I don't know where Mike Nichols was during the rehearsal, but he surely abandoned these actors or his own vision; maybe both. This production is cooking on separate burners from beginning to end. Even the set almost exclusively confines the actors to a tiny revolving area on which the various scenes take place. During the scene changes, a red curtain is drawn across the stage. It soon becomes clear this curtain is way longer than it should be, and we expect the set will be changed when it finally disappears.

The first time this happens it is quaint and vaudevillian. The fourth or fifth time, it becomes tiresome. Nichols would have done better to give his actors some room to expand and let us watch the scene changes. As it is now, the scene changes are the only bit of magic happening on the stage, and it is the one thing the director chose to hide.

According to Nichols' bio, he has never directed a drama. Why this one? Maybe the idea of theatre within theatre intrigued him. Maybe he wanted to direct something not for laughs. Maybe he thought that by casting against type and integrating the cast, he raises the stakes, which is another kettle of fish.

If you are choosing to integrate a cast in a play set in 1950, you owe it to your audience to make some allowances for this. It could have been another element that strained relationships and was never mentioned. That was how a lot of the 50's were, but Nichols chose (as did the recent fine production of Come Back Little Sheba) to disregard this element along with everything else.

Nichols' abdication is so complete that I kept imagining him in a bar across the street with Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder, whose deeds in The Producers would pale in comparison. The good news is that by not buying tickets to this production, you can save your money to add to that $400 check George Bush is sending your way. I can hear the economy perking up now.

The Country Girl (plays through July 20) by Clifford Odets; Directed by Mike Nichols; with Morgan Freeman, Frances McDorman, Peter Gallagher, Chip Zien, Remy Auberjonois, Anna Camp, and Lucas Caleb Rooney; Scenic and Costume Design by Tim Hatley; Produced on Broadway by Ostar Productions and Bob Boyett.

Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre
242 West 45th Street
New York City, NY
Telecharge or call (212) 239-6200. Ticket prices range from $76.50 - $100.