William L. Petersen Plans Return to star in 'Night of the Iguana"

Chicago Tribune, Sid Smith, Tribune Arts Critic, Dec. 30, 1993

William L. Petersen will return to star as the alcoholic minister Lawrence Shannon in "The Night of the Iguana" March 19-April 9 at the Goodman  Theatre.

Petersen's last appearance here was in 1992 in "Once in Doubt" for the Remains Theatre. Cherry Jones, who won acclaim for "The Good Person of Setzuan" at the Goodman a few seasons back, will play the wise Hannah, and Cynthia Baker will portray the brassy, hardened fleabag-resort proprietor Maxine in the Tennessee Williams classic.

Goodman artistic director Robert Falls will direct, his first production for the Goodman in more than a year. After "Iguana," Falls heads for New York to direct Eric Gogosian's new play, "subUrbia," for an April opening at Lincoln Center's Mitzi Newhouse Theatre.

NEW YORK VERDICT ON BRILLIANT 'IGUANA' ISN'T UNANIMOUS

Chicago Tribune, Richard Christiansen, Tribune Chief Critic, March 23, 1996

Two years and many a false start after its much-acclaimed production at Goodman Theatre in Chicago, director Robert Falls' production of Tennessee Williams' "The Night of the Iguana" has arrived on Brodway--to a very mixed critical reception.

The production, slightly reduced in size to fit a small stage of Roundabout Theater's 500-seat auditorium, is virtually the same--only better--than it was in Chicago.

William Petersen as the defrocked Rev. T. Laurence Shannon, Cherry Jones as the courageous spinster Hannah Jelkes, and Lawrence McCauley as her aged grandfather poet Nonno are back in the cast, as are many of the original supporting players.

New to the mix is Marsha Mason as Maxine Faulk, the lusty proprietress of seedy Mexican hotel where the exhausted Shannon, Hannah and Nonno have wound up.

The same spirit of daring and revelation that informed the Goodman production still burns brightly in New York; but the response has been quite different.

The important New York Times review by Vincent Canby called the show "a wildly uneven revival---risky to the point of wrong-headedness," and found Petersen's interpretation of Shannon's "sexually ambiguous nature" too "heavily italicized."

In this production, Canby damningly wrote, "We have a passion play from which the central passion has been removed."

On the other hand, Clive Barnes of the New York Post, while admiring Jones and Mason, singled out Petersen for particular praise for his "burned-out, stretched-out, morosely cynical Shannon." And Barnes finished his review by stating that this "Iguana" is "one of the season's plays that are not to be missed."

Mary Campbell of the Associated Press thought the production was "brilliantly cast," and in the Daily News, reviewer Michael Musto said, "The solid production builds as the play does, getting stronger as the histrionics die down and the actors connect."

Audience response in sold-out previews had been cautious but positive, Falls says, and the mixed bag of reviews probably won't cut into the Roundabout's heavily subscribed engagement through May 14.

Yet the shift in critical response in "Iguana's" transfer to New York illustrated once again the delicacy and fragility of a production's life. All things are as they were two years ago in Chicago with this brilliant staging--except for the moment, and the reviews.