Strangely, I thought about Luigi Mangione after seeing Sarah Snook’s theatrical tour de force, The Picture of Dorian Gray, at the Music Box Theatre on Broadway–Okay, not really about him but about the oh-so-many folks out there obsessed with him, my elderly neighbor included, who refers to Mangione as, “My Luigi!” I remind her that he murdered someone, and she brushes the comment aside with, “someone who deserved it.” Like many on social media she’s enchanted by his youth and good looks. The rest doesn’t matter.
Would anyone care about him if he was old and hideous? I wonder, had Oscar Wilde lived in this lunatic age of followers and Influencers, he may, very well, have written the same play, only with a selfie in place of the portrait.
Published in 1891, Wilde’s gothic horror novel, for anyone who never took an English lit class, is about a beautiful young man who makes a Faustian deal to remain young and gorgeous while a stunning painting capturing his youth and looks, does the aging for him.
Basil Hallward is the painter transfixed by Dorian. Basil introduces Dorian to his friend Lord Henry Wotton; a man whose hedonistic philosophy leads Dorian to sell his soul for eternal beauty. (And how many of us today would make that same deal?) Dorian is now free to lead a life of immorality, where, like Mangione, he also commits murder.
Snook (outstanding in HBO’s Succession) takes on all 26 roles including the titular part. But, as opposed to Andrew Scott currently wowing wealthy audiences at the Lortel as Vanya, the wildly ambitious yet triumphant hattrick Snook pulls off here is that she is often acting opposite herself, as the other characters, via her own video image. It’s a true wonder to behold—a state of the art-techno-theatrical miracle where sometimes you may not be sure who the live Snook is, and which are prerecorded.
The Picture of Dorian Gray is about a narcissist, someone who basks in adoration. He may as well be an actor. So, while it would be easy to label this brand of bold Snookery as an ego trip, the truth is she’s, in many ways, meta-mocking her own profession.
And the magic that Snook creates goes far beyond the tech achievements. She allows us a window into the psyche of each of the major characters and while you may feel this sense of detachment throughout the production, it’s in the final moments—which I will not give away—that it all comes together, and we truly feel what Dorian has wrought on himself.
As with Jamie Lloyd’s brilliant staging of Sunset Blvd, one block away, this is no gimmick. Australian director Kip Williams, who also ingeniously adapts the work, knows exactly what he’s doing and the ideas he’s introducing about our crippling cultural fascination with youth and beauty.
The show blends Victorian notions of staying lovely with today’s Insta-TikTok filters and de-aging techniques. I don’t want to give too much away about the tech aspects either, suffice to say, you will be enthralled for two solid hours.
This Dorian was originally staged by Sydney Theatre Company and then astonished London’s West End where Snook won the Olivier Award for Best Actress.
I was fascinated by the concept — the fact that the audience is mostly watching a giant video image of Snook for two hours, much like how our eyes are almost always looking at our gadgets whether it be our phones, tablets or laptops. Williams seems to be daring us to watch the actress live—often obstructed—forcing us to choose, to decide. Are we even capable of looking away from a screen?
Thinking back to my neighbor, she will often pull up her favorite photo of Mangione (you probably know the one), shirtless except for a backpack among the greenery, smiling, wickedly carefree. She then sighs. And stares. And stares. As if she wants to somehow be in the photo with him. Or does she wish she was him?
The Picture of Dorian Gray runs through June 15 at the Music Box Theater, NYC Tickets: doriangrayplay.com
