Talking to yourself with Joseph Midyett

‘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.

• Share:
• 
• 
• 

• John Steinbeck
• Of Mice and Men
• The Acting Company
• theater

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.”

stopped by the cops in Utah...guess i didn't fit in

 

 

BUT HEY MAKE PEACE AND LOVE RIGHT. SO AFTER THEY RAN MY ID AND ASKED ME ALL THE RIGHT QUESTIONS I ASKED FOR A PICTURE. THEY SAID SURE...MAKING FRIENDS ERWHERE I GO

iPhone 5- fun video

WSU Performing Arts- An Amazing Performance: Of Mice and Men

An Amazing Performance: Of Mice and Men

Posted on November 13, 2012 by Stacey Chong

After getting off to a rough start when both of the Acting Company’s touring buses broke down on their way to Pullman, the Acting Company turned in a moving performance of John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men to a sold out Jones Theatre on Friday night.

The acting was phenomenal. Director Ian Belknap did an amazing job with the actors and John Steinbeck’s script. From the moment they stepped onto the Jones Theatre stage, the actors were in the moment, stepping with purpose even when simply setting up a scene.

Joseph Midyett as the likeable and protective George accompanied by Christopher Michael McFarland as the strong yet childlike Lennie gave stunning performances as the two brotherly companions. You could feel how much they yearned for a place of their own and see the strong sense of hope and relief at the idea that their hard work could be ended soon with the help of Candy, played by Joseph Tisa.

Lennie (left) played by Christopher Michael McFarland and George (right) played by Joseph Midyett. Photo from the Acting Company website.

The first act left the audience with such hope for George, Lennie and Candy but with a nagging fear and foreshadowing that it wouldn’t come soon enough. And it doesn’t. Unfortunately, no matter how much you want them to succeed, the ending never changes.

This play reminds us that people are just seeking companionship, in both human and animal form. Most just want someone to talk to. We see in this play that when you have a special bond with someone you can also open yourself up to hurt and loss.

It’s amazing that a story so bleak can be so lighthearted at times. Maybe that’s what makes it so tragic.

But let’s not forget the technical side of the performance. The stage they constructed on set was amazing! It opened and folded into different scenes and created different atmospheres. I overheard a fellow audience member describing it as “a real clever floor.”

Even more incredible is the fact that they have a very little amount of time from when they arrive at the theatre to become familiar with the stage and the acoustics of the theatre. Additionally, they have a very intimate cast and crew who are understudies for each other.

Afterward, the actors used what little time they had to sit down for a Q&A with the audience before getting back on the bus for their next performance. Questions ranged from the more humorous “Was George and Lennie the first bromance?” to which actor Joseph Midyett made a classic reply highlighting Romeo and Mercutio as the original bromance to the more serious questions of motivations behind the characters and how the actors handled taking the characters on.

After the show the actors answered questions from the audience.

When asked why George would choose to stay with Lennie despite his frustrations, Midyett gave a very honest reply:

“There are people in your lives that are just so damn trouble that you don’t know why you love them but they’re yours.”

That’s something that I think most, if not all, of us can relate to.

We’d like to thank the Acting Company cast and crew for their wonderful performance of John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men.

Posted in Performances | Tagged acting, acting company, bromance, dad's weekend, daggy hall, john steinbeck, jones theatre, Of Mice and Men, play | Leave a reply

ANYTHING CAN BE DECEIVING- PULLMAN, WA

    Cute, intimate theater                                            Kinda scary backstage

                                

                                        THEN THIS HAPPENED