Basic Facts
- Produced by Eddie Dowling and Louis J. Singer
- Playhouse Theatre and Royale Theatre
- New York City, NY
- 3/31/45-6/29/46, 7/1/46-8/3/46
- Directed by Eddie Dowling and Margo Jones
- Scenic and lighting design by Jo Mielziner. Sound design by Paul Bowle.
Review Capsule
The theatre opened its Easter basket the night before and found it a particularly rich one. Preceded by warm and tender reports from Chicago, The Glass Menagerie opened at the Playhouse on Saturday, and immediately it was clear that for once the advance notes were not in error. Tennessee Williams' simple play forms the framework for some of the finest acting to be seen in many a day. "Memorable" is an overworked word, but that is the only one to describe Laurette Taylor's performance. March left the theatre like a lioness." -- Lewis Nichols, NY Times. April 2, 1945.
Basic Facts
- Produced by Elizabeth McCann, Nelle Nugent, Maurice Rosenfield, Lois Rosenfield, and Ray Larsen
- Eugene O'Neill Theatre
- New York City, NY
- 12/1/83-2/19/84
- Directed by John Dexter
- Scenic design by Ming Cho Lee; Costume design by Patricia Zipprodt; Lighting design by Andy Phillips; Sound design by Otts Munderloh.
Review Capsule
The simple truth of Amanda is plain enough. A woman who has long since been deserted by both her husband and her genteel Southern youth, she lives in shabby circumstances in Depression-era St. Louis; she fights incessantly for her children's happiness even as she nearly smothers them to death. But if that were the sum of Amanda, Mr. Williams wouldn't have written about her. Within the exasperating nag, there is still the coquettish plantation belle. Within the woman battered on all sides by the painfulness of existence, there is still the indomitable fighter who clings to her faith in ''the superior things of the mind and the spirit.'' -- Frank Rich, NY Times. December 2, 1983.
Basic Facts
- Produced by The Roundabout Theatre Company
- Criterion Center Stage Right
- New York City, NY
- 11/15/94-1/1/95
- Directed by Frank Galati
- Scenic design by Loy Arcenas; Costume design by Noel Taylor; Lighting design by Mimi Jordan Sherin; Sound design by Richard Dunning; Projection design by John Boesche.
Review Capsule
Other Williams dramas are more exotic. None are quite this heartbreaking, although you'll have to bide your time for a while at the Criterion Center before the play, staged by the Roundabout Theater Company, exerts its considerable pull. This worthy but imperfect production stars the ever-welcome Julie Harris as Amanda Wingfield, that most infuriating of gracious Southern mothers. In the role of her son, Tom (read Williams himself), an aspiring writer trapped in a dead-end warehouse job, Zeljko Ivanek takes some getting used to, however. -- David Richards, NY Times. November 16, 1994.
Basic Facts
- Produced by Bill Kenwright
- Ethel Barrymore Theatre
- New York City, NY
- 3/22/05-7/3/05
- Directed by David Leveaux
- Scenic and costume design by Tom Pye; Lighting design by Natasha Katz; Sound design by Jon Weston
Review Capsules
Memory, which is notorious for playing tricks on people, pulls off some doozies in the narcoticized production of Tennessee Williams's "Glass Menagerie," which opened last night at the Ethel Barrymore Theater. As staged by David Leveaux, this revival suggests that to recollect the past is to see life as if it had occurred underwater, in some viscous sea through which people swim slowly and blindly. -- Ben Brantley, NY Times. March 23, 2005.
The leading ladies fare better. Sarah Paulson is a revelation as Laura, as heartbreaking in her shyness and lack of self-regard as she is radiant in her generosity. In her key scene with the Gentleman Caller whom Amanda hopes will spirit Laura away to a normal — i.e., married — life, Paulson manages to seem at once angelic and painfully human. As her reluctant suitor, Josh Lucas is a fitting foil, his glibness gradually melting under her guileless warmth. -- Elyssa Gardner, USA Today. March 22, 2005
Basic Facts
- Produced by The Roundabout Theater Company
- Laura Pels Theatre
- New York City, NY
- 3/10/10-6/13/10
- Directed by Gordon Edelstein
- Set design by Michael Yeargan; Costume design by Martin Pakledinez; Lighting design by Jennifer Tipton; Sound design by David Budries.
Review Capsules
Instead you’ll find something unexpected, namely the fiercely moving and seriously funny play Williams actually wrote, in a production directed by Gordon Edelstein that’s lightning-lit from within by the tough, compelling and first-rate Amanda Wingfield of Judith Ivey, giving what is surely the performance of her career. Ms. Ivey’s achingly real and often hilarious turn shares much in common with the shattering Blanche DuBois of Cate Blanchett seen at the Brooklyn Academy of Music last fall. -- Charles Isherwood, NY Times. March 25, 2010.
Edelstein’s The Glass Menagerie is instead a memory play of the most obvious kind, set in the single dingy hotel room which doubles as the Wingfield’s residence. Missing the terrace and fire escape which are integral to the play, this staging plays out in a musty room that has a bed, a writing desk, a victrola and a small table with chairs, all of which unsatisfactorily stand in for their dilapidated but genteel home. And Laura’s menagerie, which is thoughtlessly confined to that desk next to Tom’s typewriter, never has the chance to become anything more than a mere afterthought. -- Kevin Filipski, Times Square. (Doesn't specify date written.)
Basic Facts
- Produced by Steppenwolf Theatre Company
- Steppenwolf Downstairs Theatre
- Chicago, IL
- 10/25/08, 11/1 & 11/2/08, 11/8 & 11/9/08
- Directed by Yasen Peyankov
- Set design by Martin Andrew; Costume design by Natasha Vuchurovich Djukich; Lighting design by Keith Parham; Sound design by Rob Milburn and Michael Bodeen.
Review Capsules
But the most compelling aspect of Yasen Peyankov’s unpretentious new staging of this classic for the Steppenwolf Young Adults program is the talent and sheer vivacity of this cast. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more accessible “Glass Menagerie,” nor one that lands so easily in the lap of its intended audience. There’s just an uncommon spark, freshness and vitality to this production. The show feels young again. The mostly teenage audience understood it, reacted to it, talked back to it and loved it. -- Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune. 10/27/08
In its best moments, the production’s jollity amplifies Williams’s script, acutely highlighting truly poignant moments that might otherwise drown in a sea of solemnity. Davis, as ultra-matron Amanda, hits the humorous notes with particular grace: Her side-splittingly frantic efforts to please a visiting suitor reveal the desperation underlying Amanda’s stern behavior elsewhere in the play. -- Christopher Shea, Time Out Chicago. 11/5/08
Producing the Play
I have noticed that a majority of problems posed by the text deal with characterization of the Laura and Amanda Wingfield, and the use of projections. It seems that for Amanda, most productions make her out to be an overbearing, overprotective mother without any redeeming qualities. It is as if she is so miserable from her experiences that she merely tries to control her children's lives. The script does point to her having these characteristics, but she is much deeper than that and actually has a very loving nature toward Laura and Tom. Laura has a slight limp that she feels is noticed by everyone around her, so much that she is withdrawn to her own world. The problem that this poses is that a lot of productions victimize her and in this way, she appears weak and as if she does not have any of her own convictions or desires. The projections pose a problem to the play because they tend to distract rather than help the play move on. A lot of the times, they just mirror what Tom says, and so it is redundant and the audience ends up watching the projections instead of the actors.
The first problem I feel that we would have if The Glass Menagerie were produced at the UTC would be casting Amanda, since she is a character in her forties. The only reason this would be any kind of problem is because, being a college, most theatre students here are not older than their late twenties. The second problem would, maybe, trying to create projections that are relevant to the script and that do not take away from any of the actors speaking. Other than that, I do not think that there are any technical hurdles in the script that members of the UTC could not resolve.
To resolve the problem of the projections, there were many productions that just left them out altogether. Out of the reviews I read of productions that included the projections, it seems like only one or two were successful in their uses. The projections used were subtle and not large. Also, another thing that made some of the projections successful was that the pictures were not cliche and did not mirror exactly what the characters were saying but complemented them.
One production really delved into Amanda's character, and the actress not only played her motherly persona, but also found the humor in the character and the context. Another actress who broke free from playing Amanda on one level was not afraid to make the audience despise her. This choice made it easier to believe that she drove Tom out of her life forever, just like her husband.
The productions that were successful with their actresses as Laura were the ones that did not make her seem weak. The actresses showed through their eyes and expressions Laura's inner radiance and childlike humor. They did not cower in every scene. One other choice that affected the audience's perspective on Laura was how big or little the limp was played. One production exaggerated her limp so much that it negated Amanda's and Jim's lines, telling her that her limp was hardly noticeable and that it was just her in her mind making it out to be bigger than it actually was.
The Glass Menagerie is considered Williams' breakthrough script. The critics loved the script and thought that it was a very heartbreaking autobiography. In a couple of reviews I read, the critics did not like the way directors tried to make the set dreamy and surreal because of the fact that it was a memory play, such as the Bill Kenwright production. Another production that went over fairly well with critics was the Steppenwolf Theatre Company. This was an all black production, and the performances were moving. It was geared toward teenagers and young adults and it achieved its goal.
