In this forever lovely 1954 play, traveling con-man Bill Starbuck brags he can bring rain to the drought-beset western town by "pitching sodium chloride up to the clouds, electrifying the cold front, neutralizing the warm front, barometricizing the tropopause and magnetizing occlusions in the sky." With Scott Ellis' magical staging for the Roundabout Theater Company, there is little doubt in our gullible minds that he is going to do it. And with Woody Harrelson bringing to the role of Starbuck a good bit of freshly stirred up hogwash and high hopes, there is every reason to take exception to our skeptical heroine Lizzie's more reasonable instincts when she says "bunk" to his grandiose claims...at first. Because this play deals in magic and believing in yourself, I'd like to believe it is Harrelson's joyously energized performance, as the appealing braggart, that actually brings forth the very impressive deluge that climaxes the play. Although Harrelson demonstrates his physical dexterity -- he does a perfect and prolonged hand stand -- and is otherwise a disarming exponent of other amusing body language, he also handles the prescribed romantics with heartfelt enthusiasm.
This touching and tender romance between a rather plain ranch girl approaching middle-age and a glib dreamer is just as inspiring a thesis on inner transformation today as it was when it first appeared on Broadway 55 years ago. As Lizzie, Jayne Atkinson makes the role as warm and heartbreakingly individualized as did Geraldine Page in the original 1954 Broadway production, Katharine Hepburn in the 1956 film version, and Inga Swenson in the 1963 Broadway musical version. In fact, the musical, with its wistful, melodic score by Harvey Schmidt and Tom Jones (The Fantastics), actually improved on the play and would have been my choice for a revival. Even without the music, the romance moves along in its lilting manner. If an air of quaintness and naivete hangs over the action of Lizzie, her father and two brothers becoming temporary victims of an outrageous con-game (which surprisingly turns out to be a blessing both spiritual and comical), it fits winningly into this decidedly folkloric fable.
Here is a virile but non-violent western about people who are tough, funny and willing to try anything...to make it rain. Ellis' direction keeps the action moving at a fast clip but is detailed enough in its more serious moments to allow the actors, particularly Harrelson and Atkinson, plenty of sensitive and telling moments. Combining virility with tenderness isn't easy, but this Starbuck does it, and just plain Lizzie manages the feat of actually letting love make her beautiful before our eyes. John Bedford Lloyd is purposefully infuriating as Noah, the big and bossy brother, while David Aaron Baker is appropriately high-strung as Jim, the notably dim-witted "turtle head" of a brother. Robust characterizations are forthcoming from Randle Mell, as File, the romantically reluctant deputy, and Bernie McInerney, as the sheriff. To the strains of some pretty guitar and fiddle music, cowboy-attired farmhands add a nice touch, as they carry in what is necessary to dress up designer James Noone's midwestern plains setting.
