TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

Last week in New York at Madison Square Garden, 18,000 high school kids saw a free performance of the new Aaron Sorkin adaptation of TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD. The ovation when it was over was thunderous.

As it should be.

I saw the play the next night in the normally cavernous (but compared to Madison Square Garden —intimate) Shubert Theatre. It was fabulous. Aaron Sorkin did an absolute masterful job of adapting both a beloved book and movie and managed to keep the essence and integrity of both while still giving it a fresh spin.

It should have won a bunch of Tony’s last year but the Academy pretty much shut it out (having an issue with producer Scott Rudin). Meanwhile, TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD continues to play to sold out crowds while none of the five nominated Best Plays are still running. I know he’s got Emmys and Oscars and probably Heisman Trophies, but Sorkin was robbed. Expect this version to play around the country (and maybe the world) for years.

MOCKINGBIRD takes on even more relevance now… unfortunately. The trial in the play might as well have been the impeachment trial. The same jury of ignorant, racist, crackers who ignored the facts to return a shameful verdict and a horrible miscarriage of justice occurred just this year in the U.S. Senate. Mitch McConnell was Robert Ewell, and Adam Schiff was Atticus Finch.

I know it makes little sense to review a play that most people won’t have the opportunity to immediately see, but 18,000 future voters saw it last week. 18,000 more people were exposed to the ugliness of bigotry and the tragedy that arises out of lawlessness, self-interest above all else, and ignorance.

Something to think about here on "Super Tuesday."  

from By Ken Levine