Thursday October 16, 2008
About 10 p.m. last night, the Blogster wondered who had the scarier smile. Was it the self-destructive mask Brian Dennehy wore as “Erie” Smith, the riveting, fading gambler in the Long Wharf Theatre’s great revival of Eugene O’Neill one-act “Hughie?” Or was it the eerie, forced grin/grimace that Sen. John McCain seemed to sprout every time he wanted to refute Barack Obama during the final presidential debate?
The play, which has already been extended for a week, according to Gordon Edelstein, the artistic director, opened last night.
The brisk, 50-minute show includes Joe Grifasi as the night clerk in the fleabag New York hotel who has been hired to replace Erie’s pal, Hughie, whose death sent Erie on what they called in 1928 was a “toot” of several days. Erie’s bluster nearly covers the pain and the piper that must be paid in several days. It reminded me of the coming Election Day, around the corner, when we’ll find out who’s the next president.
After the performance, just before the Blogster fled to hear and see the presidential debate, Edelstein offered a toast to a crowded hallway in the little theater, calling O’Neill, who died in 1953, a still-iconic presence in American theater. He praised Dennehy and Grifasi for working for a pittance. Dennehy, standing with Grifasi, then chimed that unemployment might be lucrative.
“We’d make more money if we WEREN’T working,” Dennehy quipped.