One Man's Family

I notice that many of the film reviews for August:Osage County— like Kenneth Turin's are faulting it for being a stage piece and not making the most successful transition to the screen. I'm sure that its legion of fans will flock to it anyway. I am not one of them. I first saw August:Osage County in New York. At $125.00 it was the most I ever paid for a seat.  I had been told that it was brilliant, so was surprised to find that it was just a classy soap opera, well-scripted but full of unlikely situations. I next saw it with eager friends in Miami at the Actor's Theater. While well-performed and done on a complete three-story house set as spectacular as New York's, I remained unimpressed. Since I am a playwright, always hoping for a production, any production, it is natural for people to say "sour grapes", but I sincerely thought this play was vin ordinaire and cannot understand it winning the Pulitzer Prize. I also write musicals, but can only gape in awe at talents like Ragtime's Terrence McNally, Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty. Now you're talking sheer jealousy, sour grapes to the max.  If I am jealous of Tracy Letts, it's because he is recognized.  I think he knew that in order to get theater produced today, you have to be part of theater, which I am not. Tracy Letts was born into a theater- involved family and made lots of friends in the field. If he hadn't been, would August: Osage County have been staged at all, brilliant as I am told it is?