Faith Healer on Broadway
Last night I spent an enthralling evening with Frank, Grace and Teddy of Faith Healer. I wasn’t just watching or listening to them, each of them held me in their grasp – I felt as if there wasn’t anyone else in the room except each of them and me – truly a personal experience. (That is, once I closed out the audience from my mind – see rant below!)
The sparse set allowed me to concentrate on their words as well as let my imagination take off and create the scene in my mind. The actors, Ralph Fiennes (The Constant Gardner, several Harry Potter’s, Spider), Cherry Jones (Doubt, Major Barbara, Angels in America), and Ian McDiarmid (several Star Wars, Sleepy Hollow, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels) effortlessly captivated the audience with their tales of creation, destruction, love, and longing.
Several audience members around me never returned after the intermission, which is a shame because they missed out on Ian McDiarmid’s performance – funny, engaging, and yet so very heart-breaking. I guess these audience members were expecting more action, more “Time Square Broadway.” If they had stayed they would have witnessed a truly magnificent performance by McDiarmid as well as the compelling conclusion by Fiennes. Ah well, their loss…


July 16th, 2006 at 9:30 pm
He has had so many wonderful reviews by people who have seen the play. There has been quite a bit of talk about his performance at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ianmcdiarmid
He certainly deserved the Tony Award!
January 31st, 2007 at 12:00 am
I watched that too and it brings back good memories because it was excellent I feel. I would say it is a must-watch as I am a Ralph Fiennes fan too. There’s a thorough review here http://theater2.nytimes.com/2006/05/05/theater/reviews/05heal.html. It’s a bit late though, lol.
November 28th, 2007 at 8:20 pm
Yes. It’s a bit late. I would have to agree with Mere T. What a shame there isn’t more recognition in the city these days.
http://cogentinsurance.info/insurance/do-insurance-costs-put-lights-out-on-broadway/13/