by Tennessee Williams
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Product Description
No play in the modern theatre has so captured the imagination and heart of the American public as Tennessee Williams's The Glass Menagerie. Menagerie was Williams's first popular success and launched the brilliant, if somewhat controversial, career of our pre-eminent lyric playwright. Since its premiere in Chicago in 1944, with the legendary Laurette Taylor in the role of Amanda, the play has been the bravura piece for great actresses from Jessica Tandy to Joanne Woodward, and is studied and performed in classrooms and theatres around the world. The Glass Menagerie (in the reading text the author preferred) is now available only in its New Directions Paperbook edition. A new introduction by prominent Williams scholar Robert Bray, editor of The Tennessee Williams Annual Review, reappraises the play more than half a century after it won the New York Drama Critics Circle Award: "More than fifty years after telling his story of a family whose lives form a triangle of quiet desperation, Williams's mellifluous voice still resonates deeply and universally." This edition of The Glass Menagerie also includes Williams's essay on the impact of sudden fame on a struggling writer, "The Catastrophe of Success," as well as a short section of Williams's own "Production Notes." The cover features the classic line drawing by Alvin Lustig, originally done for the 1949 New Directions edition.
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Average Customer Review:
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
 A real gem!, 2008-12-10
Truly, one of the greatest playwrights, Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie, and the most talked about live theatre performance with Lauret Taylor as Amanda Wingefield. In the DVD documentary Broadway - The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There the veteran theatre actors raved about this performance, and not available on film. The play is brilliant and falls into the category of Williams "Southern belle-type", like Blanche in Streetcar, Maggie in Cat on Tin Roof; and Alma in Smoke and Summer.
Screen device included in some versions
Some versions of the written play, or theatre productions, have the screen device included, which is slides bearing images or titles. Keep in mind that not all versions have the screen device text included.
A memory play, backflash
Narration is done through the memory of a character, Tom, the frustrated son, who works in a warehouse and escapes reality by going to the movies all the time. Like Tennessee Williams, Tom is a poet. Amanda, a middle-aged southern belle whose "charming" husband deserted her and the children lives in the past bragging and delusional about the gentleman callers she had and the men who got away. Laura, the crippled daughter with low self-esteem, whose entire life is all about her small glass animals. And the fourth character is the gentleman caller, Jim, who Amanda expects will be the man for Laura. Jim was everything in high school, expected to succeed greatly, and he was admired by Laura. Jim works in the warehouse with Tom.
Amanda asks Tom to bring home for dinner a young man (not a drinker) from the warehouse for Laura, whose simple existence is to play with her managerie. You will learn everything written between the lines, how dysfunctional and illusional and/or delusional the family is. The moods are clearly defined.
The crowning moment for Amanda
One can't describe how great this play is, and for me, it was toward the end, the shocking tidbit that sends Amanda into another verbal assault on her son. It's comedy and tragedy
The film versions
A DVD theatre version stars Katherine Hepburn, Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie (Broadway Theatre Archive) who is superb, but the rest of the cast was displaced, unfortunately. And if you can, get a film version directed by Paul Newman, Glass Menagerie, The and stars Joanne Woodward. I can't wait to see it. And the only thing greater than the live versions is to see the performance with Lauret Taylor! ......Rizzo
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Superb, Heartfelt Classic, 2008-06-17
This classic tale by Tennessee Williams captures the reader's emotions by so forcefully displaying those of its main characters. This is a story of longing and frustration, set in a frustrating time (The Great Depression). The story is narrated by Tom, who hates his factory job and desires to run to sea, but is the main support for his mother Amanda and sister Laura. The matriarchal Amanda clings desperately to the past, while fragile Laura is devastated more by shy self-consciousness than her slight disability. The plot is simple - helping Laura's social life - but moves at a relentless pace. We see Amanda pain her daughter with wistful talk of gentleman callers from a generation past, then place false hopes on the singular visit of Jim - with resulting further desperation and loneliness. This story tugs gently but relentlessly on our heartstrings; so many of us can relate to its message.
Tennessee Williams (1911-1983) earned his name as a great playwright with this moving story. Readers may also like his other top plays, including STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE, CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF, etc.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
 TOO FRAGILE TO SURVIVE?, 2008-01-12
Tennessee Williams' play in seven scenes continues to fascinate
audiences and readers a half a century after its Chicago premiere.
Based loosely on autobiographical memories of his southern boyhood GLASS MENAGERIE strikes a responsive chord because most people can relate to conflict within a family unit. The three main characters strive to follow their private dreams--no matter how unrealistic they are. Mother and children seek both to escape their drab existence in a honeycomb of Chicago tenements, while concealing their frustration and despair from
each other. They scorn to seek solace or encouragement at home.
A former Southern belle, Mrs. Wingfield desperately wants social success for her daughter; her visions of jonquils and gentleman callers are pathetic attempts to relive her own youth through her socially-stunted daughter. Amanda, overzealous to control her son better than she did her long-gone traveling husband, merely succeeds in alienating Tom, a warehouse worker with dreams of writing poetry and/or joining the merchant marine.
Slightly crippled Laura ("sister" as Amanda calls her) fails at everything she touches, including most recently a typing course at a business college. Seeking escape and unconditional acceptance with her collection of glass animals Laura is excessively shy, terrified of all new social interactions. She seems doomed to early spinsterhood--incapable of providing for herself in the world.
Amanda's scheme to marry off her daughter hinges on the success of luring suitors to their modest apartment. Pressed into providing a gentleman caller Tom invites Jim O'Connor, an affable coworker. In fact both Wingfield siblings knew the former athlete in high school. Despite resistance from Laura, who refuses to cooperate in any social con game, the two young people seem to hit it off when left alone--until Jim drops a bombshell. Dreams are shattered like the glass unicorn, as Amanda despairs because she has two children who are not normal. How will either of the Wingfield offspring escape and find the freedom which their father coveted more than domestic duties? Williams' stage version deliberately blends typical stage business with a cinematic style acquired during his years in Hollywood. Audiences are reminded of the
the question of social survival and the painful fragility of tortured individuals bonded by genetic hostility.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 A Thoroughly Enjoyed Classic, 2007-12-26
Exactly what the title reads above. It's a quick read that follows the play exactly.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Illusion and Escape, 2007-08-23
"Glass Menagerie" provides a surreal tale of the Wingfield family and their diverse struggles with fantasy and reality. Set in St. Louis during the Great Depression, the play revolves around Amanda and her adult children, Tom and Laura, struggling to make ends meet in a St. Louis tenement. Although each cannot grip the realities of the modern world, they seek escape in different ways. Amanda deludes herself into thinking she is still a Southern debutante with many gentleman callers. Laura escapes into her fantasy world ruled by delicate glass animals, her "glass menagerie." Tom, constantly accosted and criticized by Amanda, seeks escape through movies and booze.
Doubtless, the theme of abandonment looms large throughout the play. The presence of their father, although only his picture is seen, plays on all their emotions. Unfortunately for them, he "fell in love with long distances" and abandoned them at an early age. This instills fear in Amanda that Tom would follow the same path and she tries to control his every action. Indeed, her smothering of Tom and her incessant accusations of selfishness lend her an unsympathetic aura.
Williams uses unusual cues and images for a play, as he forsakes the illusion of reality. Indeed, the novel is almost a dream-like existence, as it is contrived from the deep memories of Tom. Although reality may not have a firm hand, the theme of control and a yearn to escape is a biting reality that many people face today. Indeed, Tom seeks to escape the "coffin" of his existence, as he attempts to break away from the iron hand of his mother. Unfortunately for him, this also means abandoning his sister Laura if he chooses this path.
Although it is a short novel and quick read, "Glass Menagerie" provides a powerful message that is applicable today. It has not been lost in a time warp. This, and the fact that it is one of the first plays of Williams, should put this on a short list of "must read" classic American plays.
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