NEW YORK, June 6 (UPI) -- It is always a wonderful experience to watch an actress illuminate a role to the degree of brilliance that Laura Linney brings to Patricia in the Manhattan Theater Club's revival of Donald Margulies' art-world drama, "Sight Unseen," the first hit play of the 2004-2005 Broadway season.
The production at the Biltmore Theater would be a play worth seeing even with an actress of lesser wattage than Linney in the cast, but with her it becomes a show that demands the patronage of all who treasure inspired performance on the stage. The popular Liev Schreiber originally was to have played opposite Linney as Jonathan, but the role has been taken by Ben Shenkman, a less exciting talent.
When "Sight Unseen" was premiered off-Broadway by the Manhattan Theater Club in 1992, it was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, which Margulies went on to win in 2000 for "Dinner With Friends." It was particularly memorable for two scenes in which a provocative young German journalist, Grete, interviews Jonathan, an American celebrity artist. Linney, a virtual unknown, played the journalist in that production and garnered rave reviews.
The actress' progression from ingénue to leading lady has included notable successes in theater, film, and television and nominations for both the Academy and Tony Awards. She played opposite Sean Penn in last year's acclaimed film, "Mystic River," and is playing opposite Liam Neeson in "Kinney" and Bill Murray in "The Squid and the Whale," films yet to be released.
As Patricia, Linney plays a 30-plus American archaeologist who is living in a primitive farmhouse near an English archaeological site she is working with her husband, Nick. An unexpected visit by Jonathan Waxman, in London for the first British exhibition of his work, resurrects memories of Patricia's college affair with Jonathan when she was an artists' model and he was just beginning to paint.
The affair ended badly when the self-centered Jonathan dumped her in his quest for fame and fortune. The wounded Patricia has married Nick more out of convenience than love, although she knows her husband adores her despite her lack of sexual passion for him. Nick is surly in his reception of Jonathan, whom he suspects of wanting to renew his affair with Patricia, a suspicion happily shared by Patricia who invites Jonathan to stay overnight.
It turns out that Jonathan's real purpose in seeking out Patricia after 15 years of separation is to obtain one of his early paintings, given to her as a present, for his London show, which needs more early works to make it a true retrospective. When she seems possessive of the painting, he tries to sneak if out of the house before dawn, but she catches him in his thievery.
Having revealed Jonathan for what he is -- a man willing to sacrifice the one true love in his life if it will help boost his career, the playwright takes on the unnecessary risk of tacking on a final scene in a bedroom-studio in Brooklyn 15 years before. Patricia is posing for Jonathan, they find they have fallen in love, and she exhibits the naïve romantic idealism that is to be her downfall. The effect is wrenching, as intended.
Linney gives her audience a carefully wrought but seemingly effortless characterization of a woman who has surrendered to disappointment and settled for a life of "make do," unable to reclaim Jonathan even when he presents her with a possible opportunity to do so. Naturally lovely in appearance despite her rough country gear, Linney also has the rare inner radiance that gives her subtle acting talents a special resonance.
Shenkman makes Jonathan an easy-going, not-too-bright opportunist instead of the schmuck, in the most reprehensive sense of this Jewish word, that the playwright had in mind. It is hard to believe that Shenkman's Jonathan is so eaten by ambition that he would commit the egregious act of purloining his own painting, a scene that would be a showstopper if played by an actor more mature in his art. Perhaps Daniel Sullivan's otherwise on-target direction is partly to blame.
Byron Jennings is splendid as Nick, so exasperated by Jonathan's visit that he sheds his usual rough but gentlemanly manner to insult his guest and quarrel with his wife. And putting her own stamp on the role of Grete is Ana Reeder, a young actress of promising versatility who manages the Nazi overtones of her nastily accusatory interview with Jonathan with chilling effect.
Douglas W. Schmidt's sets, especially the elaborately detailed farmhouse kitchen, are commendable and nicely lit by Pat Collins, and Jess Goldstein's costumes look lived-in and suitably contemporary. Some original but unobtrusive music has been contributed by John Gromada, one of the American theater's most experienced sound designers.
"Sight Unseen" is scheduled for a limited run ending July 11.
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