Adrien Brody goes to prison in a predictable…
Theater review
THE FEAR OF 13
One hour and 50 minutes, with no intermission. At the James Earl Jones Theatre, 138 W. forty eighth Street.
It speaks volumes about Adrien Brody’s selection of roles that next to his anguished, Oscar-winning turns in “The Pianist” and “The Brutalist,” his Broadway debut as a wronged man who spends 22 years on death row comes off as positively chipper.
Cracking jokes and animatedly telling tales in a sing-song street-corner voice, our Sufferer Laureate performs Pennsylvania inmate Nick Yarris in “The Fear of 13,” Lindsey Ferrentino’s curiously unmoving and talky, talky, talky play that opened Wednesday evening at the James Earl Jones Theatre.
For an actor who apparently hadn’t been onstage since age 12 before taking on this half in London in 2024 — though his record-breaking Oscar speech certainly qualifies as a one-man show — Brody comports himself properly enough. He is poised and relaxed, and the fragile, broken spirit he brings to his heartbreaking movies transitions easily to the theater.
It’s just that “The Fear of 13,” as written, is a lifeless, stuffy and dutiful schlep through years of occasions, posing an insurmountable impediment for any actor. What unfolds is little more than a well mannered novella of narration about a weighty subject: the legal justice system.
Adrien Brody and Tessa Thompson star in “The Fear of 13” on Broadway. Emilio Madrid
Even by the usual of exposition-heavy exhibits, the proceedings in this manufacturing, straightforwardly directed by celeb babysitter du jour David Cromer, are oddly mild-mannered. Death row descends into Coffee Talk.
Granted, Yarris, a real former inmate whose harrowing expertise behind bars was the subject of a 2015 British documentary with the same title, is clearly an outgoing, talk-with-your-hands type of man. But the pacified drama by Ferrentino, which runs practically two hours without an intermission, lands like an prolonged director’s cut of the opening sequence of “Goodfellas.”
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A tall stack of monotonous “and then”s, and there’s a heck of a lot of telling that goes on under sleepy, dim mild.
Here’s how Nick acquired into the clink as a younger man from Philadelphia who made a bunch of unlucky selections. Here are the mistreated males in there with him. Here’s the standing of his snail-paced appeal. Here’s what actually occurred the evening of the homicide. All of it comes with the unstated tone of: Can you consider this?
Our silent reply every time: Yes!
Ferrentino appears content with her play’s grander goal outweighing its energy. And, admittedly, the timeline holds the viewers’s consideration enough that you at least need to look into Yarris additional when you get home. His story is outstanding and unhappy.
Brody performs real former death row inmate Nick Yarris. Emilio Madrid
Still, this show exists in large half to elicit gasps by exposing the brokenness of the legal justice system — not to make us know, perceive and get misplaced in the life of a fellow human being.
Only during weekly conversations with Jacki Miles, a prison volunteer performed by Tessa Thompson with the protecting protect of Clarice Starling, are there glimpses of connection. Jacki visits to discuss to death row inmates about their days, yet, as a rule, she never pries into the crimes that acquired them locked up.
Those other prisoners, performed by Ephraim Sykes, Eddie Cooper and Victor Cruz, among others, start out prominently and then abruptly disappear, never to be spoken of again. Only Sykes, of “Ain’t Too Proud” and “Hamilton,” stands out because he will get to sing a chillingly fairly music that cuts through the fatalism.
The ensemble segues into many roles in the practically two-hour play. Emilio Madrid
The more Jacki meets with Nick, to whom she’s particularly drawn, her partitions start to break down and she turns into passionate about his trigger. Soon, his plight is her own. The toll that devotion takes on her life, emotionally and logistically, is more said than felt, as with so many other passed-over fireworks in “The Fear of 13.”
Although the death row denizens are forgotten, the ensemble ably segues into different roles, such as prison guards and authorities staff, most of whom are flatly characterised to paint them as lazy or unhealthy.
For occasion, the boys in charge of Nick’s DNA evidence would reasonably chat about their sandwich orders than help him gain freedom. That’s a hammy previous throwback to cops at the doughnut store.
This isn’t the first time Ferrentino has based a show on a documentary. Emilio Madrid
At least the play is a step up for Ferrentino after the wretched musical “The Queen of Versailles” that she wrote the e-book for earlier this season. That dud was also based on a documentary, and I query why she retains coming back to those movies as a source of inspiration.
The hallmarks of docs — confessional interviews with an invisible questioner, balanced views rooted in hindsight and a rudimentary rundown of occasions — numb live drama, notably if a author leans into them as Ferrentino does.
This playwright ought to herself develop a healthy worry of 13. Channel 13. PBS.
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