From Broadway and beyond, Julie Harris's performance as poet Emily Dickinson in this one woman play is absolutely excellent, capturing the essence for a video recording to a one person play that is still performed but never surpassed. Having seen Harris live on Broadway in "The Gin Game" in 1997 and getting to meet her afterwards (thanks to director Charles Nelson Reilly) and a revival of this in 2014 starring Joely Richardson, this was a treat in every way.
Harris fleshed out many real life and fictional women, going from a young girl upset over being just a member of a wedding party to Joan of Arc dealing with the judges accusing her of heresy to the grieving Mary Todd Lincoln to Amanda's memories of gentlemen callers to a novice to the card game of gin rummy and keeps beating a veteran player. And those were just a few of her stage roles, not counting movie parts and TV episodic appearances.
Fortunately, TV anthology shows like "Hallmark Hall of Fame" and "American Playhouse" captured some of those stage shows for television audiences, and in a 90 minute monologue as Emily, she completely recaptures the poet's life, charming the audience through wit, sincerity and pathos, surrounded by a realistic set representing Dickinson's living room, with a good majority of the props prominently featured as if they were characters from her past springing to life. Harris deservedly won the Tony Award for this (one of many) so it is a treat to see this years later, captured for immortality.
Harris fleshed out many real life and fictional women, going from a young girl upset over being just a member of a wedding party to Joan of Arc dealing with the judges accusing her of heresy to the grieving Mary Todd Lincoln to Amanda's memories of gentlemen callers to a novice to the card game of gin rummy and keeps beating a veteran player. And those were just a few of her stage roles, not counting movie parts and TV episodic appearances.
Fortunately, TV anthology shows like "Hallmark Hall of Fame" and "American Playhouse" captured some of those stage shows for television audiences, and in a 90 minute monologue as Emily, she completely recaptures the poet's life, charming the audience through wit, sincerity and pathos, surrounded by a realistic set representing Dickinson's living room, with a good majority of the props prominently featured as if they were characters from her past springing to life. Harris deservedly won the Tony Award for this (one of many) so it is a treat to see this years later, captured for immortality.