I’ve always felt that Christian Slater built his early career as little more than a young Jack Nicholson impersonator. I don’t necessarily mean that in a bad way. If you watch him in Heathers (still his best film role), he’s doing “Jack” full-on, and it’s marvelous. Seventeen years later, it looks like he’s up to his old tricks on stage in Cuckoo’s Nest, in a role made famous on film by Jack Nicholson.
The pleasant surprise here is that Slater has managed to escape from the memory of the film (and Jack) and make the role his own. And, considering all the difficulties he’s gone through (drugs, alcohol, separation, and most recently, chicken pox), he still looks great in only a towel and gives a spellbinding performance to boot.
The production is better than you’d expect, with some pretty interesting lighting and set design. The asylum “inmate” characters all to a decent enough job, and bring a lot more humor to the play than they did to the film (or the book). Oddly, the silent Native American serves as the narrator/Greek chorus, speaking directly to the audience (with lighting changes straight out of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, so Joe Blow in the audience doesn’t think his monologues are part of the narrative) in staccato mystical poetry that reminded me a little too much of the narrator in Blood Brothers.
If there was a weak spot, it was Alex Kingston (the sexy Brit doctor from ER) as the evil Nurse Ratched. The makeup crew have done their best to drain the color out of her rosy cheeks and give her austere hair, but unfortunately she just doesn’t come off as evil enough for the play. Unlike Louise Fletcher (who won an Oscar for her performance in the film), Kingston never really makes you believe her heart has turned to stone. She comes off more like a snippy librarian than an icy psych-ward matron. Personally, I’ve seen more intimidating women behind the cash register at Tesco.
All in all though, it was a great show, and it’s nice to see Christian Slater back in form.
More info: Christian Slater’s Video Blog
(Four words I never expected to type.)
