BROADWAY SNAP-SHOT
by Russell Bouthiller

Dateline: 13 November 2003

THE VIOLET HOUR

The long-dark Biltmore Theatre has had a multi-million dollar facelift and reopened as the Manhattan Theatre Club's Broadway home. For their flagship production, artistic director Lynne Meadow and Executive Producer Barry Grove have selected Richard Greenberg's new play, THE VIOLET HOUR, directed by Evan Yionoulis and starring Mario Cantone, Dagmara Dominczyk, Scott Foley, Robert Sean Leonard and Robin Mills.

Fresh off the success of his Tony-winning Best Play, TAKE ME OUT, Greenberg's premiere of his latest work gets a stylish production, thanks to Christopher Barreca's angled set, Jane Greenwood's precise costumes and Donald Holder's lush lighting designs. In this witty work set among the cluttered confines of a publishing house, an eclectic cast grapples with glimpses of the future from the perspective of the past.

THE VIOLET HOUR is set in New York City in the year 1919. John Pace Seavering (Robert Sean Leonard), a pedigreed Princetonian, has just opened a small publishing house and is immediately faced with a difficult decision. He has two worthy manuscripts, but only enough resources to bring one to market. He must choose between the engaging, though outrageously long manuscript written by his dear friend, Denis McCleary (Scott Foley), and the scintillating biography penned by his secret lover, the Josephine Baker-esque Jessie Brewster (Robin Mills).

Both McCleary and Brewster use every arrow in their quivers to influence Seavering. McCleary presents his case as a publish-or-perish situation. He tell his old friend that he will lose the woman of his dreams, Roasamund Plinth (Dagmara Dominczyk), if he cannot convince her powerful father that he is sound and solvent. Meanwhile, Jessie uses all her Jazz-hot sexual assets to persuade her man.

Trying to keep his scattered boss focused throughout all of this is Seavering's assistant, Gidger (Mario Cantone). He's constantly interrupting his boss's meetings in order to get him to look at a new device which has been delivered to their office. This peculiar new gadget turns out to be a kind of printing press, spewing out pages of books from the future.

Act II opens with Gidger and Seavering poring through stacks and stacks of manuscripts which detail events that have yet to happen. They discover that Jessie's tell-all tale comes up short on the truth-detector. And, the great love affair between Denis and Rosamund proved to be no bed of roses. Their story reads quite similar to that of another famous Lost Generation couple, F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald.

Robert Sean Leonard, seen earlier this year in the stunning production of O'Neill's LONG DAY'S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT, is perfectly cast as Seavering, a man trying to break free of his patrician-class roots. Foley makes an impressive Broadway debut as McCleary, a man ruled by his passions. Also making her debut is the dazzling Ms. Miles as Jessie Brewster. Dominczyk, the porcelain beauty seen recently in ENCHANTED APRIL, offers up style and grace, once again. And, Mario Cantone's lamentation over the modern-day usage of the word "gay" is absolutely hysterical.

Greenberg's new work is captivating and inventive as it illustrates the folly of mere mortals in their attempts to shape destiny. Director Evan Yionoulis's pacing optimizes every laugh and all of those widely-reported wrinkles that plagued this production during the rehearsal and preview process seem to have been ironed out. While far-fetched, THE VIOLET HOUR is both daring and entertaining.