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Updated 6/8/04 THE NEW YORK CRITICS ON "LADYHOUSE BLUES" MARTIN GOTTFRIED, THE NEW YORK POST HAROLD CLURMAN, THE NATION Humor runs through the play like a cooling stream...Rarely has a man written so perceptive a play about a group of women. CLIVE BARNES, THE NEW YORK TIMES Kevin O'Morrison's Ladyhouse Blues is a strangely atmospheric play, which at times has the haunting quality of Chekhov. The place is St. Louis - grassroots America - and the time is 1919. As the play unfolds the significance of 1919 becomes more and more apparent; this must have been one of the watershed years of American history ... Throughout the play we see hints of the new America to come. Everywhere there are suggestions of an America changing, of a society on the move ... In a remarkably unaffected way, Ladyhouse Blues appears to pinpoint just that evolving evolution ... The play is extremely moving and extraordinarily evocative ... WALTER KERR, THE NEW YORK TIMES It's authenticity doesn't come from its mere marshalling of period trivia to let us know that we are in the early months of 1919, and that the mother and her four daughters who share chores and occasional songs, and blunt, hearty quarrels in the kitchen, are women without men ... The women come on like truth itself because of the sheer energy they pour into the fleeting, empty, often despairing days and nights ... In their vulnerabilities, all are strong ... Mr. O'Morrison has given them everything in abundance: distinctive human voices, busy hands that belong to people, humor and despair as good companions, an aura of wistful poetry behind all that is so animated, so stubborn, so ignorant, so innocent. He is beyond question a playwright to be nourished and waited for. MEL GUSSOW, THE NEW YORK TIMES Mr. O'Morrison' play...is a period piece that exactly captures a time, an environment and a mood. The mood is one of restless anxiety, a breaking point with the past, and an insecurity about the future. The Maddens are bound by tradition. Almost any action is seen as a rebellion, and an forthright move, such as an "unsuitable" marriage can seriously upset the equilibrium... Mr. O'Morrison has not attempted to depict an O'Neill family in crisis, but to preserve a way of life, to look back with fondness at women he knows well. His play is an album of photographs of women in white - in chemises and nightgowns - posing as if for a portrait of pioneers. The photogrphs are still, the album is comprehensive. ERIKA MUNK, THE VILLAGE VOICE Kevin O'Morrison has written an interesting
play. Not because all his five characters are women - the presence of
well-observed and sympathetic female characters is simply things as they
should be...people whose struggles and decisions vis-à-vis change are the
more touching because - as wives and workers - they have little power. Each
shows some aspect of American mobility, for better or worse. The mother is
strong ... well defined, colorful, a "character", and at the same time, she's simply stuck. Fierce and funny...she's the old fashioned
American, she owes no one anything and expects nothing from anyone...This is
a perfect play for Broadway, where the audience could understand and enjoy it
without being either pandered to or insulted. (NYC: As Liz Madden in The Phoenix Theatre's production Jo Henderson won an OBIE. CHICAGO: The Wisdom Bridge production, directed by Robert Falls, won 4 Joseph Jefferson Awards, including one for the whole cast) To buy Ladyhouse Blues Click Here |
