©
Al Hirschfeld
Drawing reproduced by special arrangement with Hirschfeld's
exclusive representative,
The Margo Feiden Galleries, Ltd., New York
|
from The City Paper
"Bench Marked"
By
Trey Graham
The City Paper
...What
makes the evening almost poignant is that Nat, the least successful
Benchley by the measures our celebrity society likes to employ,
is an actor of broader range than his grandfather, who felt
no less pigeonholed as a stage and screen performer than as
a writer. Here, he's low-key and empathetic as he lays out
his family's history, droll and disarming when he takes on
Robert's persona, and witty in his own right as he sketches
little portraits of Dorothy Parker, Alexander Woollcott, and
the other social terrorists who anchored the Algonquin.
Nick Olcott directs the transitions from one element to
the next with a steady and all-but-invisible hand; there's
nothing showy here, just quietly accomplished stagecraft
that makes the most of what was clearly a lean budget....
|
|