People having doubts about marriage or relationships in general should probably not venture Downtown to see the Broadway in Columbus production of “The Graduate.” Nor is it a play to take your significant other to, because you may find yourself feeling slightly suffocated and uncomfortable.
The national touring company of “The Graduate” had its Columbus premiere Tuesday night at the Palace Theatre. The show continues through Sunday.
The play, which is based on the novel by Charles Webb and the screenplay by Calder Willingham and Buck Henry was an Academy Award-winning picture which starred Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft. The touring group features Linda Gray, best known for her role as Sue Ellen on the prime-time hit “Dallas,” as the alcoholic seductress Mrs. Robinson.
The movie was the springboard that vaulted Hoffman into stardom, but the play lacks intensity and fails to flow naturally.
The play is set in 1963 and revolves around Benjamin Braddock (Jonathan Kaplan), a 21-year-old man who has just graduated from college with flying colors but is left unsatisfied.
At the beginning of the play Benjamin’s parents (William Hill and Corinna May) are throwing a party for his graduation and have invited all of their friends. Benjamin refuses to leave his room and join the party, at which time Mrs. Robinson, a close friend of his parents, comes into his room with her mind set on one thing – bedding Benjamin.
Benjamin puts up as much of a fight as expected from a young man being seduced by an older, attractive temptress, but its not long before he and Mrs. Robinson are having nightly rendezvous at a nearby hotel.
Despite the reprimands that obviously come with sleeping with one of your parents’ married friends, the story gets even stickier when Benjamin falls for Mrs. Robinson’s daughter, Elaine, played by a bright-eyed, Devon Sorvari.
The story has all the necessities for a dramatic and intriguing theatrical experience, but it doesn’t quite succeed. Sometimes it seemed as if the liveliest parts were the interludes of popular ’60s music such as “California Dreamin” by the Mamas and the Papas.
Kaplan was an attractive and disillusioned Benjamin, but he did not seem to have the necessary fire and presence of the young, charming and passionate character he should have been.
His unaffectionate and perplexed interactions with Gray were much more believable than his supposed love affair with Sorvari, which is partly why the play made for such a depressing look at relationships. The love between the two young people was not evident enough.
Gray was a decent Mrs. Robinson – she has the perfect look and movements of an older drunk looking to satisfy her neglected sexual desires, but her acting never left the ground.
She did stir up a shocking reaction when she appeared fully nude at the beginning of the play. The bed scenes with Gray and Kaplan were also a little risqué but not over the top. They merely helped to display Benjamin’s innocence and wonder with his sexual encounters.
The nudity did negatively affect a different aspect of the play, the sound. Because of the nudity, the cast was unable to wear microphones forcing them to rely on microphones on the floor and various pieces of the set. These microphones also seemed to pick up shoe scuffling and other confusing sounds, which was distracting.
In general, the play did not graduate with honors, and why pay this amount of money, when renting the movie for less than $5 at Blockbuster could be a better experience.
The remaining performances are at 8 p.m. during the week and 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. on Saturday and 1:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. on Sunday at The Palace Theatre. Tickets are available at all Ticketmaster outlets and range in price from $22-$62.
