AmericanTheaterWeb Original News & Reviews

A prelude, accompanied by creepily disjointed music from rock star P.J. Harvey, tells audiences a lot about the Hedda Gabler (Mary-Louise Parker) they're about to see at Roundabout Theatre Company's American Airlines Theatre. Hedda rises from a chaise that's far upstage; clearly she's taken to sleeping in this drawing room (an almost cavernous scenic design from Hildegard Bechtler). Hedda prowls the room as the music plays, ripping dustcovers off the few pieces of furniture that are in the room, and rearranging them with agitated intensity that borders on the maniacal. Ultimately, she plunks out a few notes on the upright piano that's in the room before returning to the antechamber where the chaise sits, and shuts the mammoth doors to the space. Cleary, Hedda, just returned from her honeymoon with seemingly promising academic Jorgen Tesman (Michael Cerveris), is not a happy woman.

Hedda's unhappiness, and the extents to which it will drive her, is, of course the crux of Henrik Ibsen's drama, which has received numerous high profile stagings in New York in the past few years. Among them have been Ivo Van Hove's production which brought the 19th century play firmly into the 21st century and a production from Sydney that featured Cate Blanchett as a regal, period Hedda. For this new Broadway outing, which uses a new, colloquial adaptation by Christopher Shinn, Parker delivers a Hedda which often fascinates, but unfortunately, neither it, nor director Ian Rickson's production ever truly satisfies.

The uniqueness of the piece's opening extends to many of the performances, which can be remarkably idiosyncratic. For example, Peter Stormare's portrayal of the old family friend Judge Brack borders on the Dickensian. He oozes oily licentiousness and sort of slinks around the stage, lusting after Hedda. Ana Reeder, who plays Thea, a school-chum of Hedda's (and perhaps an old flame of Tesman's), gives a similarly one-note performance filled with fluttery nervousness in a role that she's tackled once before and with more modulation – in Van Hove's production. Paul Sparks, playing the once-dissolute Ejlert Løborg, the man whom the unhappily married Thea loves and whom Tesman both mistrusts and envies, delivers solidly in the second half of the play, but initially, seems not only tentative, but curiously backwater (hints of a Southern accent are heard throughout).

Løborg, of course, is also an old flame of Hedda's and it's her continued fascination with him (and vice versa) which create the crux of the play. If she can't find happiness or satisfaction with Tesman in the home for which his aunt Juliane (a fine turn from Helen Carey) has paid dearly, well, she'll attempt to rekindle something with Løborg. Unfortunately, the relationship has been combustible (at best) and once she realizes that he not only cares for Thea, but also poses a threat to Tesman's career, what had been fiery turns truly destructive.

Hedda and Løborg's passion for one another is made explicit in Rickson's staging: not only do they share a prolonged kiss, but Løborg also reaches up under her long dress during their embrace. Like Stormare's almost melodramatic turn as the Judge and even certain choices from costume designer Ann Roth, which contrast Hedda's elegance with other characters' folksy or more homespun ways, Hedda and Løborg's coupling seems to distrust theatergoers, making explicit what is generally intuited or left to the imagination.

A few such moments can be found in this "Hedda." Throughout Cerveris delivers a richly complex portrayal of Tesman, blending neediness with jealousy, amorousness and a certain myopia. Similarly, Parker, who can garner a laugh with some of her deadpan line deliveries, communicates Hedda's strict upbringing when she crosses the stage, her hands clasped behind her back like a dutiful schoolgirl. And then, there are the moments when she's onstage alone, and prowls the stage like a caged animal, while Harvey's music plays. It's during these moments, and thanks to the composer's intriguingly intricate choices, that one wonders if the music is a metaphor for Hedda's thoughts, an aural indication of the sort of mental racing associated with manic-depressiveness or bipolar disorder. It's hard not to wish that more of this interpretation might have been explored in this "Hedda."

---- Andy Propst

Hedda Gabler plays at the American Airlines Theatre (227 West 42nd Street). Performances are Tuesday through Saturday evening at 8pm; matinees are Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday at 2pm. Tickets are $66.50 - $111.50 and can be purchased by calling 212-719-1300 or online at www.RoundaboutTheatre.org.