{"id":817,"date":"2018-05-01T01:31:05","date_gmt":"2018-05-01T01:31:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/juliacore.com\/beyondthebarre\/?p=817"},"modified":"2018-05-01T03:01:44","modified_gmt":"2018-05-01T03:01:44","slug":"albees-three-tall-women-on-broadway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juliacore.com\/beyondthebarre\/2018\/05\/01\/albees-three-tall-women-on-broadway\/","title":{"rendered":"Albee’s Three Tall Women on Broadway"},"content":{"rendered":"

The story has it that Edward Albee\u2019s parents got him for $133.30 at the adoption agency. They always talked how they wanted to return him claiming it was the worst business deal. It has never been a secret in the family which made Albee\u2019s relationship with his socialite mother complicated.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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The main character of the \u201cThree \u00a0Tall Women” is based on Albee’s mother and their conversations about life, marriage, relationships.<\/p>\n

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Although it\u2019s a two-act play, there\u2019s no intermission and it runs for 1 hour and 45 minutes.<\/p>\n

There are three characters in the play and they are named A, B, and C. 92-year-old A is on her death bed. Coming from life of privilege, she is aristocratic, selfish, and vile. 52-year-old B is A\u2019s caretaker. She is cynical but accommodating. 26-year-old self-assured C is a clerk from a law firm tracking bills unpaid by A.<\/p>\n

First half is pretty much A\u2019s monologue, where, plagued by incontinence, in between bathrooms runs, she reminiscences about the life she married up into. B and C just contribute unto this monologue. It is mesmerizing to watch 81-year-old Glenda Jackson (A) holding the audience for\u00a010 minutes straight \u2014 or longer \u2014 without interruption. There were moments, I felt two other actors were just sitting and watching their partner in awe.<\/p>\n

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Then, A has a stroke. Part One ends.\u00a0Pause. And this is when Albee begins.\u00a0<\/p>\n

All three characters dressed in lilac are now the same person at different stages of A\u2019s life. C is the one before the marriage, B \u2014 after, and A is the one after the stroke. C is looking with horror and disbelief on what she\u2019s going to become, A \u00a0is embracing the end: \u201cThat\u2019s the happiest moment. When it\u2019s all done. When we stop. When we can stop.”<\/p>\n

One more character enters the stage here. The son. Their son. He has no lines. But he\u2019s up there for to each female character to show the feelings and relationships evolved: accepting and eager C, rejecting and vicious B, forgiving A.<\/p>\n

What hit me closest on my 53rd birthday, when 52-year-old B (mesmerizing Laurie Metcalf) comes to the forestage, spans her arms wide like a bird \u2014 her movements that of a dancer \u2014\u00a0as if embracing the C on her right and A on her left and pronounces that the happiest time is being 52 when you\u2019ve got some experience, some wisdom, and can see 360 degrees around \u2014 the young and the old. \u201cWhat a view!\u201d And the audience goes wild!<\/p>\n

I saw Laurie Metcalf autographing playbills after the show. The kindness in her eyes and her interest in others were breathtaking. And that eye contact. I am in love.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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The story has it that Edward Albee\u2019s parents got him for $133.30 at the adoption agency. They always talked how they wanted to return him claiming it was the worst business deal. It has never been a secret in the family which made Albee\u2019s relationship …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":827,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/juliacore.com\/beyondthebarre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/817","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/juliacore.com\/beyondthebarre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/juliacore.com\/beyondthebarre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juliacore.com\/beyondthebarre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juliacore.com\/beyondthebarre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=817"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/juliacore.com\/beyondthebarre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/817\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":836,"href":"https:\/\/juliacore.com\/beyondthebarre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/817\/revisions\/836"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juliacore.com\/beyondthebarre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/juliacore.com\/beyondthebarre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juliacore.com\/beyondthebarre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juliacore.com\/beyondthebarre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}