It’s been nearly four decades since Aaron Sorkin broke out with the Broadway hit A Few Good Men, a courtroom drama that anticipated the arrival of TV shows like Law & Order with its ripped-from-the-headlines plotting as well as JAG with its focus on the military justice system. Not to mention the successful oeuvre of Sorkin himself, who used this play to hone his talents for writing about intelligent characters engaged in quippy, rat-a-tat dialogue at a breakneck pace. The popularity of A Few Good Men was cemented with the release of Rob Reiner’s 1992 film, for which Sorkin wrote the script after poring over books about the basics of the craft.
Even 30-some years on, it’s impossible to erase the memory of the Reiner film — particularly the riveting climax in which Jack Nicholson’s Marine Colonel Nathan Jessep furiously dresses down Tom Cruise’s not-as-green-as-he-seems Navy lawyer Daniel Kaffee about the suspicious circumstances around the death of a private on the Marine base Jessep oversees. (In another bit of foreshadowing of major news events in the early 21st century, the base is located on Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.) Can you handle the truth? Director Michael Arden’s glossy Broadway revival is a gripping piece of storytelling, and the production boasts an almost cinematic grandeur that makes the most of the cavernous stage at Lincoln Center’s Vivian Beaumont Theater.
In many ways, the outsize nature of this revival should come as no surprise. Arden has emerged as a visionary theatrical maximalist in Tony-winning musicals like Maybe Happy Ending and last season’s The Lost Boys, using just about every corner of a Broadway stage to tell his story. Here, he finds multiple nooks and crannies on Dane Laffrey’s hangar-like set that Japhy Weideman smartly illuminates or casts in shadow as the moment demands. At one point, he shows the two Marine suspects dragging ill-fated Private First Class William Santiago (Daniel Velez) across a narrow strip of light in the middle of the stage as their superior officers are being deposed about the case downstage.
The young British actor Tom Blyth swaggers across the stage as Kaffee, projecting an aura of easy-going popular guy who continually chooses the path of least resistance in handling his legal case load. He clashes almost immediately with the hard-charging Joanne Galloway (Krysta Rodriguez), a more senior military lawyer who pushes Kaffee to more thoroughly investigate the case against Santiago’s confessed killers, the sullen Dawson (Lavel Schley), who follows the Marine code with a religious fervor, and the dim-witted private Downey (Collin Kelly-Sordelet).
She’s right, of course. There’s more to the case than meets the eye as it becomes clear that Dawson and Downey were just following orders to deliver Santiago a disciplinary “code red” after the bullied man circumvented the chain of command to complain to higher-ups about his treatment and other violations on the base. Jessep, in line for a major promotion to Washington, and the good-ol’-boy platoon commander (John Zdrojeski) prove willing to bend the rules to maintain the order they feel is necessary in a military setting like Cuba. That’s not entirely unreasonable since we learn Kaffee and Galloway must change out of their dress uniforms to avoid being treated as easy target practice by the enemy just over the camp’s wall.
While Sorkin has said he updated the script for this revival, Rodriguez’s Galloway remains an off-putting character, both strident in her advocacy but also making unfortunate tactical mistakes that even a green lawyer like Kaffee spots right away. (It would have been interesting to see Galloway school Kaffee on the flub instead, especially since he’s the one who lacks trial experience.) At least Sorkin spares us from the cliché of forging a romance between the characters, though they do develop an entirely platonic mutual respect.
Bradley Whitford, who understudied in the original Broadway production and assumed the role of Kaffee late in its run, tamps down his usual avuncular nature to play Jessep. There’s a rigidness to his posture, arms at his sides and fists clenched, that very much looks the part of the hard-ass Marine boss. He also strips his voice of any twinkle, delivering his lines with a gruffness that carries through even during his occasional use of sarcasm (something that confuses some of his less sharp underlings). While he isn’t the edgy live wire that Nicholson effortlessly portrayed on screen, Whitford does nail the arrogance and inflexibility of a man who’s grown accustomed to issuing orders unquestioningly. And for reasons, keeping both his men and the country safe from harm, that are not without merit.
The courtroom drama, once a staple on the stage, has migrated mostly to television. But there’s a craft to this play’s construction still shines through. Plus, the play returns at a moment when the idea of the military refusing unlawful orders has gained some currency. (Calling Senator Mark Kelly.) That said, Sorkin doesn’t delve deeply into the philosophical or moral questions that he raises. There’s no mistaking who the bad guys are, or whether they will get their comeuppance in the end. But his breakout play remains a crackerjack entertainment, which unfolds with brisk efficiency under Arden’s coolly professional direction. ★★★★☆
A FEW GOOD MEN
LCT’s Vivian Beaumont Theater, Broadway
Running time: 2 hours, 40 minutes (with one intermission)
Tickets on sale through January 10 for $114 to $421