AUGUST: Osage County

Last night, my friend Michael took me to see August: Osage County on Broadway. First of all, I went into this show knowing very little about it except that it was 3 hours long with 2 intermissions. The show actually started at 7:30PM because it runs so long. So I left work and hurried over to the Imperial Theater for an evening of play. I had my low-fat, pumpkin spice latte with no whip cream to prep myself for the long evening.

Well, although this play is indeed 3 hours it didn't feel like it. I enjoyed this play, which was originally produced at Steppenwolf in Chicago so much, that the time was a non-issue. This show was chock full of talented actors. I can't say there was one performance that I considered off or wrong. The script was amazing and so well written. The set was awesome. Like a really, really big budget college set. It is a 3 dimensional home with break-away walls. Very similar to a set that would be used for Brighton Beach Memoirs. And the entire stage was filled and used.

The story was one that made all of the people sitting near me say out loud "now I don't think my family is so crazy." Funny though, in my mind, I was thinking "my family is much more crazy than them." Goes to show you that we can all relate to the story unfolding, and quite quickly, before us. This story starts off with the mother and father of the Weston family and then we meet the aunt, and the kids and their spouses, and the grandchildren. This is a family drama/comedy and it is outstanding. I must repeat this. This show is outstanding. Especially for anyone that has a crazy family past. And I don't use the word crazy lightly. I would love to review each and every performance, but I'll just focus on the mother, Violet Weston played by Deanna Dunagan - this will be her year for a Tony Award. She is vulnerable, yet says the most horrible awful things a person could say to their children. She plays a drug addicted, cancer patient wonderfully. Really, this woman deserves some sort of recognition.

I urge everyone to see this production, it has a limited run, so you should run don't walk to spend 3 hours alone with superb theater art. It's one of the few chances you'll probably get this year.