All those glowing reviews for Cherry Jones and the current Broadway "Glass Menagerie" revival have made their mark: the production, which was supposed to end Jan. 5 at the Booth Theater, has now been extended to Feb. 23.
Critics used words like "magnificent," "brilliant" and even "revelatory" for John Tiffany's staging of Tennessee Williams' early masterpiece, which transferred from Cambridge’s American Repertory Theater and opened Sept. 26.
Actress Jones has already played Lady Barbara, Mrs. Warren, Josie Hogan, a Mormon in “Angels in America”, a naïve “Heiress” and a “Doubt”ful nun, so it was only a matter of time before she took on Amanda Wingfield, one of the pillar roles in the American theater.
Co-starring in Tennessee Williams’ durable play about a former Southern belle and her grown but disappointing children are Celia Keenan-Bolger as the fragile Laura, Zachary Quinto as Tom and Brian J. Smith as the Gentleman Caller that Amanda hopes will take a shine to Laura.
Tiffany, who staged the Tony-winning “Once”, directs "Menagerie", which debuted on Broadway in 1945 (and made Laurette Taylor an acting legend) and has now returned six more times since, the most recent being a 2005 mounting with Sarah Paulson (Jones’ real-life ex-partner) as Laura and Jessica Lange as Amanda.
It's been a busy time for author Williams, who died in 1983. Last season saw a multi-racial spring mounting of "A Streetcar Named Desire", while weeks ago, "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof", with Scarlett Johansson and Ciaran Hinds, played at the Richard Rodgers Theater. Also, this summer brought an extended off-Broadway run of the little known "Two-Character Play".
For a roundup of some of the glowing notices garnered by "Glass Menagerie", please check out our story from last week: https://stagebuddy.com/theater/critics-shattered-by-bway-glass-menagerie/