“American Classic,” featuring a starry cast of Tony winners led by Kevin Kline, is currently thrilling those of us who loved “Slings & Arrows,” the greatest-ever TV series about the theater, which it somewhat resembles — not surprising, since its co-creator is Bob Martin: The Tony winning librettist (The Drowsy Chaperone, Elf, Boop, Smash) also co-created that earlier show. “American Classic” is now halfway through its first season on MGM+. Having previewed all eight episodes, I consider the new series a good reason to sign up for this secondary streaming service (at least for the next four Saturdays.)
Kline portrays Richard Bean, a world-famous actor whose decline is evident in his unsteady performance of “King Lear” on Broadway. At a theater bar on opening night, spotting the NY Times critic and learning of his caustic review, Richard attacks both the critic Xander Young (Stephen Spinella) and the critic’s boyfriend Troy (Aaron Tveit), while (quoting from Lear) he calls them “unnatural hags.” The attack of course goes viral. The next day, Richard’s agent, Alvy Stritch (Tony Shalhoub) tells him the producers are suspending him from the production – “There’s a whole subreddit, whatever the fuck that is, of you being a homophobe; someone called it gay-bashing” — and advises him to get out of New York until the outrage dies down. In the agent’s office, he gets a call on his cell phone.
“Mom’s dead.”
“Who’s this?”
“Jon”
“Jon who?”
“Your brother.”
So Richard returns for the funeral to his hometown, Millersburg, Pa., where we soon learn his parents founded the Millersburg Festival Theater, a regional theater of great renown. At the end of the pilot episode, Richard is aghast to learn MFT has become a dinner theater currently presenting a production of “Nunsense.”
At the end of the second episode, at his mother’s funeral, which is held at the theater, Richard tells the mourners that the theater is “the soul of the town,” but is in danger of closing “because of financial pressures and misguided programming choices.” He announces: “I will restore the soul of this town, by producing, and directing and maybe starring in the greatest production the country has ever seen of a true American classic, Thornton Wilder’s Our Town.”
In the remaining episodes, each about a half hour long, the production takes shape, beginning with Richard’s grandiose plans – real rain, actual horses – and the use of the local townsfolk of Millersburg to portray the local townsfolk of Grover’s Corners.
Along the way, we get to know the vivid cast of characters (both of the play and of the TV series), portrayed by some terrific and beloved actors. The great Len Cariou is Linus Bean, Richard’s father, the founder of the theater, who goes in and out of dementia. (We even get a cameo by Jane Alexander, as Richard’s dead mother – in photos and video excerpts of her shown at her funeral.) Laura Linney portrays Kristen Bean , the wife of Richard’s brother Jon (Jon Tenney), who is the mayor of the town, and Richard’s first co-star; in their youth, they performed as George and Emily in “Our Town” on the Millersburg Festival Theater stage. She initially seems to be Richard’s antagonist – it was her “programming choices” to keep the theater alive; there is a subplot involving her support for a plan by rapacious developer Connor Boyle (Billy Carter) to build a casino in the town. But it’s slowly revealed that their relationship is more…complicated. Jessica Hecht is delicious as Richard’s ex-wife; there are some outstanding performances by lesser known cast members, including a hilarious turn by Elise Nibler as a star-struck, talentless Russian immigrant (the girlfriend of the developer), and lovely turns by the George and Emily, Ajay Friese and Nell Verlaque, who portrays Richard’s niece.
Like “Slings & Arrows,” “American Classic” combines a series of subplots with a broad and savvy satire of theater people and their ways. But both series are most distinguished by a thorough understanding and obvious respect for the actual work of theater at their center. In “Slings & Arrows,“ each of its three seasons focused on a different Shakespearean tragedy put on by the fictional New Burbage Festival (stand-in for Canada’s Stratford Festival), featuring performances of actual scenes from these plays. “American Classic” also eventually features scenes from “Our Town,” done straightforwardly. They’re riveting, a revelation. And they leave us with a question for Bob Martin: Will there be future seasons of “American Classic” – and, if so, what plays will you pick?
