BROADWAY SNAP-SHOT, 11 May 2000
by Russell Bouthiller

THE REAL THING

The American Theatre Wing's Tony nominations came out this week and, as expected, Britwright Tom Stoppard's THE REAL THING did quite well, receiving five nods including one for "Best Revival of a Play." Among its fellow contestants in this catagory, this critically acclaimed Donmar Warehouse import pulled the most nominations, topping A MOON FOR THE MISBEGOTTEN's four, AMADEUS's two and THE PRICE's one.

Jennifer Ehle enters into a five-person race for "Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play," up against her own mother, Rosemary Harris, from Noel Coward's WAITING IN THE WINGS. Stephen Dillane earned recognition as "Leading Actor," David Leveaux for "Best Direction of a Play," and Sarah Woodward as "Featured Actress."

THE REAL THING is Stoppard's slick and refined look at love, marriage and other such romantic entanglements. Opening with a play-within-a-play, we see a young couple coming apart as the Husband discovers his Wife's infidelity. In the next scene we meet the true players and the true play. The opening sequence is, in fact, a scene from "House of Cards," a play written by the often caustic Henry (Stephen Dillane). His actress wife, Charlotte (Sarah Woodward), portrayed the adulterous Wife. Their actor friend Max (Nigel Lindsay), the Husband, comes by their apartment with his wife, Annie (Jennifer Ehle), whereupon it is quickly established that Henry and Annie are having their own illicit affair. Is this art reflecting life or life reflecting art?

These are among the many tribulations knocking about Henry's crisply intelligent mind. At one turn he is the long-suffering artiste, at another the dictatorial grammarian. He is not beneath being above it all. His confidence in his opinions is unfailing, especially in affairs of the heart and, of course, writing. There is but one emotion he seems to have evaded: guilt. It fazes him not to facilitate the break-up of not only Annie and Max's marriage but also his own. And, Debbie (Charlotte Parry), Henry and Charlotte's teen-aged daughter, barely enters into the equation.

As Henry and Annie's relationship moves ahead, a tint of irony washes over the fabric of their love. The sharp-minded Henry slips into a muddle, eventually questioning the state of their affair. He seems caught between his view of the world and his place in it; his lofty ideals of love and the stinging realities of his present affair. Henry's view of pop music serves as an example of the way his mind operates. He cannot enjoy this style of music for what it is: simple and ordinary. He must regard it as possessing a greater profundity; otherwise, how could a mind as complex as his enjoy it.

Henry's confidence is called into question when Annie, also an actress, ends up in another affair. With a determined vigor, she champions the cause of Brodie (Joshua Henderson), a political prisoner. Determined to get Brodie's voice heard, she convinces Henry to rewrite Brodie's pathetic drama (another play-with-a-play), as she intends to play a leading role in it. While on the road, Annie becomes involved with a handsome young actor, Billy (Oscar Pearce). Henry is miffed to discover his towering principles compromised by such a puerile infatuation. In the inevitable confrontation, Annie deftly appeals to Henry's intellectual superiority by pleading the younger man's vulnerable state. She hopes to let Billy down gently, confident that Henry will be there for her in the end. Theirs may well be the "real thing" after all.

With all cast members making their Broadway debuts, the performances in Tom Stoppard's THE REAL THING have the vital precision necessary to bring both the comedic and tragic element into a tidy symbiosis. Under the direction of David Leveaux (whose production of last season's ELECTRA garnered well-deserved accolades), Dillane's Henry reaches the perfect balance between effete snobbery and misguided idealism. Even his disheveled hair and slovenly dress (sets and costumes ably designed by Vicki Mortimer) convey an above-it-all outlook.

Jennifer Ehle, with her apple-cheek charm and hauntingly Meryl Streep-ish good looks, unearths Annie's grounded pragmatism as well as her fiery passions. Next to Henry she seems temperate, yet not so measured as to avoid her own acts of infidelity. Ehle, whom many of us enjoyed in the BBC production of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, makes this an auspicious debut on the New York stage.

This Donmar Warehouse revival of THE REAL THING comes to Broadway's Ethel Barrymore Theatre after an honored run in London. Stephen Dillane earned the Evening Standard Award for his performance and Olivier Award nominations went to Dillane and Jennifer Ehle. The original Broadway production opened in January of 1984 at the Plymouth Theatre and won Tony Awards for Best Play, Leading Actor Jeremy Irons, Leading Actress Glenn Close, Featured Actress Christine Baranski and Director Mike Nichols.