Mark Dunn provides a review of the New Mexico Actors Lab production of The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams.
Taking on the iconic American play The Glass Menagerie, which has, since its Chicago premiere in 1944, challenged the best of our stage actors and directors, is no easy task. Perhaps the biggest shoes to fill in all of American theater are those of Laurette Taylor, whose Broadway performance as Amanda Wingfield, mother to Tom and Laura, has been counted, by stage veterans lucky enough to have seen her in the mid-1940s, as the gold standard for stage performance.
Into those shoes steps Suzanne Lederer, whose work in the New Mexico Actors Lab production of this classic Tennessee Williams play at Teatro Paraguas is easily comparable to any of the the other actresses who have essayed this difficult role. . . .
So many of the older plays in our American canon have grown moldy with the years. Yet much of Mr. Williams’ work continues to resonate and even grow more relevant with time. It is a testament to all the talent that went into this fine, professional production that The Glass Menagerie, a play that continues to speak to us, has found in this intimate and lovingly rendered Santa Fe revival a voice that touches the heart and continues to whisper to us long after its candles have been blown out.
For the full review, please see Talkin’ Broadway.