Two years ago I gave a very favorable write-up to Terell Alvin McCraney's, The Brothers Size, a blue collar poetic theatre piece that gave a contemporary edge to West African mythology. The play began life as a class assignment at Yale University's School of Drama and then made the move to the Public Theater's Under The Radar Festival with its original Yale director, Tea Alagic and her cast all intact.
Set in the Louisiana Bayou, the play tells the simple story of hard working auto mechanic Ogun Size, who can't hide his frustration with younger brother Oshoosi, a recent parolee who isn't especially anxious to get a job. Complicating matters is that Oshoosi has taken up with his old prison buddy, the drug dealing Elegba.
What I admired back then was how the play used the traditions of ceremonial story-telling to tell a modern tale. With the characters all named for Yoruban deities, the play was primarily performed inside a circle of sand with a small pile of rocks in the center and a percussionist was stationed to the side, supplying sound effects and rhythmic drumming that enhanced the rhythms of the playwright's language. The actors were all shirtless, reinforcing a connection with a more primitive era.
The Brothers Size is back at the Public, this time as one third of McCraney's trilogy, The Brother/Sister Plays, but under new director Robert O'Hara the play is presented in a more realistic manner. Gone are the sand, the rocks, and the percussionist and on go the shirts. Gone also is a good deal of the adventurous theatricality of the one-act piece. McCraney's voice as a playwright is still an interesting one, especially in his practice of having the characters narrate their actions before performing them. Dreams, the sage wisdom of elders and the power of nature are a few of the story-telling tools he uses to fine effect but O'Hara's rather earthbound direction points out where the author overwrites and the piece, while intriguing, still underwhelms.
It's a more serious problem for Marcus; Or The Secret of Sweet, which follows The Brother's Size and is also directed by O'Hara. This one concerns a 16-year-old boy who has begun opening up to others about being "sweet" (gay) and wants to find out if his father was the same. His rejecting mother, the girl who wants to date him (but is offended by his just wanting to be friends) and the older man who introduces him to sex all come off as ridiculous stereotypes when stripped of any mythological components and inhabiting an otherwise naturalistic setting. Attempts at humor stick out like bad one-liners. ("You're the only one I could sing The Wiz straight through with.")
Tina Landau has much greater success with her direction of In The Red and Brown Water, a full-length play which is presented separately from the other two. Here, high school track star Oya (though the character is barren she is named for a fertility goddess) turns down a scholarship and a spot on a college team because she fears her mother's death is coming soon and she wants to be there for her until the end. Looking for comfort, she falls into disappointing relationships with men.
Beginning the play with a striking lighting effect by Peter Kaczorowski, where an empty bucket pours out a shimmering pool of water, Landau stages beautifully stylized pictures utilizing an upstage chorus that, aside from playing various roles, chants, dances and plays drums in a manner that mixes the modern with the legendary.
While the three plays share some characters, they each stand on their own. And while taking in the connections within the trio enhances each piece, sitting through the entire four and a half hours makes the project's need for editing very apparent.
Fortunately the cast is very good, with Andre Holland standing out as the charismatic Elegba and the shy Marcus. Kianne Muschett beautifully handles the balance between Oya's girlish joy and the pain she experiences growing into a woman. Kimberly Hebert Gregory is very amusing as the plain-speaking Aunt Elegua, who always says what you don't want her to say. And there is excellent teamwork in the frustrated bonding between Marc Damon Johnson, as Ogun Size, and Brian Tyree Henry, as his slacker brother Oshoosi.
Photos by Joan Marcus: Top: Marc Damon Johnson and Kianne Muschett; Bottom: Kimberly Hebert Gregory and Andre Holland.
Posted by
Michael Dale
on Friday, November 20, 2009 @ 10:33 AM
Rosie Live & Radio
Rosie O’Donnell will be hosting A Broadway Extravaganza, a benefit for Rosie’s Broadway Kids at 8PM on Monday, November 23. BroadwayWorld.com chatted with Rosie this morning about the special event, Broadway Thursdays on Rosie Radio and more...
This years celebration includes a star-studded tribute performance honoring the one and only Queen Latifah at the world famous Palace Theatre. The evening will feature unforgettable performances by Nikki Blonsky(HAIRSPRAY Movie), Gavin Creel (HAIR), Melinda Doolittle (AMERICAN IDOL), Montego Glover(MEMPHIS), Norm Lewis (LITTLE MERMAID), and special performances by Judy Gold, The Cast of Jim Henson’s Emmet Otter and of course - Rosie’s Broadway Kids.
To start things off, what can you tell us about Monday's very special event at the Palace Theater?
Well, it's the 12th gala that we've had for my foundation and the focus this year is on Rosie's Broadway Kids and the brand new school that we just opened up on 45th Street. It's at the Palace Theatre and we're honoring Queen Latifah.
Nikki Blonsky, Gavin Creel, Melinda Doolittle, Montego Glover, Norm Lewis, Judy Gold and all of the kids from my school and the cast from Jim Henson's new show Emmet Otter will be performing.
Also, I've asked a few 'friends' to stop by which are going to be some VERY special surprises that we're not billing...
Any hints? How long will the concert be?
No hints! But, it'll be a big hour and a half show and then afterwards we have a reception upstairs for the high-rollers who bought the big expensive tickets and they'll get to hang with all the people that they got to see perform as well as to hear more about the school and what we're doing.
How do you pick Queen Latifah as this year's honoree?
She's an amazing advocate for children and her mother is a school teacher and she is an unbelievably talented performer. We asked alot of the kids at our - who would you like to see? who inspired you the most? She was one of the top names on the list and because I know her and I'm friendly with her, I called her and said "would ya?" and she said yes right away.
Kids have seen her in movies like Hairspray and Chicago, and she sort of represents the life of musical theatre for children under the age of 20 because they don't really remember going to the movie theatre and seeing any musicals before those two, both of whichQueen Latifah stars in. I thought that she was the perfect choice and I know that she has a foundation of her own that honors her brother and that deals with inner-city kids and their educational needs and I know that this speaks to her and to her mission and to her life.
So, I thought that she'd be the perfect person, and she is!
Is she going to be taking to the stage?
She'll be there and we'll have a little performance for her and the kids are going to do a couple of her songs - a little medley and she will get her award and I'm sure that she'll hug and kiss all those kids, which is what she does always whenever she's around children. She's been an unbelievably infectiously happy life-spirit and she's going to come and get an award and hang with the kids.
Can you tell us about what songs people are performing?
That's a secret, Bobby told me not to tell you, but I can hint that if you've got Nikki Blonsky there, chances are that it's going to be something from HAIRSPRAY, but ... I can tell you that people are going to be singing things that they're known for.
We covered the opening of the wonderful new arts center in midtown for Rosie's Broadway Kids, how are things going with them?
It's wonderful, the new building is really gorgeous and the program is great. This economy is difficult for everyone though. It's difficult for most people to survive and to feed their children and the people that we serve, and the groups that we serve are kids, the vast majority of them are the kids who are getting 'free lunch.'
The vast majority or almost all the kids in our program live below the poverty level so it's especially time for them and for their families but it's also a difficult time for fundraising so although the school is up and running and the program is thriving, it's still a hard economy to raise money because people are suffering.
We're going to carry on and to do the best we can like everyone else and hopefully we'll get through to the other side and this storm will pass and on we'll go.
I know many BroadwayWorld.com readers are enjoying Rosie Radio on Sirius XMbecause they've been missing on TV. How are you going to bring Broadway onto the new show?
We are, every thursday! Every Thursday is going to be Broadway day and Bobby (Pearce) will have people on every Thursday and we'll also talk about it every week. We had Montego Glover on already and tomorrow we'll have on Alice Ripley and every Thursday will be a Broadway star and featuring a Broadway musical and we'll give away Broadway tickets.
So, for your audience - tune in Thursdays! I promise that there will be enough Broadway for everyone.
We'll be listening! I know you're seeing shows all the time, what was the last one that you caught on Broadway?
I saw the Starry Messenger, theMatthew Broderick play and it was absolutely brilliant. I loved it and thought it was so absolutely beautiful and moving. It's two hours and forty-five minutes, which on the way in gave me a nervous headache -- what was I seeing? Nicholas Nickleby? How am I going to get through this? But it totally flew by and totally carries your interest.
On the whole, I'm a much bigger fan of musicals than plays because I need shiny dazzley bright things to distract me, but this one really I loved and I was thrilled and highly recommend seeing it.
And lastly, I've been told that you're going to be extending a special offer for Broadway fans to come see some of their favorite stars on Monday night?
The show is this Monday and we have about 50 tickets left and as a thank you to MY Broadway fans, we're going to offer special HALF-PRICE prIce Tickets while they last JUST on Friday and JUST from 1-3 pm. So, for tickets or more information go to: www.rosie.com/gala.aspx or call Buckley Hall Events at 914-579-1000.
Photo Credit: Walter McBride/Retna Ltd.
Posted by Robert Diamond
on Thursday, November 19, 2009 @ 8:39 AM
Free Trip to Perform in Chicago
Here's your chance to sing, dance or laugh your way in to the legendary Chicago Theatre!
One lucky winner will have the opportunity to entertain the pre-show audience prior to the 8:00PM performance of Banana Shpeel on December 9.
Send in 60 second videos of yourself in a madcap bit of slapstick, an over-the-top comedic routine or yourself singing, dancing or performing a one-of-a-kind act with original creative content that's sure to 'wow' the voters!
Whether you've performed in front of the mirror or on the big stage, let's see if you have the shtick and chutzpah to impress the judges. They will evaluate your video on creativity, raw talent, originality, humor, spirit and total wow-factor!!
The contest will run from now until November 30 when the final votes will be tallied to determine winner, and is open to anyone 18 or older (or younger with parental permission) in the United States. The lucky winner, and their guest will enjoy world-class accommodations courtesy of our generous contest sponsors Delta Airlines and theWit, Doubletree Hotel (201 N.State St. Chicago, IL 60601) for one night - December 9th. Complimentary round trip airfare for 2 from Delta to Chicago will be provided for out-of-town winner.
25 runners up will receive 2 free tickets to see Banana Spheel on December 9th.
Click here for details and to enter...
Posted by Robert Diamond
on Wednesday, November 18, 2009 @ 9:07 AM
Revisiting Our Town
I had the immense pleasure of taking another visit to Grover's Corners, New Hampshire last week, via the fascinating David Cromer production of Thornton Wilder's Our Town that opened in February at the Barrow Street Theatre. Back then I wrote that the director's non-traditional take on the play - which remains completely faithful to the author's text and themes - was one of the most exciting theatre events of the season. On second look, with a mixture of new and old cast member, I'd say it's the best theatre production I know of currently playing in New York.
Wilder's gently experimental 1938 classic, where issues of love, marriage, community and our purpose in the universal scheme of things are presented through the everyday life occurrences in this unremarkable town, is perhaps the most familiar of all American dramas; being studied in public schools and performed by student and community theatres for decades. And while the countless number of times this play has been produced makes it impossible to guess if Cromer's vision is a completely untried idea, I think it's safe to say you're not likely to run into another Our Town that so vividly connects contemporary audiences with material from over seventy years ago.
As per Wilder's instructions in the script, this Our Town uses the traditional setting of a bare stage with nondescript tables and chairs serving as scenery. (It may seem like scenic designer Michele Spadaro hasn't much to do, but trust me, she earns her paycheck with this one.) The actors, as usual, mime their props while going about their daily routines of housework, homework and playtime. But while Cromer's production still takes place in the early years of the 20th Century, the director utilizes simple, but clever ideas to make a modern Manhattan audience feel a part of this sleepy little rural community. Customers at the reconfigured Barrow Street Theatre are seated on three sides of the small playing space, with wide room between the first and second rows where scenes are also played out. Costume designer Alison Siple dresses the company in contemporary clothing, though avoiding anything that may be distractingly modern, blending the appearance of those on stage with those watching. Lighting designer Heather Gilbert even keeps the house lights on for the first two acts. The evening often feels more like a town hall meeting than a night at the theatre,
Replacing Cromer as the narrating character Wilder calls the Stage Manager, Jason Butler Harner, who appears to be somewhere in his mid-20s, is certainly the youngest looking actor I've seen play the role in a professional production. Like his predecessor, he foregoes the traditionally homespun interpretation, displaying an emotionally detached efficiency as he keeps the play moving along. But there are extremely effective moments -- like when he takes a long pause to observe the beauty of a butternut tree and consider its later significance -- when he hints at being truly moved by the story he tells. And the night I attended he connected with the audience with warm silence as patches of viewers responded with knowing laughs after his character says, "Most everybody in the world gets married. You know what I mean?"
The early scenes echo the Stage Manager's emotional distance as we witness the daily morning clockwork in the homes of newspaper editor Charles Webb (a grimly-mannered Ken Marks) and his neighbor, Dr. Frank Gibbs (a distant Armand Schultz). Their wives, Julia Gibbs (Lori Myers) and Myrtle Webb (Kati Brazda), are machinelike in their routines of waking up the children, preparing breakfast and tending to their husbands; both of whom seem significantly older. In a town where "women vote indirect," nearly everyone is a member of the same religion and political party and 90% of the high school graduates stay put to live out their lives, Myers and Brazda nicely communicate the frustration their characters must feel with the sameness of their lives. Myers' Mrs. Gibbs seems especially acerbic toward her husband, a man who ignores her dream to visit Paris in favor of yearly vacations to the famous battle fields of the Civil War.
That same sense of dissatisfaction is evident in young Emily Webb, played with aggressive no-nonsense authority by Jennifer Grace. Despite being the smartest student in school, her Emily no doubt sees little future for herself beyond being someone's wife, so when neighbor George (played with thick-headed shyness by James McMenamin) reveals that he's set to inherit a farm after graduating high school she gradually softens her approach to this nice, but intellectually inferior guy who can bring her financial security.
All of this may seem a bit cold by description, but Cromer's interpretation perfectly leads to Wilder's third act warning to truly value the simple everyday things in our lives. And while it's perfectly acceptable to remind readers that this act has the now deceased Emily, who died in childbirth, accepting a chance to visit one day in her past, you'll have to experience for yourself the surprising and oh, so perfect way the director utilizes at least four, if not all five, of the audience's senses to pack an extra wallop into the play's climatic scene.
With Susan Bennett's amiable Mrs. Soames, Jeremy Bailer's emotionally troubled Simon Stimson and Ben Livingston's shyly soft-spoken Professor Willard among an outstanding ensemble, this Our Town mixes great character-driven humor, decent heart-tugging sentiment and stunning theatricality into a production that is truly -- let me say it once more -- an exciting event.
Photos by Carol Rosegg: Top: Jason Butler Harner; Bottom: Lori Myers, Adam Hinkle, Armand Schultz, James McMenamin, Jason Butler Harner, Jennifer Grace, Ken Marks and Kati Brazda.
Posted by
Michael Dale
on Tuesday, November 17, 2009 @ 11:13 AM
Teatro Italia
I'm just back (and jetlagged to hell) from a few lovely days in Milan last week/this weekend and since I couldn't resist taking some iPhone snaps of the few bits of the Italian theatre scene that we passed in our travels (mostly from restaurant to restaurant) -- here they are!
We'll be adding to the BroadwayWorld International family of regional coverage *very* soon, but in the meantime, here's a small taste of what's going on in Milan at the moment...
Posted by Robert Diamond
on Tuesday, November 17, 2009 @ 10:02 AM
Broadway Grosses: Week Ending 11/15 & Theatre Quote of the Week
"After the first glass, you see things as you wish they were. After the second, you see things as they are not. Finally, you see things as they really are and that is the most horrible thing in the world."
-- Oscar Wilde, regarding absinthe
The grosses are out for the week ending 11/15/2009 and we've got them all right here in BroadwayWorld.com's grosses section.
Up for the week was: IN THE NEXT ROOM OR THE VIBRATOR PLAY (23.0%), RAGTIME (15.8%), FELA! (7.9%), HAMLET (6.4%), WISHFUL DRINKING (5.7%), THE 39 STEPS (5.1%), MEMPHIS (5.1%), BURN THE FLOOR (5.1%), ROCK OF AGES (4.8%), HAIR (4.7%), THE ROYAL FAMILY (3.7%), NEXT TO NORMAL (2.9%), WEST SIDE STORY (2.7%), BYE BYE BIRDIE (2.4%), WICKED (2.0%), THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (2.0%), IN THE HEIGHTS (1.2%), OLEANNA (1.1%), BILLY ELLIOT: THE MUSICAL (0.3%), SOUTH PACIFIC (0.1%),
Down for the week was: SHREK THE MUSICAL (-20.6%), IRVING BERLIN'S WHITE CHRISTMAS (-19.2%), SUPERIOR DONUTS (-12.2%), MAMMA MIA! (-8.5%), FINIAN'S RAINBOW (-6.6%), MARY POPPINS (-6.6%), THE LION KING (-5.2%), CHICAGO (-4.2%), AFTER MISS JULIE (-1.4%), GOD OF CARNAGE (-0.1%), JERSEY BOYS (-0.1%),
Posted by
Michael Dale
on Monday, November 16, 2009 @ 3:58 PM
The Other Vibrator Plays
Sarah Ruhl's In The Next Room or the vibrator play opens on Broadway this week and certainly its provocative subtitle has helped give the play an extra boost of attention and publicity.
Which makes me wonder... What other plays would have gained more attention if they were subtitled the vibrator play?
Toys in the Attic or the vibrator play
33 Variations or the vibrator play
They Knew What They Wanted or the vibrator play
All's Well That Ends Well or the vibrator play
The Man Who Had All The Luck or the vibrator play
I Am My Own Wife or the vibrator play
Can you name any others?
But please, don't suggest The Iceman Cometh. Too easy.
Posted by
Michael Dale
on Monday, November 16, 2009 @ 1:51 AM
RAGTIME Reviews
At the dawn of a new century, everything is changing... and anything is possible. Direct from a sold-out extended run at the Kennedy Center, RAGTIME The Musical returns to Broadway in an new production. Set in the volatile melting pot of turn-of-the-century New York, RAGTIME weaves together three distinctly American tales -- that of a stifled suburban mother, an inventive Jewish immigrant and a daring young Harlem musician -- united by their courage, compassion and belief in the promise of the future. Their compelling stories intertwine to form a rich tapestry of hopes and dreams, struggles and triumphs, rhythm and rhyme, set to an epic, Tony Award-winning score by Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens. A colossal stage show based on the classic E. L. Doctorow novel, RAGTIME also features a Tony Award-winning book by Terrence McNally, direction and choreography by Marcia Milgrom Dodge, a majestic 28-piece orchestra and a vibrant cast of 40.
David Rooney, Variety: "No word has been more bandied about in American life the past two years than change. And no show investigates the nuances of that word as it relates to the American Dream -- conveying hope, opportunity and success, but also the ugly flipside of pain, division, confusion and violence -- more masterfully than "Ragtime." The 1997 musical not only feels trenchant and timely, but its multistrand story is delivered with fresh clarity and emotional immediacy in director-choreographer Marcia Milgrom Dodge's elegant revival, transferring to Broadway from D.C.'s Kennedy Center, where it originated in April. This is big-brain, bold-strokes musical-theater storytelling at its most vibrant."
Ben Brantley, The New York Times: "Ragtime" benefits from this less-is-more approach, but only to a degree. The show is hardly one of Sondheimesque complexity. Terrence McNally's script and Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens's songs have a way of turning the shifting historical flux of Doctorow's novel into carefully diagrammed flow charts. Characters who remain mysteries to themselves in the novel are here allowed moments of self-analysis and self-explanation that Dr. Phil might applaud. So to present a bare-bones "Ragtime" courts the danger of revealing how bare them bones are."
Michael Kuchwara, Associated Press: "It also sets the bar very high for what is to follow at Broadway's Neil Simon Theatre, where a respectful, recalibrated revival of the musical opened Sunday. If nothing else quite reaches that joyous proclamation of theatricality, so be it. This is a musical that can't be faulted for its overabundant ambition or its often soaring score even as it sometimes stumbles over its heart-on-sleeve earnestness."
Elysa Gardner, USA Today: "But those who plan to see the theatrical version, now in revival (***½ out of four) at the Neil Simon Theatre, are advised to put away their thinking caps and bring their hankies. As a work of social commentary, Ragtime, introduced on Broadway in 1998, is hokey and pedantic, much like that other, plodding musical adaptation of historical fiction, Les Misèrables."
Frank Scheck, The Hollywood Reporter: "The ragtime flavored score is beautifully delivered, with the ensemble numbers achieving a powerful emotional resonance."
David Sheward, Backstage: "In a season full of star vehicles, the revival of "Ragtime" rides onto Broadway with nary a box-office name and steamrollers its way to the top of the heap."
Elisabeth Vincentelli, NY Post: "But while the stage overflows with outsize feelings and themes, they make relatively little impression. Can too much be too much?"
John Simon, Bloomberg News: ""It is good to have "Ragtime" back on Broadway. The 1998 show, with book by Terrence McNally, music by Stephen Flaherty and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens, is a significant musical that narrowly misses being a great one. Even so, compared to what nowadays passes for a great musical ("Wicked," for example), "Ragtime" is nothing short of a masterpiece."
Robert Feldberg, Bergen Record: "Watching the vivid, stirring, lovingly staged revival of "Ragtime," I had the thought, "This time they got it right.""
Joe Dziemianowicz, NY Daily News: It hasn't even been a decade since the first production of the show left town. Did Broadway need another "Ragtime"? Seems premature. But it's hard to argue with a revival as surefooted as Marcia Milgrom Dodge's strikingly staged and vividly performed redo."
Richard Ouzounian, The Toronto Star: The musical theatre had a great deal of its lustre restored on Sunday night when the triumphant revival of Ragtime opened on Broadway.
For sheer melodic invention, lyrical intelligence and dramatic force, it's unlikely that any show written in the 11 years since it first debuted in New York can match it."
Melissa Rose Bernardo, Entertainment Weekly: "Anyone lucky enough to experience the dazzling Broadway revival of Ragtime will be hard-pressed to believe that in 1998, the musical was a $10 million financial flop, a critical miss, and an awards-season also-ran."
Peter Marks, Washington Post: "What's achieved here is confirmation that even if "Ragtime" is not a seminal American musical, it can be, via Terrence McNally's libretto and Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens's score, a very rewarding one, an impressive distilling of a panoramic novel and a moving account of the momentous currents of a turbulent age."
Posted by Robert Diamond
on Monday, November 16, 2009 @ 7:27 AM
Finian's Rainbow: Things Are Swell in Glocca Morra
The house lights go down. I mean all the way down. There's a pin spot on the conductor who is placed before 24 musicians in a real live orchestra pit. And in the blackness of the auditorium, with no videos or projections or actors doing business on stage, the overture to of one of the most gorgeous scores Broadway has ever heard warmly embraces the theatre, hinting at the joy to soon follow when they are matched with immensely clever, heartfelt and sensual lyrics. Finian's Rainbow is a great Broadway musical comedy.
Of course, if you only listen to Burton Lane's music and E.Y. "Yip" Harburg's lyrics, you might mistake Finian's Rainbow for a sentimental musical romance typical of the Rodgers and Hammerstein era; though certainly one with a superior score that mixes Irish folk, blues and gospel through the Broadway sifter. The subdued sexuality of "Old Devil Moon," the pure hopeful tenderness of "Look To The Rainbow," the breezy flippancy of "The Begat," the noble affection for home express in "How Are Things in Glocca Morra?" and the fickle-hearted waltz, "When I'm Not Near The Girl I Love (I Love The Girl I'm Near)" would be enough to make this a significant Broadway entry. But when you add the rapturous excitement of "If This Isn't Love," the snooty comedy in "When The Idle Poor Become The Idle Rich," the lyrical whimsy of "Something Sort of Grandish" and... well, I could just list the who darn score here... you have one of the most sumptuous collections of melody and gentle wit ever presented on a Broadway stage.
It's only when you consider the book, penned by Harburg and Fred Saidy, that you realize that in its premiere run a night at Finian's Rainbow was like attending a taping of one of the most sharply satirical editions of Saturday Night Live. Its story of an Irish immigrant who arrives in the American south (the Rainbow Valley section of the state of Missitucky, to be exact) to bury a pot of gold "borrowed" from a leprechaun in the ground near Fort Knox - because he's heard that just letting gold lie inactive in that ground rapidly increases its value - cheerfully spoofed the nature of the bustling American postwar economy ("We got something better than money! It's credit!"). But what made Finian's Rainbow really daring was when it asked us to laugh at those who would institute poll taxes and write segregation into our law books at a time when these practices were still going quite strong. Eight years before Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus and three months before Jackie Robinson first took the field for the Brooklyn Dodgers, Lane, Harburg and Saidy presented the American theatre with a white racist senator who, through the magic of a pot of gold, is accidentally changed into a black man and must consider facing the rest of his life being subjected to the kind of discrimination and hatred he used to enforce. And they made it funny.
Hopefully we're somewhat more advanced nowadays when it comes to race relations but the wondrously whimsical Broadway revival of Finian's Rainbow, a slightly altered transfer of the earlier Encores! concert staging, proves there's quite a bit in the material that still gets contemporary laughs; especially when the jokes remind us of just how fragile an economy built on credit can be. We can enjoy it when David Schramm, as the smug Senator Billboard Rawkins, arrogantly blurts out such absurdities as, "My whole family's been having trouble with immigrants ever since we came to this country," and even though some may get a tad uncomfortable during a scene where his new black servant (Tyrick Wiltez Jones) is taught the proper way to shuffle when he serves mint juleps, the comic payoff is a scream.
Director/choreographer Warren Carlyle's buoyant production boasts a loveable, strong singing cast headed by Jim Norton as a rascally comical Finian. As his brash daughter, Sharon and the strapping tobacco sharecropper Woody, Kate Baldwin and Cheyenne Jackson thickly fill the air with romantic musical theatre magic as she tenderly voices "How Are Things In Glocca Morra?" and "Look To The Rainbow" and the two of them simmer with sexual tension as they ponder that "Old Devil Moon."
Christopher Fitzgerald, a deft musical comedian who excels in impish roles, joins the company as Og the leprechaun. It's a perfect matching of actor and role as he physically and vocally hints at his character's own sexual tension; having lost his pot of gold, he's gradually becoming mortal and is going through the same kind of inconvenient discomfort that afflicts pubescent boys.
Though for decades productions of Finian's Rainbow have been using blackface makeup to accomplish the feat of changing the senator's skin color (a point that has caused some to declare the musical itself as being racially insensitive) more recent productions have been utilizing other means. Here Schramm's blustery fool is magically replaced by Chuck Cooper, who mourns the loss of his white identity until he finds friendship and good will with a gospel quartet in need of a new quarter. Both actors are also splendid new additions to this production, with Schramm heartily growling his nonsensical logic ("I don't have time to read The Constitution. I'm too busy defending it.") and Cooper, who gets precious little opportunity to display his dynamically deep vocals (but when he does, it's theatre-shaking), teaming up with Bernard Dotson, James Stoval and Devin Richards as they bring snappy harmony and precision classiness to a sensational rendition of "The Begat."
Also pretty sensational are the molasses thick vocals Terri White uses to fill the house with vibrancy as she leads the ensemble in the bluesy, "Necessity," and the airy grace and charisma of Alina Faye as Woody's mute sister Susan, who only communicates through dance.
Arthur Perlman provides an adaptation of the original book, which unfortunately cuts some significant moments; perhaps because they're the kind that would make a modern audience bristle a bit. (Like the scene where a young white lad asks the senator if his black friend is "the wrong color.") While I always prefer to see the material as the authors wrote it, Perlman's editing does allow the whimsical voice of the original to ring out strong and clear, ridiculing the notion that this is a musical with a creaky, impossibly dated book. There really is musical comedy magic in Rainbow Valley.
Photos by Joan Marcus: Top: Kate Baldwin and Cheyenne Jackson; Center: Paige Simunovich, Christopher Fitzgerald and Christopher Borger; Bottom: Terri White, Guy Davis and Company.
Posted by
Michael Dale
on Sunday, November 15, 2009 @ 1:53 AM
Silk Stockings: Take Me Back To Belinsky
When it comes to hit musical comedies that don't stand a chance of ever being revived on Broadway, I'd have to rank Silk Stockings as one of my favorites. Based on Melchoir Lengyel's novel Ninotchka, which was turned into a Greta Garbo's first comedy film ("Garbo Laughs!, " screamed the advertisements.), this 1955 cold war tuner was the last Broadway entry for both Cole Porter and George S. Kaufman. And while it isn't exactly top tier material for either of these masters, it's still a dandy collection of clever, hummable songs and boffo gags from an era when professionally done fluff could send audiences off into the Times Square night with a big smile.
Now in their 12th season, Silk Stockings is the 54th small scale concert staging by that remarkable Obie-winning company Musicals Tonight!, specialists in presenting affordable revivals of lesser-known musicals that have rarely been seen since their original Broadway productions. Staged by resident director Thomas Sabella-Mills (who also supplies the simple, but show-bizy choreography), with music direction by David Caldwell, a winning cast delivers this time capsule of a show with great energy and panache.
Like so many Cole Porter shows, Silk Stockings is set in Paris, where a Russian classical composer/conductor on tour disobeys orders to return home when the opportunity arises to have themes from his masterwork, Ode to a Tractor, used as the underscoring for a Hollywood drama based on War and Peace. Three bumbling officials are sent to bring him back with a minimal amount of adverse publicity ("We must force him of his own free will to come back."), but when the boys are seduced by the Paris nightlife, Moscow sends a no-nonsense, humorless female comrade to finish the job. The main love story is how the composer's American agent steps in to try and seduce her into succumbing to both his charms and to the lights of Paris. Meanwhile, the Hollywood blonde set to star in the flick ("My first dramatic non-swimming role.") is dissatisfied with the screenplay and has the movie changed into a musical about Napoleon's Josephine, hiring her own lyricist to turn the Tractor themes into pop songs.
Originally Kaufman teamed up with his wife, Leueen MacGrath, an unsuccessful playwright (more popular as an actress) whose main contribution was to help write the leading lady's role. But during rocky out-of-town tryouts the two were fired... or quit... and replaced by producers Cy Feuer and Ernie Martin with the era's premiere script doctor, Abe Burrows. The three share equal billing for the very funny book that makes communism the butt of every joke that isn't aimed at Hollywood. When a Soviet official is asked if he knew that the great Russian composer Prokofiev was dead, he innocently answers, "I didn't even know he was arrested." Another Soviet, trying to locate a higher-up, asks for a copy of Who's Still Who.
While the love song, "All Of You, " was the popular hit, the higher points of Cole Porter's score are his comedy and character numbers. "Stereophonic Sound" is a rousing tribute to the technological advances that overshadowed content in 1950s Hollywood films ("The customer's don't like to see the groom embrace the bride / Unless her lips are scarlet and her bosom five feet wide.") and "Siberia", seemingly an attempt to repeat the success of Kiss Me, Kate's "Brush Up Your Shakespeare," is a humorous soft-shoe about the homeland's frostiest assignment. ("When it's cocktail time, t'will be so nice / Just to know you won't have to phone for ice.") The comical anti-love song, "It's A Chemical Reaction, That's All," argues that coupling is merely a case of, "When the electromagnetic of the female meets the electromagnetic of the he-male."
Kate Marrily's deadpan delivery as Comrade Ninotchka nails every laugh and she makes a smooth transformation from by-the-book official to a love-happy, degenerate pleasure-seeker. As the agent who woos her, Kevin Kraft has a rather thankless leading man role that consists mainly of feeding straight lines to the more colorful characters and singing the score‘s least inspired material, but he delivers understated charm and sings with an attractive light baritone.
The trio of Jody Cook, Carl Danielson and Jason Simon are great fun and in fine voice playing their low comedy roles as the trio of Soviet officials. Aside from their amusing silliness in "Siberia" and the rousing "Hail Bibinski," the boys also team up for a Cole Porter list song, "Why Should I Trust You?," which was cut from the score before the Broadway opening. Also cut before Broadway was the lightly satirical, "Art"; here sung with power and gusto by T.J. Mannix as the soon to be outgoing Commissar of Art. Neither is vintage Porter but they do make for interesting curiosities.
Oakley Boycott fizzes with old-school musical comedy moxie and a spot-on comic sense as the Hollywood starlet who wants to be taken seriously but not at the risk of losing her sexpot appeal. Tall, lean and sporting wavy blond locks, she seems a campy cross between Marilyn and Marlene, selling her songs with satirical seductiveness.
Silk Stockings may not be a classic, but it represents a classic type of knockabout musical comedy we, regretfully, don't see around much these days.
Posted by
Michael Dale
on Friday, November 13, 2009 @ 11:11 AM
Exclusive Exclusive Exclusive
ex⋅clu⋅sive [ik-skloo-siv, -ziv]
Journalism. a piece of news, or the reporting of a piece of news, obtained by a newspaper or other news organization, along with the privilege of using it first.
There's a total of 14 definitions of the word 'exclusive' at dictionary.com, including the above one which I looked up after reading my usual stack of a dozen magazines purchased at the airport for a current trip that I'm on, many of which touted exclusive content photos and more.
BroadwayWorld.com is *filled* with lots of exclusive and exclusive content of a variety of types across our 100 web sites ranging from videos to photos, interviews and features and everything in between.
I've never personally liked the word exclusive and as an editorial policy since day 1, it's nothing that we ever ask for when arranging coverage and content on the site.
Sure, we have plenty of content that no one else does - most gotten the old fashioned way of hard work and having a great editorial team here, some are given to us, and sometimes, we're just the only site that runs certain things.
We never ask for them though, because in the relatively small industry that is Broadway, I think that they can often do more harm than good to the various productions -- just look at how the exclusive advertising deal that Brighton Beach Memoirs had with the NY Times certainly played into that show's early demise (how much so is naturally debatable).
I strongly believe that the 'rising tide lifts all ships' and that the shows which have proven the most successful at marketing and press (online especially) have been those which have taken advantage of all of which the (relatively few) outlets can provide. It comes down to presentation, traffic, audience and a wide variety of other factors that make certain content more ideal for certain outlets than others but ultimately, you want your message in as many different flavors and on as many different sites (and social networking services) as humanly possible. That's the most ideal use of content in our digital world today.
The more the merrier I say.
Posted by Robert Diamond
on Friday, November 13, 2009 @ 9:24 AM
Move Over, Margaret
My favorite title of a play currently running in New York is Are You There, Zeus? It's Me, Electra.
Written and directed by Aliza Shane, it's now playing at The Looking Glass Theatre.
Posted by
Michael Dale
on Wednesday, November 11, 2009 @ 11:03 AM
Subway Quickie
While riding home on the subway last night I overheard a fellow say to his companion, "Well, it's her show. He just wrote the book but she wrote the music and lyrics."
Someone needs to read some Lehman Engel.
Posted by
Michael Dale
on Tuesday, November 10, 2009 @ 1:53 AM
Broadway Grosses: Week Ending 11/8 & Theatre Quote of the Week
"Actors work and slave and it is the color of your hair that can determine your fate in the end."
-- Helen Hayes
The grosses are out for the week ending 11/8/2009 and we've got them all right here in BroadwayWorld.com's grosses section.
Up for the week was: SHREK THE MUSICAL (21.1%), MEMPHIS (19.9%), THE ROYAL FAMILY (13.2%), MARY POPPINS (12.9%), WISHFUL DRINKING (11.4%), OLEANNA (10.7%), SOUTH PACIFIC (10.5%), IN THE HEIGHTS (10.5%), HAMLET (9.9%), BURN THE FLOOR (9.6%), RAGTIME (9.4%), THE 39 STEPS (6.5%), HAIR (6.4%), CHICAGO (6.2%), ROCK OF AGES (5.6%), BYE BYE BIRDIE (4.1%), WEST SIDE STORY (4.0%), THE LION KING (3.9%), NEXT TO NORMAL (3.8%), IN THE NEXT ROOM OR THE VIBRATOR PLAY (3.2%), FINIAN'S RAINBOW (1.6%), SUPERIOR DONUTS (1.4%), JERSEY BOYS (1.1%), AFTER MISS JULIE (1.0%), FELA! (0.6%), GOD OF CARNAGE (0.6%),
Down for the week was: THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (-3.5%), WICKED (-1.8%), MAMMA MIA! (-1.0%), BILLY ELLIOT: THE MUSICAL (-0.2%), A STEADY RAIN (-0.1%),
Posted by
Michael Dale
on Monday, November 09, 2009 @ 3:25 PM
This Show Sucks
No, this isn't a reference to vampire musicals and nor am I talking about any particular show.
"this show sucks" was a piece of reader feedback that recently came into BroadwayWorld.com in response to an article about a show, that shall not be named here either.
Since I've been attending the theatre, there's been flops that I loved and hits that I've hated (and everything in between).
One of the greatest, and worst things about the Internet is that it gives people the freedom to post things, (both positive and negative) in relatively anonymous fashion.
I strongly believe that anonymous or not, those criticizing a show or a performer should take the time to explain why they feel as they do.
Online message boards, blogs, Tweets, social and showcial networking posts are read by more people than we all think, including very often the subjects themselves and if you're got a gripe, make it, explain it and be prepared to back it up. Everyone's entitled to their opinions, but if you're going to share them, back them up.
I'm referring to professional criticism by the way -- personal attacks, we delete immediately on BroadwayWorld.
Maybe it's just me, but I think that if you're going to trash something -- trash it with reasons.
Posted by Robert Diamond
on Wednesday, November 11, 2009 @ 8:56 AM
Broadway Bootlegs
On average, we delete more than a dozen bootleg requests every day from BroadwayWorld.com's many message boards of all shapes and sizes from audios to videos to sheet music, etc.
Personally, I've never enjoyed the experience of watching fuzzy, shaky videos, but can understand their appeal for those seeking to re-live or to see for the first time a glimmer of some of the stage's great performances (or at least those great performances since the invention of the camcorder).
Bootlegs are however illegal and while I'm not of the mind that seeing a video makes someone LESS likely to see the real deal if they can (often the opposite from an informal survey), the money that's made on them doesn't go to those whose blood, sweat and tears made the production what it was (or is).
If you ask me, it's all the more reason why an economically viable model is needed for legitimate recordings of both videos and audios.
The folks over at Digital Theatre are on the right track, now we just need to do the same on this side of the pond, for both professional and amateur productions.
Where to begin?
Posted by Robert Diamond
on Tuesday, November 10, 2009 @ 9:13 AM
The Must-Read Theatre Book of the Year...
I'm only two-thirds of the way through reading Free For All, Joe Papp, The Public, and the Greatest Theater Story Ever Told (which I can't put down) and can already tell you that it's by far, the must-read theatre book of the year. I picked it up late in the day Friday and haven't put it down since.
In it, Los Angeles Times film critic Kenneth Turan takes you behind the scenes at the Public Theater and tells the amazing story of how Joe Papp made American theatrical and cultural history.
Free for All is the oral history of the New York Shakespeare Festival and the Public Theater-two institutions that under the inspired leadership of Joseph Papp have been a premier source of revolutionary and enduring American theater.
To tell this fascinating story, Kenneth Turan interviewed some 160 luminaries-including George C. Scott, Meryl Streep, Mike Nichols, Kevin Kline, James Earl Jones, David Rabe, Jerry Stiller, Tommy Lee Jones, and Wallace Shawn-and masterfully weaves their voices into a dizzyingly rich tale of creativity, conflict, and achievement. And at the center of this incredibly engrossing account of artistic daring and excellence the larger-than-life figure of Joseph Papp reigns supreme.
It's informative, inspirational and I can't recommend it any more highly...
Posted by Robert Diamond
on Monday, November 09, 2009 @ 9:56 AM
Idiot Savant and After Miss Julie
Ladies and gentlemen. In the course of this evening's performance, the following physical objects will appear onstage: a boxing bag, four golf clubs, a newspaper, two small targets, an oversized golf ball plus snake, a bloody towel, a duck mask, a white spider with spots, a watering can, three boulders wrapped in twine, a yellow suit, two imitation row boats, one tray of fruit, one rolling table, six highball glasses, two white pillows, one large roll of plastic tape, a jeweled wristwatch, one package, gift-wrapped, one jeweled container, plus one blank container, three mirrors with numbers painted on the reverse side, two bows and arrows, one duck in a small cage, one stuffed small mouth plug.
Whatever you do, don't ask, "Why?"
Those who are familiar with the theatre pieces of Richard Foreman know exactly what I mean.
Don't ask why Willem Dafoe, playing the title role in The Public Theater's premiere production of Foreman's new work, Idiot Savant, makes his first entrance dressed like some kid's idea of a Japanese Samurai Halloween costume, carrying a caged duck and with his speech impeded by said mouth plug. Don't ask why those guys in fez hats come on with bows and arrows. And for the love of Joe Papp, don't even think of asking why that giant duck is playing golf.
As with the rest of the 50+ plays written, directed and designed by Foreman since he founded the Ontological-Hysteric Theater back in '68, Idiot Savant is more concerned with providing a tapestry of mood and wild theatrics than presenting coherent drama.
Oh sure, some will delve into interpretive depths to comment on the play's themes of life and language and who's to say they're wrong. But personally, I regard the work of Richard Foreman the same way I regard any abstract work of art. Just feel the rhythms, the visuals, the bursts of energy and see what sticks with you. That may seem a little simplistic but your brain will hurt less.
So what happens in Idiot Savant? Well, after a mysterious voice commands to the actors, "Do not try to carry this play forward. Let it slowly creep over the stage with no help, with no end in view," and the title character informs us that he is interested in confusion, we get a verbal three-way between our hero and the ethereally philosophical Marie (Alenka Kraigher) and the cynical alcoholic Olga (Elina Löwensohn). The three lead players, along with Joel Israel, Eric Magnus and Daniel Allen Nelson in various supporting functions, admirably dive into the often unfathomable text and are shamelessly appealing while buzzers buzz, lights glare out into the audience and we're treated to a chorus of "Japanese Sandman."
The set is a majestic hodgepodge of numbers, mattresses, portraits and lamps that disperse alcohol with lovely chandeliers hanging above. Gabriel Berry's costumes are an eye-catching parade of styles, colors and species.
I'm not going to say Idiot Savant is for everyone, but if you have any interest in experiencing all that American theatre has to offer, a visit to at least one of this prolific surrealist's works is certainly in order.
Photos by Joan Marcus: Top: Willem Dafoe; Bottom: Alenka Kraigher and Elina Löwensohn.
*****************************************
While watching Tartuffe played by 1950s television characters or seeing Love's Labour's Loss set "in da hood" might make for an interesting evening (yes, I've seen both), credit Patrick Marber for allowing August Strindberg's 1888 Miss Julie to remain in its Swedish time and place while he writes an entirely new play, After Miss Julie; subtitled "A Version of August Strindberg's Miss Julie."
Lust, power and class are still on the menu, but Marber sharpens focus on the latter by setting the ninety minute piece in Britain on the evening of the 1945 election; when Clement Attlee's Labour Party won a landslide victory over Churchill's Conservative majority.
But the play remains largely as Strindberg wrote it. Set in the enormous basement kitchen of the country estate of an English lord (Allen Moyer's handsome set is full of wooden stately authority), Julie is the spoiled, bored and just a tad self-destructive daughter of the unseen master of the house who sets out to shock and seduce the chauffer John, a military veteran now living a life where nervous panics are in order if the master's shoes aren't perfectly polished.
As the lines betwixt the classes are melting, Julie's hypnotic way with a glance and a cigarette puff match John's physical ability to take what he wants from her. Plus she has daddy on her side. The temptress and her willing victim trade psychological mind games and share a rough tumble, all while John's supposed fiancée, the devoutly religious and fatalistic cook Christine ("I have lower expectations so I am seldom disappointed.") goes about her business.
This was pretty scandalous stuff in the late 1800s and Marber, along with director Mark Brokaw, seems to be attempting to make it just as shocking for modern audiences with a bit more vulgarity and sexual violence. But Sienna Miller, as Miss Julie, never seems to be up to the task of creating a dangerous sexual atmosphere; going through the standard seductive motions with an overdone upper-crust manner. Likewise, the rich complexities of the character's weaknesses -- her feeling of being caged in the restrictions of her class, the dichotomy of being privileged by birth but confined by gender -- are apparent from the surface but never seem organic.
Jonny Lee Miller makes for an effective John, believably conveying the character's ambition to make a better life for himself conflicting with his fear of breaking away from the simple comfort of what he has.
But it's Marin Ireland, one of New York's most interesting stage actors, who supplies the most attention-grabbing performance as Christine; first in quiet glances that recite emotional monologues, then in a critical detachment that defends against her character's sorrow. Perhaps I'm not the only one wondering if the production would have fared better with her in the title role.
Photos by Joan Marcus: Top: Sienna Miller; Bottom: Jonny Lee Miller and Marin Ireland.
Posted by
Michael Dale
on Monday, November 09, 2009 @ 1:07 AM
Theatrical Vomit
As if ringing cell phones weren't enough to have to deal with for the average theatregoer, audiences at Breakfast at Tiffany's in the West End had to deal with an ever more unusual circumstance -- an audience member vomiting from the upper balcony onto 6 audience members below.
It kind of reminds me at a time at Yankee Stadium when I had mustard squirted on me from someone sitting on the Upper Deck, but at least that was...mustard.
The UK Daily Mail has the full story here, including that the sick audience member did manage to return for the second half of the show (now that's dedication!).
Posted by Robert Diamond
on Friday, November 06, 2009 @ 10:48 AM
11/20:
NINE on OPRAH
11/20:
The Brother/Sister Plays
11/11:
'Empire' Rising
Photo Coverage: RAGTIME - Curtain Call
STAGE TUBE: First Look at RAGTIME on Broadway!
BWW TV: GLEE Peek - Matthew Morrison & Lea Michele Sing 'Endless Love'
Photo Flash: THE ADDAMS FAMILY in Rehearsal
Bdwy Beat Sneak Peek - RAGTIME Opens
Photo Flash: 'Rhythm and Rhyme' - RAGTIME Opens on Broadway at the Neil Simon Theatre
Photo Coverage: RAGTIME Opening Party
STAGE TUBE: NINE Quick Clip - Kate Hudson 'Cinema Italiano'.jpeg){kind=small}
Photo Coverage: ON THE TOWN Opens!
'Heaven On His Mind' Lambert Aims for Judas Role in Rumored 'SUPERSTAR' Remake
