Review: 'Cat on a Hot Tin Roof' at The Brookfield Theatre for the Arts

Brookfield, CT - Tennessee Williams’ ‘Cat on a Hot Tin Roof’ opens the 60th anniversary season at The Brookfield Theatre for the Arts. Lou Okell mentioned during her curtain speech that all of the five productions that make up the season were chosen because some aspect of each one honored the theatre’s past, present and future; in her note in the program, the president of TBTA pointed out that two of their 2016 shows were listed among the top ten in the region by OnStage blog (namely, ‘bare: A Pop Opera,’ which I saw, and ‘Speed the Plow,’ which I did not.)

‘Cat on a Hot Tin Roof’ is a well-known play, an American classic, that I had never seen nor read. I expected it to be comparable to eating a healthy meal, as in something that is good for you but that you don’t necessarily enjoy. This production under the direction of Jeanine A. DeFalco PhD was extremely polished and featured a talented cast of actors with whom I was not familiar. A period-perfect set designed by Alexander Kulcsar brought us to a bedroom in the deep South and the costumes designed by Molly Farrell-Savage indicated the class of the plantation’s inhabitants.

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Lighting designed by NVCC technical director Jonathan Curns was effective throughout and since we never got to leave the bedroom, thankfully made the details in the set come alive. I liked this American classic more than I expected, mostly because of the strong performances by the leading actors and the look and feel of the Southern setting that almost warmed up what was otherwise a very cold Sunday afternoon.
Performances continue weekends through March 18, with curtain Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm.

Photos by Stephen Cihanek