The world’s most intellectual, brittle playwright has grown a heart as big as old Paramount Pictures. “The Hard Problem” opened Monday at Lincoln Center Theater’s Mitzi E. Newhouse, and with it, Tom Stoppard takes on nothing less than the source of consciousness. How does the brain create it out of a bunch of ordinary molecules?
It makes dramatic sense that the characters of “The Hard Problem” get to debate the mind-body relationship, because most of them work for a think tank called the Krohl Institute for Brain Science. It’s located in London even though the company is funded by Krohl Capital Management, which is the creation of Jerry Krohl (Jon Tenney), the gross American capitalist who may very well be the great grandson of Lionel Barrymore in “It’s a Wonderful Life.” Stoppard wows us with his talk of “neurobiology crossovers” and “quantum-level brain processes,” but when it comes to developing his characters, he doesn’t bother being subtle or even remotely smart. American equals crass, and British equals…well, those characters are nicer and brighter but sometimes much gooier.
Take the play’s British heroine, Hilary (Adelaide Clemens), who lands a job at Krohl even though she’s a psychologist and the institute is geared more toward the hard math of brain sciences. When asked in her job interview how consciousness exists, Hilary answers, “I have no idea, and nor does anyone else. I thought that’s why we’re here. To crack the Hard Problem.”
Again, Stoppard isn’t subtle. Hilary not only prays to God, she kneels beside her bed — head down, eyes closed, hands folded — to pray to Him, despite much guff from her erstwhile boyfriend (Chris O’Shea). Hilary believes in the unknowns. As she puts it, “[E]very theory proposed for the problem of consciousness has the same degree of demonstrability as divine intervention. So — psychologically — they’re equivalent.”
Many of her verbal battles with colleagues are fascinating. Especially scintillating is the one she has with her boyfriend about Rose of Sharon, who may be nothing more than a vampire bat regurgitating blood to feed a hungry stranger at the end of “The Grapes of Wrath.” Or does Steinbeck’s character give her mother’s milk out of pure altruism? Also riveting is the pre-dinner about the tortuous journey of a parasite that lives inside cows and re-enters these vegans by first being shat out, then digested by ants that are hard-wired to climb stalks of grass repeatedly until the cows gobbles them up. I left out a few steps here, but suffice to say, it’s an example of “altruism” according to one of Hilary’s more hard-wired scientist friends.
These discussions don’t further the drama, but they do lace it with humor. What truly pumps Stoppard’s story is the heart he’s grown that’s as big and corny as old Paramount Pictures. Hilary ultimately wins our sympathy, but not because she believes in God or thinks that good works and creativity and art can’t be explained through math and science. At age 15, she was forced to give up her baby, Catherine, because Hilary was unwed. She calls this lost but not forgotten child the last of the “shame babies.” Stoppard gives no precise dates for his play, but it’s clearly not set in 1946, the year Paramount released that classic Olivia de Havilland weeper “To Each His Own,” which presents a far more credible reunion of a mother and her out-of-wedlock child.
Under Jack O’Brien’s direction, Clemens is every bit as convincing as de Havilland in her journey from optimistic neophyte to seasoned career woman. O’Shea, unlike a few other actors in this production, manages to escape being a mere mouthpiece for the losing side of Stoppard’s arguments. And Tenney’s initial bluster softens considerably to help facilitate the play’s soapy ending.
Unfortunate is O’Brien’s decision to have a half-dozen stagehands, credited as the “ensemble,” remain on stage to watch the action. They sit upstage, expressionless but carefully posed, as if waiting for an ad photographer from the United Colors of Benetton.
18 All-Time Great Tony Awards Performances, From 'Dreamgirls' to 'Hamilton' (Videos)
"Cabaret" (1967)
Joel Grey sang "Willkommen" to the big time, winning both a Tony (and later an Oscar) playing the M.C. in this musical set in the early days of Nazi Germany.
"Promises, Promises" (1969)
OK, the song "Turkey Lurkey" frankly doesn't make any sense -- and the whole office holiday party is kind of shoehorned into the plot. (The show's "I'll Never Fall in Love Again," however, became a big hit for Dionne Warwick.) But Michael Bennett's choreography is head-bobbingly, arm-spinningly awesome.
"A Chorus Line" (1976)
The full "I Hope I Get It!" opening number from the quintessential backstage show -- amazing how long CBS let the numbers run back in the day. Bonus for "Gilmore Girls" fans: That's Kelly Bishop as the haughty dancer who says, "I had it when I was in the front."
"Sweeney Todd" (1979)
Angela Lansbury won the fourth of her five Tony's playing the daffy Mrs. Lovett, the baker of "The Worst Pies in London," in Stephen Sondheim's dark musical.
"Dreamgirls" (1982)
Jennifer Holliday's rendition of "And I'm Telling You..." has been widely imitated, and this is the performance that is most often imitated. A-ma-zing.
"Cats" (1983)
Andrew Lloyd Webber continued his domination of Broadway with this feline musical starring Betty Buckley as Grizabella. Interestingly, the breakout ballad "Memory" was one of the few songs whose lyrics didn't come from T.S. Eliot's "Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats."
"Grand Hotel" (1990)
Michael Jeter, perhaps best known from the sitcom "Evening Shade," was a rubber-limbed sensation playing a tipsy bookkeeper in the number "Let's Take a Glass Together."
"Rent" (1996)
Jonathan Larson's rock opera version of "La Boheme" gained extra poignance with his unexpected death after the first Off Broadway preview. The show became a phenomenon, and launched the careers of Idina Menzel, Jesse L. Martin and Taye Diggs.
"Chicago" (1997 revival)
Bebe Neuwirth and Ann Reinking displayed all the athleticism of Bob Fosse's original choreography in the hit revival of Kander & Ebb's musical about the dawn of celebrity criminals (which led to the Oscar-winning 2002 movie).
"The Lion King" (1998)
While Disney's stage version of the animated movie swept most of the major awards in 1998, we chose the opening number from the 2008 telecast -- celebrating the show's 10th anniversary and with clearer shots of Julie Taymor's magnificent puppets and stagecraft.
"Wicked" (2004)
Idina Menzel may have had some cold-induced pitchiness on the final note, but she (and co-star Kristin Chenoweth) are still pretty sensational on the now-standard showstopper "Defying Gravity."
"The Drowsy Chaperone" (2006)
Sutton Foster shows off while insisting that she doesn't want to show off no more in this delightful number.
"Spring Awakening" (2007)
Duncan Sheik's rock musical about rebellious teens shook up the staid world of Broadway with a just-mouthed rendition of "Totally F---ed" performed by very young Lea Michele, Jonathan Groff, John Gallagher Jr. and Skylar Astin.
"Gypsy" (2008 revival)
Everything came up roses for Patti LuPone, who won her second Tony Award playing the irrepressible Mama Rose in the classic musical about showbiz striving.
Neil Patrick Harris' Tony Opening Number (2013)
It's hard to fill a space as cavernous as Radio City Music Hall -- but NPH did just that with a "bigger" number (written by "Hamilton" composer Lin-Manuel Miranda) that included high steps, high notes, leaps, magic, shout-outs to "How I Met Your Mother" fans and even Mike Tyson. Wow.
James Corden's Tony Opening Number (2016)
The hard-working late-night host (and a Tony winner himself) did his own version of a dream-big number, running through a dozen classic Broadway musicals from "Les Miz" to "Fiddler on the Roof" to "Annie."
"Hamilton " (2016)
Audiences at home finally got a chance to see a slice of the buzzed-about hip-hop hit, which even scored an intro from Barack and Michelle Obama.
Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Drama Students Sing "Seasons of Love" (2018)
There wasn't a dry eye in Radio City Music Hall when students from Parkland, Florida, performed the anthem from "Rent" months after a horrific mass shooting killed 17 of their classmates and teachers. The Tonys had honored their drama teacher, Melody Herzfeld, with a special award.
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A look back at some of Broadway’s highest kicks (and notes) over the history of the Tony telecast
"Cabaret" (1967)
Joel Grey sang "Willkommen" to the big time, winning both a Tony (and later an Oscar) playing the M.C. in this musical set in the early days of Nazi Germany.
Robert Hofler, TheWrap's lead theater critic, has worked as an editor at Life, Us Weekly and Variety. His books include "The Man Who Invented Rock Hudson," "Party Animals," and "Sexplosion: From Andy Warhol to A Clockwork Orange, How a Generation of Pop Rebels Broke All the Taboos." His latest book, "Money, Murder, and Dominick Dunne," is now in paperback.