The fact that so many memories of the original 1967 film came flooding back to me as this stage revival unfolds is both testimony to the power and poignancy of that movie and the way it has been so faithfully recreated here.
With Simon and Garfunkel providing an inter-scene soundtrack - just as they did to peoples’ lives in that era - for a moment you can almost believe that Grant Orviss in the title role is the young Dustin Hoffman being seduced by Mrs Robinson. He’s not quite as nervous and fumbling as Hoffman’s Benjamin Braddock and Karen Henson is less lingering in her seductiveness than Anne Bancroft, but the pair nevertheless convey the intensity of one of the best-known romantic mismatches in modern literature.
We are back in California in1964 and the play has to be viewed very much as a period piece. What was shocking back then is tame by today’s social and moral standards, though there are still messages in Charles Webb’s classic rom-com for those who choose to seek them.
Sarah Wynne Kordas’ simple but effective set, consisting of little more than two freestanding doors, a bed and comfy seats, is variously a downtown bar, a hotel lobby and, of course, the hotel bedroom at the heart of the tale.
This is an enjoyable journey back to more innocent times and is sure to have you singing “And here’s to you, Mrs RobinsonÉ” on the way out, just as surely as if it was a fully-fledged musical.
Production information can change over the run of the show.
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