‘Dead Poets Society,’ Starring Jason Sudeikis as the Idealistic Teacher
Ben BrantleyNovember 17, 2016: A lone spark of subversion brightens the generally damp proceedings of “Dead Poets Society,” which opened on Thursday night at Classic Stage Company, directed by that streamliner deluxe John Doyle and featuring the comic film star Jason Sudeikis in an advanced state of decency. This enlivening flicker occurs well past the midpoint of Tom Schulman’s tidy adaptation of his Oscar-winning screenplay from 1989, when hopes have worn thin. Here’s the setup for the moment in which it seems that the show might actually catch fire. John Keating (Mr. Sudeikis in the role originated onscreen by Robin Williams) — an anti-conformist English teacher at a conformist New England boys’ school in that ultimate decade of conformity, the 1950s — is overseeing an exercise that requires his students to walk around the classroom.
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