Too Much Isolation Shows Through This ‘Menagerie’

You spy a sliver or two of a great American play’s reasons for greatness in the Laguna Playhouse production of “The Glass Menagerie,” which opened Thursday. They’re not enough.

Tennessee Williams’ evocatively lost souls may exist in their separate worlds, but this staging takes that concept too much to heart. It’s a frustrating example of what an old Nichols and May routine referred to as “proximity but no relating.”

The spun-glass masterwork began life as a Williams short story. A later, unproduced screenplay led to an early stage version, “The Gentleman Caller.” That in turn gave way to the stage stalwart we know pretty well by now. The narrator’s bittersweet memories of his overcompensating mother, his lyrical-tragic sister and the sister’s sole, unwitting “bright particular beau,” in the mother’s words, have across the decades become a kind of national dream of regret and longing.

“The Glass Menagerie” opened Dec. 26, 1944, “in zero weather and against the handicap of low spirits due to the Battle of the Bulge.” So wrote Chicago Tribune drama editor Claudia Cassidy, the play’s key early champion. What chance did such a delicate memory play have against the Battle of the Bulge? Better than expected, as it turned out.

As Amanda, the Southern belle cut loose from her ball and adrift in 1936 St. Louis, Sheree North is a busy bee indeed, a hum of activity and flirtation. It’s pretty wild to see the former CinemaScope ‘50s sexpot (who has done a huge variety of work since then in movies, on stage and in television) as the Wingfield’s tremulous matriarch.

At this point her performance lacks focus. She barrels through everything. When North does take a moment to emphasize a slight, or a stab of recognition, she’s affecting. Vocally and emotionally, though, North’s Amanda could use some amplification.

Williams’ quasi-autobiographical wandering son, Tom, is played by Thomas Jane, whose recent movie roles include “shark wrangler Carter Blake” in “Deep Blue Sea.” Unlike North, who keeps throwing away her prime dramatic opportunities, Jane tends to direct a given scene’s energies toward himself. He makes Tom a surly, all-too-contemporary jerk, with no taste for the narrator’s poetic flourishes. Jane appears to be doing “A Streetcar Named Desire” while everyone else is doing “The Glass Menagerie.” (Those surfer locks don’t say ‘30s or even ‘40s so much as, “I’m just squeezing this one in between films.”)

The production hits a stride in the heart-rending Act 2 encounter between Laura (Casey Siegenfeld) and the gentleman caller (Jonathan Goldstein). The scene casts a spell unparalleled in American dramatic literature, speaking volumes about loneliness, connection and illusions. Director Marilyn Fox manages it well, as do Goldstein and Siegenfeld.

Otherwise, we’re left with hints and slivers. Thanks to scenic designer Don Gruber and sound designer David Edwards, the production has its atmospheric strengths. What’s missing in the playing is a sense of family. It’s not enough to present the Wingfields merely as isolated, nerve-wracked individuals who sense--and fear--the change in the weather.

That’s where “The Glass Menagerie” ends, not where it starts.

* “The Glass Menagerie,” Laguna Playhouse, 606 Laguna Canyon Road (Highway 133 South), Laguna Beach. Tuesdays-Fridays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 2 and 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 and 7 p.m. Ends Jan. 30. $21-$40. (949) 497-2787. Running time: 2 hours, 20 minutes.

Sheree North: Amanda Wingfield

Thomas Jane: Tom Wingfield

Casey Siegenfeld: Laura Wingfield

Jonathan Goldstein: Jim O’Connor

Written by Tennessee Williams. Directed by Marilyn Fox. Set by Don Gruber. Costumes by Dwight Richard Odle. Lighting by Paulie Jenkins. Sound by David Edwards. Stage manager Alice Harkins.