By: Darryl Reilly
“Jews don’t drink. I doubt it’s true, but I like saying it” says Delmore Schwartz to James Agee in playwright Richard Vetere’s absorbing and affectionate biographical fantasia Poet On A String. It is 1939 and so these literati are engaged in smoking, drinking, and promiscuity. Dwight Macdonald, H.L. Menken, Randall Jarrell, and Robert Lowell, are among the yesteryear literary titans fondly cited.
The Brooklyn-born Schwartz (1913-1966) is a rising poet and feisty New York Jew who later mentally unraveled. Tennessean Agee (1909-1955) is a former poet, Time and Life magazine star journalist, future notable film critic, and distinguished screenwriter to be. He has invited Schwartz to his New Jersey house to be interviewed for a prestigious profile. Schwartz arrives with his wife Gertrude Buckman (1910-1986), an aspiring short story writer, essayist, and editor. The couple’s marriage is strained and so there are personal and sexual tensions among the trio. Poet On A String is a loving 90-minute theatrical ode to antiquated lives in letters.
Mr. Vetere’s snappy and honed dialogue vividly depicts these historical figures while cleanly imparting exposition and background information. Vetere’s contained treatment creatively takes minor chronological liberties to craft a compelling scenario. Each character has ravishing monologues expressing their feelings and they passionately converse together over existential issues. Structurally, Poet On A String is a conversational memory play where Vetere gives those aware of these hallowed New York intellectuals spirited and authentic representations of them.
The unison of his striking facial features, tall, lean, and lithe physique, and melodious voice, all enable the soulful Joseph Monseur to give us visually and vocally the haunting portrayal of the alcoholic posthumous Pulitzer Prize-winning genius James Agee we desire.
The youthful and magnetic Sam Cruz is a whirlwind of tempestuous force as that tragic neurotic firebrand Delmore Schwartz. Mr. Cruz’s ratatat vocal delivery, animated physicality, and beaming presence, all conjure up Schwartz’s chronicled randy and troubled existence.
Amber Brookes. (Photo credit: Dan Lane Williams)
Vivacious Amber Brookes majestically succeeds in the challenge of playing Gertrude Buckman whose life has not been as documented as the two males. Ms. Brookes winningly delivers a gutsy Dorothy Parker-style wise cracking characterization fused with emotional depth. Brookes’ rich performance also conveys Vetere’s theme of the era’s sexism which stymied women from obtaining more opportunities in mid-20th century American literature.
Poet On A String is performed by two alternating casts. The above three actors are Cast A. Cast B consists of Dustin Pazar as James Agee, Elizah Hill as Gertrude Buckman, and Jake Minter as Delmore Schwartz.
Brookes also directed Poet On A String; her superior physical staging is of spatial precision, picturesqueness, brisk pacing, and vigorous altercations. Lighting designer Jake Minter’s atmospheric shadowy hues and muted brightness cast a vintage sheen over the presentation. Illustrative and informative imagery is periodically projected. The basic scenic design is a strategic configuration of key old-time furnishings and potted plants which all artfully connote the various interior and exterior locations. The simple costume design of well-selected everyday wear skillfully evokes the time period.
Poet On A String is an eloquent, erudite, and humane homage to idealistic artists during a long-ago Golden Age.
Poet On A String (through April 12, 2026)
American Theatre of Actors, 314 West 54th Street, in Manhattan
For tickets, visit www.americantheatreofactors.org
Running time: 90 minutes with no intermission