Julius Caesar

One part legend and several scoops of gossip, a Broadway season make. With so many productions, the offerings are like a Viennese table, all laid out with ample generosity. So, what’s not to like, especially when much of it is served Hollywood style.

Denzel Washington for one. He makes his Shakespearean and Broadway debut in JULIUS CAESAR playing Brutus with a well-honed sense of character. Washington achieves the nuances of Shakespeare by strolling quickly but firmly through lengthy description while conveying essence with clarity and contemporary affect. Unfortunately, Daniel Sullivan directs the production as if he were Atila the Hun, creating a noisy combat zone throughout the second act. As staging, this Caesar translates poorly, not like the spectacle it would be on an expansive Hollywood screen.

On a different note, James Earl Jones portrays the cantankerous, opinionated yet vulnerable professor in the sentimental drama ON GOLDEN POND. Opposite him, Leslie Uggams plays his perfect wife who is never recognized for what she does. Actually, it’s a guilty treat to watch an actor as dramatic as James Earl Jones just being funny. But it’s also admirable to see how focused Ms. Uggams is in the presence of such an engrossing co-star. While the story itself is perfectly predictable, Jones and Uggams work well together as actors, creating a relationship that is believable and with which we easily identify.

Less convincing is the revival of STEEL MAGNOLIAS which comes across like a bad episode of Oprah. Robert Harling‘s 1980's comedy drama with the return of Marsha Mason, Delta Burke and Frances Sternhagen is a torment of dated one liners made all the more desperate when they laugh at their own jokes. Always remarkable, Christine Ebersole is more present, but all-in-all, the actors inability to really communicate with one another is unforgivable. All is lost until the play’s final scenes, but by then it’s just too damn late.

That’s This Week on Broadway. I’m Isa Goldberg.