Time Stands Still, a play by Donald Margulies at the Manhattan Theatre Club's Samuel J. Friedman Theatre. Directed by Daniel Sullivan, starring Laura Linney, Brian D'Arcy James, Alicia Silverstone, Eric Bogosian. It says a lot about what an ensemble player Laura Linney is, that she didn't get top billing, which she richly deserves both as the "name" in the cast and because she is clearly the star of the show giving a lovely, nuanced, and powerful performance that should make her the odds-on favorite to win a Tony (though Judith Ivey may have something to say about that). Even as a scarred bombing victim, Linney's luminous beauty and intelligence shine in her deeply troubled character who is addicted to the adrenaline of war, yet comes to question the morality of her voyeuristic role as a photojournalist. Brian D'Arcy James is straightforward in his role as her journalist lover who has fled the war zone and wishes only to build a life of banal normalcy. He doesn't quite make as much of his character as Eric Bogosian does in a smaller supporting role. But Alicia Silverstone in her small part almost steals the limelight. Together they make a finely honed quartet as directed by Daniel Sullivan. What takes place in front of our eyes seems real, and the characters relationships are engrossing. The first act is near perfection while the second sags a bit; a bit disappointing as the resolution is not predictable and is profoundly troubling and sad. A fine play, and a superb evening in the theater with Linney in what may be the role of her life and giving a performance to match. Broadway Bridge and Tunnel Test Grade. A-

Measure For Measure, a play by William Shakespeare at the Duke presented by Theater For A New Audience. TFNA is usually a reliable bunch, so we went to our first ever performance of "Measure for Measure" with the confidence that we would see a good, if not great, performance. Unfortunately, from the first five minutes into the play it was apparent that we were in for a very long and painful experience. The cast, with the exception of Jefferson Mays as the Duke, and to a lesser extent John Christopher Jones as Elbow, was to put it bluntly, inept. The heart of the play is the character of Isabella and her cruel choice between saving her brother's life or her virtue, here played by the preternaturally thin Elisabeth Waterson, costumed apparently to resemble Olive Oyl. Gawky, unable to project her voice even to our our third row stage seats in what is a very small space, Waterson portrayed Isabella as a cranky and petulant prude. Watching her deliver Shakespeare's passionate and heartrending pleas for mercy and justice in droning, sing-song cadences, it was hard to believe she was praised as Desdemona last season, in fact it was hard to believe she could have graduated acting school. The same would go for LeRoy McClain as her brother Claudio. In the villain role of Angelo, Rocco Sisto at first seemed as if he would give a broad mustache-twirling performance but he floundered so badly in the second act that we had to write him off as a total loss.
The direction by Arin Arbus was cluttered and static and took no account for the fact that the stage had the audience on three sides. Where we sat, the right side, the action was blocked from our view at crucial times. The scenes of high comedy were bungled (the unmasking of the Duke in the final scene was clumsy) and scenes of high drama brought titters from the audience. There was no integration to the acting, one could see NYU here, Juilliard there, but at no time did we see even minimum competence except from John Christopher Jones whose deadpan comedy proved as effective as it did in "Alls Well That Ends Well" and the excellent Jefferson Mays as the Duke who seemed like Gielgud amidst this bumbling troupe (which, alas, he was not). This was not worth our time and trouble. Broadway Bridge and Tunnel Test Grade F