The Little Foxes
Written by Lillian Hellman; directed by Daniel Sullivan
Opened April 19, 2017
Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, 261 West 47th Street
manhattantheatreclub.com
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| Cynthia Nixon and Laura Linney in The Little Foxes (photo: Joan Marcus) |
Lillian Hellman’s Southern Gothic
melodrama The Little Foxes has two juicy female roles—malevolent matriarch
Regina Giddens and her alcoholic sister-in-law Birdie Hubbard—so it’s not
surprising that, for the current Broadway revival, stars Laura Linney and
Cynthia Nixon take turns performing each.
I saw the play with Nixon as Regina
and Linney as Birdie, and I’m glad I did. Linney’s warmth and good humor serve
her in good stead as the pathetic but sympathetic Birdie, a victim of the
family she foolishly married into. Her husband Oscar (Darren Goldstein)
constantly berates her and her sister-in-law Regina and brother-in-law Ben
(Michael McKean) all but ignore her. Her relationship with her beloved niece,
17-year-old Alexandra (Francesca Carpanini), is the only honest one in the
family.
Linney’s persuasive performance is
capped by a lovely scene when Birdie downs elderberry wine while reminiscing
about the old days with Regina’s sickly husband Horace (Richard Thomas) and
Alexandra. While speaking, Linney laughs and laughs, seemingly both as Birdie
and as a comment on the absurdity of the situation, enveloping costars Thomas
and Carpanini with her good vibes and creating an utterly natural onstage moment.
Nixon’s sharp-edged Regina is a schemer
who knows what she wants and how to get it, whether keeping Horace as sick as
possible, keeping daughter Alexandra under her thumb or outsmarting her
brothers Ben and Oscar when it comes to the family fortune.
Our lead actresses flesh out these opposing characters appositely, and Daniel
Sullivan’s always incisive direction surrounds them with terrific support:
Thomas’ amusedly weary Horace; Michael McKean’s smiling while backstabbing Ben;
Darren Goldstein’s clueless but cruel Oscar; and Carpanini’s affecting Alex.
The Little Foxes plays best as an
old-fashioned—but gleefully nasty—soap opera; that it provides such luxurious roles
for two talented actresses might be its signal virtue.
The Little Foxes
Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, 261 West 47th Street
manhattantheatreclub.com
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