12/16/2015Theater: Helen Mirren -- The Queen of Broadway | Evernote Web https://www.evernote.com/Home.action#n=67cc9189-6acb-4329-8085-4f1096f81a5b&ses=4&sh=2&sds=5&1/3Theater: Helen Mirren -- The Queen of BroadwayTheater: Helen Mirren -- The Queen of BroadwayTHE AUDIENCE *** out of **** GERALD SCHOENFELD THEATREBlurb-ready pronouncements are almost impossible to resist when it comes to the thoroughly entertaining newplay The Audience: Helen Mirren is theater royalty; she gives a command(ing) performance; Mirren crowns hercareer with this new triumph.</p><p> See? All of it true and all of it a little too easy -- that is, too glib in praising Mirren'ssubtle approach to the role of Queen Elizabeth II.The same might be said for this slick new work by Peter Morgan, who crafted an Oscar-worthy role for Mirren inthe feature film The Queen -- too glib.</p><p> The Audience is polished to a fault, proceeding with clockwork efficiencyfrom a little comedy to a little drama, from the personal to the political and back again.</p><p> Not a moment of the playwill actually surprise you.</p><p> But the production of the play is faultless.</p><p> This is boulevard entertainment of the mostprofessional, satisfying sort.</p><p> I wish smart, enjoyable work of this sort could be taken for granted but it's too rarefor that.The conceit is simple.</p><p> Every week, the Queen meets with her prime minister in a private audience where -- weare told -- the PM shares information on the issues of the moment and what to expect in the days to come.</p><p> ThePM doesn't consult with the Queen, of course, not strictly speaking.</p><p> Publicly she is expected to support thegovernment, any government, no matter what they do.</p><p> But naturally the Queen's actual, heartfelt support isvaluable and simply meeting with someone week after week invariably means their questions, their concernshave to be addressed at some basic level.</p><p> It's only human.And humanizing is exactly what The Audience does for its enduring monarch.</p><p> We see the Queen meeting withvarious prime ministers over the decades.</p><p> Indeed, PMs come and go but the Queen remains.</p><p> We begin in hermiddle years, skip back to the beginning, when the Queen was schooled in what to do during "the audience" byWinston Churchill, then forward again to nearly the present and back and forth again and again, from MaggieThatcher to John Major, from boorish men who butt heads over policy to insecure men crumbling under thepressure.It's amusing, quietly dramatic, a little informative (American audiences will surely leave the show pattingthemselves on the back for learning a little recent British history) and each act ends with an iconic, powerfultableaux.</p><p> I'm quite certain Mirren will enjoy adding a well-deserved Tony to her Oscar and multiple Emmys.What elevates this production is the impeccable work of all involved, led by director Stephen Daldry, who elicitsjust the right tone of light seriousness from his large cast.</p><p> There are no weak links, though obviously severalstand out thanks to juicier, lengthier scenes.</p><p> Dakin Matthews does a nice, glowering Churchill, offering a sort ofavuncular father figure to the young woman still finding her feet as the monarch of the realm.</p><p> Judith Ivey has ablast as a furious Margaret Thatcher chiding the Queen for making her displeasure known over Thatcher'srefusal to boycott apartheid-era South Africa.</p><p> Richard McCabe has the most substantial role of the night asHarold Wilson, a working class fellow who seems like a bull in a china shop during their first meeting butdevelops a teasing, genuinely warm relationship with the Queen over many years.Every part is handled well, from Dylan Baker's smooth work as John Major (smooth is redundant whendiscussing Major and this production as a whole) down to the scene-setting comments of Geoffrey Beevers as12/16/2015Theater: Helen Mirren -- The Queen of Broadway | Evernote Web https://www.evernote.com/Home.action#n=67cc9189-6acb-4329-8085-4f1096f81a5b&ses=4&sh=2&sds=5&2/3the Equerry. (Though wouldn't this defender of tradition, this stickler for detail refer to the late royal by her propertitle of "Diana, Princess of Wales" and not "Princess Diana"?)In the show's riskiest gamble, the Queen chats with an adolescent version of herself throughout the show,offering advice and telling her younger self she'll just have to get used to everyone calling her "ma'am" anddoing things she doesn't want to do.</p><p> As a dramatic gambit, it sounds awful.</p><p> Happily, Morgan doesn't weigh downthose scenes with any heavy pop psychology beyond "get on with it." Better still, the younger Elizabeth wasdelightfully embodied by Sadie Sink at the performance I caught.All the technical elements are beautifully judged, from Bob Crowley's quietly impressive sets working in tandemwith the lighting of Rick Fisher to the invisible sound design of Paul Arditti.</p><p> But special note must be made ofCrowley's costumes combining with the hair and makeup design of Ivana Primorac in the look of Mirren asQueen Elizabeth II.I've no idea if it was in Morgan's original conception of the play or developed somewhere along the way, but onecrucial decision works perfectly.</p><p> That was the choice to have most of Mirren's transformations from one era toanother -- from middle-aged to elderly to young and back again -- take place mostly on stage in front of oureyes.</p><p> When a time change occurs, a flock of servants flutter about Mirren, essentially hiding her from view ascostumes and wigs are replaced.</p><p> Then they fly away and the "new" Queen is revealed.</p><p> An absolute ripple ofpleasure flowed through the crowd the first time this happened as a middle-aged Queen disappeared and Mirrenwas revealed as a young, 25 year old Queen nervously wondering how to behave with Churchill.But these varied transformations are never stunts that call attention to themselves.</p><p> Having them take placeonstage almost in front of us is a canny way of downplaying the "trick" of seeing Mirren jump back and forththrough time.</p><p> It's just a new wig and a new frock, nothing remarkable, is what this straightforward presentationsays to us.</p><p> Don't make a fuss.</p><p> That lets the audience concentrate on "the audience," not on the mechanics ofhow she is transformed.None of it would matter without Mirren.</p><p> I suppose the play might prove a good showcase for some other actresssome day.</p><p> But it's hard to imagine anyone doing it better.</p><p> Of course the unflappable, publicly imperturbableQueen Elizabeth II is not a role for grand-standing. (Her predecessor in lengthy reigns Queen Victoria? Hernamesake Queen Elizabeth I? Grandstand away!) It's a part designed for subtlety and wry looks.</p><p> But Mirren ismarvelous, letting the few moments of emotional depth pass by without making too much of them.</p><p> The comedyis milked marvelously.</p><p> The subtle thread of seeing how the Queen learns on the job, growing from a neophyte tosomeone who proves an able sounding board and voice of concern without ever overstepping her bounds is welljudged.</p><p> The regal manner in which she wields her power such as it is proves fascinating.Watching a stage crowded with Prime Ministers bow to her at the finale is both sweet and moving andappropriate.</p><p> Mirren gives us the Queen, again, and it's a triumph.THEATER OF 2015Honeymoon In Vegas ** The Woodsman *** Constellations ** 1/2 Taylor Mac's A 24 Decade History Of Popular Music 1930s-1950s ** 1/2 Let The Right One In ** Da no rating A Month In The Country ** 1/2 Parade in Concert at Lincoln Center ** 1/2 Hamilton at the Public *** The World Of Extreme Happiness ** 1/2
