Joey Guerra
Entertainment Editor
The Alley Theater has certainly presented local theater-goers with its fair share of dysfunctional families, relationships and triangles. There's the twisted love orgy in The Food Chain, the embittered father/daughter struggle within The Heiress, and the endless web tragedy pervading virtually every scene of last season's epic The Greeks, Parts I and II.
For its latest look at tangled family ties, the Alley focuses on an American classic, Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night. Considered by many to be one of the greatest works of American theater, the play will feature Oscar-winning actress Ellen Burstyn (Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore) and television/film actor David Selby (Dark Shadows, Falcon Crest) making their Alley debuts.
"It's curious that this is called the greatest American play, arguably, of our American drama," said director Michael Wilson, whose previous Alley credits include Love! Valour! Compassion! and Angels in America. "What it does do, it cuts to the bone of the human condition, and it gives us a truth that's so searing and shattering that it's absolutely breathtaking."
The challenges of staging the play on the Alley's intimate Neuhaus Arena Stage are many, including the endless complexities of the people at the center, the Tyrone family.
"These are roles that have to be wrestled with, I think. They don't fit like a glove," said Alley artistic director Gregory Boyd.
The plum parts include James Tyrone (Selby), a semi-retired actor reduced to bitterness; his wife, Mary (Burstyn), whose sense of self-worth descends into drug addiction; and two brothers whose failures are a direct result of their parents'.
"Tyrone was a successful actor in his day," Selby said in analysis of his character's similarities to his own life. "Actors have a tendency to be, in their private life, a little dramatic. I'm a little (dramatic privately)."
Burstyn's role offered a unique opportunity to explore something important as well.
"It's the most challenging role ever written for a woman," said Burstyn. "It's like King Lear for a man, and so I just figured I better do it while I still have all of my marbles. I'm old enough to do it now, but not so old I can't do it, so it's time. And Michael and I wanted to do something together again."
Wilson began discussing a production of Long Day's Journey into Night more than a year ago with Burstyn. He directed her in the Playmakers Repertory Company's staging of Horton Foote's The Death of Papa, which also featured Matthew Broderick.
"Just watching David and Ellen and the rest of the company tackle these extraordinary roles and grow in their authority of the language, and the inordinate amount of repetition that Mr. O'Neill has given the actors to tell the story of the Tyrones, has been a very moving experience for me as a director," said Wilson, who is taking on O'Neill for the first time in his career.
For Burstyn, who won a Tony for Same Time, Next Year, being on stage isn't necessarily the most enriching part of being a theater-trained actress.
"The rehearsal process to me is the most interesting part of being an actor. It's the most creative aspect," she said.
Director Wilson agrees.
"It's amazing just to watch how much they put out daily and give, and I agree with Ellen," he said. "The rehearsal process is often the most fascinating because things are being discovered then."
"I like to rehearse," added Selby. "Unfortunately, you don't get much of an opportunity to do that in film. Certainly, in television you don't. (In) Rehearsal, you sort of get to make a fool of yourself."
Both Burstyn and Selby, despite various incarnations in virtually every media format, find themselves always coming back to the stage.
"I consider the theater my home," confessed Burstyn. "Whenever I'm acting and away from the theater, I'm not at home. It's harder, but it also makes more sense. You have continuity in the role and the arc of the play and the character development and the rehearsal process."
"I think film is a director's, and television is controlled a lot by producers," chimed Selby. "Theater, you do get a sense of collaboration. Theater's more comfortable."
While taking to the live stage may be the work of choice for both actors, Burstyn readily admitted it's not necessarily a realistic goal for someone who has to pay bills.
"Television and film both pay my rent, and doing a play is always a financial sacrifice, whether it's at the Alley or on Broadway," said Burstyn. "(Theater) takes me out of a money-making period for a couple of months, at least. So I always really want to have to do it, and I can't do too many (plays), because I have to earn a living."
Burstyn claims she'd be reluctant to hit the theater circuit in the Big Apple again for a number of reasons.
"I like working on Broadway, but it's gotten so difficult," said Burstyn with a sigh. "The amount of money that it takes to mount a play, and the amount of audience you have to get into the theater in order to keep it running. You have to have get great reviews; medium reviews won't do it, and the critics are so cynical. They hardly like anything. It just is too exhausting. You worry about all the wrong things. I'd rather just worry about the work."
Lucky for local theater-goers, Burstyn has decided to plant her roots here, at least for this production.
"It's so wonderful that Houston supports the theater the way they do, so that there's an audience here so you can just deal with the play and not worry about all the other ancillary problems."
Long Day's Journey into Night opens at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Alley Theatre, 615 Texas Ave. It runs through March 29. For information or reservations, call (713) 228-8421.