That Championship Season

In the second act of That Championship Season, one of characters vomits into a trophy commemorating the high school state basketball championship win by the assembled group of dissolute men from a small Pennsylvania town some 20 years ago. It's an apt metaphor for the state of the men's lives vividly depicted in this riveting revival of the 1972 Pulitzer-Prize winning Season, which opened March 6 on Broadway. The years since their Glory Days have not been kind to the group – which features a full-firmament of Hollywood stars including Kiefer Sutherland, Chris Noth, comedian Jim Gaffigan and Jason Patric, whose late father Jason Miller wrote the play.

Season, which was written in the scorching crucible of early '70s protest against the white male patriarchy, depicts a world drenched in testosterone and self-loathing. Gaffigan plays George Sikowski, a small-town mayor running for re-election who discovers that his one-time teammate, town millionaire Phil Romano (Noth), is sleeping with his wife. Romano is the self-absorbed focus of loathing for all the characters. James Daley (Sutherland) is a town principal ready to break into politics by challenging Sikowski. James' brother Tom (Patric) is the requisite town drunk. They are united only by their desire to commemorate the anniversary of their high school win and the quiet desperation of their current lives.

The men are at war with each other and would take each other's lives were it not for the intervention of their Coach (Brian Cox) who make hollow invocations of their past brotherhood. Season is a stunning reminder that the old American order was as tinny from the inside as it appeared from the exterior.

Comments

There are no comments.

To comment on this article login or register.

More Reviews

Priscilla Queen Of The Desert

03/28/2011
A Little Night Music

01/10/2011
Elling

11/22/2010
Shakespeare in the Park: A Merchant of Venice

07/20/2010
Race

03/03/2010
Streetcar Named Desire

01/09/2010

CelebSelect

Danielle Panabaker's Top Pop Picks
- Favorite Band: The Avett Brothers
  
  "I'm really into the Avett Brothers as of late."
- Favorite Book: Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
  
  "My girlfriends are I - we are very nerdy. We started a book club and the first book we read was Gone Girl."
- Favorite New Movie: Silver Linings Playbook
  
  "I thought it was a great film and I thought Jennifer Lawrence was incredible, you know those angry tears, I've certainly experienced that."
Paul Van Dyk: Current Favorites
- School of the Seven Bells
  
  The New York-based band unites Benjamin Curtis of "Secret Machines" and Alejandra Deheza. Formed in 2007, the duo is named after a mythical South American pickpocket training academy of the same name.
- Linkin Park
  
  The Californian rock veterans have come a long way since 'Hybrid Theory.' Back now with their fifth studio album in over a decade, 'Living Things' is one of Paul Van Dyck's favorite albums this year.
- Jupiter Jones
  
  The German punk rock band formed in 2002, but has already released several LPs, including an eponymously-named album in 2011.
- Depeche Mode
  
  The legendary Essex electronic band from the 80s remains a classic for Van Dyk. It was also recently among 'Q' magazine's "50 Bands That Changed The World!".
Cody Simpson
- Favorite Movie
  I'm still really into the Ocean's series. I got into them recently. I was always too young to watch them.
- Favorite Book
  This book called Contest by Matthew Reilly, he's an Australian author.
- Favorite Album
  Drake's Take Care — big fan of that
- Favorite TV Show
  The Mentalist
Styx's Lawrence Gowan
- Bossypants by Tina Fey
  
  "That’s got me laughing hysterically on airplanes."
- Making Mirrors by Goyte
  
  "I thought that was a tremendous record."
- The Artist
  
  "It really impressed me."
- Keane
  
  "They’re really strong."
90210's Michael Steger: My Favorite Stuff
- Favorite TV Show: Rome
  
  HBO's series starring Cirian Hinds
- Favorite Album: The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
  
  "Either that or The Gypsy Kings."
- Favorite Book: The Fountainhead
  
  "Probably my favorite book of all time."
- Favorite New Movie: Attack The Block
  
  “It reminded me of The Goonies.”