Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Miss Birdseye, Miss LuPone and misplaced criticism

A piece in the souvenir program for the current Broadway revival of Gypsy casts some aspersions on Ethel Merman's performance as Rose, attributing to Arthur Laurents and Stephen Sondheim assertions that the Merm's acting wasn't up to snuff. (I heard Sondheim talk extensively about the original staging of "Rose's Turn" at the Jewish Book Fair here a few years ago, including the same sentiments that Merman was a rote actress.)

It's a shame that anyone feels the need to disparage a prior—and in this case iconic—performance in an attempt to promote a new one but in the end, these are simply opinions and shouldn't diminish the star's legacy. For my money (and I've spent a fair amount of it, seeing Patti LuPone in three different productions of Gypsy now), both Merman and LuPone were thrilling in the role. Different, yes, but thrilling nonetheless.

Thursday, April 3, 2008

Can we talk about it now? Cool!

Because this news is so [title of show].

Monday, January 14, 2008

Not coming to Broadway this season…

When you've got friends like mine...

Last Tuesday, we speculated about creating a new musical called The Little Merman, about a brassy Broadway belter who makes a bargain with a wicked queen to give up her big, big voice, in the hope of winning the love of a handsome prince named Ernest. (Hey, it couldn't be worse than what's on stage at the Lunt-Fontaine just now.)

Earlier today—and entirely sober, mind—we envisioned a musical set in a dystopian world where an evil monopolist named Cladwell sends a robotic Officer Lockstock back in time to kill a young boy named Bobby before he can grow up to foment a revolution against pay toilets. We call this one Urinator: The Josephine Strong Chronicles.

Of course, that's assuming the protocol Skynet uses is IP.

Friday, July 20, 2007

A couple of musical theatre notes

After a tryout in Seattle this fall, Lone Star Love is planned to come into New York for a Broadway run beginning November 1. The show—which ran off-Broadway a couple of seasons back in a slightly different version—got a major overhaul at The Rep in 1989 after its debut at Houston's Alley Theatre, when it was still known as just The Merry Wives of Windsor, Texas. We had a rollicking time with the Red Clay Ramblers, who would jam at the (late, lamented) Backstage Club after the show well into the small hours. I'll be looking forward to the show's Broadway bow, with Randy Quaid, Robert Cuccioli and Rep alum Dee Hoty. (Here's some more background on the history of the show; it's been a winding road.)

And as a major Styx fan, I've got a hunch I'll have to make a trip to Chicago next spring, when the Bailiwick Rep produces Dennis DeYoung's musical adaptation of The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame has enjoyed only one prior production—at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center in Nashville in 1997. The score was praised and, at one point, the show was talked about as a likely prospect for Broadway. But potential producers ran into opposition from Disney Theatricals, which was pushing its own version of the Quasimodo-as-cathedral-recluse story. The Disney show never made it to Broadway, perhaps now clearing the coast for DeYoung, who has a big fan base. DeYoung says he is revising the show extensively for the Bailiwick production.

And since I have to be in New York for a meeting week after next, I'm squeezing another 12 hours into the trip to see both Xanadu and the closing night of Patti LuPone's City Center engagement as Rose in Gypsy. Of course, I saw Ms. LuPone in the role last summer at Ravinia and it was hands-down one of my most thrilling nights in the theatre ever. There was no way I could miss seeing here again in New York, and surrounded by such a marvelous cast. I'll be there on the aisle, just waiting for that extraordinary overture to begin again. And I've secured seats on stage for Xanadu, where I am assured by friends in the know that I will have the best view in the house, which is to say that of Cheyenne Jackson's backside. Woof!

Friday, July 13, 2007

An American Daughter

Tonight I saw The Orange Girls' production of Wendy Wasserstein's An American Daughter; it was the last of a Wasserstein memorial trifecta in St. Louis this season, beginning with New Jewish Theatre's The Sisters Rosensweig and our The Heidi Chronicles.

These three plays, taken together, can be seen as something of a trilogy. Written over a decade, they're probably Wasserstein's most well-known works. For my money, An American Daughter is the weakest of the three; it was written last and feels a lot like a rehash of the themes, characters and political locales of the preceding two. The story concerns the nomination of a driven, privileged, family-oriented woman to be United States Surgeon General and the media-manufactured scandal that imperils her confirmation. The central question here, as in Heidi and Rosensweig: "Is it possible—or even desirable—for a woman to 'have it all'?"

There are some very good performances in this production, notably Jeff Wright as the conservative gay go-getter, Morrow; Monica Parks as accomplished and conflicted best friend Judith; and the wonderful Mary Schnitzler as the woman at the eye of the storm, Lyssa Dent Hughes. Scott DeBroux's set packs a lot of living room into the COCA black box, and Brian Beracha's sound design along with Daniel Lanier's lights complement it nicely.

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

“… we’ve relinquished … imagination to the marketplace.”

Well worth a read to remind us of the importance of the arts—all of them—to our lives and society, these remarks by Dana Gioia, chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, at Stanford University's commencement. A snip:

The loss of recognition for artists, thinkers, and scientists has impoverished our culture in innumerable ways, but let me mention one. When virtually all of a culture's celebrated figures are in sports or entertainment, how few possible role models we offer the young.

There are so many other ways to lead a successful and meaningful life that are not denominated by money or fame. Adult life begins in a child's imagination, and we've relinquished that imagination to the marketplace.

Thursday, June 14, 2007

Now and forev--oops!

Cat Destroys Lloyd Webber's Phantom Sequel Score. Insert your own joke here.

Be a part of it!

I'm pleased with how the television promo for the new Mainstage season came out. Cinevative put this together for us.



Interested? I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that subscriptions are on sale now.

Monday, June 11, 2007

The 50(ish) percent solution…

I was 12 for 25 with my hypothetical Tony Awards votes. If I had "voted" my gut instead of my heart, I'd probably have made 75 percent, at least.

I added the actual winners from last night's Tony Awards to my choices.

Sunday, June 10, 2007

Success in America

Actor Frank Langella, accepting his Best Actor in a Play honor, gave the best Tony Award speech earlier tonight, the best in several years of my recollection:

There's a line in Frost/Nixon which says, 'Success in America is unlike success anywhere else. That feeling when you're up...it's indescribable.' And I'm very grateful to the theatre community, to my colleagues in Frost/Nixon here and overseas, and to the New York theatregoing public for allowing me that feeling this season.

The line in the play then goes on to say, 'But there's another feeling when it's gone, to somewhere else, to someone else.' And I know that feeling. Everyone in this room knows it. I suppose we can't stop people from putting us into competition with one another, and once we're here, I suppose we all want to win. But I think we must honor the common bond in us, the struggle, the striving for success, because that's a race you simply can't lose.

I am very proud and very honored to work and live among you splendid people. Thank you. Thank you for giving me that indescribable feeling. I wish it for you all.

Amen.

Wednesday, June 6, 2007

The Tony Awards: If I had my way

Updated June 10: I've added the actual winners in brackets at the end of each of my choices.

Faithful (and handsome) correspondent Stefan asked, after reading my roundup of theatre moments over the past season, if I'd consider sharing my predictions for Sunday's Tony Awards.

While I'm loathe to turn down a request from a hottie reader, here's the thing. I don't do predictions. I suck at them. I mean really, really suck.

So half a bargain? Here's who and what would be taking home Tonys if I were king of the forest:

• Lighting Design: I'd give it to Chris Akerlind for 110 in the Shade; Chris always does wonderful work, but he really hit it out of the park here. It was just gorgeous. I'd give three trophies to Brian MacDevitt, Kenneth Psner and Natasha Katz for The Coast of Utopia trilogy. [Musical: Kevin Adams, Spring Awakening; Play: The Coast of Utopia]
  
• Costume Design: William Ivey Long for Grey Gardens, and Ti Green and Melly Still for Coram Boy. [Musical: Grey Gardens; Play: Catherine Zuber, The Coast of Utopia]
  
• Scenic Design: Bob Crowley and Scott Pask for The Coast of Utopia; Christine Jones for Spring Awakening. [Musical: Bob Crowley, Mary Poppins; Play: The Coast of Utopia]
  
• Orchestrations: Jonathan Tunick for LoveMusik, closely followed by...Jonathan Tunick for 110 in the Shade. [Duncan Sheik, Spring Awakening]
  
• Choreography: Kind of torn here, since I loved what Jerry Mitchell did with Legally Blonde, but I'd give the nod to Rob Ashford's work on Curtains. [Bill T. Jones, Spring Awakening]
  
• Direction of a Musical: John Doyle for Company. He really pulled the whole production together, and his conceit of actors-as-orchestra worked ideally here. [Michael Mayer, Spring Awakening]
  
• Direction of a Play: Another toughie, but my award goes to Michael Grandage for Frost/Nixon, a superlative production all around. [Jack O'Brien, The Coast of Utopia]
  
• Featured Actress in a Musical: Karen Ziemba in Curtains. (As I noted before, I'd love to see her up for a leading lady Tony sometime soon.) [Mary Louise Wilson, Grey Gardens]
  
• Featured Actor in a Musical: John Gallagher Jr. for Spring Awakening, closely followed by Christian Borle in Legally Blonde. [John Gallagher Jr., Spring Awakening]
  
• Featured Actress in a Play: Jennifer Ehle in The Coast of Utopia. [Jennifer Ehle, The Coast of Utopia]
  
• Featured Actor in a Play: Stark Sands in Journey's End. [Billy Crudup, The Coast of Utopia]
  
• Leading Actress in a Musical: Man alive, this is the hardest category for me to choose, because each of the nominees gave performances that knocked me out, but I'll go with my first choice, which is Christine Ebersole in Grey Gardens. [Christine Ebersole, Grey Gardens]
  
• Leading Actor in a Musical: Raúl Esparza in Company. Hands down, no contest. Best. Bobby. Ever. [David Hyde Pierce, Curtains]
  
• Leading Actress in a Play: I loved Eve Best in A Moon for the Misbegotten, but I really want the Tony to go to Julie White from The Little Dog Laughed. She split my sides. [Julie White, The Little Dog Laughed]
  
• Leading Actor in a Play: Frank Langella in Frost/Nixon. An amazing, mesmerizing performance. [Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon]
  
• Best Theatrical Event: Alas, I missed both nominees, but Kiki & Herb are my sentimental favorite. [Jay Johnson: The Two and Only!]
  
• Best Revival of a Musical: If Company wasn't in the running, this would be 110 in the Shade's award. But I gotta go with Mr. Sondheim's masterpiece under Mr. Doyle's direction. Almost perfect. [Company]
  
• Best Revival of a Play: Journey's End. [Journey's End]
  
• Best Original Score: Spring Awakening. [Duncan Sheik, Steven Sater, Spring Awakening]
  
• Best Book of a Musical: Spring Awakening. [Steven Sater, Spring Awakening]
  
• Best Musical: While acknowledging that Spring Awakening has the edge here, my award would go to Curtains for sheer fun. [Spring Awakening]
  
• Best Play: Mr. Stoppard's marathon The Coast of Utopia, trailed by Peter Morgan's Frost/Nixon. [The Coast of Utopia]
  

Tuesday, June 5, 2007

The way I saw it

I've been trying to organize my thoughts about the theatre season just passed but they're about as jumbled as the stack of ticket stubs on my desk. I've spent more time in New York this season--on trips short and long--and since I seldom let a night in the city go by without seeing a show, that means I saw nearly everything worthwhile that opened on Broadway, a rare year for me. I got to see a lot of shows elsewhere too and, of course, we produced a few. Herewith some non-comprehensive notes:

• The very best things I saw on any stage this season were both limited-run, concert editions of favorite shows. I sat gleefully third row at Ravinia in August to see Patti LuPone as Rose and Jessica Boevers (now Bogart) in the title role of Gypsy. This was hardly a scaled-down production, however; for a "concert", it was pretty fully-mounted. It was simply thrilling, absolutely, and one of those nights in the theatre I'll treasure forever. (I strongly suspect it was an event that will become like Woodstock and, years in the future, thousands upon thousands will claim to have been in the park that night witnessing LuPone's "Rose's Turn".)
• Neither snow nor rain nor flesh-eating bacteria or any other unlikely fate that might have befallen me could have kept me from Encores! concert of Follies at City Center. I wrote a few lines about that show while still basking in its afterglow.
  
• Company: I first saw this show in Cincinnati with our pals at the Playhouse in the Park; I documented my thoughts on the production pretty well here at the time. I'm pleased to report that the show (which did, in fact, transfer to a Broadway run) held up to my expectations in New York. I saw an early preview and another performance a few weeks ago. It remains, of the many, many I've seen, my favorite production of the work and I am certainly pulling for Raul Esparza, the best damn Bobby I've ever seen, to take the Tony Award this weekend.
• Journey's End was the best drama I saw in New York this season, and The Little Dog Laughed was the most entertaining (if unevenly wrought) comedy. I also adored The Year of Magical Thinking, and Vanessa Redgrave's performance therein. Not forgetting, of course, The Coast of Utopia; I had seen Voyage in London several years ago and ran the marathon at Lincoln Center this spring. It's a sweeping drama in a class on its own.
• I also explored the fine line between pain and pleasure by sitting through an early performance of Terrance McNally's Deuce, easily one of the most poorly constructed plays I've ever seen. It was redeemed only by marvelous performances by Angela Lansbury and Marian Seldes. Delightful as they were, they couldn't improve the material, but I consider my ticket price a worthwhile investment for the hug I received by Ms. Lansbury at the stage door while reminiscing about her performances at The Muny.
• Repeat performances: I made another trip to see The Drowsy Chaperone, since I'd missed Sutton Foster on an earlier visit. Bob Martin's performance at the Man in the Chair was as witty as ever, but the show as a whole doesn't hold up terribly well on repeated viewings. I also dropped in again on the New York production of Altar Boyz; call it field research.
• After I saw Spring Awakening, a friend asked for my impression and I said what I've repeated often since: "I'm not in the target demographic." That said, I enjoyed the heck out of the show (probably helps that I'm a Duncan Sheik fan) and was delighted to see a younger audience in attendance than at any other production all season. I've had the cast album in my car stereo for weeks. It's not revolutionary (as it occasionally has been hailed), it's not a Rent or a Hair in either its ambition or its realization, but it is a great evening of theatre very well-performed.
• I suppose I am in the demo for Legally Blonde, aimed as it is squarely at teen/tween girls and gay men, and I have to say I had a great time with it. The whole show starts at a sprint and never slows down, the music is bouncy, some of the choreography is amazing and all in all, the show is a lot of fun. What it doesn't do--unlike, say, Hairspray--is reveal anything particularly new about the material; if you've seen the Reese Witherspoon movie, there's nothing here to surprise you. I certainly wasn't surprised about one other thing: Laura Bell Bundy's performance as Elle Woods. She is fierce. Snaps to her.
• I loved Grey Gardens, and will not be at all surprised or disappointed if Christine Ebersole takes the Tony Award for her dual role at big and little Edies. The show isn't for everyone and I have some questions about how well it will tour, but I found the show--especially Act Two--astonishing.
• Likewise, as a Kurt Weill fan, I thoroughly enjoyed LoveMusik, which I saw at an early preview and hope to revisit now that it's more settled. Donna Murphy and Michael Cerveris give--surprise, surprise--amazing performances. Murphy, in particular, just disappears into Lotte Lenya. It's another show that is not particularly commercial and probably wouldn't survive outside the rarified world of non-profit theatre, but I'm so glad I saw it.
• I saw two revivals at the Roundabout this year, The Apple Tree and 110 in the Shade. This was the third production of The Apple Tree I've seen in the past few years and while I enjoyed Kristin Chenoweth's performance, I don't need to see another one for a great while, I think. 110 in the Shade, on the other hand, was a joy. New pal Bobby Steggert (who was in our production of Shakespeare's R&J last season) is going to be a big star, mark my words. Audra McDonald was perfection as Lizzie. Forget the naysayers who opine that she's too beautiful to play a plain old maid. Lizzie isn't necessarily actually plain, she just needs to believe that she is. McDonald makes you believe she believes and, of course, she sings the hell out of the role. I had some goose bumps.
• I've saved the best for last. A few years ago, when I first saw Hairspray, folks asked my opinion of it and I honestly said it wasn't the best musical I'd ever seen but it was, hands down, the most fun I'd had in the theatre in a long time. I am now saying the same thing about Curtains, the Kander and Ebb (and Holmes et al) musical at the Hirschfeld. If you're a fan of musical comedy--a real, diehard, dyed in the cotton musical theatre fan--hie thee to Telecharge and get the best seat you can. The songs, the jokes, the production numbers, the inside jokes...it all added up for me. I left dancing onto 45th Street and wishing I could see it again right away. David Hyde Pierce, Debra Monk and Karen Ziemba (someone get this gal a lead, please!) deserve all the awards they can carry. I'm gushing? So kill me. This show did.

I'm leaving out of a ton of things I saw and, to varying degrees, enjoyed, but that'll have to do for now. Perhaps I'll roundup some favorites from the day job and other local theatres in a day or so.

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

I’m so glad I came

I've been to a marvelous party with the Weismann Girls. Follies last night at City Center was a performance I'm going to remember for a long time, and was certainly the best damned Encores! production I've ever seen.

One of the reviews I read said something to the effect that even if the cast had performed only the last four numbers, it would still have been an outstanding production, and that's so true. Michael McGrath as Buddy doing "The God-Why-Don't-You-Love-Me Blues", Victoria Clark as Sally singing "Losing My Mind", Donna Murphy and the men's ensemble tearing up "The Story of Lucy and Jessie" and Victor Garber breaking down "Live, Laugh, Love"...I don't think I've had a more thrilling 20 minutes or so in the theatre in years.

Being closing night with a lot of repeat guests, every number was greeted with thunderous and mostly deserved applause. After Arthur Rubin, who has still got amazing pipes, brought on the cast with "Beautiful Girls", I really thought the show would run an hour longer just for the ovations. By the time Anne Rogers and Robert Fitch did their first dance specialty with "Rain on the Roof", I had a smile on my face that didn't fade all night.

JoAnne Worley as Stella was a scream (literally!), and lord, lord, lord, lord, lord, that woman and all the Weismann girls danced the hell out of "Who's That Woman". Donna Murphy lost a shoe midway through the number and kept right on tapping with one, then reclaimed it and held it over her head triumphantly come the final break.

I've heard a lot against Christine Baranski as Carlotta but I have to say, she created a perfectly consistent portrayal of a woman getting by the best she can with what she's got and what life dealt her. If she didn't exactly hit the final note of "I'm Still Here", I wouldn't have expected her Carlotta to do so. Yvonne Constant (Solange) and Mimi Hines (Hattie) were perfect, and I don't believe I've heard any old and young Heidi (Lucine Amara and Leena Chopra) blend better singing "One More Kiss".

From top to bottom, though, the show belonged to Clark and Murphy. I'm so sad the production wasn't recorded, because I'll have only my memory of their fantastic performances of "Could I Leave You?", "In Buddy's Eyes" and their two 11 o'clock numbers. But what a memory!

The house Monday night was sold out to the rafters, and the show began about 20 minutes late because of a will-call line that stretched all the way down 55th. There were even more stars in the audience than on stage; I spied Fred Willard, Bernadette Peters, Martin Short, Nathan Lane, Alfred Molina, and Matt Cavanaugh, as well as Paul Rudnick, John Doyle and, of course, Mr. Sondheim himself, who was all smiles. At the intermission, Sarah Jessica Parker, with Matt Broderick in tow, came up to me on the sidewalk to ask for a light. Of course, it was fun sitting with my pal Hunter and what seemed like most of the cast of [title of show]

As I was leaving, I spotted Donna McKechnie and Barbara Cook chatting and both looking radiant. Seeing those two former Sallys together was the perfect coda to my evening. And like Sally, I'm so glad I came.

Thursday, November 30, 2006

In comes Company…

New York Times: A Revival Whose Surface of Tundra Conceals a Volcano

Fire flickers, dangerous and beckoning, beneath the frost of John Doyle’s elegant, unexpectedly stirring revival of “Company,” which opened last night at the Ethel Barrymore Theater. This visually severe, aurally lush reinvention of Stephen Sondheim and George Furth’s era-defining musical of marriage and its discontents from 1970 is the chicest-looking production on Broadway.

Newsday: Bobby and company were never so together

[Raul] Esparza, looking relaxed yet detached in a charcoal suit and tie, turns his seductively sleepy eyelids into virtuoso instruments. Although he has played plenty of flashy roles, Esparza cleverly builds tension by holding back until he breaks loose at the piano for Bobby's ultimate (if psychologically dubious) acceptance of "Being Alive." ... [He] finds all the bitterness, hope, bemusement and sullen charm in the colors of his voice.

Variety: Broadway: Company

As Robert, the central figure marking his 35th birthday by pondering why he's the only one of his circle not married, Raul Esparza strikes just the right balance of easy charm and circumspect distance, alone even in a crowd of friends. He's a deeply ambiguous mass of swirling contradictions -- confused but self-knowing, seductive but standoffish, vulnerable but heavily armored, open to love but ambivalent. And Bobby's sexual identity is called more directly into question here than perhaps ever before.

USA Today: Revival of 'Company' works, most of the time

Barbara Walsh's dry, haunted Joanne is a standout, bringing an extra layer of rage to Sondheim's brilliant barbfest "The Ladies Who Lunch". Heather Laws and Elizabeth Stanley amuse as neurotic Amy and dizzy April.

Associated Press: A Chilly, High-Concept Company

By the time Bobby gets to his revelatory moment — "Being Alive" — and sits down at the piano, we are more than ready for his enlightenment. Esparza, who has a powerful voice, gives it his all. The man finally surrenders to his feelings, and for the first time during the evening, we are touched.

And, well, you already know what I think. After an early preview performance in New York a few weeks ago, my opinion stands: this is the best damn Company I've seen—and I've seen quite a few.

Don't miss it.

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Now you can see The Light…

Light in the Piazza to Air June 15 on Live From Lincoln Center

The June 15 performance of the Tony Award-winning musical The Light in the Piazza will be aired at 8pm that evening on PBS' Live at Lincoln Center. The show is scheduled to close at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre on July 2, and will then begin a 50-week national tour in August.

The aired performance is scheduled to star Tony Award winner Victoria Clark, Sarah Uriarte Berry, Michael Berresse, Katie Clarke, Patti Cohenour, Beau Gravitte, Aaron Lazar, and Chris Sarandon.

I love this show and I'm thrilled that Victoria Clark's performance will be preserved on video. That Tony was richly deserved. Now a large audience can see why.

Thursday, April 6, 2006

Those good and crazy people…

OK, try not to act too surprised by this revelation: I was wrong.

The marriage between Stephen Sondheim's music and John Doyle's directing is proving to be fruitful. Mr. Doyle's acclaimed production of "Company," now playing in Cincinnati, is headed for Broadway by the end of the year, its New York producers said. There it will join the hit revival of "Sweeney Todd," by Mr. Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler, which is also directed by Mr. Doyle.

My recommendation stands. See it, in Ohio or in Manhattan.

Sunday, April 2, 2006

Phone rings, door chimes…

I scooted over to Cincinnati last Thursday to see Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park's production of Stephen Sondheim's Company, my second-favorite Sondheim show. (My first, for entirely sentimental reasons, is Merrily We Roll Along. No one else I know counts it in their top five.)

One of the things that distinguishes live theatre from the movies is that our relationship to shows can change in two dimensions: either as a factor of a different production that changes some aspect of the play or of the fact that we're the ones who have changed since first seeing it or, for that matter, both. Movies are static and unchanging; our estimation of them changes only if we acknowledge a change in ourselves (age, experience, whatever).

My relationship with Company changes every time I see it, and this was no exception. I last saw the show four years ago at the Kennedy Center, with John Barrowman as Bobby and Lynn Redgrave as Joanne. I said at the time it was the best production I was likely to see for a while; the Cincinnati production now holds that distinction. I'm also a few years older. Joanne's line late in act two about their set being "too young for the old people and too old for the young people" seems a little more apt to me now. That's certainly how I've been feeling lately.

As for the production itself, I can't improve on the praise the many regional and national reviews have piled on it. It just works, and certainly better that director John Doyle's current New York production of Sweeney Todd that employs the same conceit (the actors accompanying themselves as the orchestra), which I enjoyed but didn't love. Company just works better this way, and the necessary compression of the score and reduction of the stage business reinvents the show as more of a chamber piece, boiling it down to the essence.

Short takes: Raul Esparza, who I like more every time I see him, is hands-down the best Bobby I've ever seen. He sings the hell out of—and means every word of—"Being Alive". I'd never seen a production that interpolated "Marry Me a Little"; here it ends the first act and, rather than diminish the finale as I'd feared, it actually enhances it. When Bobby gets to "Being Alive", you realize "Marry Me a Little" was a perfectly logical, perfectly appropriate stop on his emotional journey. "Barcelona" doesn't work as well when April and Bobby aren't naked and in bed, but I sure don't miss the "Tick-Tock" ballet. Barbara Walsh is fierce as Joanne, the least self-deluded and most honest character in the piece. David Gallo's minimalist set looks great in the Marx space, aided by Tom Hase's lighting, and $30,000 worth of designer clothes look fantastic on the cast in stark black and white. The rest of the company was superb, particularly Matt Castle (hubba hubba) as Peter and Heather Laws as Amy. There were a few places where I thought the sound could have been better, but that may have been a consequence of where I was sitting in the fourth row. Some friends seated in the last row on the floor said the vocal/music mix was fine.

The production continues through April 14 and, although it is substantially sold out, I encourage you to see it if you can. Despite the optimism of my friends at the Playhouse, who have seen a parade of New York producers and potential backers in the audience over the past few weeks, I will be very surprised if this particular production has a life outside Ohio.

Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Stage on TV

Televised Opera and Musical Comedy Database

Developed in association with the Indiana University Digital Library Program, the Televised Opera and Musical Comedy Database documents more than a half-century of opera, operetta, and musical comedy telecasts produced in the United States. The database traces performance programming from early live presentations on experimental TV stations, to contemporary productions released on broadcast television, various cable forms, and home video.

Thursday, August 11, 2005

Pitfalls

The Intermission Escape Artist
Or, How One Lifelong Theater Devotee Learned to Stop Worrying and Hate the Form.

Theater has openly flirted with suckiness since Thespis sassed back from the chorus line. The possibility of disaster is inherent in the form: Every great theatrical event requires harmonious excellence from an array of people, from playwright and director to the various designers; with actors and technicians, the requisite proficiency must also be simultaneous, and produced anew night after night after night. But the risk amps the reward: Yes, nothing sucks like bad theater, but nothing thrills like good theater, and the threat of the former only compounds the joy of the latter.

But beyond the suck potential brought by the high-wire aspect of the form, live theater faces other deadly risks�threats far more insidious than a dumbstruck actor, or a director whose vision consists of transposing The Two Gentlemen of Verona to the antebellum American South. The worst of these threats can abort even the possibility of real theater in utero, and the name of this most heinous threat is romance�specifically, the romanticization of the theatrical form.

Friday, August 5, 2005

Swamped

Rehearsals start Tuesday for the season, a front-loaded whirlwind that includes seven openings in 12 weeks starting next month. (Get a glimpse of the madness: the mini-site for our new series—a site, incidentally, built in one manic day by yours truly and before anyone says a word, the splash page was not my idea—or see the whole shooting match on our mothership site.)

I just did my daily review of my to-do list for the next two weeks, and my calendar through December. There is not one free day, weekends included, until well into November. Fortunately, I'm too tired to cry.

And I've never had so much fun in my life.

Tuesday, July 26, 2005

Bugle boys and bugle beads

With one or two exceptions, I must admit I don't much care for the particular brand of musical comedy cornpone peddled by Jerry Herman. The exceptions are Mack and Mabel and Mame. Now, just admitting that probably puts me out of favor with a few folks who'll contend that La Cage aux Folles is an inviolable historic masterpiece and that if for nothing but the sheer audicity and longevity of its most famous star, Hello, Dolly is to the musical theatre canon as Hamlet is to the drama.

Yeah. Whatevs.

Anyway, for a variety of very good reasons, hardly anyone produces Mack and Mabel these days. Mame, on the other hand, is everywhere, God love her, although some Mrs. Dennis-Burnsides are better than others. I still love the show and, thanks to my uncanny abilities of selective perception, I can even watch most of the movie version while editing out the execrable performance by Lucille Ball on the fly.

With great anticipation, then, I braved the oppressive heat last night to see Dee Hoty assay the role at The Muny. I adore Dee (she's an alum of our stage and a bright talent) and couldn't wait to see her coax the blues right out of the horn.

Well: the direction was not very good, the scenic design was a bit of pretty mess, the costumes were hit or miss and there were a couple of very, very dubious casting decisions—look, I love, love, love Georgia Engel (another Rep alum, by the way), but putting her in the role of Agnes Gooch who (and I don't think I'm spoiling any suspense here) gets pregnant in Act II is a pretty wide chasm across which to ask the audience to stretch its suspension of disbelief.

But you know what? None of that really matters, because Dee Hoty was an utterly fabulous Mame and I may even sweat through another three hours to see her sing the role again, she's that good. (I'm not quite at the "Angela who?" point yet, but I could be soon.) There are a few fleeting moments where her emotional pitch seemed just a tad off, but I can't fathom she won't find the right note on that count by tonight or Wednesday. She's a sexy, indefatigable, jubilant Jazz baby and, once the wonderful Jeff McCarthy shows up as Beauregard, they make a thoroughly winsome stage pair.

In fact, the cast around Hoty is almost uniformly swell: McCarthy as Beau, Beth Leavel as Vera, Christian Probst (yep, a Rep rat) and Colin Donnell as the Patricks. Even as the apparently-biologically-miraculous Gooch, Engel is a gem.

See it and, if you can't in its Muny run through Sunday, watch the papers for any possibility that Dee Hoty will be taking up residence at a #3 Beekman Place in your neck of the woods. She's my new best girl, at least as far as this show is concerned.

Friday, July 1, 2005

Best Podcast in a Leading Role

The American Theatre Wing now offers a podcast of its weekly interview show Downstage Center, which features working artists from on and Off-Broadway and around the country.

The program is also aired on XM satellite radio (channel 28) and available through a Real audio archive on the ATW website.

Another theatre-related interview podcast: Erich Bergen's Green Room Radio.

Got a favorite?

Tuesday, May 10, 2005

Tony Nominations 2005

Watching the Tony Award nominations announced this morning didn't really yield any stunning surprises, and despite having enjoyed a rather good Broadway season, I can't really muster much enthusiasm for the doling out of the awards themselves this year.

Herewith a few handicapping notes and picks:

Doubt, hands down, for Best Play. Frayn is just too, too for the Tonys, The Pillowman is way too severe and Wilson, well...I'm just tired of Wilson plays. I think he ran out of things to say four or five titles back. Spamalot will be the Best Musical winner. The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee is a lot of fun, but there's no there there. The Light in the Piazza has a gorgeous score and there's a lot of there there, but it's really too gentle to take a Tony. (It'll get a lot of regional play in the years to come, so don't worry it'll go unseen.) And Dirty Rotten Scoundrels disappointed me. I love the story, but the music often sounds like Full Monty trunk songs and the staging lacked elan. I'll say of Spamalot what I said a few years ago about Hairspray: It's not great art and probably not the best musical on Broadway this year, but it is hands down the most fun I had as a theatregoer this year. Give 'em the medallion and tell 'em to back the truck up to the stage door for a few more.

The other musical awards: Best Book to Craig Lucas and Best Score to Adam Guettel. Best revival? Neither La Cage aux Folles or Sweet Charity were in any way remarkable remountings. I give the edge to Pacific Overtures and hope the Tony voters have long memories. I certainly enjoyed the Roundabout's production, although it didn't top the Chicago Shakespeare staging from a couple of years ago. All of the leading actor nominees are pretty damn good, but give Norbert Leo Butz the trophy. He was a head-and-a-half better than Lithgow (and that's saying something) and he's an old college chum. Alums stick together.

Oh, that Best Actress category! I was a little amused to see Christina Applegate nominated but, hey, what were they going to do? Give Eden Espinosa a pity nom? A wail-belt does not a robust performance make. Anyway, Applegate is fun and flouncy and if Charity isn't a very good production, she's got charm by the bucket and could grow into the part by the time the curtain's rung down. (Besides, I haven't seen a more feminine Applegate on Broadway since Victor Garber did Damn Yankees.) Anyway, Victoria Clark deserves the Tony. Little Women didn't really challenge Sutton Foster and Sherie Rene Scott was really just playing Sherie Rene Scott in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. I haven't seen Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and I do like Erin Dilly, but I think this is Clark's category in a walk.

I think Christopher Sieber's probably a lock for Best Featured Actor in a Musical, and while all of the women in the Featured Actress category are swell, I nod to Joanna Gleason. After Norby, she was my favorite thing about Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.

Best Scenic Design: Sight unseen, I'd guess Anthony Ward will get it for Chitty and Tim Hatley will probably win Best Costumes for Spamalot, although I though William Ivey Long's clothes for La Cage were a lot of fun. Best Lighting Design is no question: Christopher Akerlind for Piazza. The light for the show is, after all, the title character, and he made it a role to remember.

For the plays, the rightly legendary John Lee Beatty leads for Best Scenic Design with Doubt, and while I didn't see The Rivals, none of the other costume nominees were particularly stretched by their assignments, so I'll give the edge to Jess Goldstein, whose work I've appreciated in the past (those towels in Take Me Out!) and who probably deserves something for surviving Good Vibrations. I really liked Brian MacDevitt's lights for The Pillowman, and that's the only one among the nominees that stood out for me, so there you go.

Best Leading Actor in a Play: I bet Billy Crudup gets it for The Pillowman, but I'd give it to Brian O'Byrne for Doubt, while passing the Best Actress trophy to Cherry Jones with the other hand. (I haven't seen On Golden Pond nor Sight Unseen, but Bill Irwin and Kathleen Turner were awful—horribly miscast and poorly directed—in Virginia Woolf, and I like Bill Irwin and Kathleen Turner!) Best Featured Actor: Who the hell knows? All of the Glengarry Glen Ross guys were fantastic, even Liev Schreiber who I ordinarily can't stand. Edge to Alda, I suppose. Either Adriane Lenox or Heather Goldenhersh could take Featured Actress and I'd be happy; they gave solid performances and (have you guessed?) I loved the play.

Best Direction: Mike Nichols (musical), Doug Hughes (play). Best Choreography: Jerry Mitchell, probably for La Cage aux Folles (poor fella, if he wins, he loses). The Piazza should take Best Orchestrations; could they possibly have crammed in more strings?!

Hmm...I sat down to jot a few notes and I think I hit all the major awards. Maybe I'm more enthusiastic about the season than I realized.

Tuesday, March 22, 2005

Is this a doughnut I see before me?

D'oh! I don't know whether to be frightened, disappointed, excited or scared. I love The Simpsons. I love Shakespeare. I'm not sure what to think about the prospect of MacHomer, a one-man version of the Scottish play performed entirely using voices from The Simpsons.

I suppose I'll have to reconcile my feelings one way or another. Rick Miller's show plays at the Blanche on May 13.

Here's a NPR interview with Miller about the show from 2003.

Saturday, February 19, 2005

A new road to The Rep

With requisite apologies to my friends and familiars for whom I haven't had as much time or attention over the past few months, this might explain a bit what's been distracting me.

At a time when regional theaters around the country are cutting back programs and bemoaning an aging audience, the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis is taking a nervy step in the opposite direction. This fall, it will add a third subscription series, one with an urban setting and a provocative sensibility.

Have a look. Off-Ramp is gonna be a lot of fun.

On the other hand...seven openings in 13 weeks? Brad's gonna be tired.

And, as if I actually needed evidence that creating more art in today's cultural and economic environment is a chancy dare, today came the news that the long-struggling Charlotte Rep is going dark for good.