Three Tall Women
Written by Edward Albee
Directed by Joe Mantello
Golden Theatre
June 10, 2018
Production website
💉💉💉💉💉 out of 5.

There is acting and then there is Three Tall Women.  This play was simply a masterclass in acting.  Three Women (obviously) dominate the stage and you simply cannot take your eyes off of them for a second.   Glenda Jackson, Laurie Metcalf, and Alison Pill – WOW!  Whoever arranged that coup of casting needs to get a big bonus.I often pick up an Albee play to read and remember when theatre was theatre and not just television placed on stage.  But I always miss something.  Words don’t soar like they should.  Discoveries and decisions just don’t grab you – – – – But then you see this production and you understand why Edward Albee is the MAN.  Nothing exists in the words.  The words are simply the markers that these three master Thespians navigate as they bump and tear their way down the road of aging and owning the consequences of the thousand choices that they have made.  What can be said?  They are all brilliant – and for the first time, the setting becomes equally magical – as we two get to experience sitting shotgun at a deathbed –  as one of our precious and hated elders takes her last breath!  We are there on stage holding their hand into the darkness.

One other element that struck me – was the magic of the long overdue return of Glenda Jackson to the stage.  What made her so good?  And she was THAT good!  I likened it to the skin of all of us as we age – as we grow older.  It gets thinner and thinner until we are almost transparent.  The blood vessels, bones and muscles rise to meet the surface; we are revealed.  Glenda Jackson is revealed.  She has reached an age and skill level where she is simply transparent.  Nothing is hidden from us.