George Hearn went from playing Sweeney Todd to a drag queen, and so can Johnny Depp. Depp has surprised and intrigued interviewers recently by revealing that his dream role is to play Broadway legend Carol Channing in a biopic of her life. Channing has already responded to the news with her blessing, noting that most if not all of her impersonators have been men.
You know, stranger things have happened.
2 out of 4 Stars
Time has not been kind to the three gal pals in “Vanities,” who start out as Texas cheerleaders in the early 1960s, then become sorority sisters, and finally turn into confused and frustrated adults by the mid-1970s.
By the same token, time has not been kind to Jack Heifner’s once popular play about girl power and friendship, which ran for 1,785 performances Off-Broadway beginning in 1976. What might have been funny and poignant 30 years ago now feels old-fashioned and stale. While female audience members are still likely to identify with the characters, that doesn’t necessarily make it a less weak show.
The musical version of “Vanities,” which has a book by Heifner and songs by David Kirshenbaum, is perhaps too faithful to the original play. Except for a newly inserted optimistic finale, Kirshenbaum’s mildly pleasant songs have quietly replaced the original dialogue. His lyrics are true to character, but not too interesting or exciting.
This month marks the third annual "Summer Broadway Festival," another derivative offshoot of Town Hall and Scott Siegel's popular "Broadway By the Year" series. It began on Monday night not with "A Night at the Operetta," which has been the starting attraction of the series for the first two years, but something else entirely called "Broadway Winners."
What exactly does that mean? Supposedly, a night dedicated to the award-winning series of Broadway. Fair enough, but what awards? There are no Tony Awards for Best Song. Perhaps Best Score? Or Best Musical? Or a Grammy Award for Cast Album? By these standards, pretty much ANY Broadway song from a popular musical could have qualified to be a part of this concert. Scott Siegel even made a point of including songs that, to his knowledge, hadn't won any awards.
In sum, the "Broadway Winners" concept made absolutely no sense. But I'm not complaining at all. "Broadway Winners" was, for all intents and purposes, a (mostly) microphone-aided version of "Broadway Unplugged," a concert in the early fall where performers are invited to perform their favorite Broadway songs without microphones.
At "Broadway Winners," an extremely generous helping of grade-A Broadway songs were performed by terrific Broadway singers. And to be perfectly honest, I had a much better time on Monday night than at any of this past season's four "Broadway by the Year" concerts, all of which had been well-done but artistically limited by the musical material to be mined from those highlighted years.
Continue reading "Broadway Winners at Town Hall: Or, "Broadway Plugged"" »
2 out of 4 Stars
Something is wrong when an Off-Broadway play feels like little more than an elementary school history report. And that pretty much sums up “The Tin Pan Alley Rag,” Mark Saltzman’s unapologetically sentimental musical play that imagines a chance meeting between the American composers Irving Berlin and Scott Joplin.
Set in 1915 in New York City’s Tin Pan Alley, a section of 28th Street that once reigned as the music publishing capital of the world, Berlin is portrayed as an upstart composer turned businessman who is secretly still grieving over his young wife’s death. While auditioning random songwriters from off the street, the once powerful Joplin walks in.
Joplin, a son of a slave and musical prodigy who scored his first international hit at the age of 23 with “Maple Leaf Rag,” is desperate to find someone to publish his ambitious but noncommercial ragtime opera “Treemonisha.” He also appears to be sinking deeper into illness.
While Saltzman started off with a great premise of historical fiction, he uses the play simply as an opportunity to digress into flashbacks on their upbringings and a show off their songs.
Continue reading "Theater Review of The Tin Pan Alley Rag" »
This is a very, very, very bad idea. And there would appear to be no rational justification for it at all. For some truly hideous and awful reason that escapes me besides perhaps an attempt to get rid of the only truly unbiased Tony voters, the folk who manage the Tony Awards have decided to exclude all journalists from being Tony voters. This reduces the number of Tony voters from approximately 800 to 700 voters.
What possible reason have they offered? They've pointed to the fact that a number of individual critics and publications have pursued a policy of abstaining from voting on awards. And while that might be true, that's still not a reason to exclude ALL JOURNALISTS.
This couldn't possibly be a cost-saving measure. All the first-night journalists who were removed as Tony voters ALREADY receive press tickets to all Broadway productions.
This leaves only one reason for the removal: critical backlash. There is no other rational reason. This is a grossly obvious attempt to satisfy the wishes of commercial producers who don't want to lose Tony Awards to critical favorites. I also wonder whether this will result in less critically-acclaimed Off-Broadway productions transferring to Broadway. After all, the producers will no longer be able to rely on journalists who are also Tony voters who they know already love a given show.
This regrettable decision will have harsh consequences that will flow throughout the theater industry. Will this affect how the affected journalists cover the Tony Awards? ABSOLUTELY. NO QUESTION. You know why? Because allowing journalists to be voters gave us a personal stake in the Tony Awards. It made us feel like we were a part of the theater community. It made us care. It made us give a damn. But not anymore. Now we're pissed and insulted. It also means that journalists will be less likely to attend Broadway productions throughout the year - and therefore less likely to write about such productions.
If this decision is not reversed, I guarantee that there will be considerably less press coverage of the Tony Awards next year. And not only that, it will be considerably more negative. Why? Because it's now truly turned into a fake and meaningless awards show. Therefore, the Tony Awards is no longer worthy of coverage by the journalists who were deemed unworthy of it. Consider it a mutual divorce.
Finally, I'd like to point out that the journalists were the most completely unbiased and fair Tony voters. Pretty much all other theater professionals who are voters have a far greater bias and personal stake because they are probably working on a nominated production in some capacity. Journalists, on the other hand, are completely immune from such financial and personal considerations. Critics and editors vote for what productions deserve to win. A producer who is a Tony voter is going to vote for his own shows. There's really no question about that. Finally, unlike most Tony voters, the journalists actually attend all the shows. Seriously, kicking out the journalists is like expelling the straight-A honors students from high school.
This unprecedented and inexplainable decision is a huge step towards DESTROYING the credibility of the Tony Awards. I urge all readers who agree to contact the Tony Awards Management Committee to express their outrage.
To contact Tony Award Productions, call 212-307-0800, email privacy@TonyAwards.com, or send a letter to Tony Award Productions, 1650 Broadway, Suite 800, New York, NY 100193.
And Michael Riedel, if you're reading this, get to work and figure out what the fuck happened. And Ted Chapin, if you're reading this, I urge you to reconsider this decision.
Please also note that I am not making this dissent out of my own personal anger. To be honest, taking away voter status from the first-night press doesn't really affect the press individually very much at all. As I stated earlier on, we already get press tickets. True, it means that we can't pimp our Tony voter status to press agents and ask to return to shows in May that we've already reviewed in our capacity as voters, and not as critics. I admit that I will miss that. But that's not the issue here at all. This is about the credibility and artistic value of the Tony Awards. That is what's being destroyed.
Continue reading "Destroying the Credibility of the Tony Awards: Banning Journalists as Voters" »
Among the countless theater festivals that hit the city each summer, the Lincoln Center Festival easily stands out as an international smorgasbord of non-English theater.
This year’s festival officially opened on Tuesday night with both a show in French (Le Theatre du Soleil’s “Les Ephemeres”) and a show in Hungarian (Katona Jozsef Theatre’s “Ivanov”). We flipped a coin and ended up at the latter.
“Ivanov,” a study of a once-idealistic man in his early-30s turned apathetic, is Chekhov’s earliest and most rarely performed drama. Trapped in a state of depression and mounting debts, the title character, who views himself as a melancholy Hamlet, unapologetically ignores his dying wife in order to rail and rant at his friends and chase after another young girl.
Continue reading "Theater Review of Ivanov (Lincoln Center Festival)" »
“Tin Pan Alley Rag” imagines a chance meeting between the American composers Irving Berlin and Scott Joplin in 1918 New York. We spoke with Michael Boatman, who plays Joplin.
Q; Did Berlin and Joplin ever meet in real life?
A: There’s no indication that they met, but they were both active and in New York when Joplin was at the end of his life and trying to get his opera published and Berlin was starting out as a songwriter.
Q: How does Joplin’s personality compare with Berlin?
A: Joplin was born during the Victorian era. He’s a rigid man, but at the same time he’s a musician and a ladies man. There’s a lot of interesting juxtapositions with Berlin, who’s like a young peacock.
Continue reading "Interview with Michael Boatman on Tin Pan Alley Rag" »
I used to consider it the best kept secret about Shakespeare in the Park: the standby line. I assume that you are all familiar with the typical ways to receive Shakespeare in the Park tix: wait in line all morning, try your luck on the "virtual line" online, buy them from the Public as a summer sponsor for $100+, or risk buying them on Craigslist.
But the standby line also seemed like a great alternative. You wait in line for perhaps two hours prior to the performance and receive tix immediately prior to the performance. Where do these tix come from? At first I suspected that the Public stashed some tickets away that were specifically for this line, but they supposedly come from those who received the tickets in the morning and returned them prior to the show.
I've done the standby line almost a dozen times over the past six years. I've never done it prior to officially reviewing a production - at which time I receive press tickets from the Public and do not have to wait on line. But if there's a really good production that I'd like to see for a second time (i.e. "Much Ado About Nothing" in 2004, "Two Gentleman of Verona" in 2005, "Romeo & Juliet" in 2007, "Hair" in 2008), I've depended on the standby line as an easy way to get more free tix. And it always worked. Well, until now...
Continue reading "Suffering Defeat on the Standby Line Outside "Twelfth Night"" »
As first rumored weeks ago, it's now been confirmed that Daniel Craig and Hugh Jackman will star together on Broadway in "A Steady Rain," a two-character play by Keith Huff about two Chicago cops. Directed by Tony Award nominee John Crowley, it begins previews on Thursday, September 10, 2009 and opens Tuesday, September 29, 2009 at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre for a 12 week engagement through Sunday, December 6, 2009.
“Puppetry of the Penis,” a show best described as “genital origami” from performers Simon Morley and David Friend in front of a live audience, will return to Off-Broadway in August at 45 Bleecker Street Theatre. Their so-called “penis installations” include the Pelican, The Windsurfer, The Eiffel Tower, Loch Ness Monster, and the “Hamburger.” To date, over 650 men (and a few women apparently) have auditioned to be a penis puppeteer and only 20 men have been tapped.
Two month ago, I made a point of trekking out to Washington, DC to catch the Kennedy Center's new production of "Ragtime," While not on such a grand scale as the original Broadway production, it was still a pretty massive production and well worth the four-hour journey. I couldn't imagine it transferring to Broadway. But it is. I can't believe it. The confirmation finally came today. Marcia Milgrom Dodge's production will open at Broadway's Neil Simon Theatre on November 15. It's ironic to think that "The Lion King," which won the 1998 Tony for Best Musical over the original production of "Ragtime," is still running.
Not too much theater news happens over the summer. But somehow today we hit the mother load. Let's review in order of importance:
1. As widely expected, London's acclaimed production of "Hamlet" starring Jude Law will indeed transfer to Broadway's Broadhurst Theatre in September.
2. After a truly successful six-year run, not to mention a spectacular Tony victory over "Wicked," "Avenue Q" will finally shutter at the Golden Theatre in September.
3. As soon as "Avenue Q" vacates the Golden, the Los Angeles revival of David Mamet's provocative drama "Oleanna" starring Julia Stiles and Bill Pullman, directed by Doug Hughes, will take up residence.
4. T.R. Knight is apparently set to star in a Broadway revival of Ken Ludwig's farce "Lend Me a Tenor," to be directed by Stanley Tucci.
5. Another one bites the dust. But this one we're actually glad to see go. "The Little Mermaid" will shutter at the end of August. As of now, "The Addams Family" is expected to take its place at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre.
6. Laura Linney will star in Manhattan Theater Club's production of Donald Margulies' "Time Stands Still" in winter 2010.
3 out of 4 Stars
Can the theatergoing experience be fully and accurately conveyed on the big screen? That’s what numerous theater companies are currently asking themselves. And if so, will people pay to see a live or recorded transmission of a theatrical performance?
Last year, the final Broadway performance of “Rent” was broadcast in movie theaters. The Metropolitan Opera has successfully offered live transmissions since 2006. And now London’s National Theatre is getting in on the act.
Nicholas Hytner’s acclaimed production of the French verse drama “Phedre” starring Helen Mirren and Dominic Cooper will be broadcast in eight movie theaters in New York in July. Over 30,000 watched last week’s first broadcast in cinemas around the world.
"The Nutty Professor," which I'm surprised has not yet been made into a musical, is now ready to take a crack at Broadway. And not only that, Jerry Lewis will direct. With a score by Marvin Hamlisch and a book by Rupert Holmes, it is aiming for a Broadway debut in the 2010-11 season.
Professor Julius Kelp is a dull geek with a bright idea. Privately experimenting in his laboratory to find the cure for his social failures, he creates a potion that transforms him into a smooth talking, party animal named Buddy Love. Buddy is everything that Julius always dreamed of being and gets the girl that he always dreamed of dating, Stella. The only problem is that the potion doesn't last very long. Will the school find out his secret and will Stella stick around even after Love has left the building?
No word yet on who will play the role of Spiderman in the forthcoming musical version of the Marvel comic book, but it's been confirmed that Alan Cumming will indeed play the Green Goblin and Evan Rachel Wood will be Mary Jane. Meanwhile, the show's opening date has been pushed back a bit, perhaps to allow more reconstruction on the Hilton Theatre.
3.5 out of 4 Stars
It’s safe to assume that many New Yorkers will be waiting many hours on line in Central Park for their free tickets specifically to see Anne Hathaway in “Twelfth Night,” Shakespeare’s romantic comedy of cross-dressing and mistaken identity.
Hathaway gives a convincing but rather unimposing performance as Viola, the smart gal who disguises herself as a male servant but then falls in love with her master. While Viola is the central protagonist of “Twelfth Night,” it is also one of the play’s least interesting roles.
Rather, it’s the supporting characters that reap the real fun and eccentricities such as the jester Feste, self-infatuated steward Malvolio, drunkard uncle Toby and mischievous serving lady Maria.
As a result, Hathaway is kind of overshadowed by some of New York’s finest theater actors including Audra McDonald, Raul Esparza, Michael Cumpsty, Julie White, David Pittu, Stark Sands and Jay O. Sanders.
Last week, rumors popped up that T.R. Knight might star on Broadway in a revival of Ken Ludwig's farce "Lend Me a Tenor." Now it appears that Knight will instead headline a new production of Jason Robert Brown's gripping musical "Parade" in the fall at Los Angeles' Mark Taper Forum. The cast also includes Lara Pulver, Christian Hoff, Michael Berresse and Charlotte d'Amboise.
2 out of 4 Stars
Someone must tell Ashanti that displaying the same bored facial expression for two and a half hours is not the equivalent of good acting by any stretch of the imagination.
When it was announced that Encores would stage “The Wiz,” it was generally assumed that Anika Noni Rose would play Dorothy. Instead, the role somehow went to Ashanti. And while her rock solid voice is on full display, her stage debut is stiff, boring and altogether disappointing.
While this upbeat African-American retelling of “The Wizard of Oz” was a huge Broadway hit in the 1970s, it has not aged well. Truth be told, it’s more of a historic curiosity than a great musical. Its awkward combination of soulful anthems and throwaway jokes now plays out unconvincingly like a museum piece.
“August: Osage County,” which failed to revive its box office fortunes after bringing in Phylicia Rashad, will shutter on June 28. But don’t feel too bad. It had a long run, won a Pulitzer, and will soon begin a national tour.
