Stage Presence
Most people remember “A Few Good Men,” for one thing: Jack Nicholson snarling, “You can’t handle the truth.”
That memorable line occurred in the 1992 movie version of “A Few Good Men,” which also starred Tom Cruise and Demi Moore.
However, this military courtroom drama, which opens at the Spokane Civic Theatre Friday night, began life on stage in 1989.
It ran for more than a year on Broadway with Tom Hulce in the lead role, and was widely hailed as a popular throwback to a more straightforward era of pure stage entertainment.
Clive Barnes of the New York Post called it a “good, old-fashioned strictly commercial comedy-melodrama.”
“It’s a triumphant example of a now fashionably outmoded courtroom drama - ‘A Caine Mutiny Court-Martial’ sort of play positively bouncing into the ‘90s - that sizzles with fun and entertainment,” wrote Barnes.
Even the reviewers who hated it - and there were more than a few - conceded that playwright Aaron Sorkin managed to cram just about every popular genre into one plot.
“Sorkin not only chose a courtroom drama, but made it a military courtroom drama,” wrote Linda Winer of Newsday. “A military courtroom murder mystery drama. With plenty of comedy.”
One critic even criticized the play for being too funny, “as if one could not qualify for our armed services without passing a stand-up comedy exam.”
Audiences, however, didn’t complain.
The play is about the court-martial of two young Marines who are accused of killing another Marine at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, during an unofficial disciplinary action. Essentially, they are accused of hazing their colleague to death.
The question is, did they do it on orders from above? The play becomes a struggle between two lawyers, one of them a wisecracking Harvard grad and the other a rigid martinet. The Harvard grad is assisted by Lt. Commander Joanne Galloway, the only woman’s role in the play.
In the Civic’s production, Galloway is played by Thara Leigh Cooper.
The rest of the cast consists of Guy Thomas, Kerry Patrick, Scott Cooper, George Green, Walt Hefner, Greg Nagy, Dennis Ashley, Anthony Gauna, Mike Hynes, John Goodwin, Jamie Flanery, Matthew Ahrens, Chuck Bown, Kevin Smith, Dale Damron, Lorenzo Herman, Steve Orvik and Kyle McFarlane.
The director is Melody Deatherage.
By the way, to say that “A Few Good Men,” started life on stage is only partly true. Sorkin’s script was first purchased by Hollywood, but Sorkin insisted as part of the deal that it be given a New York stage run before it hit the big screen.
ON STAGE “A Few Good Men” will be staged at the Civic Theatre, 1020 N. Howard, on Friday, Saturday, April 9-11, 16-19 and 22-25. All shows are at 8 p.m. except the Sunday matinee at 2. Tickets are $12 for adults, $9 for seniors and $7 for students; available by calling 325-2507 or (800) 446-9576.