Live, From Sag Harbor, Darrell Hammond in ‘Tru’ By AILEEN JACOBSON

Live, From Sag Harbor, Darrell Hammond in ‘Tru’

By AILEEN JACOBSON

The voice, first heard from a pitch-dark stage, sounds feminine and oddly tinny. But when the lights come up at the Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor, the speaker is a man. It’s Darrell Hammond, the expert impersonator from “Saturday Night Live,” delivering a precise embodiment of Truman Capote in “Tru,” Jay Presson Allen’s 1989 one-man play about the flamboyant author remembered as much for his distinctive drawl and mannerisms as for his elegant prose and wit.

Wearing sunglasses and a reindeer sweater — it’s just before Christmas 1975, in Capote’s apartment in United Nations Plaza — Mr. Hammond demonstrates that he has Capote’s moves down pat.

His hands flutter, often touching his eyes or brow. His walk is a sashay, round belly leading while limbs and head follow. His mouth and tongue move more than seems necessary to produce his words.

Mr. Hammond, who spent a record 14 years, until 2009, on “S.N.L.,” reproduces the essence of Capote, who died in 1984 at age 59, without face-altering makeup. Even for an actor who excelled at portraying Bill Clinton, Donald J. Trump and about 100 other celebrities during his late-night TV tenure, this is an accomplishment.

At first, it seems that all we are going to get in “Tru” is a sustained impersonation in a comedy routine.

“Is anything happening to anybody besides me?” Capote asks of someone on the telephone.

The real Capote created his own persona, a catty, whiny, supremely smart, openly gay man, and Ms. Allen — who directed her own play on Broadway, for which Robert Morse won a Tony — saw to it that her audience would understand that right away.

Before long, her Capote goes to the door to accept delivery of a gift — a poinsettia, a plant he calls tacky, “the Bob Goulet of botany.”

Gradually, however, an insightful play and a memorable performance take shape. Capote reveals that he has become a “social pariah” following the publication in Esquire magazine of a section of his unfinished novel, “Answered Prayers.” In it, he betrayed the confidences of his high-society friends, notably Babe Paley and Slim Keith, whom he referred to by names and attributes that were thinly veiled or not veiled at all.

He wonders how they can be surprised that an established author (“Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” “In Cold Blood”) was taking notes and planning to write about them. But he cares about these women more than he thought. He is a lonely man, broken by too many drinks and pills, a talk-show regular who is now “famous for being famous.”

All along, Mr. Hammond speaks in a barely audible voice, though he wears a microphone. Unlike Mr. Morse’s Broadway turn, which allowed viewers to sit back, Mr. Hammond’s performance draws the audience in, making the drama very personal.

The rest of this meticulously conceived production is of a piece — which is particularly admirable since there was a change of directors late in rehearsals. Judith Ivey dropped out (because of scheduling conflicts, according to a Bay Street spokesman, Tim Kofahl) and was replaced by Matt McGrath, who had been assistant director.

Gary Hygom’s inviting set, which reproduces many elements of Capote’s apartment, including glass baubles, Tiffany boxes and stunning views, erases the divide between stage and audience by spreading nearly to the front row.

Andrea Lauer’s costumes show a similar attention to detail, right down to the monogrammed “TC” on Capote’s shoes.

As for Mr. Hammond’s character, like the real-life Capote, he never stops being deeply peculiar. But he’s also deeply affecting.

“Tru,” at the Bay Street Theater, Long Wharf, Sag Harbor, through June 26. Information: baystreet.org, (631) 725-9500.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/12/nyregion/darrell-hammond-brings-truman-capote-back-in-tru-in-sag-harbor.html