The biggest Broadway event of 1937 was undoubtedly the gala opening night of I'd Rather Be Right. Not only did the new musical boast a score by Richard Rodger and Lorenz Hart and a book by George S. Kaufman (who also directed) and Moss Hart (the pair had just won that year's Pulitzer for You Can't Take It With You), but the star was no less than the grand old man of Broadway - who many will argue invented the book song and dance musical comedy as we know it today - George M. Cohan, playing the role of then-President of the United States, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Never before and never since has a sitting U.S. president been the leading character in a Broadway musical. I don't suppose it will be a major spoiler to let you know that the rest of musical is a two-act dream where FDR shows up on his way to prepare a Fourth of July speech, but instead puts aside all other matters of state in order to figure out a way to immediately balance the budget so that these two wonderful kids can get married. The American Songbook standard, "Have You Met Miss Jones?" was the score's big hit but the showstopper was Cohan pattering political back-peddling in "Off The Record.": My speeches on the radio have made me quite a hero; I only have to say, "My friends," and stocks go down to zero. Don't print it! It's strictly off the record. Peppy numbers like "A Little Bit of Constitutional Fun" (sung by the aged Supreme Court members and their young female admirers) and the rousing "We're Going To Balance The Budget" kept spirits in a lightly satirical mood. Also quite rousing is the Musicals Tonight! concert revival of I'd Rather Be Right, which has just opened for a two-week run. Simply staged by Thomas Sabella-Mills with books in hand and very little choreography (no buck and winging across the stage as the 59-year-old Cohan did in the original), the talented company is clearly having a grand time with this cheery chestnut steeped in silly fun and jokes that will test your knowledge of 1930s American history. Steve Brady gives a winning turn as a kindly FDR who can set off verbal fireworks when placed before a microphone. Brent Di Roma and Laurie Hymes play the young lovers with a fine combination of sweetness and song and dance flair. A Gilbert and Sullivan type cabinet, led by Donna Coney Island (Perkins), Peter Cormican (Farley), John Alban Coughlan (Hull) and Rob Lorey (Morgenthau) plus a Supreme Court headed by Roger Rifkin's persnickety Chief Justice contribute zany cartoon antics. The lighthearted topicality of I'd Rather Be Right was made possible by the fast-moving pace of creating Broadway musicals in the days before numerous workshops, regional productions and extended previews. Before its November 2nd opening night, Kaufman and Hart's previous Broadway outing, You Can't Take It With You, had opened less than a year ago, in December of '36. More remarkably, the most recent Rodgers and Hart musical before then was Babes In Arms, which had opened in April of '37. Imagine if today's Broadway artists had the opportunity to write hit shows with that kind of frequency. Who might you pick to write and star in a Broadway musical about the current administration? Off the top of my head I can see this as an opportunity for a snazzy David Yazbek score with a book by George C. Wolfe (who would direct) and Gary Trudeau. Starring as the President and First Lady? How about Norm Lewis and Deirdre Goodwin? And maybe juicy roles for Carolee Carmello and Jeff McCarthy as Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden? But there's a lot of talent out there on Broadway. Who would you like to see write, direct and star in a musical about President Obama? Click here to follow Michael Dale on Twitter.
Posted on: Thursday, February 10, 2011 @ 05:17 AM Posted by: Michael Dale
"The theatre is the involuntary reflex of the ideas of the crowd."
The grosses are out for the week ending 2/6/2011 and we've got them all right here in BroadwayWorld.com's grosses section. Up for the week was: DRIVING MISS DAISY (17.0%), COLIN QUINN: LONG STORY SHORT (4.9%), THE LION KING (3.6%), MAMMA MIA! (3.3%), MARY POPPINS (2.9%), MEMPHIS (0.4%), Down for the week was: MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET (-16.2%), THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (-15.6%), AMERICAN IDIOT (-13.8%), LOMBARDI (-12.9%), THE ADDAMS FAMILY (-11.2%), SPIDER-MAN TURN OFF THE DARK (-7.4%), CHICAGO (-5.4%), BILLY ELLIOT: THE MUSICAL (-4.5%), WICKED (-3.1%), THE MERCHANT OF VENICE (-2.4%), LA CAGE AUX FOLLES (-2.4%), JERSEY BOYS (-1.4%), THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST (-0.8%),
Posted on: Monday, February 07, 2011 @ 08:53 PM Posted by: Michael Dale | Leave Feedback
Name your musical The Road To Qatar! and in less than five words and an exclamation point you've communicated to your audience what to expect; a zany, lightweight, tuneful fish-out-of-water comedy set in an exotic locale featuring a Bob Hope/Bing Crosby-ish pair with a healthy dose of sex and romance provided by a Dorothy Lamour-ish babe. And for a good deal of their pocket-sized ninety-minute musical, Stephen Cole (book and lyrics) and David Krane (music) deliver as promised. At its best, The Road To Qatar! is a funny, breezy musical comedy hoot with some legitimately toe-tapping melodies. But while enjoyable, the material isn't quite memorable, though the current production at The York has the feel of an early version of something that could be whipped into a pretty terrific show. The boys, described in a catchy song as, "Two short Jews who write musical comedy," are soon on the road to... well, Dubai, at first... where they're granted every luxury that can be offered (except alcohol) in exchange for scripting an enormous spectacle that adheres to all the Emir's requirements; among them, the story must be about a sultan's son who, for some inexplicable reason, cannot leave the palace. There must be room in the plot for a herd of camels, a flock of falcons, a flying carpet, a full ballet troupe, a team of acrobats and an appearance by Muhammad Ali (yes, the boxer). Also, the musical must be named Aspire and there must be a Ricky Martin-type title song for the finale that repeats the word "aspire" ten times. Fortunately director Phillip George, who mounted several editions of Forbidden Broadway, has a knack for freewheeling fun and he has an excellent cast of comics to work with. Standing in for the real-life authors are Keith Gerchak, playing the composer as a New York Jewish neurotic in the Woody Allen tradition, and the snazzy James Beaman as the bookwriter/lyricist. Bill Nolte plays the producer as a big demanding blowhard, very much in the "Road" picture style of villains and Bruce Warren also has his broad, funny moments as both an Ethel Merman-loving special consultant and a flamboyant Italian director. Sarah Stiles combines a Dorothy Lamour look with a hilarious comic sense as the shy Lebanese translator. She's an absolute scream in the evening's funniest routine, where she attempts to accurately mimic her boss' violent outbursts. Though the travels of Hope, Crosby and Lamour are remembered for their silliness, they were balanced out with realistic moments that kept the audience involved with the characters. Real life has given The Road To Qatar! its silliness. Now all that's needed is to create some realism in which to wrap it up. Photos by Carol Rosegg: Top: James Beaman and Keith Gerchak; Bottom: Sarah Stiles, Keith Gerchak, Bruce Warren, James Beaman and Bill Nolte. Click here to follow Michael Dale on Twitter.
Posted on: Sunday, February 06, 2011 @ 05:06 AM Posted by: Michael Dale | Leave Feedback
In April of 1949, Rodgers and Hammerstein shocked the theatre world by writing a song for their new musical professing that humans developed racial prejudice by nurture and not by nature. Later that same year, a scene in the new musical by Maxwell Anderson and Kurt Weill showed two racially different young boys innocently striking up a quick friendship, unaware of why anyone would object. Having written Knickerbocker Holiday a decade earlier, this was the pair's second collaboration; the finale for Weill, who would pass on the next year. Their unusual choice for adaptation to the Broadway musical stage was South African author Alan Paton's 1948 dramatic novel of the racial divide that would eventually lead to apartheid, Cry, the Beloved Country. The plot, which alters the novel's narrative slightly, concerns a black rural preacher, Stephen Kumalo, whose son, Absalom, had previously set out for Johannesburg to make a life for himself. Not having heard from him in a year, Stephen makes a trip to the city and finds that Absalom and two other men are awaiting trial for attempted robbery in an incident where his son accidentally killed a white man who was both a family friend and an activist for racial equality. Absalom's friends have a chance to escape punishment by playing the legal game and lying in court but Stephen can't imagine his son doing anything but tell the truth and leave the rest in God's hands. Though Weill is best known for the emotionally detached social criticisms he wrote in Germany with Bertolt Brecht, his music for Lost In The Stars, which he himself orchestrated for only 12 pieces, represents his most dramatically rich work. A choir that narrates and offers commentary receives its vibrant sound from the composer's adaptation of South African music. Stephen's solos are drawn from inspirational hymns and a number set in a Johannesburg nightclub sticks out for its jazz licks. Anderson's book and lyrics, in the style of musical dramas of the day, is filled with heart-on-its-sleeve sincerity and warm, simple poetry. The mission of Encores! has traditionally been to highlight the scores of musicals that are rarely heard with their full orchestrations and the music and lyrics are certainly the stars of director Gary Griffin's minimally staged production. With the company spending much of its time singing on concert risers leading up to a platform for conductor Rob Berman and his players, the evening is musically exceptional. But David Ives' editing of the text and Griffin's lack of character work dilute the book's effectiveness, particularly in its ability to raise the score to dramatic wths. Absalom is played with a fine combination of innocence and nobleness by Daniel Breaker and Sherry Boone, as his pregnant girlfriend sings her solos with an enthusiastic belt. In their non-singing roles Sharon Washington and John Douglas Thompson spend all-too-little time on stage and the best spoken acting scenes of the night are between Cooper and Daniel Gerroll, who plays the wealthy father of the man Absalom killed, struggling with his own upbringing and the different way of life his son was fighting for. Two unexpected showstoppers help lighten the mood a bit. In the first act, Patina Miller sizzles with sexy hip action in her jazzy nightclub number and near the end of the musical young Jeremy Gumbs' loudly and joyously belts his novelty song, "Big Mole," which got a rousing hand from the opening night patrons. Photos by Joan Marcus: Top: Chuck Cooper and Sharon Washington; Bottom: Clifton Duncan, Daniel Breaker, Chike Johnson and Company. Click here to follow Michael Dale on Twitter.
Posted on: Saturday, February 05, 2011 @ 06:15 AM Posted by: Michael Dale | Leave Feedback
The New York stage is often a haven for self-destructive couples on display, but rarely is that self-destruction so bluntly in view as in Rajiv Joseph's intriguing Gruesome Playground Injuries. The work of this imaginative playwright, who'll be making his Broadway debut later this season with his Pulitzer finalist, A Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, grows more interesting with each new piece to hit town and director Scott Ellis' darkly funny Second Stage production is terrifically unsettling. For the next 80 minutes we witness a series of scenes between them spanning 30 years, with the author jumping back and forth in time. Most of the scenes are named after Doug's self-inflicted accidents ("Eye Blown Out," "The Limbo," "Zamboni") - the frequency and extremity of which can induce both laughter and wincing - but Kayleen is also injuring herself in less visual ways. Joseph doesn't tell us much about the two, letting their relationship be defined by their violence and the type of attention each craves from the other. Through episodes of attraction, dependency, long-term separation and heated resentment, the strongest bonds between them arise when she can touch his wounds or he can find a way to share her experiences. This isn't a love story so much as a need story, with Schreiber and Carpenter doing excellent work as Doug is seen as a puppy yearning to be noticed while Kayleen puts up protective emotional walls. With Neil Patel's sparsely furnished set (usually just a bed) providing upstage audience seating, the pair almost seem like lab rats whose behavior is under constant observation. Between scenes, the two of them methodically change their clothes in full view of the audience, with Doug usually washing blood off his face and body and applying bandages for fresh wounds. Select silent moments between them during these transitions seem to suggest healthier facets to their relationship. Photo of Pablo Schreiber and Jennifer Carpenter by Joan Marcus. Click here to follow Michael Dale on Twitter.
Posted on: Friday, February 04, 2011 @ 03:36 AM Posted by: Michael Dale | Leave Feedback
Though I try to avoid pronouncing century-old plays as being as relevant today they were a hundred years ago, a little tweaking here and there - perhaps the mentioning of a critically acclaimed musical that fails at the box office while another that suffers from horrible pre-opening word of mouth nevertheless enjoys a healthy advance sale - would make Arnold Bennett's 1909 media satire, What The Public Wants, feel as though it were written last night. The central character is millionaire publisher Sir Charles Worgan, owner of over 40 publications, from newspapers to religious periodicals to ladies' magazines, all of which he insists to be written with "snap." (i.e.: an article with the eye-catching headline, "Are We Growing Less Spiritual?," concludes with the reassuring answer, "No.") The influence of his publications can close a West End play or, perhaps, start a war with Germany. But while a bit of a self-satisfied bully, Charles suffers from insecurity when dealing with, as he calls them, "intellectual, superior people." He's a successful businessman because his only concern is the bottom line, without much regard for artistry or, to a certain degree, truth. Rob Breckenridge gives an excellent portrayal of the character's conflicting emotions, carrying himself with impeccably groomed confidence that realistically, and sympathetically, cracks at unguarded moments. The play becomes how this seemingly mismatched couple adapt to being introduced to each other's worlds and playgoers should be particularly delighted with the second of the play's four acts (there are two intermissions) which has Charles, who has just purchased the theatre company, in a meeting with its manager (Jeremy Lawrence in one of his three broad comical roles), its leading lady (Birgit Huppuch, dripping stage charisma) and Emily. Charles wants the company to mount a production of The Merchant of Venice, which he's sure will turn a profit, while the others are enthusiastic about a new play they consider a masterpiece. Charles is doubtful about the chances for the new one to be a commercial success and he doesn't quite get how that fact is of no concern to the others. Bennett's text is full of juicy, sharp-edged dialogue ("You ought to serve a brandy with very copy of this paper.") and set designer Roger Hanna's wood-framed publisher's office, along with Erin Murphy's crisp period costumes give the production a look of traditional Edwardian elegance. No matter what the public may want, this playgoer wants a season filled with more evenings like this one. Photos by Richard Termine: Top: Ellen Adair and Rob Breckenridge; Bottom: Rob Breckenridge, Marc Vietor and Ellen Adair. Click here to follow Michael Dale on Twitter.
Posted on: Wednesday, February 02, 2011 @ 06:22 AM Posted by: Michael Dale | Leave Feedback
"You've gotta be original, because if you're like someone else, what do they need you for?" -- Bernadette Peters The grosses are out for the week ending 1/30/2011 and we've got them all right here in BroadwayWorld.com's grosses section. Up for the week was: THE LION KING (15.3%), LOMBARDI (12.6%), CHICAGO (9.5%), THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (9.5%), BILLY ELLIOT: THE MUSICAL (9.3%), MARY POPPINS (9.2%), TIME STANDS STILL (8.4%), THE ADDAMS FAMILY (8.2%), LA CAGE AUX FOLLES (7.1%), MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET (6.3%), JERSEY BOYS (5.9%), MAMMA MIA! (4.0%), AMERICAN IDIOT (1.3%), Down for the week was: DRIVING MISS DAISY (-9.6%), MEMPHIS (-7.0%), THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST (-4.9%), WICKED (-4.4%), SPIDER-MAN TURN OFF THE DARK (-2.9%), COLIN QUINN: LONG STORY SHORT (-1.2%),
Posted on: Monday, January 31, 2011 @ 05:53 PM Posted by: Michael Dale | Leave Feedback
Back in the 1930s, when hip New Yorkers got their doses of political satire by taking in the latest Broadway musical comedy, it wasn't uncommon for then-President FDR to pop up in a show; either in person, as played by George M. Cohan in Rodgers and Hart's I'd Rather Be Right or, more frequently, through comical lyrics, such as those penned by Harold Rome in Pins and Needles and Cole Porter in Leave It To Me! But if nowadays Anderson's political soap-boxing comes off as a quaint and heavy-handed artifact of its time, Kurt Weill's music stands out as a fascinating example of how the composer was shedding his Weimar skin and adapting to a brighter Broadway style. Last week's positively splendid concert presentation of Knickerbocker Holiday at Alice Tully Hall, conducted by James Bagwell, featured sumptuous contributions from The Collegiate Chorale and the American Symphony Orchestra. Victor Garber, who raises the act of singing a ballad while wearing a tux to an art form which should be offered as a major in every performing arts school in the country, was all debonair vanity as tyrannical Peter Stuyvesant. Though the score's most famous number, "September Song," is a quiet ballad of an aging gentleman offering a much younger woman the best of whatever days he has left, its placement in the story is not at all sympathetic; Stuyvesant is trying to woo a young woman while keeping the man she loves locked up in jail. But Garber's soft and soothing timbre, matched with exquisite sincerity, made it a truly heartbreaking moment. The woman he tried wooing was played by Kelli O'Hara, who seems to have had her appetite whetted for playing comedy after starring in the Encores! production of Bells Are Ringing. She enjoyed a few dumb blonde moments in her ingénue role, but vocally shimmered with sterling beauty in the score's other standard, the achingly lovely "It Never Was You." Her duet partner for that one was Ben Davis, a fine, robust baritone who played the hot-headed activist. The supporting cast included a terrific assortment of musical theatre character comics: David Garrison as a crafty politico, Christopher Fitzgerald as the hero's impish sidekick and an inept town council made up of Brooks Ashmanskas, Jeff Blumenkrantz, Michael McCormick, Orville Mendoza, Brad Oscar, and Steve Rosen. Bryce Pinkham guided the proceedings along as Washington Irving, opening the show with the jaunty "Clackety-Clack" and dueting with Davis on the catchy and satirical "How Can You Tell an American?" Photos by Erin Baiano: Top: Kelli O'Hara and Victor Garber; Bottom: Kelli O'Hara, David Garrison, Brooks Ashmanskas, Orville Mendoza, Brad Oscar, Steve Rosen, Jeff Blumenkrantz and Michael McCormick. Click here to follow Michael Dale on Twitter.
Posted on: Monday, January 31, 2011 @ 03:54 AM Posted by: Michael Dale | Leave Feedback
I'm usually not one to sit in judgment of my journalistic colleagues but when one of them is up on stage performing, what's a theatre critic to do? Fortunately, I can honestly report that Matt Windman, known for his snappy reviews in amNew York and on Theatremania.com, did a fine job in the small role of "Matt Windman," on opening night of Paper Mill's funny and heart-tugging production of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. (Actually, the role would have been a little larger if he knew how to spell "palestra" correctly.) And while the original Broadway production had a healthy run of over 1,000 performances, the significance of its themes may have grown immensely since the show closed in 2008. Four of the contestants are audience volunteers, like Matt, who enter a drawing in the lobby and are selected just before curtain time. On the surface their participation may seem like little more than a fun gimmick to add some good-natured laughs, but their presence also serves to balance out the onstage picture of adolescent angst. Most likely each performance's guest stars will seem comfortable and well-adjusted as they take their turns at the bee, but the scripted contestants, in varying degrees, are all aware of the qualities that make them undesirably different among their peers. With organizations like The Trevor Project and The It Gets Better Project having recently brought the crisis of teen bullying into the public conscious, a new layer of pathos has been added to the musical as it becomes easy to imagine these kids as the ones who, despite their achievements, are picked on, teased or worse during their school years. There's Logainne Schwartzandgrubenierre (Ephie Aardema), who has two gay dads and tries to be outspoken about her political and social views through a thick lisp. Marcy Park (Olivia Oguma) can't enjoy her exceptional expertise at academic and extra-curricular activities because, being Asian, people label her as an emotionless automaton. Olive Ostrovsky (Ali Stroker), whose parents don't seem to have time for her (there are also hints of financial trouble), comforts herself by memorizing the dictionary. But what gives Spelling Bee its joy, and there's plenty of it, is watching these kids make decisions to take control of their lives by embracing what makes them different, taking steps to change what makes them unhappy and becoming willing to open themselves up to others. Serving as an example that it does indeed get better is the bee's moderator, Rona Lisa Peretti (Marla Mindelle), a former winner who may have been just as awkward as the students she now lovingly observes, but has grown into a model of articulate urban chic. Representing the less pleasant reality of life is Vice Principal Douglas Panch (David Volin), who feeds contestants their words in a bored deadpan and unemotionally informs misspellers of their failures. The imposing Mitch Mahoney (Jerold E. Solomon) who is serving community service as the evening's "comfort counselor," - handing a juice box to each losing contestant and quickly leading them to the exit - eventually finds he has a real knack for offering sympathy. The cast is a terrific collection of performers who each get a shot or two in the spotlight and then blend into an ace ensemble. Finn's consistently amusing score is completely immersed in the characters, especially excelling in the kind of theatre songs that demand staging. "Magic Foot" is a vaudevillian turn where Barfee and company demonstrate his unusual technique of spelling out words on the floor before saying them aloud. "I Speak Six Languages" has Marcy charging through demonstrations of her many skills, including basketball, karate and portrait painting. Sheinkin's Tony-winning book - which is loaded with alternate pages so the actors can adapt to anything that might happen regarding the audience volunteers - keeps an episodic structure with little plot consistently funny while building empathy for each contestant. You won't want to see any of them lose. And fortunately, in the best sense, none of them do. Photos by Mark Garvin: Top: (front) Ali Stroker and Ephie Aardema (back) Will Blum, Olivia Oguma, Brandon Yanez and Lyle Colby Mackston; Bottom: Will Blum and Company. Click here to follow Michael Dale on Twitter.
Posted on: Friday, January 28, 2011 @ 07:01 AM Posted by: Michael Dale | Leave Feedback
Actors who bear a substantial resemblance to a legendary celebrity or historical figure are often inspired to turn that stroke of luck into a one-person show. If Bern Cohen ever had any doubts about his resemblance to political activist Abbie Hoffman, they were certainly dissolved one evening in the 1970s when Ohio police arrested him and put him through a brutal interrogation under the assumption that he was the famous "Clown Prince of the Revolution" who co-founded the Youth International Party (the Yippies), was a member of the "Chicago Eight" who were charged with conspiracy and inciting to riot after disruptive demonstrations outside the 1968 Democratic National Convention and wrote a New York Times bestseller, even though it was titled Steal This Book. Unfortunately, the fascinating story of Cohen's arrest isn't part of Abbie, the one-man play it helped inspire; not unless you ask him about it during the Q&A that follows each performance of his current run at the West End Theater. Directed by Thomas Caruso, Abbie, is set in 1987 (two years before his suicide) as the subject's appearance is part of a sociology lecture series. The text is based on Hoffman's own words with Cohen providing enough connective tissue to shape it into a play. Looking back on his life, Cohen's portrayal of Hoffman is warm and self-effacing, resembling a character out of Shalom Aleichem more than an anti-establishment social activist when he makes observations like, "Me and the birth control pill were the most celebrated things ever to come out of Worcester. At one time, most folks up there wished the pill would come first." Though photo slides accompany his talk, this middle-aged man's look back at his youth never gives us a clear view of what he was like at the peak of his career. Perhaps a larger-budgeted production with film clips, or even another actor playing a younger Hoffman, might increase the play's effectiveness, but what is offered now, though certainly informative and interesting, lacks details. Little is made of the famous antics that took place during the Chicago Eight's trial or the man's diagnosis with bi-polar disorder. That's not to say that this premiere production of the piece doesn't show potential. Cohen conveys a true affection and warmth for subject. Now we just need to see more of Hoffman's fire. ************************************************ The last major production of Moliere's The Misanthrope to hit town featured a scene where the title character plopped himself onto a table full of messy lunchtime goodies, slathering himself with chocolate sauce, squeezing ketchup down his pants, ramming a watermelon half on his head and fashioning himself a toupee made from spaghetti. Nearly anything director Joseph Hanreddy and the Pearl Theatre Company would offer instead would seem a blessing by comparison. Indeed, their presentation of Richard Wilbur's English verse translation leans far more on the traditional side, with designer Harry Feiner's setting of upstage doors and a floor realized with simple grace and Sam Fleming's costumes and Gerard Kelly's wigs providing elegance and humor. And if the proceedings seem a bit stilted at first, the sharp humor of Moliere's satire of communication among polite society bursts through as the comedic sparks fly throughout the second act As the title character, Alceste, Sean McNall is crisply erudite as he mourns the loss of brutal honesty in the class he is unavoidable a part of, succumbed to the false kindness his peers use to get along in polite society when they're not secretly gossiping about one another. He sneers with exasperation when the would-be poet, Oronte (a likeably oblivious Kern McFadden) asks for an honest critique of his sorry work. What sets the play in motion is that Alceste is madly in love with a woman who represents all he despises; the 20-year-old widow, Celimene, a lady who relishes the advantages her beauty and independence allow her as she receives suitors and partakes in leisurely endeavors. Janie Brookshire plays the role with a wry sense of self-satisfaction and though their early scenes can use a jump-start of tension and heat, eventually his maddening frustration matches perfectly with her detached amusement through to their relationship's resolution. Though the supporting performances, while certainly capable, don't all seem completely organic with the rhythms of the text and there is little consistency as to whether the rhymes should be played up, disregarded or somewhere in between, Patrick Halley and Matthew Amendt do deliver fine supporting turns as Celimene's foppish suitors. And given the strength of the production's second act, it wouldn't surprise me if by the time these words are read the first half has risen to the same level. Click here to follow Michael Dale on Twitter.
Posted on: Thursday, January 27, 2011 @ 02:07 AM Posted by: Michael Dale | Leave Feedback
"I don't believe in astrology. The only stars I can blame for my failures are those that walk about the stage." The grosses are out for the week ending 1/23/2011 and we've got them all right here in BroadwayWorld.com's grosses section. Up for the week was: TIME STANDS STILL (15.1%), MEMPHIS (5.8%), AMERICAN IDIOT (1.5%), Down for the week was: CHICAGO (-22.2%), MAMMA MIA! (-17.6%), THE LION KING (-14.8%), MARY POPPINS (-14.4%), LOMBARDI (-14.1%), THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (-13.1%), THE ADDAMS FAMILY (-12.6%), COLIN QUINN: LONG STORY SHORT (-8.3%), BILLY ELLIOT: THE MUSICAL (-7.9%), LA CAGE AUX FOLLES (-7.7%), MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET (-6.2%), SPIDER-MAN TURN OFF THE DARK (-5.0%), JERSEY BOYS (-2.9%), DRIVING MISS DAISY (-2.0%), WICKED (-1.8%), THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST (-0.3%),
Posted on: Monday, January 24, 2011 @ 04:06 PM Posted by: Michael Dale | Leave Feedback
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The simple story of the Depression Era show had two young lovers trying to enjoy the Independence Day festivities in Central Park, despite the fact that their current financial state is keeping them from getting married; the boy's boss wants to expand his company and promote him, but he's hesitant to do so until the country's economic future looks clearer. "If only the president could balance the budget," thinks our hero as he falls asleep in his girlfriend's lap.
The production's big selling point is that the story presented on stage is nearly 100% true, beginning with the fact that one day in 2005, the two writers, who had barely known each other, each received an email from a representative of the Emir of Qatar, offering them a lot of money to pen a new musical for the opening of what would be the world's largest domed soccer stadium.
The theatre lobby has a wall full of photos of the actual production on display, and although I didn't spot the champ in any of them, it seems all the demands were met. And that's part of the show's major problem; there really isn't much of a plot. The Qataris make demands and the writers, perhaps after minor resistance, swallow their artistic integrity and do what they're told. There's lots of gags about musical comedy, living on the Middle East, demanding Jewish mothers and being gay but there's no danger, no conflict, no romance, no bonding between the main characters or anything else to frame the jokes into story worth following. There's the suggestion that the Qatari are in for some suffering if the show isn't a hit with the Emir but none of that seems to be of any concern to our heroes. A little less truth replaced by some interesting fiction might be in order.
More than sixty years later, Rodgers and Hammerstein's (and Joshua Logan's) South Pacific is deservedly considered a masterpiece of American musical theatre and the inclusion of "Carefully Taught" is remembered as a daring social and political statement that defied conventional wisdom. Weill and Anderson's 
Chuck Cooper provides a strong, sympathetic central presence as the humble Stephen Kumalo, particularly touching in the tenderness he brings to the beautiful title song, where the man of faith questions his trust that God is looking out for him. Quentin Earl Darrington is mighty charismatic as the leader of the commentating choir; his baritone soaring with anguish in "Cry, the Beloved Country," where he laments the loss of his people's culture, but the production never fully connects the two men; making it clear that the choral leader freely expresses what Kumalo keeps in his heart.
"Age Eight: Face Split Open," projected above the stage announces the opening scene. Doug (Pablo Schreiber) meets Kayleen (Jennifer Carpenter) in their school's nurse's office after he's bloodied up his face by riding his bicycle off the roof, imitating Evel Knievel. She's there because she can't stop vomiting, sometimes so hard it makes her eyes bleed.
As anyone familiar with New York's roster of non-profit theatre companies might guess, the long-forgotten play by a once popular West End playwright has been unearthed by the Mint Theater Company; specialists in discovering worthy gems from the past and mounting them in frequently outstanding productions that replicate the styles of their original times. Director Matthew Arbour and his excellent ensemble present a fully satisfying look at a clever theatre piece that may not be especially revelatory to 21st Century audiences, but does offer a humorous example of how little has changed.
His world-traveling brother, Francis (a charming Marc Vietor, in a role that mostly facilitates exposition), suggests his problem could be solved by marrying an intelligent and cultured woman who could help him assimilate into high society and fortunately their childhood pal Emily (played with plucky confidence by Ellen Adair), a play-reader for a financially struggling West End theatre company, seems a perfect fit for the position. When Charles eventually becomes genuinely smitten with Emily, he nervously tries to make his affection known in a wonderfully funny wooing scene where Breckenridge and Adair's romantic comedy chemistry provides the highlight of the evening.
Usually the Commander in Chief was presented in an affectionate light, but in revising Washington Irving's Knickerbocker History of New York for the musical stage, bookwriter/lyricist Maxwell Anderson made the evening critical of The New Deal and big government; not only writing a small role as a dimwitted ancestor of Roosevelt, but drawing parallels between his presidency and Peter Stuyvesant's governing of New Amsterdam. A devout pacifist, Anderson's gave the book an extended second act speech on the tragedy of war, which may not have been completely welcomed by those in 1938 audiences who saw a growing need for America to get involved in the escalating European conflict. Likewise, given political attitudes of the late 1930s, wisecracks like, "Democracy is when you're governed by amateurs," might have been greeted with more nervous chuckles than belly laughs.
Further downstage, a first-rate cast of musical theatre stars played out a trimmed version of the book under Ted Sperling's direction; a presentation full of vigor, tenderness and humor, staged simply with actors in formal wear and music stands holding scripts.
The smart and quirky show by William Finn (score) and Rachel Sheinkin (book), mounted with many clever touches by director Marc Bruni and choreographer Wendy Seyb, is an eccentricity among Broadway musicals, taking place in a middle school gymnasium (designed by Anna Louizos with the kind of realism that will either bring back nostalgic memories or terrifying flashbacks) entirely during a county-wide spelling bee; the winner of which will proceed to the state finals and hopefully the nationals.
Overweight and slovenly William Barfee (Will Blum) suffers from a long list of allergies and ailments and uses a shield of arrogance as a defense against embarrassment. Chip Tolentino (Brandon Yanez) is going through an awkward hormonal phase and clings to his position as last year's champion as his defining characteristic. Leaf Conyebear (Lyle Colby Mackston) feels completely inadequate compared with the others because, having placed third in his school's competition, he's only there because the first and second place finishers dropped out.
About Michael: After 20-odd years singing, dancing and acting in
dinner theatres, summer stocks and the ever-popular
audience participation murder mysteries (try
improvising with audiences after they?ve had two hours
of open bar), Michael Dale segued his theatrical
ambitions into playwriting. The buildings which once
housed the 5 Off-Off Broadway plays he penned have all
been destroyed or turned into a Starbucks, but his
name remains the answer to the trivia question, "Who
wrote the official play of Babe Ruth's 100th
Birthday?" He served as Artistic Director for The
Play's The Thing Theatre Company, helping to bring
free live theatre to underserved communities, and
dabbled a bit in stage managing and in directing
cabaret shows before answering the call (it was an
email, actually) to become BroadwayWorld.com's first
Chief Theatre Critic. While not attending shows
Michael can be seen at Shea Stadium pleading for the
Mets to stop imploding. Likes: Strong book musicals
and ambitious new works. Dislikes: Unprepared
celebrities making their stage acting debuts by
starring on Broadway and weak bullpens.
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