‘Bernhardt/Hamlet’

There aren’t many actors who could stand the test of playing Sarah Bernhardt, never mind the challenge of playing the Divine Sarah as she rehearses the role of Hamlet, one of the illustrious French actress’ more controversial triumphs. But McTeer, who won a Tony for her performance as Nora in “A Doll’s House” (perhaps the finest piece of Ibsen acting I’ve seen) was more than up to the task in Theresa Rebeck’s “Bernhardt/Hamlet,” which I saw before it ended its run at the American Airlines Theatre.

The play isn’t the supplest or most stylish of works, but it treats Bernhardt as a fully dimensional artist while empathizing with her plight as an aging female star frustrated by the paucity of worthy roles. The politics of “Bernhardt/Hamlet” are sadly evergreen. But more persuasive than the playwright’s impassioned discussion of gender disparities in the arts is the fierce grace of McTeer’s galloping portrayal.

Whatever music Moritz von Stuelpnagel managed to coax through his direction from the overwritten drama came from the star of this Roundabout Theatre Company production. McTeer’s voice, one of the most seductive instruments in the English-language theater, vibrates with a tone that can simultaneously encompass gaiety and gravity.

Rebeck belabors scenes to the point that I couldn’t imagine sitting through “Bernhardt/ Hamlet” with a lesser actor in the lead role. But I regret not being able to see the production again to marvel at McTeer’s majesty. One performer in her prime incarnated another — and in the process gave us another example this Broadway season of the special alchemy of a transcendent talent shrewdly cast.