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NEW YORK -- I was at the weirdest party last Friday.
It was thrown by this older, obviously wealthy Danish couple who seemed very elegant but apparently had some ugly baggage. Kind of like Hamlet's mom and stepfather, come to think of it -- except creepier.
Festen (** 1/2 out of four), which opened Sunday at Broadway's Music Box Theatre, is more directly based on a 1998 film of the same name by director Thomas Vinterberg. He and Lars von Trier led the Dogme 95 movement, a stark cinematic school stressing human sparks and eruptions over technical ones.
Anyone who saw von Trier's sporadically fascinating Dogville (2003) will be better prepared for the bare-bones melodrama that colors this play, adapted by David Eldridge, which premiered at London's Almeida Theatre in 2004. In the new production, the actors playing the patriarch Helge, his wife Else, and their grown children and employees occupy a vast stage with little scenery.
There's a lot of touching, some of it affectionate, some angry and abusive. The distinction isn't always clear; the fine line between intimacy and violence always is evident. One couple segues from fighting to noisily making love, while another woman frantically reaches for what turns out to be a suicide note from her sister.
Tragedy is central to Festen, which follows a birthday bash that takes a dark turn after Helge's elder son makes a startling revelation. What follows can be pretentious, darkly funny and plain unnerving. Revelers make eloquent speeches, then lunge at each other. At one point, they just eat and drink in silence. Later, a sense of redemption, or at least relief, is suggested.
An affair like this flies or dies depending on the guest list, and the cast here mostly delivers. The marvelous Larry Bryggman makes Helge equally credible as a gentleman and a monster, and Michael Hayden evokes the repression and rage of his tortured son, Christian.
TV alums Jeremy Sisto (Six Feet Under) and Julianna Margulies (E.R., The Sopranos) juggle aggression and vulnerability as the other siblings. As their mother, the still-stunning Ali MacGraw seems a little stiff, but that helps reinforce Else's brittle reserve.
Besides, if it's comfort and warmth you're after, you should probably crash another soiree.
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