I arrived in New York Saturday morning for an eight-day visit, during which I will see 10 or 11 plays and musicals, the most promising productions on Broadway and off, as the season winds to a close.
Less than six hours after I took off from West Palm Beach, I was in a fourth row center seat at the Sondheim Theatre for one of the final previews of Horton Foote’s The Trip to Bountiful, a revival of a resolutely old-fashioned drama about an aging Texas widow who yearns to visit her former home in the moribund town of Bountiful. I only knew the story from the 1985 film version, which brought Geraldine Page an Oscar in the role of determined Carrie Watts.
Foote’s actress daughter Hallie was equally determined to give the stage play new life by re-conceiving it for a predominantly black cast, headed by the frail, but towering Cicely Tyson. A full assessment of the production will have to wait until it opens Tuesday.
It is fair to say now that Tyson ― aged 79 ― seems headed for a Tony nomination, which is at least as much a commentary on the paucity of plays on Broadway these days as it is on Tyson’s compelling performance. If awards are won as much by the role as they are by the performance, she certainly has precedence on her side.
Next: Seeing one of Tyson’s potential competitors, the pint-sized dynamo Bette Midler in a non-singing, one-woman show, I’ll Eat You Last: A Chat with Sue Mengers, about the late star-controlling Hollywood agent.