STUNG, no doubt, by The Post’s startling report that they’d butchered the first act of Clifford Odets’ celebrated play “The Country Girl,” director Mike Nichols and playwright-turned-blogger Jon Robin Baitz are rushing to repair the damage they inflicted on the script.
As of late yesterday afternoon, “Country Girl” spies were reporting that a crucial six-page scene that was conspicuously absent Monday was being restored last night.
The scene is key because it sets up the relationship between the two main characters, a broken-down alcoholic actor and his long-suffering wife. Some production sources said the drastic cut was made because Nichols thought the play was dragging; others said it was made because Morgan Freeman, who’s starring in the revival, couldn’t remember his lines.
Whatever the reason, the cut made for a shockingly short first act – just 37 minutes – which caused some audience members who shelled out $100 a ticket to complain that they were shortchanged.
Investors in “The Country Girl,” now in previews at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre, must be relieved that the first act is being restored. All week, production sources were fretting that the chopped-up script was going to require an extensive overhaul of Tim Hatley‘s set, whose main feature is a long black wall.
Bill Haber, the lead producer of the show, was prepared to spend $500,000 over the weekend to reformat the set. Co-founder of Creative Artists Agency, Haber certainly has the money – the guy’s got a chateau in the Loire Valley with a hot-air balloon in the front yard, after all. And sources say his attitude toward Nichols, who has a reputation for undoing the purse strings on shows, has always been: “Whatever Mike wants, Mike gets.”
But an additional half a million dollars would have made it very tricky for “The Country Girl” to return its investment, already nearly $3 million. The show, which is set to open April 27, is scheduled to run only through July 20, and the box office isn’t exactly exploding.
While many people involved in the show are worried about its prospects, sources say Nichols doesn’t appear to have a care in the world. He gave the actors a day off this week, even though many of them are still struggling with their lines and blocking.
I spotted him Monday night at Bar Centrale after a rocky preview of “The Country Girl.” He was looking, in Odets argot, “as crisp as lettuce” and yukking it up with Baitz and Matthew Broderick.
Those who’ve worked with Nichols, 76, say he never panics. And he certainly knows his way around rocky previews, having helped turn troubled shows such as “My One and Only” and “Annie” into hits. Three years ago, he presided over the Tony-winning “Spamalot.”
But some of his more recent nonmusical plays have been misfires: “The Play What I Wrote” – which he produced – was a flop, and his production of “The Seagull” in Central Park a few years ago was notable mainly for the grab bag of acting styles.
Crisp lettuce wilts sooner or later.
Footnote: I needled Nichols and Baitz in my Wednesday column, pointing out that if they ever get their scissorhands on “The Crucible,” they’d probably cut the scene in which Giles Corey yells, “More weight!”
Several astute readers pointed out, however, that there is no such scene. Corey’s death by pressing – and his memorable line – is described in the play, but not shown.
As BigM, a poster on All That Chat, cracked: “See? They’ve already cut it!”