New Review: A Catered Affair

Smart directors do far more than shuttle actors and scenery around the stage in the name of storytelling. The most unsung part of the job comes long before an audience sees the final product -- when directors goad and provoke writers into making the choices that make the difference between pure mediocrity and powerful achievement. We can't know each detail of director John Doyle's collaboration with Harvey Fierstein and John Bucchino -- authors of the book and score, respectively, of A Catered Affair, derived from the 1956 film written by Gore Vidal and the 1955 teleplay by Paddy Chayefsky -- but halfway through, you wonder if, in this case, the director's job isn't half done.

Reviewed in Back Stage.

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