The Journal

Issue date: 10/26/06 Section: LifeStyle

Media Credit: PHOTO COURTESY OF SANDY UNDERWOOD Lennie (Brendan Averett, left) and George (Marc Aden Gray) are two Depression-era migrant workers in search of a better life in the Repertory Theatre's production of the classic John Steinbeck novella 'Of Mice and Men.'

After a turbulent takeoff with "Ace," the Repertory Theatre of Saint Louis' 40th anniversary season remains unremarkable with the new production of John Steinbeck's classic "Of Mice and Men." Like "Ace," "Of Mice and Men" deals with dreams, except the setting is California and the dream is the American dream.

Steinbeck's novella has been transferred to film and performed as a play so many times it takes a lot to bring anything fresh to the material and make people want to see it. While there are some fine performances and interesting staging, the play seems like a waste for the Rep.

Right from the opening notes of the play, the connection between the two main characters, George and Lennie, seems more harsh than tender. Lennie is mentally disabled and George is his pseudo-caretaker as they move from ranch to ranch, trying to save up money to buy a ranch where Lennie can take care of rabbits.

For "Of Mice and Men" to work as a play, the relationship between George and Lennie has to be clear. According to Rep artistic director Steven Woolf and scenic designer Paul Shortt, the co-dependency of the two main characters fills a psychological need. All of this may be engrained in Steinbeck's writing, but it still has to be executed on stage - this production fails to do that.

Marc Aden Gray, who plays George, seems to have stumbled onto this stage from the prep school in the Off-Ramp's production of "Shakespeare's R&J." While everyone in the play wears muted blues and grays, Gray has on a green shirt with clean-cut gelled hair and what looks more like an Indiana Jones fedora than a rancher's hat. He is too clean-cut, too smooth and too perfect to be believable as a true rancher.

Above these costume design mistakes, Gray lacks the tenderness for Lennie, played well by Brendan Averett, that George needs to have.

George is fatherly and yells at Lennie quite often. While this is written in the material, Gray puts a harshness and edge into the material that damages the relationship with Lennie. Though he corrects himself at the end, and the second act works its way toward being more effective, there is no deep sadness felt by the audience in the tragic conclusion. Without that tender love and need, the relationship and play fails to be effective.

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