Actors James Franco and Chris O'Dowd recently took a leap of faith in their Broadway debut of Steinbeck's revival play, Of Mice and Men. They've since received rave reviews.

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Franco - part actor, part scholar, part dreamer, plays smart, scrappy George. On stage George reclines in that Salinas Valley barn opposite his loveable but brain-damaged goliath of a "cousin" Lennie (O'Dowd). Now, audiences who initially came because of Franco and O'Dowd's star wattage are quickly drawn into the emotional devastation of two dreamers trying to survive the Great Depression, their own fear, self-loathing, nomadic disillusion and society's racism.

Director Anna D. Shapiro's rendition is called an "impeccably mounted production without a single blemish," says Variety Thursday. The acting is "flawless". The stage design "breathtaking."

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Set designer Todd Rosenthal and lighting designer Japhy Weideman set the grim mood with a bleak inhospitable landscape.  David Singer's haunting underscore makes the backdrop seem all the more like "no man's land."

This is the land where our two dreamers and other itinerant farm workers drift during the '30s. The deep friendship forged between George is Lennie is created out of a mutual need for protection. George uses his wits to protect Lennie from abuse and exploitation, and Lennie uses his brute strength to make sure no one messes with George. It really is brains meets brawn. They dream of one day owning their own farm together.  

Remarks literary critic Marilyn Stasio in Variety, "Franco has the kind of storytelling voice that can make anyone believe in his dreams." Even if they are never to be realized.  And they won't be, because beneath Lennie's brawn is really the mind of an innocent child.  His childlike innocence and his fixation with petting soft things, later brings heartbreaking tragedy to the play. 

Journeyman actors round out the cast with fine performances, and lets's not forget Gossip Girl's Leighton Meester who also makes her Broadway debut as Curley's Wife.

"Franco, a movie star who does not have much stage experience, certainly does not embarrass himself," Theater critic Chris Jones from Wednesday's The Theatre Loop reports.  He gives a "cagey performance" of a guy who "spends most of his life... watching for trouble."

As for O'Dowd, Jones praises his performance as "a lovely piece of acting, an embrace of the complexities of the kind of man we'd now diagnose with all kinds of labels."

Seems like these actors can definitely be taken seriously in the theater.

Tags: broadway James Franco Chris O'Dowd