Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

It's become popular lately to adapt movie scripts into plays. The reasons for this are dubious: Is it because playmakers have run out of original ideas? Do they aim to rely on familiarity and name recognition to draw audiences into the theatre? Or are they simply passionate about a story and want to translate it into a live experience?

The double-edged sword of this endeavor is that the great stars that made these films into hits very often define great movies. Few properties suffer from the weight of celebrity as does "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner," the 1967 comedy of manners about a liberal white couple that must face their conflicted opinions about interracial marriage.

The iconic film starred the legendary screen couple Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy. (This was the ninth and final onscreen coupling of what has come to be known as one of Hollywood's legendary love affairs.) It also featured the barrier-breaking Sidney Poitier, the first black man to win Academy Award for Best Actor and the top box-office star the year the film was released. (Poitier was the first black celebrity to accomplish this as well).

The Huntington Theatre Company's production of "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner," adapted to the stage by Todd Kreidler from the screenplay written by William Rose and running through October 5, struggles only partly under the burden of celebrity. For the most part, the talented cast in this restatement of one of the seminal race relations films of the 1960s stands on its own.

Director David Esbjornson has brought to Boston another iteration of a production he mounted last winter in Washington D.C. at Arena Stage. Malcolm-Jamal Warner ("The Cosby Show's" Theo Huxtable) reprises the role he played in that production, Dr. John Prentice, the role that Poitier played in the movie. The only other cast member to continue from that production is Lynda Grav�tt in the role of Matilda Binks. (As a side note, the show was produced in the summer of 2012 with another "Cosby" cast member, Phylicia Rashad played the role of Prentice's mother, though Warner was not her son in that production.)

The year the play takes place (and the movie was made), 1967, was a revolutionary time in America: Lyndon B. Johnson was escalating the Vietnam War, and civil and social unrest and race riots were fundamentally changing the face of the culture. "The Doors" released their first album, Aretha Franklin released "Respect," "Bonnie and Clyde" ushered in a new style of filmmaking to be known as "The New Hollywood" (though the Oscar for best picture went to another Poitier film, "In the Heat of the Night") and, in the theatre, "Hair" came out and "Boys in the Band" was written.

Interracial marriage was still illegal in 17 (mostly Southern) states -- until June 12, 1967 when anti-miscegenation laws were struck down by the Supreme Court in Loving v. Virginia.

It's in this volatile world that this sweet and optimistic comedy unfolds. Its action takes place over the course of a single day, and in one location. In the early morning light, as the play begins, the living room of the Drayton's home in San Francisco is stark in its whiteness. (Scenic Designer Dane Laffrey captures a high-ceilinged, spacious quality of mid-century chic). As more light fills the room we see that the floor and the furniture are actually much warmer. They are done in wood, with voluptuous curves that counter the predominant square shapes in the walls, which almost feel like a cage. But these visual spaces are segregated.

It is into this environment that Joanna Drayton (Meredith Forlenza) brings important news to her white, upper middle-class family: She has met the perfect man during a half-year medical internship in Hawaii, and they're engaged to marry.

The man in questions, Dr. John Prentice, is ideal in every way. He is an attractive, successful, internationally renowned physician. Still, he fears that Joanna's parents, Christina Drayton (Julia Duffy), a prominent art gallery owner, and her husband Matt (Will Lyman), a liberal newspaper publisher, might have a problem with the fact that he is black.

Joanna's parents do wrestle with the announcement, but not because it is sudden and they are expected to instantly give their blessing, and not because there is some character flaw that would cause them to suspect Prentice. Their unease rests solely on the fact that Prentice is black, and the marriage will be interracial.

The Draytons need time to process the news, but Prentice must have their blessing by the end of the day because his hectic schedule has him boarding a plane overseas the next morning. (The very fact that Prentice demands the Draytons accept him in a day's time should give any parent pause, but Prentice has an explanation: He doesn't want to poison his marriage by alienating his prospective in-laws immediately.)

As the day progresses and the races come together, the issue of prejudice proves capable of cutting both ways and the story takes on many shades other than black and white. By the time the sunset spills into the room and the evening air causes a cactus to bloom on the patio, the Drayton's disjointed living room will become beautifully integrated with any array of colors (thanks to the striking Lighting Design, by Allen Lee Hughes).

What most people will wonder is, Why? Why this story? Why now, so many years since interracial marriage ceased to be illegal? It's been a long time since people in the mainstream looked on this type of union as dangerous. Certain stories that are important in their time become counterproductive when remounted in a different era and even tend to promote long abandon stereotypes. (When is the last time you saw someone revive "Uncle Tom's Cabin?")

One good reason for revisiting this script is that it still has the power to make us laugh, though most of the humor comes from social awkwardness and the audience's understanding of a break in conventional manners, rather than great wit in the dialogue. What makes this particular production work is fine casting.

Julia Duffy makes the role of Christina Drayton all her own. Her deadpan looks and comic timing are spot-on. She has all the charm and slightly-frazzled composure she brought to live action sitcoms like "Newhart" and "Designing Women." Her performance is less reminiscent of Hepburn, and more an echo of the understated comedy of masters like Jack Benny and Bob Newhart.

There are roles that risk giving offense, such as that of Matilda Binks (Lynda Grav�tt), the good-hearted, part-of-the-family, black servant. Again, casting proves a saving grace: Even in the shadow of Isabel Sanford ("The Jeffersons'" Louise, who played the role in the film), Grav�tt can bring down the house with a raised eyebrow. Her affect is endearing and strong -- even if her "Uncle Tom"-like character is reflective of a predominantly white culture and points out the limited number of the quality roles available for black women.

Will Lyman (one of Boston's best) is a rough-hewn and multi-layered Matt Drayton. He has none of the antiqued condescension, or the dear, gentle quality that Spencer Tracy gave the role because the role does not require that. Lyman's Drayton is flawed and dynamic, he has the most potential for growth, and this makes him the protagonist and true star of the show. Esbjornson, who also directed Lyman in the Huntington's 2010 production of Arthur Miller's "All My Sons," made an excellent choice with this casting.

Though there are some dramatic moments, this is essentially a socially conscious situation comedy, and that is why Malcolm-Jamal Warner, the big name performer who is cast to draw audiences, is the real problem. The character of Dr. Prentice is too perfect -- a calculated choice by William Rose that now seems dated -- and the flaws he does have (he's pushy and not quite straightforward) never become an issue. Melodrama happens when extraordinary events happen to flawless people, but comedy requires flaws.

Dr. Prentice begins to loosen up when he and Matt have a wry conversation about Joe Louis. Then there are moments (especially after he is caught in a deception at the end of Act One) when it seems that Prentice will need to confess his humanity, but he never follows through. And though speeches filled with romance and platitudes are ennobling when spoken by an actor who symbolized a changing world (as Poitier did), they are simplistic when delivered by an actor we've brought weekly into our homes and we now view as part of the family (as many of us have with Warner).

Todd Kreidler has faithfully translated William Rose's screenplay (in many places word for word), highlighting the fact that this is a period piece. But we can relate with this story because it has absolutely universal themes, like passionate, impulsive progenies and parents who are never satisfied with their children's choices.

It also completely mirrors our own time period. Though there is no overt parallel in the play, still we are very much in an era now, as then, in which people's freedom to marry is expanding. It is easy to imagine a more contemporary scenario where the person brought home by an optimistic daughter (or son) to "meet the parents" could start a bit of controversy in the family.

What truly dates this play is that in 1967 a black man had to be perfect to be acceptable; in 2014, we should know that, like Obama, a man, no matter what his color, can be extraordinary and even a great symbol of hope and still be flawed.

Through October 5 at the Avenue of the Arts BU Theatre
264 Huntington Avenue, Boston MA
www.huntingtontheatre.org