The Culture Queer (dotcom)

God of Carnage was hardly my favorite play on Broadway last year. Like many others, I was enticed by the big name stars (Marcia Gay Harden–who snabbed an Tony for the performance, James Gandolfini, Jeff Daniels, and Hope Davis).  It was definitely an actor’s dream.

Set against a stark red wall and with “carnal” music playing underneath, Gods could have been — and in my opinion should have been– the sort of absurdist interaction that French playwrights are known for.  Instead, absurdist elements were mixed with traditional realist pieces, certainly appealing to the commercial audiences of Broadway.  What ensued were yelling matches that could rival the previous years Tony winner for Best Play August: Osage County.  And trust me, that’s a fierce yelling match.  Ultimately, it was enjoyable, but not worth the $120 that was required to see the four movie stars.

But now Jeff Daniels is returning to the cast to play the James Gandolfini role.  Plus, Janet McTeer who was in the original West End production and dazzled in last season’s Mary Stuart will take Marcia Gay Harden’s role.  Dylan Baker, fabulous in many films including one of my favorites Happiness, will take Daniels’ original role.  And Lucy Liu will make her Broadway debut in Hope Davis’ role.  Just to see Liu’s continued vomitting on stage should make it worth another trip to the Great White Way.

Take a look at Playbill’s coverage here!

Tags: Broadway, God of Carnage, Jeff Daniels, Lucy Liu

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 28th, 2010 at 10:50 am and is filed under Stage. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.