Playwright: Eugene O'Neill . At: Goodman Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn St. Tickets: 312-443-3800; www.goodmantheatre.org; $61-$133. Runs through: June 17
Tony Award-winning star Nathan Lane's previous association with The Iceman Cometh was delivering Eugene O'Neill's suggestively named 1939 play as part of a punchline. That's when Lane played the unscrupulous producer Max Bialystock in the smash hit 2001 Broadway musical The Producers.
Who knew that 11 years later Lane would be headlining an incandescent and heartbreaking revival of The Iceman Cometh at the Goodman Theatre alongside acclaimed O'Neill interpreters and Tony Award-winners Brian Dennehy and director Robert Falls?
In tackling the challenging role of Theodore Hickman ( aka "Hickey" ) , Lane definitely has all of the prerequisite charisma and chutzpah needed to be O'Neill's gregarious salesman on a tragic mission. Lane's perfectly honed sense of comic timing is a major boon, and he more than exceeds all of the anticipatory exposition that precedes Hickey's first clamorous entrance near the end of Act I.
Here, Lane is clearly stretching himself is in exploring the darker aspects of Hickey's character. Hickey goes from being the perpetual life of the party to the harbinger of bitter truths to shatter the pipe dreams and self perceptions of his friends who are mostly a den of drunken dissolutes who layabout a bottom-rung boarding house and bar in 1912 New York.
Initially it seems Hickey is a newly converted temperance talker helping his unmotivated friends. But it soon becomes clear that it's a much harsher cleansing that Hickey is after for his friends and for himself.
There's no question that Lane commands the stage every moment he steps out from the wings. But you wonder if there might be a wee bit more dramatic depth to his portrayal of Hickey, particularly when he makes his shouted and exposed confession to his friends and the world at large in the final act. Yet it's early on in the run, and Lane is such an artistic professional that one suspects he'll dig deeper night after night.
Director Falls previously directed The Iceman Cometh for the Goodman with Dennehy as Hickey back in the early 1990s, and one can only assume that the passage of time has only deepened the two artists' insight into the play ( I wasn't living in Chicago at that time, so I can't say ) . This time around Dennehy plays the former anarchist Larry Slade, whose own drunken routine of sitting on the sidelines is interrupted by the arrival of the young man Don Parritt ( another impressive turn by Patrick Andrews ) . Dennehy's chiseled and world-weary stillness as Slade speaks volumes, and he and Andrews make this potential father-son subplot of absolution into a regretful tragedy on par with Hickey's own downfall.
Falls has also astutely cast the rest of Iceman Cometh with a large wonderful ensemble of character actors who garner all the laughs, sympathy and repulsion necessary to make their portrayals real and believable. Though the play is epic length ( nearly five hours with three intermissions ) , these skilled actors are so effective that they more than make the long haul worthwhile and enriching.
Stephen Ouimette ( Slings and Arrows ) is masterful as the grieving bar owner Harry Hope who hasn't exited his establishment in 20 years, while John Douglas Thompson is both fiery and pitiful as Joe Mott, the African-American former gambling den owner who has carved out an uneasy friendship with these white lowlifes.
Salvatore Inzerillo is both funny and menacing as the tough-guy bartender Rocky Pioggi ( who's really a pimp despite all of his denials ) , and his interactions with the prostitutes Cora ( Kate Arrington ) , Pearl ( Tara Sissom ) and Margie ( Lee Stark ) teem with misogynistic humor that can make you ashamed for laughing.
Director Falls creates some great stage tableaux, like the suggestion of The Last Supper for a less than happy final birthday party, or the almost cemetery placement of characters at their own bar tables in the final act. His guiding hand more than makes this Goodman Theatre revival of The Iceman Cometh vital and timely, particularly for anyone who has put off dreams or never even made the effort.
Although Lane and Dennehy's names deservedly receive top billing for this Goodman Theatre revival of The Iceman Cometh, the all-around performance quality is so high that people will be definitely talking about this production for years to come.
