Actor James Earl Jones and director Leonard Foglia, who worked together during the 2004-2005 season on the Broadway revival of On Golden Pond, have reunited in Connecticut for the Westport Country Playhouse mounting of George Stevens Jr.'s Thurgood. The one-man play, starring Jones as Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, opened its limited engagement there on May 11. Did critics think it did justice to its namesake?
Here is a sampling of what they had to say:
Frank Rizzo of Variety: "At least at this point in its development, more judicial work needs to be done to flesh out the character of the first African-American on this country's high court, to make it more than a respectable live visit to The History Channel. What the play needs is to dig deeper into the complexities of Marshall and to make his story more of an artful whole… What makes the personal narrative and the character so appealing is Marshall's straight-forward, no-nonsense approach, his passionate belief in the law and his wicked sense of humor, all expertly embodied by Jones. Despite helmer Leonard Foglia's efforts to keep the stories flowing smoothly and a sense of fluidity and grace of Jones' movements on stage, there's still the lurching feel of a cut-and-paste script."
Malcolm Johnson of The Hartford Courant: "Directed by Leonard Foglia Master Class and the recent Broadway revival of On Golden Pond with Jones on a stage designed by Allen Moyer, with its huge, off-white Jasper Johns American flag, Thurgood gives the big, vivid actor a character of great heart and considerable humor… Crowned with a full head of silver hair and dressed elegantly by Jane Greenwood in a pinstriped, double-breasted suit, Jones is a commanding but always relaxed figure. He makes a potent case for Marshall, and how much he is needed in these parlous times… Foglia's production uses few props, and Jones does not require makeup to age from ebullient and hearty youth to stooped and fragile antiquity. Even as he slows physically, his Thurgood never loses his fighting spirit or his sharp but gentle wit. Though we glimpse little of his inner life, beyond a moment of guilt over the loss of his first wife to cancer, Jones nonetheless gives full measure of a great American."
