Photos by Boyd Hagen courtesy of the Guthrie Theatre of Minnesota
Review Excerpts
“’’MARRIAGE’ IS EXUBERANT, GLEEFUL COMEDY—PLAY’S ENERGY IS PURE LUNACY’…. Randall Duk Kim obviously was put on this earth to steal scenes, which he effortlessly does once more in the person of an elderly sad-sack ex-naval commander who exists in a perpetual fog of affable bewilderment and banal talk (his muddled reminiscences of long-ago Naples are worth the ticket price). As if he needed help, Kim has a live puppy dog (with real acting talent) for a prop in his greatest scene.”
–Don Morrison, THE MINNEAPOLIS STAR (10/19/1978)
“’’MARRIAGE’ IS 1ST RATE AT GUTHRIE’…THE PLAY is staged as a frantic ballet, the actors moving, ever moving, in a series of choreographed struggles. The characters are grotesques, whose reality and dreams are interchangeable. The action is antic, with lots of pratfalls and broad physical comedy, yet Efros never allows the action to dissolve into burlesque…. Efros clearly has inspired each member of the cast to develop unique little nuances to their roles. The three suitors—Jon Cranney, Jake Dengel and Randall Duk Kim—are delightfully drawn, with subtle and not-so-subtle bits.”
–Dave Hawley, ST. PAUL DISPATCH (10/19/1978)
“’’MARRIAGE’ FILLS GUTHRIE WITH LIFE’…Anatoly Efros’s production of Gogol’s ‘Marriage’ is constantly on the move…. The company has reacted beautifully to Efros’ direction…. More ungainly, absurd suitors could not be found. Randall Duk Kim’s stony-faced visage and doddering memory make for wonderfully rich humor. His remembrance of a long-ago trip to Sicily is superb, especially his marvel over the fact that not one of the local women spoke Russian….”
–Mike Steele, MINNEAPOLIS TRIBUNE (10/20/1978)
“’GOGOL’S MOCKING ‘MARRIAGE’ BRINGS GUTHRIE STAGE ALIVE’…But Efros also resorts to the absurd. Much of the action proceeds not in orderly sequence, but in eerie fits and starts. In one scene’s brilliant parody of strangers’ social nervousness, Efros has several characters sit in a frieze, silent in a spotlight’s glare, then rise at once, commence raucous small-talk and rattle downstage like a gaggle of geese…. The Guthrie’s new star, Randall Duk Kim, is stealing scenes again as the most outlandish suitor. An ancient, frazzled little ex-sailor, he wanders around with his dog and wins the audience’s heart with comic mis-remembrances of the seaports and sailors he has known.”
–Dave Hage, THE FREE PRESS, MANKATO (10/21/1978)
“’ROMP A LA RUSSE’…This Marriage is billed as ‘an absolutely incredible event in two acts.’ And it is that…. the Guthrie pulls one of the strangest and most confounding little numbers it’s ever attempted…. Surprised again and again, the audience laughs without stopping to figure out what it is they’re laughing at…. Performances that really are fun to watch thread in and out of the frenetic action…. Randall Duk Kim turns a little old windbag of a suitor from a caricature into an affectingly well-meaning, tragicomic individual….There are effective small moments…Duk Kim’s wrenching face in half-light, wondering why he’s such a loser.”
–Catherine Taylor, T.C. READER (10/27/1978)
“’The comic element is lurking everywhere and it is only because we are living in the midst of it that we do not notice it.’—Nikolai Gogol…The Guthrie production is non-stop, effortless and delightful. Efros pushes pace to its very edge, and the action overflows the theater’s thrust stage into the auditorium and the lobby beyond…. AS THE SUITORS… Randall Duk Kim is especially good as Zhevakin, the retired naval officer in an oversized military coat. He touches our hearts even as we laugh at him…. ‘Marriage’ is an unadulterated pleasure, surely one of the very best comedies produced t the Guthrie in recent years.”
–Steve Kaufman, FREEWAY NEWS (11/1/1978)
“GOGOL’S ‘Marriage’ is a comic dream that continually threatens to become a comic nightmare. His story about a diffident spinster courted by a handful of absurd suitor is farcical in form and very funny in fact. But the ridiculous gyrations of its characters trace out their desperation…. There is Zhevakin, a timorous former naval lieutenant, but he is unkempt, has no furniture and has already been rejected by 17 other women…. Randall Duk Kim’s bleary former naval officer in bad need of vitamins and a good dusting-off is superb.”
–Richard Eder, NEW YORK TIMES (11/14/1978)
“’THE AGONY AND ECSTACY OF ‘MARRIAGE’’…Jon Cranney, Jake Dengel and Randall Duk Kim are uniformly marvelous as the three suitors…. And Kim simply steals the show as the winsome old naval officer with a lecherous bent. Kim can make you laugh and cry at the same time, coming on as a figure who is at once pathetic and cracklingly savvy.”
–Marshall Fine, ARGUS-LEADER, SOUIX FALLS, S.D. (11/30/1978)
“’GUTHRIE PLAYERS SCORE A DOUBLE HIT’…Madison theatergoers, fortunate enough to see one of the three performances of ‘Marriage…know something about the Russians which seldom makes front page news. They know how to laugh…. The play is well written—its age only enhances its merit—and watching the Guthrie touring company in our own backyard is nothing short of exciting…. Much of the fun of this play, mounted by Russian director Anatoly Efros, who last fall spent several weeks in Minneapolis, working with the cast, is tied to absurd, hilarious characterizations. In the early days of Russia, when you wanted to get married you paid a visit to your friendly, local matchmaker. Peter Michael Goetz, who plays Ivan, like a theatrical Steve Martin, decides it is time. So do several other would-be suitors…Baltazar Baltazarovich Zhevakin (Randall Duk Kim), an old retired naval lieutenant who lapses occasionally into old war stories and dreams of finding a young thing with rosebud lips. He carries the greatest prop of all, a sad-eyed dog. While all are extremely good in their individual portrayals, it is Kim and Goetz who royally score—Kim for his straight man subtlety and Goetz for his slapstick lunacy.”
–Genie Campbell, WISCONSIN STATE JOURNAL (3/3/1979)
