Long Day’s Journey into Night

Long Day’s Journey into Night

Roundabout Theatre Company

American Airlines Theatre

April 16, 2016

Photo courtesy of Roundabout Theatre Company

Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey into Night is presently in previews at the American Airlines Theatre.  The production has the high level of quality we have come to expect from Roundabout Theatre Company.  Under the bold direction of Jonathan Kent is a stellar cast lead by Jessica Lange and Gabriel Bryne.  Combine that with incredible sets and magnificent costumes and what you get is an event worthy of this American classic.

Act I opens with laughter as the Tyrone family start the day with breakfast, happy that Mary (played by Jessica Lange), has returned from a short absence.  As the morning progresses, their true family dynamic begins to surface.  Mary is clearly in denial about the possible illness of her younger son, Edmund (played by John Gallagher Jr.).  Her husband, James (played by Gabriel Bryne), freely voices his disappointment with their older son, Jamie (played by Michael Shannon), who responds with a palpable, cold indifference.  All three men look at Mary with concern that she is too quickly falling back to the problem that caused her previous absence.  In Act II the seriousness of Edmund’s illness and Mary’s drug addiction is revealed.  In Act III and Act IV we find out the source of the despair of each member of this family.  By the time the day’s journey ends, the level of their hopelessness is evident and overwhelming.

Gabriel Byrne & Jessica Lange
Photo courtesy of Roundabout Theatre Company

Act III is when Jessica Lange rises up and commands the stage.  She illuminates Mary Tyrone’s past as she tells her maid (played by Colby Minifie) about her school days in the convent, the adoration of her father, and when she first met and fell in love with her husband.  We gain a sentimental insight into the idealistic beliefs and disillusioned life that causes her denial.  She heartbreakingly shares the events that brought her to addiction.  Her loneliness, suffering, and desperate need for relief from pain are deeply understood.  Just when you are convinced her husband is a self-centered miser, Gabriel Bryne imparts a truthful exposition of the experiences that triggered James Tyrone’s disappointments and motivate his behavior.  Michael Shannon stumbles in drunk during this scene and tears open Jamie’s defensive façade with a brutally honest confession to his brother.  The caring and compassionate side of his character is revealed and the need for his hard, outer shell is understood.  John Gallagher Jr.’s Edmund does not stop fighting back, yet carries a strong sense of victimized defeat.  It is in his authentic portrayal that Eugene O’Neill’s deeper themes are accurately represented.    

  

The cast of Long Day's Journey into Night
Jessica Lange, Gabriel Bryne, Michael Shannon, & John Gallagher, Jr.
Photo courtesy of Roundabout Theatre Company

Roundabout Theatre’s production of Long Day’s Journey into Night runs through June 26 at the American Airline Theatre on 42^nd Street.  With a running time of four hours, including one fifteen minute intermission, it is definitely a long journey, yet with masterful performances that provoke and develop true human pathos from Eugene O’Neill’s dense text, it is a journey worth taking. 

Domenick Danza