Broadway Blogs - The Royal Family and More...

In the 1920s, George S. Kaufman was one of the primary reasons New York was firmly establishing itself as the nation's capital of wit.  Until his death in 1961, Kaufman could be called the quintessential New Yorker; continually working on Broadway as a playwright and director, reluctantly venturing out to Hollywood on occasion and regretting every moment of it and frequently quoted for his crackling cleverness ("I understand your new play is full of single entendres.").

But while Kaufman was a singular individual, his plays were almost always collaborations and each of his frequent writing partners seemed to influence the style of the project.  With Morrie Ryskind (Animal Crackers, Of Thee I Sing) he wrote wildly zany books for musicals.  His partnership with Moss Hart (You Can't Take It With You, The Man Who Came To Dinner) produced his most sentimental works and with Edna Ferber (Stage Door, Dinner at Eight) his most colorful female characters came alive.

And in 1927 it was with Ferber that the first major, lasting work of the Kaufman catalogue, The Royal Family, was created.  Spoofing the country's first family of the theatre, the Barrymores, The Royal Family is not only a sharp-witted commentary on American celebrity, but an earnest portrait of three generations of women who deal with the peculiar family legacy of being a star.  Director Doug Hughes mounts a positively sumptuous new revival, grandly dignified in design and madly farcical in spirit.

RoseMary Harris is warmly regal as family matriarch, Fanny Cavendish; a woman so devoted to the theatre that even at her advanced age she excitedly awaits another national tour.  Her old-school dedication was shared by her late husband, who died minutes after the last performance of a contracted run, but not before taking four curtain calls.  Her granddaughter Gwen (Kelli Barrett, charming as a spirited modern) is expected to make her Broadway debut in a substantial supporting role in her mother's (Jan Maxwell) next play, but when the demands of the theatre get in the way of her love life, Gwen reevaluates what she wants for her future.

Maxwell, a canny and intelligent comic actress, is deliciously showcased as Julie Cavendish, the family's main breadwinner who is trying to raise a daughter, take care of her mother and consider marriage while rushing to make her curtain eight times a week.  The role allows her to be over-the-top in a manner that is realistic for the character, climaxing in a positively hilarious second act nervous breakdown where she swears that she's given up the theatre for good.

Reg Rogers is grandly hammy fun as he flamboyantly eloquates his role as Tony Cavendish (a/k/a John Barrymore), hiding out from the press after a physical altercation with an incompetent Hollywood director.  Anthony Newfield filled in for the recuperating Tony Roberts at the performance I attended and was very pleasing as the father-figure family manager.  John Glover, as Fanny's less successful actor brother, Anna Gasteyer, as his crass and condescending actress wife and David Greenspan and Caroline Stefanie Clay, as the servants who calmly manage the constant calamity of the household lead an excellent supporting cast.

John Lee Beatty's duplex apartment set - a gorgeous creation dominated by a grand staircase and decorated with an imposing assortment of framed portraits and theatre posters - and Catherine Zuber's smart assortment of character-specific period costumes fill the stage with a distinguished tone that plays straight for the savory antics of Kaufman, Ferber and Hughes' positively perfect company.

Photos by Joan Marcus:  Top: Jan Maxwell, Kelli Barrett and RoseMary Harris; Bottom: Ana Gasteyer and Reg Rogers

"If I had to live my life again I'd make the same mistakes, only sooner."

-- Tallulah Bankhead

The grosses are out for the week ending 10/18/2009 and we've got them all right here in BroadwayWorld.com's grosses section.

Up for the week was: AFTER MISS JULIE (13.0%), MEMPHIS (6.3%), MAMMA MIA! (4.0%), HAIR (3.7%), THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (3.2%), SOUTH PACIFIC (3.1%), IN THE HEIGHTS (2.9%), SUPERIOR DONUTS (2.7%), BYE BYE BIRDIE (1.5%), CHICAGO (1.5%), MARY POPPINS (1.2%), NEXT TO NORMAL (1.2%), Wishful Drinking (0.8%), HAMLET (0.4%), JERSEY BOYS (0.1%),

Down for the week was: OLEANNA (-18.1%), SHREK THE MUSICAL (-11.7%), BRIGHTON BEACH MEMOIRS (-6.7%), THE ROYAL FAMILY (-6.1%), THE 39 STEPS (-4.5%), WEST SIDE STORY (-3.4%), THE LION KING (-1.9%), BURN THE FLOOR (-1.7%), GOD OF CARNAGE (-0.2%), A STEADY RAIN (-0.2%),

From the rockin' dance halls of Memphis, Tennessee comes this hot and bothered new Broadway musical with heart, soul and energy to burn. Set in the turbulent south in the 1950s, it is the story of Huey Calhoun, a white radio DJ whose love of good music transcends race lines and airwaves. Get ready to experience all the exuberance and the emotion... the beauty and the controversy... of a wondrous, defining time in our history. You're tuning in to Memphis, so turn up that dial!

MEMPHIS features a brand new score with music by Bon Jovi's founding member/keyboardist David Bryan and lyrics by Bryan and Joe DiPietro (I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change), who also pens the musical's book. Bryan and DiPietro also collaborated on the current award-winning off-Broadway hit, The Toxic Avenger. MEMPHIS is based on a concept by the late George W. George (producer of the Tony nominated Bedroom Farce and the film My Dinner With Andre), with direction by Tony nominee Christopher Ashley (Xanadu) and choreography by Sergio Trujillo (Jersey Boys).

On a personal note, and readers know that I rarely toss in my two cents here -- I loved the show and found it to be a great experience that's an example of everything that's 'right' with Broadway...

Michael Kuchwara, Associated Press: "But the show, which opened Monday, is as ambitious as it is entertaining, informative in a quasi-historical way as well as emotionally affecting in its parade of thoroughly engaging characters."

David Sheward, Backstage: "Though its brain may be a bit simple, "Memphis" has its heart and soul in the right place. The new musical features a rock-solid score by Bon Jovi keyboardist David Bryan, dynamic singing, and athletic dancing. "

David Rooney, Variety: "A talented cast, stirring vocals, athletic dance numbers and vigorous direction supply crowd-pleasing elements in the lively new musical, "Memphis," as evidenced by the waves of appreciation coming off the audience. But there's also a nagging predictability to this story of a white DJ who brings rockin' rhythm and blues from black Beale Street to the mainstream in 1950s Tennessee. The show is entertaining but synthetic, its telepic plotting restitching familiar threads from "Hairspray" and "Dreamgirls," while covering fictitious ground adjacent to that of recent biopic 'Cadillac Records.'"

Charles Isherwood, NY Times: "All the performers do their best to infuse Mr. Bryan and Mr. DiPietro's score with the earthy vibrance it fundamentally lacks, despite the obvious pop craftsmanship. At various points in the show Mr. Bryan evokes the powerhouse funk of James Brown, the hot guitar riffs of Chuck Berry, the smooth harmonies of The Temptations, the silken, bouncy pop of the great girl groups of the period. But despite all attempts to light a fire under the songs, at no point are you likely to confuse Mr. Bryan and Mr. DiPietro's smooth facsimiles of period rock 'n' roll and R&B for the rollicking real thing."

Elysa Gardner, USA Today: "The focus of this well-intentioned hokum-fest, which opened Monday at the Sam S. Shubert Theatre, is rather the "race music" that paved the way for the King of Rock 'n' Roll and his progeny. Set in the 1950s in the city that put Elvis on the map, Memphis (two out of four) traces the star-crossed creative and romantic partnership between a young white man who loves rhythm & blues and a black woman who loves to sing it." 

Frank Sheck, Hollywood Reporter: "I've never been to Memphis, but I've seen "Memphis," the new Broadway musical, and can only hope that the city isn't a disappointment by comparison. This tale of a white DJ in the 1950s desperately enamored of "race music" and a black singer whom he helps rise to stardom comes as an out-of-left-field-surprise: an original musical, not based on a presold property and devoid of stars, that is joyfully entertaining in musical and theatrical terms. " 

Matt Windman, AM New York: "Under the fast and flashy direction of Christopher Ashley,"Memphis" proves to be a truly entertaining and invigorating musical, benefiting immensely from Sergio Trujillo's athletic choreography, which is like a big bundle of kinetic energy."

More reviews to come throughout the night...