The Director’s Medium

New York audiences are currently receiving an excellent primer on how not to direct shows, thanks to two recently opened productions that share very little other than spine-tingling true stories. In [Top Secret: The Battle for the Pentagon Papers], a cast of 11 brings to life the true story of how the Washington Post battled the Nixon administration for the right to print the leaked Pentagon papers, in the process proving that the basis of the Vietnam War was a series of lies and inventions. Perhaps unsurprisingly for a play that previously toured universities, the show itself feels like the sort of special presentation created to breathe life into history for bored students. The actors line up in front of microphones at the edge of the stage, reading from a script that incorporates interviews with the participants (including editor Ben Bradlee and Post owner Katharine Graham) and portions of the trial’s transcripts. A Foley artist, seated at a table upstage, provides sound effects ranging from doors opening and closing to the clink of ice in a highball. The overall effect is surprisingly enervating; director John Rubinstein seems to place all of his faith in the text, offering nothing that might distract from Graham and Bradlee following their instincts and going ahead with publication. But Geoffrey Cowan and Leroy Aarons’ script is so static that only the sheer force of the story, the courage that it took for a newspaper to stand up to the government, keeps the evening alive. It’s a tribute to the Post (and a revelation of the nadirs to which newspapers have sunk in recent times) that the story alone propel the evening to a satisfying conclusion. Inevitably, the performances themselves suffer from the staging. Peter Strauss, as Bradlee, is a reassuring presence, spurred on by equal parts curiosity and professional ambition, but Kathryn Meisle’s Graham is more socialite than tough broad, and painfully reliant on her bound script. Without the presence of theater luminaries like Larry Bryggman and Jack Gilpin, Top Secret could be any low-budget show in a cafetorium. On the other end of the spectrum, Kate Whoriskey goes overboard with The Miracle Worker, William Gibson’s theatrical warhorse about Annie Sullivan forcing Helen Keller to learn sign language. At least we were spared Hilary Swank (whose Broadway-bound production was canceled at the last minute a few seasons ago) as Sullivan; Alison Pill is so good that it would have been a shame to miss her performance. But she shines despite the direction, not because of it. Performed in the round at Circle in the Square, this Miracle Worker is as busy and restless as Top Secret is immobile. Abigail Breslin, as Helen, runs and grunts all over the stage, while furniture rises and descends from the air on thick wires, wrecking the sightlines even more than the wide staging already does. The actors scream at one another to be heard over Helen’s tantrums, moving from one room to another with unceasing energy. And though the sheer repetition of Sullivan’s lessons to Helen as she tries to tame her are necessary to reveal the stubbornness of both and the miracle that Sullivan accomplished, the long stretches of silent struggling are made even more tedious when you’re staring at the back of the actors’ heads (and infuriating at the $100-plus ticket price). Without Pill’s deliciously dry performance, we’d be stuck with a frenetic production whose sole recommendation would be the well-aged Matthew Modine, almost unrecognizable as Captain Keller with a head of gray hair and a goatee. As his wife, Jennifer Morrison frequently forgets her Southern accent, and the rest of the actors have been directed to mine as many laughs as they can from the material. Only Pill and Breslin convey the desperation of the play, both fighting for the chance to free Helen from the confines of her physical limitations. The same could be said for these two actors and their staging.

> [Top Secret: The Battle for the Pentagon Papers]

Through March 28, New York Theatre Workshop, 79 E. 4th St. (betw. 2nd Ave. & Bowery), 212-279-4200; $65.

> [The Miracle Worker]

Open run, Circle in the Square Theatre, 1633 Broadway (at W. 50th St.) 212-239-6200; $117.