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BROADWAY SNAP-SHOT,
17 November 1999
by Russell Bouthiller
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At the close of the Roundabout Theatre Company's revival of N. Richard Nash's THE RAINMAKER, a symbolic downpour washes over the stage of the Brooks Atkinson Theatre, representing a renewal to the parched existence of the play's principals. At the same time, this cool shower serves as a reflection of the many faces in the audience warmed by a flow of tears. Though the plot configurations seem as dated as my grandfather's gramophone, the emotions register with the bright clarity of a digital recording, thanks to the show's precise casting and heartfelt performances.
Set in the midwest of the 1930s, the play opens with Lizzie Curry (Jayne Atkinson) coming home from a visit with relatives. Her easy-going father, H. C. (Jerry Hardin), her flighty brother Jim (David Aaron Baker), and her hard-bitten realist brother Noah (John Bedford Lloyd), share a modest home on a farm in the midst of a prolonged drought. Lizzie's unaccompanied return marks yet another failure at the family's attempts to marry her off. When a match-making effort with a local deputy proves fruitless, the brothers offer to coach their plain sister in winning a man. The sober Lizzie dismisses these efforts, prompting her father to suggest, "For once in your life, get carried away." But, she's too committed to her fate as the buttoned-up spinster.
Then, a drifter con man shows up at the Curry's door. Bill Starbuck (Woody Harrelson) arrives to spot an empty setting at the table and in no time maneuvers his way into the Curry family affairs. Working his own angle, he guarantees them that he can deliver a much needed rain in exchange for one hundred dollars. While younger brother Jim is all too happy to explore Starbuck's rainmaking talents, Noah protest vehemently. Seeing no harm in trying, H. C. hands over the money and invites Starbuck to stay the night.
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Lizzie sees Starbuck as nothing more than a charlatan and a dreamer, regarding even his manufactured name as a part of the swindle. Starbuck counters with a bit of home-spun philosophy. "The name you choose for yourself is more yours than the one you're born with." He, then, creates one for Lizzie, calling her Melisande, the "wife of King Hamlet." Starbuck coaxes Lizzie to let down her hair and soon she's taken in by this admitted huckster. He offers the softness of a sincere compliment and the warmth of an honest kiss, something Lizzie's never known. In the reflection of his eyes, she finds her own inner beauty, realizing that not everything he's selling is snake oil, after all.
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Supporting cast members ring through with perfect pitch, most notably Jerry Hardin as the sagacious father. Others include Bernie McInerney as the Sheriff and Randle Mell as File, the laconic deputy. Director Scott Ellis, whose recent outings include the Roundabout productions of 1776 and SHE LOVES ME (for which he received Tony nominations), has corralled talents from all departments to provide a dry, dusty atmosphere ready to be enriched anew. From the soft prints of Lizzie's costumes (designed by Jess Goldstein) to the whining guitar of Louis Rosen's original music, Ellis strikes the balance with accuracy and panache.
A one-time professional boxer who later went on to teach at Princeton and Yale, playwright Nash has written for theatre, television and film as well as works of fiction and poetry. THE RAINMAKER, his most widely known work, has been translated into nearly 40 languages, including an African tongue which has no written form. This Roundabout revival is the first since the play's original 1954 run with Geraldine Page and Darren McGavin. The film version, released in 1956, starred Katharine Hepburn and Burt Lancaster. In 1963, Nash worked on a musical adaptation, 110 IN THE SHADE, with music by Harvey Schmidt and lyrics by Tom Jones. Now in his eighties, the author is busy at work on a new novel.
