easy chair, deflecting harsh words and harder responsibilities. Mom (Frances Sternhagen) is patrolling the house in her robe and bunny snood, calling "Wakey uppy! Wakey uppy!" in the tinny cascades of Texas motherhood. Sis (Linda Cook) is chatting on the phone with her boyfriend and threatening to "devote my entire life to crisis counseling for the holiday-impaired. My mother can be the poster child." And young Jeremy (Christopher Fields), just back from...
Home Front was first staged last June in London, starring Sternhagen and under the direction of Michael Attenborough. Both repeat their roles in the excellent Broadway production that opened last week. One might expect O'Connor (as a milder Archie Bunker) or Fields (in a part that cries out for an actor with the implosive intensity of a Sean Penn) to commandeer the spotlight. But Home Front is Sternhagen's show, allowing her to nail down, with an increasingly desperate comic urgency, the suburban matriarch. This mom will not be accused of screaming at her children: "I was using...