Danny and the Deep Blue Sea
Danny and the Deep Blue Sea is John Patrick Shanley’s second play. It has only two characters Roberta (Juliet Landau) and Danny (Michael Williamson) both of whom are alienated from other humans and full of rage, boarding on being psychopathic. The story is simply how they overcome all the barriers that their separate personalities erect and ends, predictably, a love story.
Stories like this always make me uncomfortable. I am not sure I want these two characters together with anybody. This kind of play has always had some popular appeal, especially to actors who get to be low down disgusting, crazy, angry, and passionate. Luckily director John McNaughton has found two perfect actors for the roles. Michael Williamson, a dark and brooding presence, does a terrific job as the hostile Danny. He is a very handsome guy with muscles so you can see how he has played Stanley Kowalski in the past. Despite the roll he manages to find moments of character driven humor in his performance.
The play really belongs to Roberta, the quirky and lovely Juliet Landau who is the daughter of Martin Landau and the gorgeous Barbara Bain. Her father was present the night I saw it so I know we got a great performance. Her dad runs the Actors Studio so she has the kind of chops through birth and through training to take on this role. There wasn’t a false moment in her performance and it ranks as one of the best if not the best performance by a woman I have seen this year. Her Dad seemed proud too. Danny and the Deep Blue Sea is playing at the Crown City Theatre and is scheduled to play until January 1.