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In Dallas News http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/ent/stories/DN-men_0606gl.ART.State.Edition2.437258e.html

THEATER REVIEW: Casa Mañana wisely enlists 'Good Men'

FORT WORTH – Casa Mañana has discovered a formula for filling up its venerable remodeled Silver Dome: Hire a couple of charismatic screen actors and put them into a play that became a famous movie.

It's a good strategy to lure audiences back to an attractive space that for the last few seasons has mostly been occupied by children's shows.

Casa's production of A Few Good Men, which opened on Tuesday, stars Lou Diamond Phillips and Jensen Ackles (Supernatural). Both have North Texas roots, which helped Casa lure them to Fort Worth. And both are good fits for their roles in Aaron Sorkin's military courtroom drama.

These days TV fans idolize Mr. Sorkin for his wonderfully clever (but still substantial) series: Sports Night, The West Wing and the soon-to-disappear and already missed Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. He wasn't nearly so famous when A Few Good Men hit Broadway – or later turned into the film with Jack Nicholson and Tom Cruise.

The plot, in case you've forgotten, pits a talented but feckless young Navy attorney (Mr. Ackles) against a senior officer on the way up who has a secret to hide (Mr. Phillips). A idealistic member of the Judge Advocate corps (Lydia Mackay) has raised questions about the guilt of the two young Marines the attorney has been assigned to defend: Did they really commit murder, or were they only following orders to discipline a young telltale recruit?

Mr. Phillips and Mr. Ackles are at least as well suited to their roles as their movie counterparts. Mr. Phillips is currently just the right age to play the youngest colonel in the Marines, and his athletic bearing and commanding presence make him a force to be reckoned with.

The trouble is, director Elliot Wasserman lets his cast members carry on in a broad style that feels so stagy you wonder when the songs are going to kick in. Mr. Phillips in part falls prey to this approach. He's cocky and resorts to he-man poses, without the sort of menace that ought to lurk under this ambitious and presumptuous infighter.

You can't claim that it's simply a matter of a movie and TV actor who goes overboard when he steps out onto a stage. Mr. Phillips has been doing too much theater too successfully for that. Besides, Ms. Mackay, an accomplished theatrical performer, too often goes the same route here – as do other members of the cast, who include many of the area's leading theatrical lights.

Interestingly, it's Mr. Ackles who really sets off the fireworks in this A Few Good Men. He's slick and funny, but human underneath. His stage technique is nigh onto perfect – and this is a guy who's been working steadily on large and small screens for a decade.*

Other standouts are Jerome Bethea and Justin Arnold as the defendants, Ayal Miodovnik as the prosecutor, Ben Rauch as Mr. Ackles' sidekick and Sean McGuirk as a noble but cowardly senior officer who takes one too many orders from Mr. Phillips.

Overall, Casa's A Few Good Men tells Mr. Sorkin's story well enough to keep an audience rapt. This reminder of the author's talent for the stage just whets our appetites for the new play he's bringing to Broadway next season.

• Through Sunday at Casa Mañana Theatre, 3101 W. Lancaster at South University, Fort Worth. Runs 180 mins. $30 to $59. 817-332-2272, www.casamanana.org.

*bolding is mine