Playing catch-up

A few weeks ago, we saw “To Kill a Mockingbird” on Broadway, with Jeff Daniels in the role of Atticus Finch. This version of the story is not quite the same as the original novel, written by Harper Lee and published in 1960. Gregory Peck won an Oscar award for the 1962 movie version of this novel, but this is the first time the play has been on the Broadway stage. Whether through seeing the movie or reading the book in school, most of us are familiar with the story set in Maycomb, Alabama in the early 1930s in which a black man named Tom Robinson (played by Gbenga Akinnagbe) is falsely accused of the sexual assault of a white woman, and is defended in his trial by Atticus Finch.

The Finch children and their friend are played by adults, Celia Keenan-Bolger as Scout Finch, Will Pullenas as Jem Finch, and Aubie Merrylees (standing in for Gideon Glick) as their friend Dill Harris. I have to admit that I had a bit of a hard time with this aspect, although it would clearly be a challenge to have actual children acting in these roles.

The Broadway production does have some differences from the book and the movie, and provides expanded roles for both Robinson and the Finch’s housekeeper, Calpurnia (played by La Tanya Richardson Jackson). For this reason, the production was nearly quashed in its early development by Harper Lee’s heirs, but in fact it seems to have given the work a whole new generation of devotees. In these rather racially charged times, the themes of this play are, sadly, still relevant.

We went to see the new documentary, “Mike Wallace is Here.” What a fascinating career this man had, interviewing some of the most famous people on the planet over a period of fifty years. He was one of the original correspondents on the CBS show 60 Minutes when it first aired in 1960 until retiring from his full-time position there in 2006. The movie was directed by Avi Belkin (my maiden name), an Israeli who I would like to but cannot claim as a relative. Some of the highlights in the film included interviews with Bill O’Reilly, Ayatollah Khomeini, Anwar Sadat, Vladimir Putin, General William C. Westmoreland, Leona Helmsley, Barbra Streisand, and Donald Trump.

Have a good week.

Love,

Rebecca