Clifford Odets’ Golden Boyis as alive today as it was in 1937 in a splendid production directed by Bartlett Sher and offering a brilliantly designed cityscape set by Peter John Still and Marc Salzberg.
The story of a working-class boy with a talent for the violin who becomes a boxer is vividly played by Seth Numrich who gives full range of emotional depth as well as a powerful physicality to his role. The beautiful Yvonne Strahovski is striking as Lorna, his love, and most of the large cast well communicate the angst, the dreams, the insecurities, the intricacies of that time. The play is full of poetic phrases expressing the innermost feelings of family, cohorts, and the underworld of the fight game — a kind of writing rarely seen today. If you’re a theater lover, make sure you catch this one.
