Justice Marshall gets his due
That rarest of entities - a one-man biographical show that's energized without being forced, as natural as a backyard conversation with an old friend - opened on Broadway last night.
That rarest of entities - a one-man biographical show that's energized without being forced, as natural as a backyard conversation with an old friend - opened on Broadway last night.
Thurgood
does not celebrate its subject, Thurgood Marshall, the first black justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, who died in 1993. Instead, it makes
us
celebrate the man, by delivering Laurence Fishburne in an extraordinary performance so genuine, without a scintilla of pretense, that we embrace him - and Marshall - instantly. ]
It's no-nonsense, from the first words: "We might as well get right down to it. I've given 50 years to the law. I've seen a lot and I've gotten too old to keep secrets."
The script, fascinating alone for deftly spun anecdotes about African American life in the last, transformative century, is a first play by the founder of the American Film Institute, George Stevens Jr. He has written, produced and directed for TV and film; his 90-minute play unfolds like an extended, off-the-cuff quote.
Set in the auditorium of Howard University Law School,
Thurgood
is kinetically staged by Leonard Foglia. (Foglia directed
Master Class
first for Philadelphia Theatre Company, then for Broadway, where it won the 1996 best-play Tony.)
Square-jawed, imposing and fully comfortable with his character, Fishburne easily commands the audience - you feel as though you're conspiring to do something wonderful with him. Fishburne, mostly a film and TV actor, has already conquered Broadway (a 1992 Tony in August Wilson's
Two Trains Running
). He's doing it once again, in the persona of a man who conquered much over a lifetime.
Thurgood
Playing at the Booth Theatre, 222 W. 45th St., New York, through Aug. 3. Tickets: $70 and $95. Information: 1-800-432-7250.