On Stage: “Giant”

Photo: Joan Marcus

Giant

In a ferocious tour-de-force performance, John Lithgow embodies mercurial children’s book author Roald Dahl (“Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” “James and the Giant Peach,” “The BFG,” “Matilda”) in playwright Mark Rosenblatt’s Olivier award-winning “Giant” that just opened on Broadway.

Set in Gipsy House, Dahl’s home in Great Missenden, the debate-drama depicts a (fictional) 1983 luncheon in which massive, intimidating Dahl is confronted by representatives of his London and New York publishers regarding his incendiary, antisemitic comments in a disgraceful book review of Tony Clifton’s “Dear God” about the 1982 Israeli siege of Beirut, Lebanon.

With Dahl’s “Witches” about to be launched, his British publisher Tom Maschler (Elliott Levey) and American sales rep Jessie Stone (Aya Cash) are into crisis management, attempting to cajole an apology or, at least, a clarification out of erudite, stubbornly virulent Dahl.

Flanked by his fiancé and longtime mistress Felicity ‘Liccy’ Crosland (Rachel Stirling), who notes that Brits who dispense impending knighthoods loathe this kind of controversy, Dahl not only stands his ground but also reiterates his assertion that Jews are “a race of people (who’d) switched so rapidly from being much-pitied victims to barbarous murderers,” adding “even a stinker like Hitler didn’t pick on them for no reason.”

Director Nicholas Hytner adroitly utilizes Bob Crowley’s spare set, depicting an English country house undergoing major renovations, somewhat paralleling the chaotic, revelatory breakdown of Dahl’s bigoted character in front of two loyal servants: cook Hallie (Stella Everett) and groundskeeper Wally (David Manis).

Outspoken Aya Cash’s perceptive supporting performance identifies Dahl’s innate immaturity, concluding: “You’re a belligerent, nasty child. It’s the gift of your work — but the curse of your life.”

(While Roald Dahl was well known in London, many in Manhattan may not recall he was married for 30 years to actress Patricia Neal, who bore his five children, including a disabled son and daughter who died. Dahl refers to Neal as “a vegetable” after she suffered several massive strokes.)

Timely and thought-provoking, “Giant” revives the question of how to separate art from the artist — which, ironically, now involves John Lithgow himself since he plays Dumbledore in HBO’s upcoming “Harry Potter” series by controversial author J.K. Rowling. And, although it was written before the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, “Giant” also coincides with renewed geopolitical tensions and rising antisemitism.