Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

        By Joseph Cervelli

I have seen five (not the original) productions of Tennessee Williams' masterpiece "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" and while the best of all was the 1975 version starring an unforgettably, scintillating Elizabeth Ashley, the others were generally good.  In most cases you had a fine Maggie (Ashley still remains the best) but a disappointing Brick. But in the disastrous revival currently playing at the Theatre at St. Clement's you may have a more fiercely played Brick (Matt de Rogatis) but a very ineffective Maggie (Sonoya Mizuno). If the show's Maggie is not good the production sinks badly. And this one under the misguided direction by Joe Rosario stands by far to be the worst I have seen. 

One of the biggest culprits is the exceptionally poor acoustics of the theater and the simply terrible sound design by Ben Levine. When Maggie is at the right side of the stage, and you hear her voice from one of the speakers on the left side you are in trouble. 

 

Rosario has updated the show to the present which still takes place on an estate in Mississippi. Maggie is the love starved wife of the sexy but alcohol addicted Brick. There is no mistaking that Mizuno is definitely sensual in her movements but her shrill, screeching voice makes her Maggie so unappealing. One of the funniest lines right from the onset is her calling her nieces and nephews (no nephews are shown here) "no neck monsters." But Mizuno with a very overdone Southern accent rambles on yelling one line after another becoming almost impossible to understand. Within five minutes I knew we were in trouble. The entire first act is basically a monologue of Maggie's emotions who cannot understand why Brick has fallen to pieces since the death of his best friend Skipper. Unless you know the play this production will probably not help you understand the innuendos about Brick's relationship to Skipper. As Williams wrote the character Maggie he makes you feel for this woman who wants more than anything to be loved by her husband and have a child. She and Brick live in the house of his parents Big Daddy (Christian Jules Le Blanc) and Big Mamma (Alison Fraser) along with Brick's brother Gooper (Spencer Scott) and his wife Mae (Tiffan Borelli). Maggie knows unless they are in Big Daddy's good graces when he passes they will not be left much. To secure this, a child would make that a reality.

 Mizuno according to the Playbill trained at the Royal Ballet School and danced as listed at two ballet companies. This is her New York City stage acting debut. I saw no stage acting credits listed and this is too difficult a role to tackle for a novice unless under proper direction. She gets no assistance from Rosario. Throughout Mizuno has the sinuous moves of a dancer, but it is never transformed into her acting ability. 

De Rogatis makes a hunky, perfectly chiseled tattooed Brick. De Rogatis also is the most menacing Brick I have seen, and when he threatens to hit Maggie with his crutch (he injured himself while jumping hurdles while drunk) you think he truly wants to kill her.  De Rogatis also is the most self destructive Brick. Unlike others who have played that part you do believe he was indeed sexually attracted to Skipper and either made an attempt to seduce his friend or actually did. While there is not much for Brick to do in the first act except to listen to the epithets of Maggie, de Rogatis does convey his inner demons by the way he moves his body. You can feel his mental anguish. And later in the play his encounter with his father is well  played out on his part. However I don't remember Brick falling down in a drunken stupor as much as here.

Big Daddy has always been played by a tall, broad man.  Remember Burl Ives, James Earl Jones and character actor Fred Gwynn?  Yet, Le Blanc is a smaller Big Daddy. That would be fine if he, too, was  not screaming throughout. He thinks he has a spastic colon not knowing until Brick angrily tells him

that he has terminal cancer. He is a belligerent, bellicose and uncouth millionaire. His vile comments towards his wife are thoroughly upsetting but here they fall flat because his dialogue is spoken too fast.

 Fraser ("The Secret Garden" and "Romance/Romance") is a completely different looking Big Mama. Big Mamma has always been a bit overweight, dowdy character ridiculed  by her unpleasant husband. Here she is a slim, but flamboyantly dressed woman looking like she is going to a cocktail party. Much of Fraser's dialogue including her almost sotto voce aside to Brick near the end of the play should  be clearer. Also, what makes no sense is when Big Daddy calls her "fat" on a number of occasions for she is very slim. 

I am not sure who created the ominous music which would have been more appropriate for "A Streetcar Named Desire" than this show. And unsure why Brick and Maggie's bed (set design by Matthew Imhoff) which is a pivotal part of their relationship is off to the side of the stage instead more centered.

The themes of manliness, mendacity and  Maggie's sexual desires are all lost in this overwhelmingly inept production. I can only hope there is another "Cat" to erase the memory of what Rosario has done to such a brilliant play. 

PHOTOS: Miles Skalli

Tickets are available at the Theatre at St. Clements 423 West 46th Street.