Click Here To See
Photographs of Rob and His Fans
at the Stage Door



JOHN BARROWMAN TO JOIN ROB LOWE
FOR LONDON'S A FEW GOOD MEN
By Andrew Gans and James Inverne
Playbill News
June 17, 2005

John Barrowman will be part of the cast of the upcoming London production of A Few Good Menat the Theatre Royal.

Barrowman's official website says that the actor-singer will join the previously announced Rob Lowe for the Aaron Sorkin play, which begins previews August 18. The official opening night is set for September 6.

The play depicts a military trial, as Lowe's character seeks to defend two soldiers accused of killing a colleague.





JOHN BARROWMAN ON MEETING ROB LOWE

John Barrowman and Rob


Rob's co-star in A Few Good Men (Captain Jack Ross) was recently interviewed by "Attidude", a gay publication in England. He was talking about musicals, then the interviewer asked:

AM: There are no show tunes in it, but how are you feeling about A Few Good Men coming out?

JB: Isn't it every gay man's dream to have a few good men coming out?

AM: Are you nervous?

JB: I wasn't nervous before I began rehearsing but I still got a thrill from it. Meeting Rob Lowe my heart was a bit fluttery but I didn't let him see that. Absolutely not! Then I went home and it was like bathroom door, locked! I'm always giddy when I meet people like that.

John Barrowman



A FEW GOOD MEN
The Guardian
By Michael Billington
September 7, 2005

It's already been a Broadway and Hollywood hit. Now Aaron Sorkin's 1989 play turns up in the West End with The West Wing's Rob Lowe impressively in the lead. But, for all its suddenly topical references to military malpractice, it is really a traditional judicial thriller with all the virtues, and some of the vices, of the genre.

Rob on Press Night
 Sorkin's gripping first half, set in and around the US base at Guantánamo Bay, deals with the death apparently by poisoning of a weakling marine. Two of his colleagues are arrested for murder. But the suspicion is that they were acting under orders in administering a "code red": the Marines' term for an internal disciplinary punishment. When they reject a plea bargain, their case is pursued at a Washington court-martial by a callow Harvard lawyer and an impassioned woman from the Department of Internal Affairs.



At its best the play pins down the enclosed, self-protective world of the US military: something of which we had ample recent evidence. Sorkin constantly reminds us that the Marines' private code is one of unquestioning loyalty to "unit, corps, God, country". And he effectively shows that the downside to the Marine ethos is an inbred self-righteousness.

But, while Sorkin's play adroitly ratchets up the tension, it lacks the courage of its liberal convictions. While it is clearly on the side of justice, it allows a measure of sympathy to its guilty party who never lets us forget that he is on the front line facing "4,000 Cubans who are trained to kill me".

And at the end he tells the crusading lawyer: "All you did was weaken a country tonight." Sorkin may claim he is avoiding the trap of moral melodrama. But I was reminded of Herman Wouk's The Caine Mutiny Court Martial which ends with a defence of the paranoiac Captain Queeg and an attack on the bookish intellectual who exposed him.

Rob Lowe as the young lawyer also proves that he is as much at home on stage as on movie and TV screens. He has a lithe, square-jawed presence. He also shows the hero's incremental growth in moral stature as the action proceeds. Above all, he lends the character's neat one-liners the lightest of touches.



Suranne Jones also endows his hotshot legal colleague with a nice bruising assurance. And there is rock-like support from Jack Ellis as an arrogant colonel and from Jonathan Guy Lewis as a wild-eyed religious fundamentalist. You come out having seen a well-plotted thriller that works on its own terms. I just wish that Sorkin, having exposed the dangers of the hermetic ethos of the American Marines, had not finally given them a patriotic, get-out clause.


A FEW GOOD MEN
Daily News
By Quentin Letts


Poster of Rob at the
Haymarket Theatre Royal
 As the sarcastic US Navy lawyer in Sorkin's court-martial drama, Rob Lowe is handsome, quirky, feline but most of all completely believable.

Guantanamo has been much in the news and although this play was written before the Afghan PoW controversies it is keenly topical.

Sorkin writes testing lines about how lawyers prosper thanks to freedoms provided by brute military power.

After a downmarket summer the Theatre Royal Haymarket has a hit.



ROB LOWE OPENS INA FEW GOOD MEN
IN LONDON'S WEST END SEPTEMBER 6th
Playbill
By James Inverne
September 6, 2005



The West End will get to “handle the truth” — a famous phrase from Aaron Sorkin’s A Few Good Men — when that play is reviewed at its Sept. 6 opening. Rob Lowe stars in the production at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket.

Lowe has already become one of the West End’s most warmly welcomed U.S. imports. After having reiterated his determination to stay to the city after the July 7 London bomb attacks, he was paid a surprise visit in his dressing room by the British Prime Minster, Tony Blair. Blair thanked him for setting such a good example. Now Lowe will see if audiences feel as well disposed.


A friend of Lowe-Impact attended Opening Night of previews of A Few Good Men at the Theatre Royal Haymarket. This is her review of the play.




SHINING EVEN BEFORE SPIT AND POLISH


Two US Marines stand either side of the stage introducing us to the fact that we will soon be leaving the plush surroundings of the Haymarket Theatre to enter the stark, wire-fenced world of Aaron Sorkin's A Few Good Men. The words the soldiers are barking out in rapid succession have a rhythm which heightens expectations for the rest of the play. "A Few Good Men" does not disappoint; it lives up to those expectations and exceeds them.

There are a number of issues which surround this production, not least the fact that A Few Good Men, a play set in Guantanamo Bay, is being revived in the current climate. This simply serves to make the main themes of the piece, leadership and the cost of and sacrifices made when defending a nation, even more resonant. The reunion of Sorkin and Lowe is another significant factor and after only a few scenes you are left with the feeling that here are two artists who feed off and respond to each other's work with an almost uncanny familiarity with the other.

Michael Pavelka's set contrasts so highly with the Haymarket's interior that there is an immediate understanding that this play's intention is not to show you a glorified picture of the military, but rather to address the issue of honour versus duty and perhaps the more relevant theme now; at what cost do we defend a nation? The fact that the set is in many ways simplistic is to Pavelka's credit. The scene is set with often no more than a rapid change in lighting and mood, and Sorkin's dialogue and Pavelka's set work well together to achieve this. There are a number of set pieces between scene changes which are worth going to see in their own right. The ambience is heightened by tableaus such as Marines on manoeuvres and gun drills. These interludes add a great deal to what is already an incredibly atmospheric piece.

Comparisons with the film version of the play become irrelevant pretty soon into the first act when it becomes apparent that this singular production has a cast that has made this story their own.

Jack Ellis as Col. Nathan R. Jessep perhaps has the hardest act to follow and the most famous line of the play to deliver, but he produces a performance that is compelling to watch. There is an edge to Jessep that Ellis hints at in the first act then reveals in full force in the play's final scenes. Lt. Cdr. Joanne Galloway is brought to life brilliantly by Suranne Jones and given integrity and a charm that makes it easy to feel empathy for the "strictly by the book" character. John Barrowman, playing Lt. Jack Ross, also allows the audience to sympathise with his character's dilemma, and through his arguments we gain a stronger sense of the transformation of Kaffee. Dan Fredenburgh as Sam Weinberg is an ideal foil for Kaffee. The bond between the two men is clear, and although Weinberg has his own issues with the case, he remains a stalwart force for Kaffee. There are no weak links in this cast. Each character is credible and David Esbjornson's direction draws us into their stories and then carefully crafts them into the narrative. Accents are spot on and leave one wondering what part of America the actors are from rather than whether they are from America at all.

Kaffee is involved in most of the play's scenes, so it is fortunate that Rob Lowe is such a compelling presence on stage. He shows the transition from a man more interested in the laws of softball than the law itself to one who emerges from his father's shadow with his own sense of honour. He dances with Sorkin's dialogue, cadence and rhythm and catches every nuance in order to show us Kaffee's struggle of conscience and his journey to its resolution.

Any fears that Lowe would find it hard to adapt to the stage are quashed immediately. He looks as comfortable treading the boards as any film set and even first night incidents with disobedient props are dealt with without missing a beat and with Sorkin's dialogue, that's not an easy feat.

Lowe shows us a Kaffee who is clearly not the most diligent of Marine lawyers, but also plays this with a depth that allows us to understand that there are shadows, such as his father's reputation, which impede him from attempting to become his own man and respected in his own right. It is further to Lowe's credit that we get a sense of his desire to become such a man. Humour, so prevalent in Sorkin's work is a surprising element of the play and one which Lowe utilizes brilliantly. It is during the play's final scenes, though, that Lowe truly excels. His presence on stage is forceful as he takes Kaffee through the final part of his journey culminating the joy of his self discovery that is tangible.

The performance reviewed was the opening night of previews. Afterwards Aaron Sorkin commented that it still needed polishing. This was undeniable, but having seen the play again two days later, it was clear that any last minute work being needed was being identified and altered. If that was the play in need of a polish I can't wait to see what it is on opening night for as far as I am concerned, it already shines.

By coupdepam

Haymarket Box-office
0870 4000 626
Previews from 18th August - 5th September
Now booking through to 17th December





More A Few Good Men