'The Country Girl' or Can This Play Be Saved?

Wait. Don't leave the theater. "The Country Girl," directed by Mike Nichols and now playing at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre on Broadway, gets better in the second act. During Act 1 we're left wondering why the three lead characters don't connect with each other and whether or not we should care if they do. In Act 2 playwright Clifford Odets makes things clearer, and we have a better understanding of the characters and their motivations. The actors have warmed up a bit by then, too, and breathe a little life into the production.

Frank Elgin (Morgan Freeman) is a washed up alcoholic actor. He and his wife Georgie (Frances McDormand) have a longtime co-dependent relationship. Georgie might have had a drinking problem first, but now she's the one waiting up nights, making the coffee and throwing away the beer bottles. And if you want to get to Frank, you have to go through Georgie.

Oh, and there's that dead child that keeps getting mentioned.

Bernie Dodd (Peter Gallagher) is an idealistic director, a man passionate about the theater, who believes Frank still has the magic and wants him for the lead role in a new play trying out in Boston.

Freeman, generally a satisfying actor, seems to be underplaying the role. There's no desperation in his Frank, and Freeman doesn't make us believe Frank was ever a great actor.

McDormand is a bit wooden and comes across more as a tight-lipped school marm than a life-hardened woman who started out as a fresh, naive country girl. We never really find out how this country girl ended up in a life in the theater. There isn't much chemistry between the two actors, which has nothing to do with the interracial casting.

Gallagher brings a bit of life and energy to the production in his character, and he does have some chemistry with McDormand.

The play asks, can this marriage be saved? Will Frank be able to keep on the wagon and take on the role? Is Georgie really a supportive helpmate or is she part of Frank's problem? Will Frank and Georgie stay together? And during the second act, we begin to care. When Frank becomes ill during the dress rehearsal and sips a high-proof cough syrup, the tension builds. It's not looking good. He's still fumbling his lines. Can he pull it off? We're rooting for him.

The generally good supporting cast includes Remy Auberjonois as the sympathetic playwright and Chip Zien as the hardball producer. Anna Camp, after a drab set and dreary costumes, was as refreshing sight as the ingenue in a fluffy pink dress.