Stage Door: "The Little Foxes" doubles The Lovely Laura Linney
Tuesday, May 9, 2017 at 5:49PM Nathaniel R on one of the season's biggest Tony nominees and the most important for Actressexuals
Lillian Hellman's The Little Foxes first debuted on the New York stage in 1939 with instantly classic characters, most notably the spiteful Regina Giddens and mousy drunk Birdie Hubbard, who Regina's brother married for her considerable fortune. The show was a hit and immediately scored a classic film version, released in 1941. In the intervening years the show seemed to disappear from the public consciousness a wee bit, despite being revived several times. It didn't help that the awesome 1941 film version was out of print for a long stretch. It's always a treat for fans of actresses since the roles are tailor made for starpower divas...
Tallulah Bankhead, Bette Davis, Greer Garson, Anne Bancroft, Elizabeth Taylor, Stockard Channing and now Laura Linney / Cynthia Nixon have all played Regina. MVP character actresses like Patricia Collinge, Margaret Leighton,Eileen Heckart, Maureen Stapleton, Frances Conroy and now Laura Linney/Cynthia Nixon have all played Birdie in past productions on stage and screen.
The new Tony-nominated production (which runs through July 2nd only so hurry!) reminds us of what a firecracker the play remains.
Linney, Goldstein, McKean, Nixon and Thomas as the Hubbards and Giddens family in THE LITTLE FOXES
The entire three act play takes place within the home of Regina Giddens (Laura Linney on the night I saw the play though she and Cynthia Nixon, pictured as Regina above, take turns with the role). She's a well-to-do ambitious woman who is cooking up a business deal with her two brothers Oscar and Ben Hubbard (Darren Goldstein and Michael McKean) that will make the entire family tremendously wealthy. The les than ethical business deal has numerous catches, though. Caught up in the money and moral struggles are three relative innocents, chief among them mousy drunk sister-in-law Birdie (Cynthia Nixon, wonderfully sad and distracted)... who has already been victimized once by the greed of the Hubbards. Through her alcohol fog, she manages to see that the same thing may happen to Regina's daughter Alexandra (Francesca Carpanani) if good-hearted Horace (Richard Thomas) doesn't catch on to the fine details of the plan.
Laura Linney's apple-cheeked loveliness has pigeonholed her somewhat, at least in the mainstream imagination, as a upstanding American, a wholesome woman if you will. Beneath her cherubic beauty, though, there's always been enough depth of character acting and sly wit to subvert first impressions. She's shown, frequently in fact, that you underestimate her characters at your own peril. She aces more bitingly funny or more treacherous roles (think The Savages or The House of Mirth) fairly regularly. Regina proves a perfect fit. She deploys Southern charm with elegant ease towards the family's acquaintance and potential business partner in the play's opening act but her conversational cheer darkens when there's less need for pretense and there's only family around thereafter. Playful banter starts feeling less playful and more like a cat getting bored with its mouse in act two. Is it a spoiler for a nearly 80 year old play to say that she's chilling when it's time for the kill in act three?
Smart if subtle lighting and blocking choices, and an altogether fine ensemble (including the terrific Caroline Steffanie Clay as the family's observant maid Addie) keep the long play simmering before its full act three boil. This night of theater flies by despite two intermissions! The Little Foxes has never been perfect, with its starkly drawn lines between good and evil -- the role of Alexandra, for example, is still impossibly simplistic (Carpanani tries but like Teresa Wright in the film version there's only so much you can do) -- but it's ferociously strong where it counts. If anything Hellman's den of vipers drama feels startlingly prescient. It couldn't be a better fit to our current times of economic disparity and empathy deficiency with its laser focus on the scorched earth narcissism and greed of the uber wealthy.
P.S. I had hoped to see The Little Foxes twice, as two of my friends did to compare and contrast (each had a different response to who was rocking Regina and/or Birdie hardest) but realized I couldn't justify the expense. Actressexuality™ on a budget can be so humbling! However, if you'd like to try it The Little Foxes website has an easy-to-read calendar detailing who plays the lead role each day and evening.
P.P.S. Tony Nominations for the Little Foxes
- Best Revival of a Play (Manhattan Theater Club)
- Best Direction of a Play (Daniel Sullivan, 8th nomination / 1 win for Proof)
- Best Leading Actress (Laura Linney, 4th nomination)
- Best Featured Actress (Cynthia Nixon, 4th nomination / 1 win for Rabbit Hole)
(The difference in the lead/feature nominations is due to opening night credits. Linney plays Regina slightly more often each week) - Best Featured Actor (Richard Thomas, 1st nomination)
- Best Costume Design of a Play (Jane Greenwood, 21st nomination but she's never won a competitive Tony (!!!) / 1 Lifetime Achievement)
Reader Comments (16)
Are you gonna see Spider-Man: Homecoming?
Er, of course.
Wow! Eileen Heckart and Maureen Stapleton are two of my very favorite supporting actresses of all times. But what can I say about Margaret Leighton! I got hooked on her in 1972 in X, Y and Zee, where Liz Taylor and Susannah York also excelled. Leighton had quite a run over two years, with The Go-Between, Lady Caroline Lamb and The Nelson Affair. If you haven't seen her ever try to catch one of these films. She is absolutely delicious. She was married to Michael Wilding at the time of her dead, in 1976, at 53. Laurence Harvey was husband number 2.
as tfe's #1 fan of the lovely laura linney, and as self-identifying miranda, i cannot begin to express my jealousy that you got to see this
that sound you hear is me grinding my teeth on the other side of the world
Wow! These two actresses are amazing. When you started to talk about Linney's "apple-cheeked loveliness" I was going to interject with "but 'The Savages'" and you already had that handled.
Nixon is so underrated. I think people still see her as Miranda from "Sex and the City" - in which she was truly great - but she is capable of so much and has done so much more. Not only is she great in "James White" in a very dramatic role, but I just re-watched her "30 Rock" episode where she plays the actress playing Julianne Moore's character in the TV movie of Avery's kidnapping, and she is so game comedically. Love her.
Bought tickets for this this weekend! Seeing it at the end of May. Several reviews recommended seeing Linney as Regina and Nixon as Birdie, so that is the pairing we are going to see.
I loved the Play and like you described, time flies with this Play. It was so enjoyable! I have lots of admiration for Laura Linney because she always makes the right dedicions with her characters. Because I'm from Europe, I planned a whole trip to NYC to see the Play, I'm also a fan of Bette Davis performance in the movie of 1941. At the time I booked there wasn't a realese of when which Actress will play Regina. I definitely hoped for Laura. I even kept it a surprise til the show started. In my case, Regina was played by Nixon. I felt that all the lines of Laura had been with more depth and had more realness to it. The Audience gave Laura in the middle of the Act so much applause and Nixon only got it when she let her man die with the famous line. And I saw Sunset Blvd on the same busy Broadway Day, so I couldn't make a second showing happening. I hope Laura finally wins her Tony and next stop should be at the Oscars but we all know how hard it is as a woman to win when you're in your 50s, I pray for a great role for her!
P.s. Next to my seat was a nice woman from Australia and she loved it to, especially Laura, she got a lot of laughs and applause, as I already wrote. It was so nice after so many missed opportunity I finally got to see Laura on Broadway! Keep up the great work Nathaniel! Greetings from Austria!
I'm flying to New York tomorrow to see this. I'll try catching discount, "last minute tickets", but i'd reeaaaaally like to be sure the performance i see is with Linney as Regina... Because it feels so right in my mind. I also REAAAALLY love Nixon since Sex & the City and i never stopped following her career, and i'm sure she'll ace Birdie's part.
Could anybody tell me where i can find a schedule of the performances? (the one on the official website and the one on TelechargeOffers are in exact opposition with each other...)
PS : I you like Linney's bitchy side best (as i do), take a look at The Big C. It certainly isn't a great show but Laura is amazing in it. And her interpretation is the reason why i think she'll be perfect as Regina.
Clement -- sorry to hear that. If the website and telecharge disagree i'm not sure what to say (though i'd think that the website is more likely be accurate i can't be sure)
Been waiting for this post, N. Sounds like I need to drive down NYC soon.
I did a marathon day and saw both ladies take on each role. What an exercise in seeing how casting changes things! Both made each part their own and it changed the dynamics of the rest of the ensemble.
Nat,
Maybe you can just tell me when you went, and then i'll compare with each schedules to see wich one is accurate ... Or i'll just keep my fingers crossed ;)
How could one have underestimated Laura Linney? I've not had the pleasure of seeing her on stage (and at today's prices, I probably never will). However, I first saw her in "Tales of the City" and "The Truman Show" -- and in both cases she played characters who were surfacey wide-eyed innocents with a core of cold steel.
Darren Goldstein is a very good looking Bear!
While Linney was as explosive as expected as Regina, i was swept away by Nixon's performance as Birdie. My god, to see both of them walking away with the play as they did was a pure joy. Nixon's big scene was really the highlight of the play for me.