Written and directed by Steven Cosson ('Gone Missing,' 'This Beautiful City,') and with music and lyrics by Michael Friedman ('Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson,' 'This Beautiful City'), IN THE FOOTPRINT is a lively theatrical chronicle of the widely-publicized conflicts surrounding the largest land development project in Brooklyn's history at the Atlantic Avenue rail yards.
EDGEWISE, a new play by Eliza Clark and directed by Trip Cullman, will be given its world-premiere this fall in a co-production by the Off-Broadway companies Page 73 and The Play Company, running now through December 4, 2010, at the Walkerspace (46 Walker St.) in Tribeca.
While the campy antics of Devil Boys From Beyond may suggest an unlikely blend of screwball classics like His Girl Friday with infamous sci-fi fare such as Plan 9 From Outer Space, the movie title that kept popping into my mind was Clash of The Titans. Not because of the mythical physiques of beefy boys Jeff Riberdy and Jacques Mitchell, but because this honey of a laff-riot matches esteemed associates from the schools of Off-Broadway's two most significant drag theatre artists.
Sure, in America the guilty have just as much a right to a fair trial as the innocent. But when someone you believe is guilty doesn't get one, is that a wrong you can be all that enthused about righting? That's one of the discussion points that might be mulled over by leftist radicals downing shots of vodka after taking in Amy Herzog's After The Revolution. Unfortunately, this tantalizing moral dilemma is regulated to a throwaway point in a play that teases us with its political content while contenting itself with being a rather formulaic family drama. It's a good one, for sure; well-written (despite an unsatisfying ending) with absorbing conflicts and director Carolyn Cantor's excellent cast is always engaging, but every so often the play reminds us of an interesting direction the author decided not to take.
Arena Stage begins a new life in its renovated home at the Mead Center for American Theater in Southwest D.C., opening its inaugural season with a classic American musical that similarly embraces life on a new frontier. Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma! is the first production at the Mead Center and features an all-star cast under the direction of Artistic Director Molly Smith. Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma! runs October 22-December 26, 2010 in the Fichandler Stage. See below for the production photos!
Our Postmodern Town might be a more descriptive title for Will Eno's Middletown, a play that coats the Thornton Wilder standard of normal American life as it pertains to the cycle of life and death with a whitewash of Samuel Beckett absurdity. And if even half of the play's two hours contained the vivacity of the first few minutes, where David Garrison rhythmically recites an all-inclusive list describing any possible type of audience member who might be in attendance - concluding with his pointing out the fire exits - a trip to Middletown might prove a worthy excursion.
Well today, Dear Readers was one helluva day! A group of spectacular shows and aside from a few interesting conversations I had with true New Yorkers on the bus, not a lot of time for anything else but shows since I was seeing three of them. So let's dive right in shall we?
The only press night offered for the Public LAB's premiere production of playwright/director Richard Nelson's That Hopey Changey Thing was this past Tuesday, November 2nd, 2010 at 7pm. Given that the play actually takes place on Tuesday. November 2nd, 2010 at 7pm (America's Election Night, for my plethora of foreign readers) I was rather hopey that the text might, in fact, wind up being changey, depending on the news of returns coming in during the play's 90 minutes. No such luck. But even in its frozen state, the piece is sharp, engrossing and superbly acted.
Abigail Grotke... a real-life person named Abigail Grotke... has been collecting vintage books on relationship advice for 25 years, amassing over a thousand volumes published from 1822 to 1978, with titles such as The Unfair Sex, She Cooks to Conquer, How to Get a Teen-Age Boy and What To Do With Him When You Get Him and A Virtuous Woman: Sex Life in Relation to the Christian Life. In her archival website, Miss Abigail's Time Warp Advice, questions like, 'Is a man abnormal if he likes art and dislikes sports,' are answered by quoting the wisdom of experts like Fred Brown and Rudolf T. Kempton, authors of 1950's Sex Questions and Answers: A Guide to Happy Marriage ('Every normal man has a bit of woman in him and every woman contains some of the male in her personality.').
Directed by David Esbjornson (The Goat, Or Who Is Sylvia?), Driving Miss Daisy began performances on October 7, 2010, at the John Golden Theatre (252 West 45th Street), with an official opening set for Monday, October 25, 2010. The 16-week limited engagement runs through Saturday, January 29, 2011.
Perhaps not content with merely being the best comic actress on the New York stage, Jan Maxwell follows her hilarious turns in last season's revivals of The Royal Family and Lend Me A Tenor by refreshing her dramatic chops a with a riveting, edge of your seat performance in John Doyle's senses-tingling production of Arthur Kopit's 1978 drama, Wings.
Calling all mingling singles, dating disasters, mating mavens and nuptial know-it-alls-Miss Abigail is coming to town! After a successful run at The David A. Straz, Jr. Center for the Performing Arts (formerly the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center), Ken Davenport will present the New York City premiere of Miss Abigail's Guide to Dating, Mating and Marriage (www.MissAbigailsGuide.com). The open-ended engagement began previews on October 7, with opening night set for tonight, Sunday, October 24, 2010, at the Downstairs Cabaret Theater at Sofia's (221 West 46th Street, next to the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre).
Directed by David Esbjornson (The Goat, Or Who Is Sylvia?), Driving Miss Daisy began performances on October 7, 2010, at the John Golden Theatre (252 West 45th Street), with an official opening set for Monday, October 25, 2010. The 16-week limited engagement runs through Saturday, January 29, 2011.
Directed by Ken Rus Schmoll, the all-star cast features Heather Burns, Cindy Cheung, JohAnna Day, Georgia Engel, David Garrison, Ed Jewett, McKenna Kerrigan, James McMenamin, Michael Park, Linus Roache, Olivia Scott, and Pete Simpson.
The Tony Award-winning AVENUE Q will celebrate its first anniversary at New World Stages (340 W. 50 St.) in Manhattan on October 21, 2010. After a triumphant, six-year run on Broadway, AVENUE Q continued its record of unexpected accomplishments last fall when the show's producers made the surprise announcement on the musical's Broadway closing night that they were, in fact, moving AVENUE Q to New World Stages, a mere five blocks away from the Golden Theatre, where the show had delighted audiences of all ages for more than 2,500 performances on Broadway. AVENUE Q began preview performances at New World Stages on October 9, 2009, officially opened on October 21, and continues to play to large and happy audiences one year later.
Linda Lovelace, born Linda Boreman, was nicknamed (and not ironically) 'Miss Holy Holy' in high school. The same school from which she graduated exactly six years before she starred in a short bestiality film entitled, 'Dogarama,' in 1971. The next year, Linda Lovelance became a house-hold name in the hardcore porn film, 'Deep Throat,' the same film that is the subject of David Bertolini's new play at 45 Bleeker Street Theatre.
The Deep Throat Sex Scandal, a new play by David Bertolino, directed by Jerry Douglas, will have its Off-Broadway premiere at 45 Bleecker Street Theatre (just east of Lafayette Street), beginning performances Friday, September 17th. Opening Night is set for October 10th.
The Broadway premiere of David Mamet's A Life in the Theatre, starring Patrick Stewart and T.R. Knight began previews on September 21st, 2010 and officially opens on Tuesday, October 12th at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre (236 W. 45th St.). Its limited engagement will play through January 2nd, 2011. The production photos have been released and BroadwayWorld brings you a first look below!
The Deep Throat Sex Scandal, a new play by David Bertolino, directed by Jerry Douglas, will have its Off-Broadway premiere at 45 Bleecker Street Theatre (just east of Lafayette Street), beginning performances. Opening Night is set for October 10th.
Off-Broadway's eleven-time Obie Award-winning Soho Rep - which the New York Times calls the 'downtown powerhouse' - will kick off its 2010-2011 season with the much anticipated world-premiere of ORANGE, HAT & GRACE by Gregory S. Moss