The Paramount Theater collaborated with the National Theater Live to bring the Broadway performance “Of Mice and Men” to Charlottesville this past Sunday.
Since John Steinbeck published the novel in 1937, several adaptations of “Of Mice and Men” have been made for the stage and screen. Within one year of the novel's debut, playwright and director George S. Kaufman commissioned Steinbeck himself to adapt the novel to the Broadway Stage, producing a hit show lasting for 207 performances.
The 2014 production reintroduced “Of Mice and Men” to the Broadway stage for the first time in 40 years.
The show stars James Franco (“127 Hours”) as George and Chris O’Dowd (“Bridesmaids”) as Lennie. The production also includes Leighton Meester (“Gossip Girl,” “Country Strong”) as the wife of Curley and Jim Norton (“The Seafarer”) as Candy.
Directed by Anna D. Shapiro, recipient of a Tony award and chair of theater at Northwestern University, this version of “Of Mice and Men” delivers an unparalleled performance.
Franco plays the role of George with the perfect combination of intensity and sensitivity. O’Dowd communicates Lennie’s sweetness of spirit, simplicity of mind and powerful strength without over-emphasizing Lennie’s mental disability. The two actors’ chemistry is impossible to ignore, and it offers viewers an incredible take on the relationship of Steinbeck’s original characters.
Unlike some of Steinbeck’s other works, this story's prevailing popularity lies in its universality.
In an interview featured during the show’s intermission, Shapiro describes the play as “a statement about the American tradition of abandonment.” In post-Depression America, the so- called American Dream seems shattered beyond repair, and its people shattered with it.
“To me, ‘Of Mice and Men’ is a distillation of that lie [the American Dream] and that promise,” Shapiro comments, “It is [also] the answer to the lie, and that is the connectedness and other people’s friendship.”
Though George outwardly blames Lennie for his personal frustrations, claiming he would have much more freedom and happiness if he did not have to care for Lennie, the two men are reliant on each other to combat the utter loneliness that infects their lives. Of this relationship, Franco says: “There is no stronger love story between two characters than George and Lennie. They literally cannot live without each other.”
Perhaps the part of the text which defines George and Lennie’s relationship best is the speech they always repeat together.
“Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world,” George begins. “They got no family. They don’t belong no place. ... They ain’t got nothing to look ahead to. With us it ain’t like that. We got a future. We got somebody to talk to that gives a damn about us. … If them other guys gets in jail they can rot for all anybody gives a damn. But not us.”
Lennie interjects, “But not us! An’ why? Because … I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that’s why.”
The bond between George and Lennie exemplifies the human need for companionship — a theme which pervades the entire play. All characters — from Curley’s wife to Crooks, the African- American stable hand — are simply trying to overcome a sense of loneliness and social ostracism.
“Of Mice and Men” serves to remind us that forging and preserving relationships is the very foundation of our humanity. Shapiro ends her interview reminding audiences of their duty to one another as human beings: “You have no choice if you are a human being but to care for the people that have been brought to you.”
Read More
‘who told you to think??!!?!?!’ reimagines rap as pure art
By Adam Beddawi | August 20, 2017“who told you to think??!!?!?!?!” is in many respects a continuation of milo’s previous artistic form on previous LP, “So The Flies Don’t Come."
Indie pop star for the ages
By Dan Goff | August 1, 2017Tennis vocalist Alaina Moore talks musical matrimony, creative roots
Making Noise
By John Trainum | July 25, 2017"13" is packed with some of Curry’s most high-energy, explosive deliveries yet — but don’t tell that to Curry.
