REVIEW

In “12 Angry Men,” a jury must deliberate the fate of a young man, a teenager really, born and reared in abject poverty, who has been charged with the murder of his father.

The play takes place entirely in the jury room. We hear the judge giving his instructions as a voice-over when the play begins, and then the jurors file in.

In this case, the jurors include George Wendt, who made his fame as the barfly Norm in the hit sitcom “Cheers,” and Richard Thomas, equally famous as John-Boy Walton in the family drama “The Waltons.”
Wendt plays the jury foreman (the role Martin Balsam played in the movie version) and Richard Thomas is Juror No. 8 (Henry Fonda in the movie).

It appears to be an open-and-shut case. The first ballot is 11-to-1 in favor of a guilty verdict. The hold-out: Juror No. 8. It’s not that he believes the boy is innocent. He’s just not sure.

As they deliberate the fate of the young man, the jurors reveal their own prejudices and foibles.
None of the characters are ever given names. Jurors are referred to by their number. The witnesses and other principals in the courtroom are referred to by their relationship to the case.

The only clue to the identity of the accused is that he is “one of those people,” and while we presume they mean black, it is never stated.

Thomas does a good job of making the role his own. He easily commands the stage when he speaks and blends effectively into the background when it’s not. Wendt isn’t really given much to do, making it seem that his star power has been wasted in a role that is largely administrative.

The real antagonists are Juror No. 4, a man who has issues with his own wayward son, and No. 10, a man whose entire world view is colored, so to speak, by his bigotry.

With no attempt to update it with a multi-cultural cast or some other gimmick, this production of “12 Angry Men” plays like a time capsule piece, nearly word-for-word from the movie with the addition of a few more colorful epithets.

Both an exercise in creative deduction and a meditation on race and hatred, “12 Angry Men” is a sharp and enjoyable theatrical event.

how to go
WHAT: Broadway in Cincnnati presents “12 Angry Men” by Reginald Rose.
WHERE: Procter & Gamble Hall, Aronoff Center for the Arts, 650 Walnut, Cincinnati.
WHEN: Through Jan. 28.
COST: $18-$48.
MORE INFO: (513) 241-7469; broadwayacrossamerica.com.

A version of this review originally appeared in the Go! section of the JournalNews, Hamilton, Ohio.