Sunday, December 9, 2012

‘Mice’ roars

By FRANK SCHECK
Last Updated: 2:14 AM, December 6, 2012
Posted: 10:07 PM, December 5, 2012

THEATER REVIEW

OF MICE AND MEN
Baruch Performing Arts Center, 55 Lexington Ave.; 212-352-3101. Through Saturday. Running time: 135 minutes, one intermission.

Kevin Kline, Patti LuPone, Frances Conroy: They’re just a few of the actors who began their careers touring with the Acting Company. That long list of illustrious alumni may one day include Joseph Midyett and Christopher Michael McFarland, judging from their powerful performances in the troupe’s stirring revival of “Of Mice and Men.”

First seen on Broadway in 1937, John Steinbeck’s classic concerns migrant workers George (Midyett) and Lennie (McFarland), who’ve just shown up at a California ranch, desperate for jobs. George — small and fast-talking — has assumed the role of protector for the hulking, dimwitted Lennie, whose childlike love of petting soft things frequently gets him into trouble.

Richard Termine

Joseph Midyett (left) and Christopher Michael McFarland are brilliant.

They immediately find themselves at odds with the ranch owner’s hotheaded son, Curley (Michael McDonald), who’s clearly threatened by the constant male attention his wife (Megan Bartle) seems to crave. While George tries to stay clear of her, Lennie mainly dreams of the pair someday owning a farm where he can tend to his beloved rabbits. But his inability to control his massive strength has fateful consequences.

Director Ian Belknap’s stark production, performed on a mostly bare, wooden-planked set, brings the play’s elemental themes to stunning dramatic life. Beautifully realized are such moments as when an aging ranch hand (Joseph Tisa) reluctantly agrees to allow his mangy old dog to be shot, in a scene foreshadowing the play’s tragic conclusion.

McFarland is deeply affecting as the mentally damaged man-child, while Midyett superbly depicts both George’s deep love and his frustration at having to care for his friend.

“When I think of the sweet time I’d have without you, I go nuts,” he bitterly tells Lennie, but you can tell he doesn’t quite mean it.

The supporting ensemble fulfill their roles expertly, with particularly fine efforts by Tisa as the ranch-hand who dreams of throwing in with the pair and Yaegal T. Welch as the black stable-hand who chafes at being ostracized by his fellow workers.

This superb production runs only through Saturday before touring the country. If you can’t catch it now, look for its return run at the New Victory Theater March 1 to 10.

"BACKSTAGE" review of Mice and Men 2012

Off-Broadway Review

The Acting Company's 'Of Mice and Men' Packs a Punch

By David Sheward | Posted Dec. 4, 2012, 5:12 p.m.

Photo Source: Richard Termine

The figures of the hulking, dumb Lennie and his faithful, intelligent sidekick George in John Steinbeck’s classic “Of Mice and Men” have entered the public consciousness as parodies. People of a certain age are probably most aware of them as caricatures in Warner Bros. cartoons, with the much larger Lennie figure constantly asking his companion to “Tell me about the rabbits.” But Steinbeck’s 1937 play, based on his own novel, is a painfully honest study of human loneliness as Lennie and George seek to find a home amid the cruel landscape of Depression-era California. The Acting Company’s touring production, now at the Baruch Performing Arts Center for a brief stay, obliterates the clichés and concentrates on the desperate longing for connection among its drifting set of characters. Here, Lennie is not a comical, lumbering oaf but a tragic victim of his gigantic strength and limited brain power.

Lennie and George make a meager living as ranch hands, moving from place to place and dreaming of earning enough to buy a farm of their own, where Lennie can tend his beloved rabbits. But their illusion of stability comes crashing down when Lennie’s attraction for soft objects and small animals results in serious trouble.

Christopher Michael McFarland captures Lennie’s gentle tenderness and unthinking power. Like a monstrous child, McFarland wrings his hands and blubbers when Lennie is caught with a dead mouse or puppy; you can see the child’s anxious need to please in his large eyes. Likewise, Joseph Midyett perfectly conveys George’s cocky bravado and sentimental interior. The pause he takes as George realizes that his ideal little farm will never materialize is heart-stopping.

Director Ian Belknap wisely remembers that this is an ensemble piece and not just a vehicle for the two leads. Staging the play with subtlety and simplicity, he balances Lennie and George’s goals with those of the rest of the characters. All of the pathetic creatures inhabiting the ranch are seeking a bond with another person, and the strong cast passionately pursues that objective. Even the trampy wife of Curley, the ranch boss’ obnoxious son, is fully dimensional, with her own needs, and Megan Bartle is delightfully sleazy and movingly sympathetic in the role. Joseph Tisa and Yaegel T. Welch give depth to Candy and Crooks, two outsiders yearning to find a place to belong. There’s also admirable work from Michael McDonald, Noah Putterman, Chris Thorn, and, in two disparate roles, Ray Chapman.

Neil Patel’s stark set, Daniel B. Chapman’s prairie-pure lighting, and Fitz Patton’s Aaron Copeland–influenced music create the right rustic atmosphere for this memorable “Of Mice and Men.”