My mom and I watched the Broadway production of August: Osage County. The guys went to the Natural History Museum, which they said is nothing like Ben Stiller's movie At the Museum.
The first act was especially good. I thought it seemed to have elements of Steel Magnolias and Terms of Endearment. Tracy Letts created a believably kooky family--even if a certain subplot was a little icky. As the play continued for three acts I wondered if the theater was trying to add to the setting of an Oklahoma August by smothering us. I think I'd seen a show in that theater before and remembered a leaky roof that did not help the fact that it was frigid.
One of the reasons we'd wanted to see the play was because the playwright was the son of Oklahoma's own Billi Letts, who wrote Where the Heart Is (you know, the Oprah book that became a movie and was about the girl who had a baby at Wal Mart). Letts has such a knack with creating characters, we wanted to see if her talent rubbed off on her son. We met her at HAWK's Heartland writing workshop last summer, and she glowed with pride as she spoke of her son's play. Below is a picture of some of my writing pals with the author:
The show was a family affair. Her husband Dennis Letts played the father. His monologue opened the show. We were disappointed to see that someone was filling in for him. When Mama returned home she explained why the actor missed the show. After reading local Oklahoma papers, she learned he'd died that Friday--two days before the performance. My heart goes out to their family in their loss. I've heard her speak a couple of times, and she seems like a sincere person whose pride and love for her family are evident.
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