Top Girls

Review By: Carey Purcell
CareyPurcell@TheCinemaSource.com

It's on Broadway. But I'm not entirely sure why.

Yes, it is timely. It is thought provoking. And it features some of the highest caliber actors in some high quality performances. But I'm still not sure why it is on Broadway.

Written by Carol Churchill, Top Girls addresses the many challenges that working women face. I think. Its main character is Marlene, a woman who was promoted at her job, the Top Girls staffing agency. The show opens with her celebrating her promotion at a dinner party where her guest list includes various women from history, politics and art, such as the explorer Isabella Bird, Pope Joan and Patient Grisadella from Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. The women have a rousing dinner, filled with food and wine, during which they discuss their careers, their accomplishments and their sacrifices. The dream-like scene is presented as high-spirited, but it possesses underlying dark tones as the women compete with each other to speak, often drowning each other's voices out and as they reflect on the sacrifices they made for the sake of their accomplishments – namely relationships, marriage and children.

This scene, which is both stimulating and muddling, is the highlight of the play, mainly due to the performances. This production boasts a top-notch cast, with everyone except NAME, who plays Marlene, performing two or three parts each. Marisa Tomei is excellent as Lady Isabella Bird, conveying the conflicting emotions that the explorer felt as a result of her life's travels. In the second act she plays the wife of the man who is turned down for the promotion that Marlene receives, but it is the third act where she truly shines, playing Joyce, Marlene's sister. Working as a maid and raising Angie, an awkward teenage girl, she is tired and resentful of Marlene's success. When sitting alone at her kitchen table late at night, she looks ahead at her future of pinching and scraping and barely getting by, her eyes appear haunted – and almost hollow.

Martha Plimpton plays Angie. Giving her an ungainly and awkward presence, Plimpton's physical embodiment of the role is truly remarkable. Her posture, the way she runs up and down the stairs and even her rough manner of speaking are, to adopt the British way of speaking, spot-on. It is a remarkable transformation from the first act, where Plimpton is Pope Joan, a woman who adopted a man's persona and ruled Rome from 854-856, until she was found out as a woman and stoned to death. Plimpton possesses a deep voice and regal presence, and, sitting at the head of the table, she appears a true - and rightful - leader.

It would be amiss not to praise every cast member, for each one . Jennifer Ikeda's Lady Ninjo is captivating, and Ana Reeder's as Dull Gret makes every line, even if a simple utterance like, "Potatoes!" entertaining. Patient Griselda, played by Mary Catherine Garrison, is quietly captivating. Mary Beth Hurt doubles as ...