A ‘Glass Menagerie’ of Dreamy Restraint

“The Glass Menagerie,” from 1945, was Tennessee Williams’ first great success and is considered by many to be his masterpiece. It’s a “memory play,” full of the dark poetry of the playwright’s own angst, a sort of bittersweet valentine to the small world that made him what he was.

Deserted by the husband-father, the Wingfield family lives in shabby gentility in a rear flat in a low-income section of St. Louis. Son Tom, who wants to be a writer, works for paltry wages at a shoe factory. Daughter Laura, crippled by childhood illness, lives in a reverie, listening to old phonograph records and caring for her collection of tiny glass animals. Mother Amanda browbeats both, insisting on their obligation to her and her memory of grander days when she was young, popular and full of hope.

The autobiographical tone of the play is framed within a dream landscape in which Williams wanted to remember his identical youth in St. Louis. That dreamlike quality runs through and informs a visually stunning and dramatically impressive revival at Cal State Fullerton’s Recital Hall.

It’s an easy play to spoil with overkill, but director Gretchen Kanne, who has an affinity for Williams, allows her cast to maintain the restraint and subtle shadings that bring the play to vivid life and invite the audience into the delicate world Williams has created. Kanne’s feeling for the poetry in the writing is woven like a golden thread throughout.

The young cast members are notable for their restraint, their renunciation of easy and obvious effects and for the potency of their inner fires. They inhabit Williams’ world with affection and empathy.

As Tom Wingfield--Williams’ alter-ego--Michael Serna is extraordinary. From his narrative monologues as a merchant seaman looking back with just a tinge of humor, to his youthful bravado as he struggles to free himself from Amanda’s grip, Serna gives a reading that is delicately nuanced and shaded with hints of the real Williams. His detail is amazing: Whether conscious or instinctual, when he dons Tom’s naval peacoat, his gait suddenly assumes the rolling walk of the seasoned sailor.

Melodie Henderson plays Amanda gentler than she usually is played, and it works magic during the transitions into the shrike that is driving Tom away. Henderson gives Amanda an obvious affection for both her children that turns her final bitterness into a truly tragic moment.

As beleaguered daughter Laura, based partly on Williams’ sad sister Rose and partly on his first college drama teacher, Jennifer Adams gives her characterization a quiet dignity without overly concentrating on her physical affliction. She becomes a shadowy musical theme played behind the fiery orchestral force of the play as a whole.

Michael Baker is notable as Jim, the “gentleman caller,” whom Tom brings home from the warehouse. Baker creates the former high school hero as a self-confident but seriously flawed echo of what he once was, and his final scene with Laura is memorable.

* “The Glass Menagerie,” Recital Hall, Cal State Fullerton, Nutwood Avenue and State College Boulevard. 8 p.m. today, 2:30 and 8 p.m. Saturday, 5 p.m. Sunday. $8. Ends Sunday. (714) 278-3371. Running time: 2 hours, 25 minutes.

Michael Serna: Tom

Melodie Henderson: Amanda

Jennifer Adams: Laura

Michael Baker: Jim

A Cal State Fullerton department of theater and dance production of Tennessee Williams’ drama. Directed by Gretchen Kanne. Choreography by Patrick “P.J.” Johnson. Scenic design: Matt Scarpino. Lighting design: Brandie L. Peck. Costume design: W. Lee Daily. Makeup/hair design: Deana Occhipinti. Stage manager: Stephen R. Ohab Jr.