You Make The Call

Major revivals of plays in living memory are a chance to see if they still hold up. Here's what David Finkle has to say about a recent performance of That Championship Season:

Every once in a while a much-lauded work is revived that seems as cogent, if not more so, than when it first appeared. Jason Miller's 1973 play, That Championship Season, now being given a superior production by Mark Lamos at the Westport Country Playhouse, is one of those plays -- and even one that audience members might wish would somehow seem out of step with the times.

Here's Frank Rizzo in Variety:

When Jason Miller's "That Championship Season" bowed in 1972, it won the Pulitzer Prize, the Tony Award and a slew of other trophies. But that championship season seems as distant and out-of-touch with the times as the quartet of high school basketball players who reunite 25 years later to reminisce about their winning game. The dated deficits in this macho sudser can be offset by some fancy footwork with a great ensemble cast or even a star turn or two, but neither are in evidence in this Westport production, helmed by new artistic director Mark Lamos.

Wow, these guys can't even agree on the year of the play. (Variety's right on the date, by the way. They're the show biz bible--they better be.)