This is probably the wrong word for the show but, it is sublime. Intensely sublime. Dark. It's an actor's utopia. I'm gonna stop now because I think you'd need to be sitting with me inside a NY French cafe =P, and listening to my description, my experience of the show. I'm not focused on writing about it!
AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY is The Show that I have been recommending to anyone since first seeing it in November. Everyone: GO.
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By Kenneth Jones
14 Jan 2008
The Broadway engagement of Tracy Letts' August: Osage County, critically embraced and an audience favorite, has been extended to April 13 at the Imperial Theatre. The producers announced the added weeks on Jan. 14. The play was to be seen in a strictly limited 16-week run to March 9, but the dysfunctional-family drama is like a house on fire. The Steppenwolf Theater Company production is doing big business in the 1,400-seat theatre usually known as a home for musicals. In addition to enthusiastic reviews, the staging has prompted good word of mouth, fueling the box office.
The play tells of "the Weston clan after the disappearance of their patriarch. The family returns to their three-story home in rural Oklahoma to get to the heart of the matter."
The cast includes Ian Barford, Deanna Dunagan, Kimberly Guerrero, Francis Guinan, Brian Kerwin, Dennis Letts, Madeleine Martin, Mariann Mayberry, Amy Morton, Sally Murphy, Jeff Perry, Rondi Reed, Troy West, Munson Hicks, Susanne Marley, Jay Patterson, Dee Pelletier, Molly Ranson, Aaron Serotsky and Kristina Valada-Viars.
The cast does not change with this extension — the Chicago-based actors who created the central roles in the humor-spiked drama will still bite into their parts. Mutiple Tony Award nominations are assured.
Anna D. Shapiro (The Pain and the Itch, Iron) directs the production. The design team includes Todd Rosenthal (sets), Ana Kuzmanic (costumes), Ann Wrightson (lights), Richard Woodbury (sound) and David Singer (original music).
The Imperial Theatre is located at 245 West 45th Street. The performance schedule is as follows: Tuesday-Friday at 7:30 PM, Saturday at 8 PM, Wednesday & Saturady at 2 PM and Sunday at 3 PM.
Note some early curtain times, which take into account the show's three acts and three-and-a-half-hour running time.
Tickets are available at Telecharge.com and at (212) 239-6200. Prices range from $99.50 to $26.50.
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The Steppenwolf Theatre Company production of August: Osage County is produced on Broadway by Jeffrey Richards, Jean Doumanian, Steve Traxler, Jerry Frankel, Ostar Productions, Jennifer Manocherian, The Weinstein Company, Debra Black/Daryl Roth, Ronald & Marc Frankel/Barbara Freitag, and Rick Steiner/Staton Bell Group.
