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VIOLET Send This Review to a Friend
The magnetism and talent of the always-delightful Sutton Foster dominates “Violet,” a credibility-strained story further enlivened by strong male performances and Jeanine Tesori’s country songs that Foster and her co-stars deliver expertly with the required twang. The production, presented by the Roundabout Theatre Company, is based on a New York City Center Encores! staging.
Given the intelligence and feisty. sharp-tongued attitude communicated by Foster in the title role, it is hard to square that with the naïve character, who thinks that going to an Oklahoma faith healer will make the scar she has carried on her face disappear. One wouldn’t think she would be as susceptible as Brian Crawely’s far-fetched book would have her (Crawley also provides the lyrics).
And by the way, I have a message for director Leigh Silverman. Violet is horrified by the scar that resulted when a blade from her daddy’s ax flew off and hit her face when she was a youngster. Kids mocked her and she has felt so horribly ugly ever since. There is talk ad infinitum about the scar. Yet as an audience we must completely use our imagination. Even sitting close, one can’t see anything on her face but a faded line. Imagination only goes so far. Foster needs more of a make-up mark on her face to justify all of the palaver.
The work’s ultimate message, after the saga of Violet’s 1964 bus trip across the south to reach the phony faith healer, is the cliché that beauty lies in who you are rather than what you look like.
The casting, performances and the spirited take on Tesori’s songs give the show strength above and beyond the strained tale. Both Colin Donnell as the soldier Monty and Joshua Henry as the black soldier Flick, whom Violet meets along the route, and who both overlook her scar and fall for her as a person, are excellent both in singing and acting.
There is also some sharp staging, flitting back and forth between the present and Violet’s memories of her childhood, with Emerson Steele effective as the young Violet and Alexander Gemignani also very good as her father.
There is one especially appealing and clever simultaneous scene of childhood and adulthood. On one side of the stage Violet’s dad is teaching her how to play poker. On the other side she is showing her acquired poker skill in a game with the soldiers. The song to go with it is “Luck of the Draw” and the lyrics match in both the past and present takes.
There are supporting cast members in multiple roles that flesh out the story, and the score includes a big gospel number, “Raise Me Up.”
But the most positive feeling with which one comes away is Sutton Foster’s commanding, career-enhancing performance. She goes through most of the show acting and singing wonderfully while intentionally looking very plain. But when she gets to flash a winsome smile, she resembles the pretty, glowing star we have come to appreciate and adore in her other stage work. Always in this production, her talent shines majestically. At the American Airlines Theatre, 227 West 42nd Sttreet. Phone: 212-719-1300. Reviewed April 21, 2014.
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