August: Osage County

Last Saturday, Nick, Oda and I tried our luck at the TKTS booth and wound up with tickets to see August: Osage County, a relatively new addition to the Broadway line-up, straight from Chicago's Steppenwolf Theater.

We'd all heard good things about the play, but we had no idea what a treat we were in for. The play is long -- a grand total of three and a half hours (with two intermissions) -- but the acting and storyline become so riveting that you aren't even conscious of the time passing.

The play is set in Osage County, Oklahoma and chronicles the dysfunctional dynamics of an extended family that hit their dramatic peak upon the mysterious disappearance of the family patriarch. As the play unfolds, we witness many darkly humorous and plain tragic moments as the family gathers around their pill-popping, cancer-stricken mother.

It was like "Jerry Springer" meets "Intervention" meets "To Catch a Predator", and while it started out a bit slow (the jury was still out at the first intermission), the second and third acts take on tremendous momentum and catapult the audience smack into the middle of the family drama, along with all of its surprises and its moments of predictability.

On a side note, Nick forwarded a great article from the Chicago Tribune (click here to read) which gave an interesting insider peak into the lives of the ensemble cast from the Steppenwolf Theater as they struggled with the decision whether to come to Broadway or not. Turns out that Broadway is not the be-all and end-all for every stage actor and musical theater performer.