THE WORLD OF NICK ADAMS

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THERE was a one-night, star-drenched performance of “The World of Nick Adams” at Lincoln Center on Monday.

“The World of Nick Adams” was a 1957 television special in which author (and Hemingway friend) A.E. Hotchner dramatized a bunch of early Hemingway stories and a bunch of incidents from Hemingway’s early life to make a narrative in which a young man breaks from an oppressive family and sees the country on the road.

Aaron Copland wrote some beautifully sad, yearning music for the program. The work has not been heard since 1957, and was done at Lincoln Center (in concert version – the actors carried scripts) to benefit a children’s camp project of Paul Newman’s.

James Naughton, seated in a chair off to the side, played Ernest Hemingway. He introduces us to a young version of himself, called Nick Adams (a bland Matt Damon).

Nick runs away from his depressed doctor dad (Brian Dennehy), his smothering mom (Joanne Woodward) and his demanding girlfriend (Gwyneth Paltrow).

He goes on the road with a friend (the skeptical, sarcastic Philip Seymour Hoffman) and meets two hookers (a hilarious Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts), two killers (Danny Aiello and Kevin Kline) and assorted oddballs (a punch-drunk Paul Newman, a screwball Kline and Alec Baldwin as a bum).

The Orchestra of St. Luke’s played the Copland. Hotchner’s blending of stories and life is a disservice to both, but it tells us how the 1950s saw Hem.

The evening was anyway ablaze with star wattage, and some of it was very enjoyable.