JOURNEY'S END. I've recently mentioned a number of witty, satirical musicals that appeared on Broadway around 1930, but of course there was more than comedy on Broadway during that period. Eugene O'Neill explored the lighter side with the satirical Marco Millions (1928) as well as Ah, Wilderness! (1933), but he also continued his exploration of drama and tragedy with very substantial works such as Strange Interlude (1928) and Mourning Becomes Electra (1931). And, in 1929, British playwright R. C. Sherriff's World War I drama Journey's End began a successful Broadway run that lasted more than a year.

Now revived at the Belasco Theatre and well worth seeing, Journey's End is an example of excellent conventional playwriting applied to exceptionally troubling subject matter. Portraying a group of soldiers literally entrenched in one of the war's catastrophic stalemates, Journey's End involves characters who today must seem very familiar to anyone who has seen a few war movies. There's the very experienced Osborne (Boyd Gaines), the newcomer Raleigh (Stark Sands), the convivial Trotter (John Ahlin), and the jittery Hibbert (Justin Blanchard)--and there's Captain Stanhope (Hugh Dancy, pictured), who feels responsible for all of their fates and for maintaining his sense of duty to his country. In a very British way, there's even a private (Jefferson Mays) who serves as a kind of butler. As the play unfolds through Sherriff's subtly calibrated dialogue, it becomes ever clearer that we are watching these men "strut and fret their hours upon the stage," as Shakespeare put it (more or less) in Macbeth.

Sherriff, himself a veteran, seems to stay true enough to the actual experience to do justice to the soldiers' beastly predicament. Thanks to his writing and the excellent acting and direction, the play and the characters come across as meaningful and vibrant rather than hackneyed. Standing out among the company is Dancy, whose compulsive Stanhope seems to personify values compromised by war.

James Whale directed Colin Clive in a 1930 movie version of Journey's End, but it seems that no version of the play is readily available in the United States. That's the case with Aces High, which transposed the setting to the air war.

Now...about the ticket situation. As far as I can tell, there's no reason (except the very good reason of "supporting the arts") for a reader of this post to pay full price for a ticket to Journey's End. Discounts are available via online sites such as Playbill. Tickets should also be available via TKTS. (Save time by using the express window for plays.) And, based on my experience (granted, on St. Patrick's Day, when the weather wasn't great), a $36.25 balcony seat might get you an automatic upgrade into the mezzanine zone (where there was a very annoying noise by audience right). So if money is no object, pay full price; if it's a slight object, go for the discount on the better seats; and if you need a bargain, you can still go for the cheaper seats and have a good experience.

Photo: Paul Kolnik