Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie (1973)

A FAMILY TURNS ON ITSELF

Tennessee Williams rightfully takes his place as one of the premier playwrights in the history of the American theater. He relentlessly turned out high quality plays (and other short literary expositions) on subjects that in an earlier day before the 1950's would have not found nearly so receptive an audience. Here Williams, studying a willfully dysfunctional family, relies on a seemingly autobiographical presentation of the life of a faded Southern Belle mother and her two captive children who are fodder to her dreams of renewed grandeur and style when things `get better'. The gist of the better is a suitable husband for her distracted daughter. That those `things' do not get better drives the dramatic tension of the work, as it almost always does in a Williams play.

Williams has a magic knack for getting to the core of human relations, unpretty as they are some times. The mirror, in many cases, may be harder to take than the reality. Here the son's desire to `help' his obviously unworldly sister at the arm twisting behest of Mother by bringing a co-worker to dinner triggers a trail of events that make Sis fall further and further in the battle with reality. Someone once said that in a Williams's production no good turn ever gets rewarded. And that is the case here. While this is not the most compelling of his plays it is well worth looking at or better, reading.
May 26, 2007

UP CURTAIN-THE BEST BEGINS

KAtharine at her best. If you like Hepburn, you'll love this Live on broadway classic. An overly ambitious Mother in a quandary on ow to move a very shy daughter on the road o matrimony, (Son-In-Law wanted) in the meantime sonny boy Waterman'sets a record for chain smoking and off to the movies every night. Finally things are looking up, when Brother brings home a co-worker to dinner. Boy meets girl, Mom likes Boy, but Oops boy already spoken for. Mothers upset, Daughters upset, and Brother leaves home for the life of a Sailor. All ends well, except the Fish got away. O well what famiy doesn't have its ups and downs ? May 23, 2007

Not ideal, but the best of what's out there so far on DVD

I have seen several versions of this play on DVD, and I would say that this is the best of what I know to be currently available, mainly because I think Katharine Hepburn is the best Amanda Wingfield. However, I wish Joanna Miles had portrayed a less robust Laura. She doesn't limp; she wears stylish shoes while dashing athletically out the door to the store; she demonstrates no more than an occasional interest in the glass animals that are supposed to be her obsession; under her subdued demeanor I felt enough personal strength from her to deny the sense of despair about her future that is supposed to hang in the air at the end of the play. Perhaps Jane Wyman's Laura should have been in this production rather than being stuck in the 1950 version, with its own lamentable ending. Perhaps this play is too dated to be believable today and they don't make helpless females any more. (TV has sent such types into therapy.) Nevertheless, this is a great late-career performance for Katharine Hepburn, and that's the best reason for owning this DVD, a good companion to "Lion in Winter" and "On Golden Pond." She was born to play this faded Southern belle who has no talent for sales except as the determined purveyor of a lost culture. Her physical fragility plus the trademark Hepburn patrician accent and mannerisms are simply perfect and utterly priceless (whereas Joanne Woodward in the same role is too perky and liberated). Those two veteran "Law and Order" ADAs are also very good in their roles -- Sam Waterston as Laura's restless, henpecked brother and Michael Moriarty as the cheerful and clueless Gentleman Caller. February 18, 2007

A memorable performance by Katherine Hepburn

Each character has played the assigned role in a charming manner, bringing out the human shortcomings, grief and disappointments. March 30, 2006

sheer brilliance

THE GLASS MENAGERIE is one of the theatre's great masterpieces. Originally opening on Broadway in 1944, the play established playwright Tennessee Williams as a force to be reckoned with and provided Laurette Taylor with her final great Broadway role as Amanda Wingfield (check out Rick McKay's outstanding BROADWAY: THE GOLDEN AGE to hear Marian Seldes and others discuss their memories of Taylor).

For this 1973 television production, Katharine Hepburn, at the request of Williams himself, stepped into the hallowed role of Amanda. Hepburn gives her usual tour-de-force, especially the scene where Amanda is on the telephone attempting to sell magazine subscriptions (the scene is tragic and comic in equal measures).

The story is a memory play, told in flashback by son Tom Wingfield (played by Sam Waterston with all the brashness of youth), of his years living with his mother Amanda and lame sister Laura (Joanna Miles). Amanda's sole purpose in life is to secure happiness for her children, in particularly Laura, who spends most of her days in seclusion tending to her collection of glass animals. Amanda, in the meanwhile, finds more pleasure reliving past glories than trying to make sense of her ever-uncertain future. Tom cannot stand his mother's machinations and spends most of his time `at the movies', though when Amanda presses him to find a `gentlemen caller' for Laura, the balance of the household grows ever more precarious.

Joanna Miles simply glows as the repressed Laura. Katharine Hepburn, as mentioned above, gives Amanda a frailty and strength which is heartbreaking. Sam Waterston and Michael Moriarty as the `gentlemen caller' offer well-rounded performances. There is some debate as to which character is the genuine lead role of the play. True, Amanda is the main role but the story hinges so much on the trials and agonies of the painfully-shy Laura that the play might as well belong to her. "Blow out your candles, Laura". June 19, 2005

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