Secret Service

Welcome to 1864 1977.  Our first stop is Virginia during the Civil War.  Specifically to a made for TV broadway revival of play performed in 1896 for a whopping 150 some odd shows.  A big deal at the turn of the century.  I know this because the man that looks like Gregory Peck who came on before the movie told me and said that it was America's "first thriller."  And you know what?  I had a good time.  Maybe that's because I know I have to do the holocaust trilogy waiting in my Netflix que.  But I did!

So many sites to see.  Big 1970s hair!  With in the first 2 minutes on stage Meryl Streep's sass came out:

 pushed right through her southern belle and on to the screen.  Nice to see it was always there.  Oh and John Lithgow had hair once!  No kidding, he really did and it was super nicely coiffed:

Okay, I'm not going to give you a play by play but here is the gist:

Meryl Streep plays Ethel who is entirely hung up on John Lithgow aka Captain Thorne.  She manages to fanagle a commission from the president (of the South) that would keep Thorne in town manning the telegraph office and away from battle.  Thorne is adamant that he can't do it and he has to leave for his other assignment.  THEN Jim Dial shows up and is all "John Lithgow is a spy!"

  and it just gets crazy from there.  Pretty dramatic stuff actually, lots of twists and turns and a bit of sweet comedy from and incredibly young Mary Beth Hurt.  I'm pretty sure she was actually 12 at the time.

With the exception of Jim Dial, it was very decently acted.  Sadly his mustache was distracting and he almost annihilated every scene he was in.  Only Meryl Streep held her own against him.  Her portrayal of a smitten, self obsessed, southern belle was quite believable.  And in classic Streep style she took it to the next level: Ethel was smart and conflicted and her emotions played across her face despite herself.  Ethel didn't know just what she wanted with consistency and so you didn't either.  Her inner turmoil was what held the play together despite Jim Dial's attempt to undo it.  At the intermissions between the acts we were treated to confederate song stylings by the actors.  Which, frankly, was a little awkward.  On the other hand, right out the gate Meryl Streep let the world know she was at least a double threat with both acting and singing.

Hey, remember that time I posted a picture of Meryl Streep singing in front of the confederate flag?  Yeah that was great.  And now I am deeply afraid of the Google searches that will hit on this blog post.


The film was not nearly as slow or hokey as I was braced for.  Well maybe I felt a little nauseated at the very very end, but it was 1895 when it was written so what do I know?  Of course I don't think the original John Lithgow and Meryl Streep got quite as fresh on stage as they did on the screen.