Of Mice and Men from Broadway to Orcas Center

Thursday, February 12, 7:30 pm, Orcas Center

— from Artha Kass —

Golden Globe® winner and Academy Award® nominee James Franco (127 Hours, Milk) and Tony Award® nominee Chris O’Dowd (Bridesmaids, Girls) star in the hit Broadway production Of Mice and Men, filmed on stage by National Theatre Live. This landmark revival of Nobel Prize winner John Steinbeck’s play is a powerful portrait of the American spirit and a heartbreaking testament to the bonds of friendship.

Of Mice and Men is directed by Tony Award®, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circles award winner Anna D. Shapiro (Broadway’s August: Osage County) and features Leighton Meester (Country Strong, Gossip Girl) and Tony Award® winner Jim Norton (The Seafarer). This production of Of Mice and Men was nominated for two Tony Awards®, including Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play for Chris O’Dowd.

The symbiotic relationship between smart, scrappy George (Franco) and his hulking, brain-damaged friend, Lennie (O’Dowd), is at the heart of this 1937 play (adapted by Steinbeck from his own novella about the broken, homeless men who wandered the country, living from farm job to farm job, during the Great Depression. As with all the other itinerant workers traveling together on these rough roads, the unlikely friendship between George and Lennie was first forged out of a mutual need for protection.

Quick-witted George finds them farm work and protects Lennie from being abused or exploited, while protecting everyone else from Lennie’s uncontrollable brute strength. In turn, Lennie’s muscle makes sure no one messes with George. But George and Lennie have gone well beyond that initial mutual dependency. Theirs is a strange, but true friendship, one that Franco and O’Dowd hold between themselves with the tenderness of new parents raising a fragile but beloved child.

“O’Dowd has mastered a small but refined repertoire of facial expressions and gestures (one hand movement has the delicacy of an artist) that is quite astonishing. Going beyond that physical expressiveness, the depth and understanding he brings to the role render Lennie, quite simply, heartbreaking. The multitalented and ever-so-busy Franco gives a performance that’s equally honest and beautifully crafted.” —Variety

“James Franco brings warmth and understated manliness to George in a performance that grows as the play progresses. Most crucially, Franco has beautiful chemistry with O’Dowd. Irish actor O’Dowd is tremendous.” —Hollywood Reporter

Tickets for Of Mice and Men from NT Live are $18, $13 for students, $2 off for Orcas Center members, and may be purchased at www.orcascenter.org or by calling 376-2281 ext. 1 or visiting the Orcas Center Box Office open Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from noon – 4 pm. For more information about Orcas Center 2015 season visit www.orcascenter.org.