Review: Giant
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| Giant stars Brian D'Arcy James and Kate Baldwin share an intimate moment. |
Giant, the latest
work by the prolific if not quite mainstream composer/lyricist Michael John
LaChiusa, is by no means a perfect musical.
It struggles against the weight of its own ambition and the confines of
the Public’s Newman Theatre, and yet remains thoroughly engaging for the
majority of its three hour runtime. Giant is theatrical proof of the old
adage that those who shoot for the moon and miss still land among the stars,
and for all of its flaws this fascinating show demands to be seen by any fan of
serious musical theatre.
Based on the novel of the same name by Edna Ferber, Giant chronicles three decades of life
on a sprawling Texas cattle ranch called Reata.
Jordan “Bick” Benedict is the proud owner of this enormous swath of
land, and Giant begins with his
whirlwind courtship and marriage to wealthy Virginian socialite Leslie
Lynnton. A stranger in a strange land, Leslie
struggles to come to terms with her new surroundings and the husband she hardly
knows, while Bick fights to prevent former ranch hand Jett Rink and his
government backers from drilling for oil on the previously unspoiled land.
Like any good epic, Giant
features a host of interrelated subplots vying for the audience’s attention, and it must be noted that LaChiusa and
librettist Sybille Pearson haven’t quite found the proper balance among the
various storylines. Certain characters
and incidents seem superfluous when viewed in the context of the larger
narrative, while other elements feel underdeveloped or completely
forgotten. While it’s difficult to
pinpoint any one portion of the show in need of major rewrites, a series of minor
edits and subtle tweaks in focus would result in a more cohesive and integrated
whole. Everything in this current
incarnation is exceedingly well done, but it doesn’t always feel necessary, and
as a result interest starts to flag over the course of the musical’s long
length.
Thankfully, Michael John LaChiusa’s score is nothing short
of brilliant. Rapturous, lush, and gloriously sung, LaChiusa’s sweeping
melodies are the product of a master working at the height of his artistic
prowess. LaChiusa manages the difficult
trick of writing songs that feel familiar but also unexpected, traveling
through a host of musical genres while maintaining a tonal cohesion that keeps the
entire score sounding like the a unified vision. One song segues beautifully into the next,
and when you least expect it LaChiusa seamlessly incorporates a recurrent motif
without resorting to full-fledged reprises.
The music soars, with lyrics that are at once conversational and poetic,
and it is almost impossible not to be swept away by the grandeur of it all.
While LaChiusa’s score is the show’s unabashed highlight,
the musical’s large cast proves equally masterful. Anchoring the show with the greatest
performance of his career, Brian D’Arcy James plays family patriarch Bick with
the best possible mixture of bravado and sensitivity. He radiates love for both the land and his
family, even if his rough and tumble upbringing doesn’t always allow him to express
it fully. James’ buoyant physicality and
expressive face communicate volumes without speaking, and his nuanced delivery
of the show’s many soaring anthems establishes such a strong connection with the
audience that his presence is felt even when he isn’t onstage.
The ever-radiant Kate Baldwin similarly astonishes as
Leslie, displaying an even greater amount of the star quality that netted her a
Tony nomination in the recent revival of Finian’s
Rainbow. Her Leslie is a complicated
creature torn between her love of Bick (and later, their children) and her
dissatisfaction with the life and social mores of rural Texas. Yet Baldwin never allows Leslie to wallow in
self-pity, displaying the quiet strength and steely determination we’ve come to
associate with the great Southern women of American literature. She also sings like a dream, navigating the
tricky demands of LaChiusa’s score with the assured ease of a master vocalist.
PJ Griffith does excellent work as the musical’s
pseudo-antagonist Jett, embodying the Good Old Boy archetype with sincerity and
style. It’s unfortunate the show doesn’t
quite know what to do with him, as Jett never really feels connected to the
other characters or to the story in general despite amble stage time. Bobby Steggert and Mackenzie Mauzy are quite
charming as Bick and Leslie’s children, although again the show doesn’t make
full use of the characters’ potential.
Katie Thompson’s Vashti Hake Snythe has an even more tangential relation
to the plot, but the commanding actress emerges as one of the evening’s highlights
thanks to several outstanding solos. The
only person resembling a weak link is Michelle Pawk as Bick’s elder sister Luz
Benedict, but after struggling with her first solo the actress recovers nicely.
Director Michael Greif and set designer Allen Moyer have
done an excellent job squeezing this sprawling show into the relatively modest
confines of the Newman Theatre, although their inventiveness only goes so
far. Creating a second level onstage to
house the orchestra is a clever idea, although Greif’s insistence on placing
some of his actors up there muddies the effect by bringing more focus to the
already prominent musicians. Moyer’s
attempts at sweeping Texas vistas don’t quite read as such given the shallow
stage, although the excellent lighting by Kenneth Posner goes a long way toward
helping evoke the open sky. Overall, the
show looks lovely, even if the self-editing necessitated by the theatre’s size
constraints is a little too apparent.
Giant is easily
the most ambitious new musical of the season, and for that it must be
commended. Ferber’s novel was clearly a
tough nut to crack, and the fact that the show does so much so well is a
testament to the skill of all involved.
A top-notch cast and stunning score by LaChiusa make this an extremely
rewarding show for theatre aficionados, and anyone with the slightest interest
in Giant should make a point to see
it before it closes this weekend.
Hopefully some adventurous producer will pick up the show for a Broadway
transfer, as a larger theatre and one final round of revisions would make this
one of the truly great musicals of the past 15 years. But even in its current incarnation, this is
a show that demands to be seen, and a shining example of the artistic heights
the modern musical can achieve.
