One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest: On Stage in Astoria

Saturday night I went to see the stage production of One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest at the Astor Street Opry Company in Astoria with Jenny. It was our 3rd trip to the ASOC and again I was amazed by the quality and depth of the acting by the members of the cast.

After watching this stage version I found that it was a better story than the movie because in the play the supporting actors have bigger roles and add a different dimension that was missing from the movie. Don’t get me wrong the movie is one of the best ever but when it’s on stage, the acting and characters breathe a different light into it that you immediately notice and appreciate.

For instance the funny basketball game was abbreviated and played inside the common area of the institution. The fishing trip is omitted, and the World Series scene was completely different, brilliantly done and it gave the other actors in the cast more lines adding to the humor and scope of the scene.

One of the very cool and well done parts of the play is how McMurphy (Played by Steve Wood) deals with the idea of electroshock therapy and then what happens once he gets it. In the play he openly challenges Nurse Ratched (Played by Deborah McEuen) to give it to him. There’s a good piece of dialog that goes on in that particular scene that wasn’t in the movie.

Dr. Spivey (Played by Bob Goldberg) had an interesting part and dialog, adding humor and believability to the play. Again something that isn’t included in the movie version.

Another good piece of writing was how the whole suicide scene of Billy (Played by Eric Keto) is crafted. In the play you don’t see him after the fact as per the movie but instead it’s all happening off stage and I believe that sometimes what you don’t see is far more tragic and horrible than what you do see. When left to the imagination scary things become way more terrifying.

Personally for me the most memorable addition to the play that I really loved was the between scenes dialog of Chief Bromden (Played by Barry Sears.) The Chief has a very important role in the play and has far more conversational dialog. The last scene of the play with the Chief and Mr. Harding (Played by Dan Driscoll) was some of the best acting I’ve seen on stage in Astoria. Taking nothing away from Steve Wood’s performance as McMurphy, Barry Sears stole the show.

Markus Brown directed this production and I have to say he did an excellent job with a very tough play, many characters and quick difficult transitions. Markus is a carpenter by trade and the set he designed and built had a very professional look and feel to it. It really looked like a mental institution. The Lighting designed by Mick Alderman, another friend, was awesome and really added to the production and the drama of the play.

Since Markus is a friend and 2 others involved with the play were friends this will be the hardest part of my review but since I think Markus would want an honest opinion I’ll share what I considered some of the few weaknesses of the play.

I thought that Steve Wood (McMurphy) had a little trouble in the beginning getting his feet under him but as the play went on however he got much stronger and more confident. By the end he was amazing. The same could be said of Dan Driscoll who had some trouble with lines and I think tried to often in the beginning to be a little to deliberately witty. He too grew more confident as the ship got underway.

Deborah McEuen definitely had the hard nose and strong personality down pat as Nurse Ratched. In her portrayal she seemed angrier and clearly showed more emotion in her face, eyes, voice and demeanor than the actress from the movie version. In the movie Louise Fletcher plays it like ice, cold, unemotional, deadpan and with almost dead eyes. Deborah was excellent in the role she just played it from a different emotional prospective which I assume is what Markus wanted.

I thought Jason Hippert as Cheswick, Brian Allen as Martini and Eric Keto as Billy were all fantastic in their supporting roles as well.

Steve Wood was excellent as McMurphy and all the actors did a great job for Community Theater but I thought Barry Sears as the Chief will be the character I’ll always remember. Maybe it was because I had no idea he had so many lines in the play but he was truly amazing.

Overall it was an excellent and entertaining evening and I completely respect and admire the cast and crew of the play. I highly recommend you go see it this weekend if tickets are still available. Markus my hat is off to you, good work my friend.