“Babbitt” is playwright Joe DiPietro’s 1923 adaptation of Sinclair Lewis’s 1922 novel that contributed to him winning a Nobel Prize in Literature in 1930. Continuing at Shakespeare Theatre Company (STC) through Nov. 3, “Babbitt” offers a substantial story that surprisingly mirrors our current political climate.
Featuring stage-and-screen actor Matthew Broderick in the title role along with seven talented “Storytellers” who fluidly switch among different characters, the play is an engaging and humorous exploration of expressing one’s individuality in society – and the cost of such nonconformity.
Co-produced with the La Jolla Playhouse (LJP), where the play premiered last year, this production features many of the same cast and crew, continuing under the direction of LJP’s artistic director Christopher Ashley.
Broderick reprises his title role of George Babbitt, as does Ann Harada as his wife Myra. Mara Davi, Nehal Joshi, Judy Kaye, Matt McGrath, Chris Myers and Ali Stroker all excel as the other “Storytellers” who bring the fictional midwestern town of Zenith to life.
Though the story is 100 years old, its parallels to today seem designed to leap out, not just through the characters’ attitudes but also staging. Some costumes (designed by Linda Cho) are period appropriate—including Babbitt’s white underclothes and gray wool suit—while others are contemporary. The gleaming white library set (designed by Walt Spangler, with expressive lighting by Cha See) creates a modern feel, while the books on its shelves suggest old knowledge.
Original music by Mark Bennett and Wayne Barker is mostly period-inflected, however, helping keep what happens in Zenith safely in the past. But the portrait we get is of a conservative society reacting against the pressure of “liberal” social values, threatening to dethrone those with money and power. Sound familiar?
That tension mirrors our own, especially with Zenith’s conservatives blatantly railing against immigrants, workers’ unions and even teachers “poisoning” students with socialist ideas.
And this is where Babbitt comes in – as an everyman real estate broker supporting a wife who stays home with appliances that are the “best of the nationally advertised brands,” a son (Myers) in high school and young daughter “Tinka” (Stroker), whose daily kiss on his cheek means everything to him.
But what’s missing? Something that can recover the ambitions of Babbitt’s youth and give his life meaning, which in his case means making speeches that influence others. He also harbors a secret passion for Tanis (Davi), a new dancer in town who looks like the seductive “fairy” girl of his dreams and whom he starts visiting while his wife goes to stay with her sister.
Babbitt’s speeches become popular among the town’s conservatives, who chant his empty catchphrase, “That’s the stuff!” But we also see that Babbitt makes other exclamations like “Zowie!” that are mere reactions without substance, and sometimes suggests breaking the rules for what he considers to be the right reasons.
After Tanis’s beret-wearing bohemian friends adopt him as one of their own – and she changes the color of his tie from blue to yellow – Babbitt starts advocating for progressive reforms like labor rights in his speeches, which he says he always supported.
The conservatives react strongly, eventually creating a Good Citizen's League, requiring wannabe members – namely anyone who wants to keep their social ties and business intact – to sign a contract embracing its reactionary principles.
But before that comes to a head, Babbitt faces his best friend Paul’s (Joshi) serious domestic problems, his wife Myra exploring pseudo-feminist ideologies and (gasp!) wanting her own library card, and his son choosing to be a mechanic rather than a lawyer.
Where Babbitt ends up – and whether he will sign the Good Citizen’s League somewhat Faustian contract – is interesting and makes the play worth seeing as a reflection of the pressures and choices we face today. Like us, Babbitt has only done what he must to survive in Zenith society with his soul somewhat intact.
But perhaps what he ultimately finds fulfilling is letting go of himself to be more to the people around him – his wife, son, and friend Paul. In a way, though, he punts resolving the polarizing societal choices into the future, leaving it to his son to not make the same mistakes, though he tells him he probably will.
The play is substantial both in exploring social and political issues, but also in how it treats its characters. Everyone feels more than one-dimensional. Even little Tinka gives the audience a hint of her future, though it’s not necessarily one that's kind to her father.
Staging is also dynamic and fun, bringing out the play’s humor. Broderick easily steps into the physical demands of his role, not only in dancing lessons with Tanis but having to stiffly lower himself to her floor cushions to drink tea a couple of times. The play even opens with Broderick sideways, prone asleep with the Storytellers then having to dress him.
As they do, they describe Babbitt as pink with gray hair, his face with a few wrinkles yet still boyish, which fits Broderick precisely. Though the play would still work with someone else in the title role, hearing the erstwhile Ferris Bueller delivering Babbitt’s lines brings home what society might do to someone who once lived freely but has now grown up – as entrenched in the seemingly inescapable rigidities of social norms and political extremes as we are.
“Babbitt” continues at Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Harman Hall, 610 F Street NW,
Washington, D.C., through Nov. 3. For tickets and information, call the box office at (202) 547-1122 or visit Shakespearetheatre.org. Run time is 2 hours, including a 15-minute intermission.
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