A Touch of the Poet

Touch of the Poet, A (1958), a play by Eugene O'Neill. [ Helen Hayes Theatre, 284 perf.] Cornelius Melody (Eric Portman), who keeps an inn near Boston, is a tyrannical, boozy Irishman living off memories of his past importance. As a young soldier he fought with Wellington at Waterloo. “Con” dominates his submissive wife, Nora (Helen Hayes), and even his more forthright, aggressive daughter, Sara (Kim Stanley), and he regards his neighboring Yankees as beneath contempt. So when Sara falls in love with Simon, the son of a rich New Englander, and the family rejects Sara as a possible suitor, Con sets out to avenge the slight with a duel. Instead, he is beaten and humiliated. Returning home, he shoots his beloved old mare, thereby severing a last small link with his past. Destined as part of the eleven‐play cycle that O'Neill never finished, the play “has substance, a point of view, human principle and theatre,” as Brooks Atkinson observed. A 1977 Broadway revival with Jason Robards, Geraldine Fitzgerald, and Kathryn Walker, directed by O'Neill specialist José Quintero, managed a run of 141 performances.

Poster for the 2005 Broadway revival with Gabriel Byrne

A Touch of the Poet is a play by Eugene O'Neill.

It and its sequel, More Stately Mansions, were intended to be part of a nine-play cycle entitled A Tale of Possessors Self-Dispossessed. Set in the dining room of Melody's Tavern, located in a village a few miles from Boston, it centers on Major Cornelius ("Con") Melody, a braggart, social climber, and victim of the American class system in 1828 Massachusetts.

The play has been produced on Broadway four times. The original production, directed by Harold Clurman, opened on October 2, 1958 at the Helen Hayes Theatre, where it ran for 284 performances. The cast included Helen Hayes, Eric Portman, Betty Field, and Kim Stanley. Both the play and Stanley earned Tony Award nominations.

The first revival, directed by Jack Sydow, played in repertory with The Imaginary Invalid and Tonight at 8:30 at the ANTA Playhouse in 1967.

Ten years later, the second revival, directed by José Quintero, opened on December 28, 1977, again at the Helen Hayes Theatre, where it ran for 141 performances. The cast included Geraldine Fitzgerald, Milo O'Shea, Kathryn Walker, and Jason Robards, who was Tony-nominated for Best Actor in Play.

After 32 previews, the third revival, directed by Doug Hughes, opened on December 8, 2005 at Studio 54, where it ran for 50 performances. Gabriel Byrne and Emily Bergl headed the cast.

In 1988, Timothy Dalton and Vanessa Redgrave starred in a production that played at the Young Vic and Haymarket Theatres in London.

External links

• A Touch of the Poet at IBDB

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