A TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL and SNM

A TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL and SNM: It wasn’t even close

I came to New York expressly to see SLEEP NO MORE. I knew it was dense enough that I wanted to see more it than once, so I bought tickets for two consecutive nights, figuring I could sufficiently dissect and absorb all it had to offer in two viewings. I also had hopes of seeing some other Broadway shows while I was there – perhaps a Wednesday matinee and another show on Wednesday night.

One of my favorite playwrights is Horton Foote, and I love both the film and play versions of A TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL. I had a chance to engage in a workshop with Mr. Foote when I was in graduate school, further cementing my appreciation for him and his ability to eloquently capture the pathos and dignity of ordinary men and women ‘living lives of quiet desperation.’

After seeing SLEEP NO MORE the first time, it became painfully obvious to me that twice would not be enough. I say ‘painfully’ because I was so totally enraptured by my first experience, the thought of only getting to see it once more literally caused me emotional pain. I consulted my traveling companion, and she agreed to see SNM again, but I insisted on purchasing the tickets since it was me pushing the SNM agenda. So, I bought tickets for a third night of SNM, even before we’d seen it a second time, and we both lamented that we hadn’t purchased tickets for the Sunday night we arrived too! But part of me still hungered for TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL too. It was Cecily Tyson, for heaven’s sake, Cuba Gooding, Jr., and Vanessa Williams, and it was a limited engagement, a once in a lifetime chance. My wonderful traveling companion saw my sorrow at letting BOUNTIFUL go, and while I was in our hotel room shower, she purchased tickets for both of us to the Wednesday afternoon matinee performance of BOUNTIFUL. Not just any tickets, mind you. She got us on the 5th row of the orchestra. I was grateful to her for that gift, and I leapt into ‘Professor mode’ and regaled her on the wonders of Horton Foote and provided an introduction to the characters and world of BOUNTIFUL.

We experienced SLEEP NO MORE again on Tuesday night, and it was even better, for both of us, the second time. I was glad we had tickets for the next night as well, and I was actually looking forward to Wednesday being the perfect theatrical day – BOUNTIFUL in the afternoon and SNM in the evening. Well.....

The thing people noticed immediately when I returned home was how little I spoke of THE TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL, compared to my effusive ramblings about SLEEP NO MORE. I began to examine my feelings about BOUNTIFUL more carefully, and came to the conclusion that the direction was clumsy and panderously sought to elicit laughs in all the wrong places, but even more importantly, the actors didn't displayed much artistic integrity. This beautiful script, this gentle show, but at the Wednesday afternoon matinee, all but one cast member was guilty of ‘phoning it in’ for long stretches, and some for the whole show. Instead of being fully engaged with one another or with the material every moment, the actors mostly went through the motions. I suppose they believed that the audience was so in awe of what big stars they are that we wouldn’t notice, or that they were so good, they could sleep-walk through the show and still blow our socks off. Well, I noticed. I know the difference between passionate artists and lazy ones on auto-pilot. While I cried some during the show (mostly at the script itself and the plight of its main character, which touches some personal, emotional buttons for me) my "socks" were still firmly, disappointingly in place as I left the theater.

I am not sorry I saw it (though I think my traveling companion was, and about the pricey tickets too), but BOUNTIFUL’s potential power went mostly unrealized. These renowned actors, receiving salaries and accolades far beyond what the young SNM actors are getting Off Off Broadway---and my preference was for the SLEEP NO MORE cast. I say that without a nanosecond of equivocation.

It wasn’t even close.

The SNM kids had more professional and artistic integrity, more focus and commitment, and more demonstrated love for their audience and their craft than did these supposed veteran pros. It was palpable, and a huge part of why SLEEP NO MORE got so deeply under my skin and continues to rumble inside me. I hope mightily for greater fame and fortune for all the SNM cast members, as they are a mind-bogglingly talented lot, but I pray that success will not make them lazy and remove that precious integrity from them. It is a crime anyone lucky enough to be a working professional actor allows it to happen, EVER.