BROADWAY SNAP-SHOT
by Russell Bouthiller

Dateline: March 19, 2007

TALK RADIO

"This country is rotten to the core!" opines Barry Champlain, the hard-bitten shock-jock taking calls in Eric Bogosian's TALK RADIO, a one-time one-man show which has taken a generation to make it to Broadway. Directed by Tony-winner Robert Falls, this latest airing of TALK RADIO stars last year's Tony-winning Best Actor, Liev Schreiber.

Eric Bogosian's TALK RADIO has gone through many incarnations over the years. The work originated in 1985 as a "simple" solo performance piece by Bogosian during which he took live calls onstage. In 1987, Bogosian expanded the piece into play format with scripted callers and additional characters. Produced at the Public Theatre, the play enjoyed a robust six-month run.

Capitalizing on Bogosian's high frequency, film director Oliver Stone launched the movie and incorporated elements of the true-life story of Alan Berg, an outspoken Denver disc jockey who was murdered by a member of the Aryan Nation. This March, TALK RADIO opened at the Longacre Theatre to hefty notices and warm praise for the man behind the microphone.

TALK RADIO looks at a day-in-the-life of Barry Champlain, a controversial radio personality who plays to a Cleveland audience. Informed by his producer, Stu Noonan (Michael Laurence), that the show is being considered for national syndication, Champlain ramps up his performance, riding his radio-callers with a double-dose of his trademark vitriol. Fueled by coffee, cigarette and cocaine, Champlain lets everyone have a piece of his mind both on and off the air.

Bogosian's work is a captivating look at the weighty burden of celebrity, particularly among famous personalities who specialize in doling out wisdom to a lost flock. While there is no shortage of such characters in today's media, back in the 1980s, these self-appointed New Age gurus were only just beginning to saturate the marketplace.

With a riveting slow-smolder performance, Liev Schreiber sharply illustrates the advance into self-destruction that Champlain is destined to take. Schreiber increases the temperature with each caller, cleverly deconstructing his character's profound boredom and emotional detachment. By the end of this 100-minute chapter, he evolves from an ego-inflated luminary into an over-exposed fraud, the victim of his own inner-demons.

Supporting players flow in and out of TALK RADIO, offering up monologues that say more about Champlain than the characters who delivers them. Case in point would be his assistant and sometime girlfriend Linda MacArthur, the lovely Stephanie March, who bears a lopsided attachment to Champlain. And, newcomer Sebastian Stan gives a rocking rendition as the stoner call-in guest whom Barry invites to the studio.

Director Falls provides a seamless flow to Schreiber's raging vignettes and neatly integrates the ancillary players. Set designs by Mark Wendland create a haunting fishbowl effect, placing Champlain in a world unto himself. TALK RADIO offers a rousing performance in a compelling play from a generation ago that still resonates with a modern audience.