Aaron Sorkin’s To Kill a Mockingbird starts its road tour in Buffalo with a talented cast and sell-out performances. Richard Thomas (aka, John Boy Walton) shines in his performance of Atticus Finch, a country lawyer who defends an African-American man accused of raping a white woman. Sorkin “tweaks” Harper Lee’s version of To Kill a Mockingbird. Sorkin skips Harper Lee’s depictions of daily life in Maycomb, Alabama during the Depression, which take up the first half of her novel, and focuses on the trial.
Sorkin fiddles with Harper Lee’s narrator, too. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Lee tells her story as seen through the eyes six-year-old Jean Louise “Scout” Finch. Scout’s age doubles to 12 and the narration is shared by Scout (played by Melanie Moore), her older brother Jim (Justin Mark), and their friend Dill Harris (Steven Lee Johnson). Mary Badham, who was Oscar nominated for playing Scout in the 1962 film, now plays the Finch’s nasty neighbor, Mrs. Henry Debose.
Sorkin’s version of To Kill a Mockingbird gives greater range to African-American characters than in the novel or the film. Jacqueline Williams dazzles as Calpurnia, the Finch’s housekeeper and cook. She serves as a comic foil to Atticus and becomes his most severe critic. Yaegel T. Welch brings both dignity and strength to his role of Tom Robinson, the innocent man accused of a heinous crime.
Yes, To Kill a Mockingbird is long. Our performance took three hours. But, it didn’t feel like three hours. I think Sorkin could have shortened the action after the trial to make the conclusion more powerful. If To Kill a Mockingbird shows up in your neighborhood, don’t miss it! GRADE: A
I would have liked to see it when Jeff Daniels played Finch, but I don’t care for Richard Thomas .
Steve, Richard Thomas performed well in TO KILL A MOCKING BIRD, but I’d like to see Jeff Daniels as Finch, too.
I can picture Thomas in the part perfectly. He was always full of righteous indignation as John Boy. I would love to see it. We have tkts to see THE BAND’S VISIT in a few weeks. Hope that’s good! You are great supporters of the arts in Buffalo, George. Hope this crowd was less unruly and masked than the one for Diana Krall.
Patti, the audience at Shea’s moves around a bit but nothing like the Center for the Arts. And Shea’s has almost 1000 more seats (3,019 versus 2150). And more audience members wore masks, too.
We saw it with Jeff Daniels, who was very good, but I could see Richard Thomas in the role. We’ve seen him on Broadway a few times, including once playing a rapist.
It took me a little while to get used to the “kids” being played by adults, but everyone did a good job
Patti, I think George disliked THE BAND’S VISIT but we really liked it a lot, as we did the original film..
Jeff, Richard Thomas portrayed Finch in convincing fashion. The “kids” morphed into teenagers in Sorkin’s version and he made them effective narrators.
Does anyone else remember “Tequila Mockingbird” from GET SMART?
Fred, wow! That brings back a lot of memories!
I read that Mary Badham (Scout in the original film) had returned to acting just to play Mrs. Dubose in this touring version. Was she in fact in the cast?
Byron, yes Mary Badham was in the performance we saw. She was fabulous as the cranky Mrs. Dubose!
Fantastic.
George, how dare you recommend a movie Based on a banned book?
– end of irony…
I must admit that I have several works from those lists ..
Some I read already while at school, thanks to the America House.
Later I saw those lists and was flabbergasted.
Censorship everywhere…
.
Wolf, most classics are controversial. That’s one element that makes them classics!