SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Sept. 9, 2022 (Gephardt Daily) — In the touring production of “To Kill a Mockingbird,” now playing at Eccles Theater, attorney Atticus Finch has a deeply held belief he thinks could change his neighbors:
There is good in everybody. And if we can reach out through the surface hatred and prejudice to that moral core, truth and justice can follow.
Anyone who has read novelist Harper Lee’s 1960 novel or seen the 1962 film adaptation, starring Gregory Peck, knows not everything works out for Atticus or his client, Tom Robinson, a Black man falsely accused of sexually assaulting a young White woman who is hiding a secret.
But playwright Aaron Sorkin’s 2018 Broadway adaptation, written to touch a modern audience, makes it obvious just how important the message remains in our time.
This adaptation
In “To Kill a Mockingbird,” which takes place in 1930s Alabama, it’s the job of Atticus — played by veteran actor Richard Thomas, who first came to fame as “John-Boy” in “The Waltons” (1972-1981) — to open some closed minds wide enough to save his innocent client.
In this adaptation, Atticus is a more rounded character, able to be playful with children Scout (Melanie Moore) and Jem (Justin Mark), who are being raised with the help of Black housekeeper Calpurnia (Jacqueline Williams), who is treated with a level of respect uncommon in the larger community.
Thomas makes Atticus a more likeable and identifiable character, complete with a few flaws, which those who know him best are happy to point out. Those people include his children and Calpurnia, who is portrayed with depth and wisdom by Williams, whose quiet reactions make the audience feel the heavy societal restraints shackling her as a Black woman in that time period.
Sorkin uses “children” Scout, Jem and their friend, Dill (Steven Lee Johnson), as a device to tell the story, letting them ask unvarnished questions the audience can’t, and even to narrate some of the courtroom action through unjaded eyes.
Moore is especially fun as the sassy Scout, who is ready for adventures, a fight, or to verbally slice through any nonsense uttered by others trying to excuse their bad behavior.
Actor Joey Collins plays the racist and violent Bob Ewell, a KKK member who is likely the real attacker of his conflicted and trapped-by-circumstances daughter, Mayella (Arianna Gayle Stucki). Ewell blames Black people and the educated, on two ends of his status spectrum, for all the harm he has suffered in life.
Collins makes the utterly unlikeable character understandable, if not defensible, and keeps the audience from dismissing Ewell as a cartoonish jerk.
And Stucki makes Mayella’s fear and conflict obvious, as the character parrots her father’s hate speech and grapples with the knowledge that telling the truth about him would leave her homeless or dead.
Actor Yaegel T. Welch plays Atticus’ client, Tom Robinson, whose main crime may be his kindness and empathy for a woman his society considers to be his superior.
Travis Johns plays Boo Radley, a reclusive Finch neighbor widely considered to be crazy and dangerous, whose real nature is revealed as the play — which lasts about 2 hours and 50 minutes — winds up. It’s a small role that speaks to the importance of protecting innocence when possible.
Surprise in cast
Cast in a small role, as Mrs. Henry Dubose, a woman who values her flower garden over neighbors and her own Black servants, is an actress with a “Mockingbird” past.
Dubose is played by Mary Badham, who portrayed Scout in the 1962 film, which debuted when she was 10. Badham also appeared in the Broadway production of this adaptation, which opened in 2018.
Badham did not appear in the cast on Tuesday night, as noted by a paper inserted in the program saying the role would be played by another actress. Here’s hoping the iconic actress appears in later productions this week.
Production values
The set, by Miriam Buether, is both simple and spectacular in its flexibility. The same mottled gray walls play a jail and a courtroom, and porch pieces slide in from each side to create the Finch house and porch. The top of an old-growth tree also flies in to complete a vintage neighborhood look.
And, for interior scenes, cabled lights with a utilitarian, period look, lower from above the stage to light a courtroom fully or a cell modestly.
Costumes, by Ann Roth, subtly denote the characters’ status and power in life, an important theme.
Although spoken accents tend to come and go and vary in authenticity, that’s not a major distraction.
And director Bartlett Sher, in combination with his actors, makes good decisions about how to keep the audience focused. When the court scene in the second act begins to drag a bit, Atticus finds a way to pull the audience back in, turning toward attendees as if speaking directly to jury members, reminding everyone what is really at stake when decisions are made based on hatred and prejudice.
It’s just a play, of course, but it’s an important reminder of the consequences inherent in all decisions we make in life. And it’s a powerful production, well worth seeing before it moves on to the next city on its tour.
“To Kill a Mockingbird,” plays the Eccles Theater, 131 S. Main, Salt Lake City, at 8 p.m. Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, and 1 and 6 p.m. Sunday. For information, visit saltlakecity.broadway.com.
