tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-126572882024-03-07T21:24:34.832-05:00The PlaygoerTheatre News, Reviews, CommentaryPlaygoerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02994724588504353485noreply@blogger.comBlogger2862125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12657288.post-51616601626590089502020-12-31T10:51:00.003-05:002022-02-22T17:26:35.136-05:00Index of Play Reviews<div><b>Play Reviews on The Playgoer </b></div><div>Links to all my reviews posted on this blog, mostly between 2005-2009</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>2013<br /></b>
<i><a href="http://www.playgoer.org/2013/02/review-good-person-of-szechwan.html">The Good Person of Szechwan</a></i> The first incarnation of Lear deBessonet's production of Brecht's classic, starring Taylor Mac. At La MaMa.</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://www.playgoer.org/2013/02/review-clive.html" style="font-style: italic;">Clive</a> Ethan Hawke's adaptation of Brecht's <i>Baal.</i><br />
<i><br /></i></div><div><i><a href="http://www.playgoer.org/2013/02/review-cat-on-hot-tin-roof.html">Cat on a Hot Tin Roof</a></i> Broadway revival starring Scarlett Johansson, Benjamin Walker, Ciarán Hinds.<br />
<i><br /></i></div><div><b>2010</b></div><div><i><a href="http://www.playgoer.org/2010/05/sarah-ruhls-passion-play.html">Passion Play</a></i> NYC premiere of Sarah Ruhl's epic theatrical history of the passion play.</div><div><br />
<i><a href="http://www.playgoer.org/2010/03/paradise-regained.html">Paradise Lost</a></i> Daniel Fish's bold re-imagining of a forgotten Clifford Odets Depression-era drama. (At A.R.T., Cambridge MA)</div><div> </div><div><b>2009</b></div><div><i><a href="http://www.playgoer.org/2009/11/sayonara-oleanna.html">Oleanna</a></i> Broadway revival of the Mamet play starring Bill Pullman and Julia Styles.</div><div><br /></div><div>
<i><a href="http://www.playgoer.org/2009/10/best-american-play-on-broadway-to-close.html">Brighton Beach Memoirs</a></i> Broadway revival of the Neil Simon play, directed by David Cromer, starring Laurie Metcalf.</div><div><br /><a href="http://www.playgoer.org/2009/10/what-ive-been-seeeing.html">Double-Review</a></div><div><i><a href="http://www.playgoer.org/2009/10/what-ive-been-seeeing.html">Othello</a></i> Peter Sellars directs Philip Seymour Hoffman as Iago with members of the LABrynth theatre company.</div><div><i><a href="http://www.playgoer.org/2009/10/what-ive-been-seeeing.html">Aftermath</a></i> Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen's documentary/verbatim drama about Iraqi refugees. (At New York Theatre Workshop)</div><div>
<i><br /></i></div><div><b>2008</b></div><div><i><a href="http://www.playgoer.org/2008/07/mamets-november.html">November</a></i> David Mamet's Broadway-premiere Washington satire, starring Nathan Lane, Laurie Metcalf and Dylan Baker.</div><div><br />
<i><a href="http://www.playgoer.org/2008/06/review-hamlet-public-theatre.html">Hamlet</a></i> Oskar Eustis directs Michael Stuhlbarg at Delacorte Theatre, Central Park.</div><div><br /></div><div>
<i><a href="http://www.playgoer.org/2008/05/stretch-fantasia.html">Stretch: A Fantasia</a></i> (New Georges, 2008) Interesting play by New Georges AD Susan Bernfield about Rose Mary Woods, one of Watergate's funniest supporting players.<br />
<i><br /></i></div><div><i><a href="http://www.playgoer.org/2008/03/review-rapunzel.html">Rapunzel</a></i> Touring production from UK's Kneehigh company, at New Victory Theatre.<br />
<i><br /></i></div><div><a href="http://www.playgoer.org/2008/02/some-quickie-reviews.html">3-Play Roundup:</a></div><div><i><a href="http://www.playgoer.org/2008/02/some-quickie-reviews.html">Church</a></i> by Young Jean Lee, performed at Public Theatre's 2008 Under the Radar festival.</div><div><i><a href="http://www.playgoer.org/2008/02/some-quickie-reviews.html">Terminus</a></i> Irish play by Mark O'Rowe, also at Under the Radar 2008</div><div><i><a href="http://www.playgoer.org/2008/02/some-quickie-reviews.html">Oh, the Humanity, and other exclamations</a></i> Evening of one-acts by Will Eno, at Flea Theatre.</div><div>
<i><br /></i></div><div><b>2007</b></div><div><i><a href="http://www.playgoer.org/2008/01/review-jerry-springer-musical-at.html">Jerry Springer, The Opera</a></i> US premiere of the controversial British-born (but American-written) musical. (At Bailiwick Theater, Chicago.)<div><br /></div><div><a href="http://www.playgoer.org/2007/12/john-doyles-mahagonny-on-pbs.html"><i>Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny</i></a> John Doyle's staging of the Brecht/Weill opera at LA Opera, Los Angeles, starring Audra McDonald and Patti LuPone.</div><div><br /></div><div><i><a href="http://www.playgoer.org/2007/09/review-have-you-seen-steve-steven.html">Have You Seen Steve Steven</a></i> A quirky, appealing script from Ann Marie Healy (presented by the 13P playwrights' collective) in a terrific staging by Anne Kauffman and a standout performance by Matthew Maher.</div><div><div><br /></div></div><div><i><a href="http://www.playgoer.org/2007/09/review-gatz.html">Gatz</a></i> A pre-New York staging of Elevator Repair Service's epic verbatim staging of <i>The Great Gatsby</i>. (At Philadelphia Festival of the Arts)</div></div><div><br /></div><div><i><a href="http://www.playgoer.org/2007/07/review-luponegypsy.html">Gypsy</a></i> Pre-Broadway staging at NY City Center Encores of Patti LuPone in the classic musical.</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://www.playgoer.org/2007/06/review-grey-gardens.html"><i>Grey Gardens</i></a> The Broadway musical by Scott Frankel, Michael Korie, and Doug Wright based on the famous Maysles Brothers documentary. Starring Christine Ebersole.</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://www.playgoer.org/2007/05/coram-boy-closing.html"><i>Coram Boy</i></a> Broadway transfer from London of the National Theatre's music-drama about the genesis of Handel's "Messiah."</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://www.playgoer.org/2007/04/review-journeys-end.html"><i>Journey's End</i></a> Broadway revival of R.C. Sherriff's beautiful WWI drama following one doomed British army squadron. Starring Hugh Dancy, Jefferson Mays, and Boyd Gaines.</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://www.playgoer.org/2007/04/review-dark-at-top-of-stairs.html"><i>The Dark at the Top of the Stairs</i></a> Fine revival of the William Inge play by Transport Group, directed by Jack Cummings. Starring Donna Lynne Champlin and Michele Pawk.</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://www.playgoer.org/2007/03/dying-city.html"><i>Dying City</i></a> The New York premiere of Christopher Shinn's post-9/11 play, directed by James Macdonald, starring Pablo Schreiber and Rachel Brooksher. At Lincoln Center Theatre.</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://www.playgoer.org/2007/02/review-fever.html"><i>The Fever</i></a> Wallace Shawn revives his haunting monologue in a revival by Scott Elliott for The New Group. (With guest appearances by Tom Stoppard and Mike Nichols!)</div><div><br /></div><div><b>2006</b></div><div><a href="http://www.playgoer.org/2006/11/reviews-thugs-internationalist.html">Double Review</a>:</div><div><a href="http://www.playgoer.org/2006/11/reviews-thugs-internationalist.html"><i>The Thugs</i></a> by Adam Bock, directed by Anne Kauffman. At Soho Rep.</div><div><a href="http://www.playgoer.org/2006/11/reviews-thugs-internationalist.html"><i>The Internationalist</i></a> by Anne Washburn, directed by Ken Rus Schmoll. At Vineyard Theatre.</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://www.playgoer.org/2006/10/review-my-name-is-rachel-corrie_20.html"><i>My Name is Rachel Corrie</i></a> The controversial London play about an American pro-Palestinian activist finally opens in New York at the Minetta Lane Theatre.</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://www.playgoer.org/2006/10/shaw-festival-06-day-1.html">Shaw Festival 2006</a> A visit to Canada's Shaw Festival at Niagara-on-the-Lake.</div><div>Day 1: Shaw's <a href="http://www.playgoer.org/2006/10/shaw-festival-06-day-1.html"><i>Too True to be Good</i></a> </div><div>Day 2: Ibsen's <i><a href="http://www.playgoer.org/2006/10/shaw-festival-06-day-2.html">Rosmersholm</a></i></div><div>Day 3: <a href="http://www.playgoer.org/2006/10/shaw-festival-06-day-3.html"><i>The Golden Apple, The Invisible Man, The Heiress</i></a>.</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://www.playgoer.org/2006/09/review-birthday-party.html"><i>The Birthday Party</i></a> Emily Mann directs Pinter's early masterpiece, starring Allan Corduner. (At McCarter Theatre, NJ.)</div><div><br /></div><div><i><a href="http://www.playgoer.org/2006/08/review-mother-courage.html">Mother Courage</a></i> Meryl Streep & George C. Wolfe do Brecht in Central Park.</div><div><br /></div><div><i><a href="http://www.playgoer.org/2006/08/review-no-child.html">No Child...</a></i> Nilaja Sun's one-woman show about her experiences teaching theatre in the NYC public school system.</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://www.playgoer.org/2006/07/review-pig-farm.html"><i>Pig Farm</i></a> Greg Kotis' farce on a family farm. Starring Dennis O'Hare & Katie Finneran, directed by John Rando. (At Roundabout Theatre Company.)</div><div><br /></div><div><i><a href="http://www.playgoer.org/2006/07/review-susan-and-god.html">Susan & God</a></i> Mint Theatre rediscovers an odd but intriguing 1937 dramedy by Rachel Crothers.</div><div><br /></div><div><i><a href="http://www.playgoer.org/2006/07/review-macbeth.html">Macbeth</a></i> Moises Kaufman directs Liev Schreiber & Jennifer Ehle for the Public's Shakespeare in the Park.</div><div><br /></div><div><i><a href="http://www.playgoer.org/2006/06/review-king-lear.html">King Lear</a></i> A memorable performance by Alvin Epstein in an intimate staging at La MaMa.</div><div><br /></div><div><i><a href="http://www.playgoer.org/2006/06/review-threepenny-opera.html">The Threepenny Opera</a></i> Scott Elliott's highly idiosyncratic of the Brecht-Weill classic, starring Alan Cumming & Cyndi Lauper. On Broadway, produced by Roundabout Theatre Company.</div><div><br /></div><div><i><a href="http://www.playgoer.org/2006/06/review-history-boys.html">The History Boys</a></i> Alan Bennett's prep-school dramedy, directed by Nicholas Hytner, starring Richard Griffiths & James Corden. (Broadway transfer from UK National Theatre) </div><div><br /></div><div><i><a href="http://www.playgoer.org/2006/04/review-red-light-winter.html">Red Light Winter</a></i> Adam Rapp's acclaimed three-hander (though not acclaimed by me!) </div><div><br /></div><div><i><a href="http://www.playgoer.org/2006/04/review-awake-and-sing.html">Awake and Sing!</a></i> Bartlett Sher's landmark revival of the Odets classic, presented on Broadway by Lincoln Center Theatre. Featuring stellar cast with Mark Ruffalo, Ben Gazzara, Zoe Wanamaker, Pablo Schrieber, and Lauren Ambrose.</div><div><br /></div><div><i><a href="https://www.playgoer.org/2006/04/review-peer-gynt.html">Peer Gynt</a></i> Robert Wilson directs Ibsen's fantasy-epic at BAM. In the original Norwegian!</div><div><br /></div><div><i><a href="https://www.playgoer.org/2006/04/review-entertaining-mr-sloane.html">Entertaining Mr. Sloane</a></i> Alec Baldwin & Jan Maxwell star in Joe Orton's comedy. At Roundabout Theatre Company.</div><div><br /></div><div><i><a href="https://www.playgoer.org/2006/03/reviews-hedda-nora.html">Hedda Gabler</a></i> Cate Blanchett's US stage debut in the Ibsen tragedy. Australian production from Sydney Theatre Company at BAM, also featuring Hugo Weaving. (Plus companion review of Off Broadway staging of Ingmar Bergman's <i>Doll's House</i> abridgment "Nora.")</div><div><br /></div><div><i><a href="https://www.playgoer.org/2006/02/review-heddatron.html">Heddatron</a></i> Elizabeth Meriwether's postmodern Ibsen riff. Directed by Alex Timbers for his Freres Corbusier company. At HERE Arts Center.</div><div><br /></div><div>San Francisco Reviews</div><div><i><a href="https://www.playgoer.org/2006/02/san-francisco-dispatch.html">Mystery Plays</a></i> by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa at SF Playhouse.</div><div><i><a href="https://www.playgoer.org/2006/02/sf-dispatch-ii.html">Nero: Another Golden Rome</a></i> World Premiere of Duncan Sheik & Steven Sater's follow-up to <i>Spring Awakening </i>that never came to New York. At San Francisco's Magic Theatre.</div><div><br /></div><div><i><a href="https://www.playgoer.org/2006/02/review-mr-marmalade.html">Mr. Marmalade</a></i> Early play by Noah Haidle, starring Michael C. Hall. At Roundabout Theatre Company.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>2005</b></div><div><i><a href="https://www.playgoer.org/2005/12/review-measure-for-measure.html">Measure for Measure</a></i> Mark Rylance leads his Shakespeare's Globe company in an all-male production at St Ann's Warehouse.</div><div><div><i><a href="https://www.playgoer.org/2005/12/review-touch-of-poet.html">A Touch of the Poet</a></i> Gabriel Byrne stars in O'Neill's challenging late drama. On Broadway via Roundabout Theatre Company.</div><div><br /></div><div><i><a href="https://www.playgoer.org/2005/12/review-miss-witherspoon-durang.html">Miss Witherspoon</a></i> Kristen Nielsen stars in NYC premiere of Christopher Durang comedy at Playwrights Horizons.</div><div><br /></div><div><i><a href="https://www.playgoer.org/2005/12/review-super-vision-builders.html">Super Vision</a></i> The multi-media Builders Association explores identity theft. (At BAM.)</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.playgoer.org/2005/11/review-hamlet-at-csc.html"><i>Hamlet</i></a> Michael Cumpsty stars in Brian Kulick's production for Classic Stage Company.</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.playgoer.org/2005/10/review-sweeney-todd.html"><i>Sweeney Todd</i></a> The now-iconic John Doyle restaging of Sondheim's operatic melodrama, in its Broadway premiere. Starring Michael Cerveris & Patti LuPone.</div><div><br /></div><div>Reviews from Shaw Festival 2005 (Niagara-on-the-Lake. Ontario)</div><div><i><a href="https://www.playgoer.org/2005/08/shaw-festival-journal-ii-bus-stop.html">Bus Stop, Major Barbara</a></i></div><div><i><a href="https://www.playgoer.org/2005/08/shaw-festival-journal-iii.html">Journey's End, The Autumn Garden, Something on the Side (Feydeau) </a></i></div><div><br /></div><div>Reviews from Lincoln Center Festival 2005</div><div><i><a href="https://www.playgoer.org/2005/08/playgoer-review-mishima-modern-noh.html">Modern Noh Plays</a></i> Japanese auteur Yukio Ninagawa's stunning stagings of two of Mishima's "Modern Noh Plays."</div><div><a href="https://www.playgoer.org/2005/07/playgoer-review-arlecchino.html"><i>Arlecchino</i></a> Piccolo Teatro di Milano remounts Georgio Strehler's classic Commedia-style staging of Goldoni's <i>Servant of Two Masters</i>. </div><div><i><a href="https://www.playgoer.org/2005/07/playgoer-review-le-dernier.html">Le Dernier Caravanserail</a></i> Ariane Mnouchkine's Théâtre du Soleil performs their epic two-part devised work based on the travails of modern refugees across the globe.</div><div><br /></div><div><i><a href="https://www.playgoer.org/2005/07/playgoer-review-twelfth-night.html">Twelfth Night</a></i> by the Anglo-American Aqulia Theatre Company.</div><div><br /></div><div><i><a href="https://www.playgoer.org/2005/07/playgoer-review-glengarry.html">Glengarry Glenn Ross</a></i> Broadway revival with all-star cast led by Liev Schreiber & Alan Alda, directed by Joe Mantello.</div><div><br /></div><div><i><a href="https://www.playgoer.org/2005/07/playgoer-review-orsons-shadow.html">Orson's Shadow</a></i> Steppenwolf Theatre presents Austin Pendleton's backstage comedy about the true story of Orson Welles and Laurence Olivier's unlikely 1960 collaboration on Ionesco's <i>Rhinoceros</i>. Off Broadway at Barrow Street Theatre.</div><div><br /></div><div><i><a href="https://www.playgoer.org/2005/07/playgoer-review-borderclash.html">Border/Clash</a></i> Monologue by spoken-word artist Staceyann Chin about cross-cultural backgrounds, queer identity, and hip hop poetry. At Culture Project.</div><div><br /></div><div><i><a href="https://www.playgoer.org/2005/07/playgoer-review-skin-game-w-updates.html">The Skin Game</a></i> Mint Theatre revives John Galsworthy's 1920 drama of aristocracy versus bourgeois climbers in the English countryside.</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i><a href="https://www.playgoer.org/2005/06/playgoer-review-hecuba.html">Hecuba</a></i> Vanessa Redgrave headlines a new Tony Harrison modernized translation of Euripides' war tragedy. At BAM.</div><div><br /></div></div><div><i><a href="https://www.playgoer.org/2005/06/playgoer-review-cherry-orchard.html">The Cherry Orchard</a></i> Refreshingly comedic take on Chekhov by the Atlantic Theatre Company, in a new script by Tom Donaghy, featuring Alvin Epstein as Firs.</div><div><br /></div><div><i><a href="https://www.playgoer.org/2005/06/playgoer-review-virginia-woolf.html">Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf</a></i> Broadway revival with Kathleen Turner, Bill Irwin, David Harbour and Mirielle Enos.</div><div><br /></div><div><i><a href="https://www.playgoer.org/2005/06/review-score.html">Score</a></i> Anne Bogart directs Tom Nelis in a solo performance as Leonard Bernstein in a devised work taken from the composer/conductor's own words. At New York Theatre Workshop.</div><div><br /></div><div><i><a href="https://www.playgoer.org/2005/06/review-maids.html">The Maids</a></i> Jean Genet's classic revived by Jean Cocteau Repertory.</div><div><br /></div><div><i><a href="https://www.playgoer.org/2005/05/review-spamalot.html">Spamalot</a></i> The Broadway smash musicalization of <i>Monty Python and the Holy Grail</i>, written by Eric Idle & directed by Mike Nichols. Starring Tim Curry, Hank Azaria and David Hyde Pierce. (Also see my <a href="https://www.playgoer.org/2006/04/re-review-spamalot.html">return</a> one year later to review the replacement cast, headed by Simon Russell Beale)</div><div><br /></div><div><i><a href="https://www.playgoer.org/2005/05/review-pillowman.html">The Pillowman</a></i> Broadway premiere of Martin McDonagh's dystopian black comedy. Starring Billy Crudup, Jeff Goldblum, Željko Ivanek, and Michael Stuhlbarg.</div><div><br /></div><div><i><a href="https://www.playgoer.org/2005/05/review-streetcar.html">A Streetcar Named Desire</a></i> Famously misguided revival with Natasha Richardson as Blanche and John C. Reilly(!) as Stanley. At Roundabout Theatre Company.</div></div><div><br /></div>Playgoerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02994724588504353485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12657288.post-40517168785828990702015-02-01T11:46:00.001-05:002015-07-02T10:40:57.297-04:00Whatever Happened to Playgoer?Forgive me Blogger, for I have sinned. It has been two years since my last post.<br />
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Actually I feel compelled to finally add something since the sight of that random April 2013 entry on the home page just made this seem like Playgoer suddenly vaporized without wrapping things up. (Dead Blog Pinging?) So here's an attempt...<br />
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For the last two years I've been teaching full time, so that has been my main focus. But I have still published the occasional article or essay. Such as...<br />
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Two book reviews for <i>American Theatre</i> magazine of major new publications on that iconic team of Tennessee Williams and Elia Kazan. First, the new collection of <a href="http://www.americantheatre.org/2014/06/14/the-selected-letters-of-elia-kazan-keeps-the-dialogue-going-2/">Kazan letters</a> (hilarious), and, second, the new John Lahr <a href="http://www.americantheatre.org/2014/08/13/mad-pilgrimage-of-the-flesh-examines-tennessee-williamss-later-years/">Tennessee Williams biography</a> (massively depressing).<br />
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Also, the new augustly titled <a href="http://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195391374.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780195391374" style="font-style: italic;">Oxford Handbook of Sondheim Studies</a> includes my<i> </i><a href="http://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195391374.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780195391374-e-010#.VM5VFljhSFc.blogger">essay</a> on Sondheim's last musical (to date, that is), <i>Road Show--</i>yes, a.k.a <i>Bounce</i>, a.k.a. <i>Wise Guys</i>, a.k.a. never-made-it-to-Broadway and thus forgotten. But I grew quite fond of this dark chamber musical in the course of writing my chapter, so I recommend a second look at the show, if not a first!<br />
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Hmmm, so what else has been going on.... Oh yeah, I had a baby. Or my wife did. So, yeah, it's been that kind of two-year gap.<br />
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It would be nice one day to resume blogging. Then again, I hear <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2015/01/blogging-isnt-dead-old-school-blogging-definitely-dying">blogging is dead</a>. (<i>So</i> 2006!) So we'll see.<br />
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(Meanwhile, miraculously, theatre is still alive.)<br />
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The Playgoer archive is here to stay, unless Google shuts me down for inactivity. So hopefully people will still happen upon old rants and comment-wars from the past. Ah, good times....<br />
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Funny how when I started Playgoer in May, 2005, I figured I was just typing into a void. And now, ten years later, I'm pretty sure I am once again. But, hey, if you're out there, go ahead and comment! Especially if you've got any advice on what to do with this enterprise. Or if you've got a writing gig for me! (Did I mention I have a child to support now?)<br />
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Peace be upon you all, and happy playgoing!<br />
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<br />Playgoerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02994724588504353485noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12657288.post-3940193890556453072013-04-02T10:55:00.000-04:002013-04-02T10:55:14.565-04:00The Still Shrinking American Stage<a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324685104578386371010391046.html">Terry Teachout</a> reflects on the latest TCG list of <a href="http://www.tcg.org/publications/at/attopten.cfm">Top Ten Plays</a> Produced in American nonprofit theatres:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
it's easy to forget that the latter-day dominance of the small-cast
play is a fairly recent development in theatrical history. Large casts
used to be the rule, not the exception. Indeed, most of the best-known
American plays of the 20th century called for performing forces that
would now be seen by penny-pinching producers as insanely extravagant.
Tennessee Williams's "A Streetcar Named Desire," for instance, was
written for a cast of 12, while Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman"
requires 13 actors, eight men and five women. As for Thornton Wilder's
"Our Town," it's usually performed by some two dozen actors, and the
original 1938 Broadway production fielded a cast of 51.
Might we have lost something by forcing contemporary playwrights to work on a smaller canvas?</blockquote>
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Of course, we wouldn't have to "force" them if the money were there to mount such works. Playwrights are chomping at the bit, I assure you!<br />
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(By the way... <i>fifty-one </i>people in <i>Our Town</i>? Wow.)<br />
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FYI, here is that most recent Top 10 list, an aggregation of season schedules across the country for 2012-2013:<br />
<br /><i>Good People</i> (17) [# of productions nationwide] <br /><br /><i> Clybourne Park</i> (15) <br /><br /><i>The Whipping Man</i> (14) [cast size: 3]<br /><br /><i> Next to Normal</i> (13) <br /><br /><i> The Mountaintop</i> (12) [cast size: 2]<br /><br /> <i>Red</i> (11) [cast size: 2]<br /><br /><i> Time Stands Still</i> (10) [cast size: 4]<br /><br /> <i>Other Desert Cities</i> (10) <br /><br /><i> The Motherfucker with the Hat</i> (9) <br /><br /> <i>A Raisin in the Sun</i> (8) <br /><br /><i>Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson</i> (8) <br /><br /> Playgoerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02994724588504353485noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12657288.post-38697535924738256472013-03-05T10:41:00.001-05:002013-03-05T10:41:43.961-05:00REVIEW: Henry IV, Pt 1Sorry no blogging this past weekend. But I did write a mini-review of the Pearl's Henry IV for <a href="http://www.timeout.com/newyork/theater/henry-iv-part-1">Time Out</a>. (Warning: contains spoilers from 1597!)Playgoerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02994724588504353485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12657288.post-7133344569341432222013-02-24T22:44:00.000-05:002013-03-01T14:26:29.222-05:00REVIEW: The Good Person of Szechwan<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Brecht's Epic He/She: Taylor Mac as Shin Te and Shui Ta.</td></tr>
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Taylor Mac is giving the performance of the year down at La MaMa in <i>The Good Person of <span class="st">Szechwan</span></i>. And unfortunately most of you will not get to see it. This low-budget revival of the Brecht classic (co-produced by La MaMa and the Foundry Theatre) has sold out its one-month run in its 199-seat house and will probably have difficulty extending or "moving" any time soon due to Showcase Code restrictions. (Which I assume was how this was produced* [*<i>update: </i>s<i>ee comments section for more</i>].) Oh well. Maybe with enough resources and flexibility from Equity, Foundry and La MaMa will some day be able to share with the public this rare American Brecht staging that will not leave you wondering why anyone ever made a fuss about Brecht in the first place.<br />
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Until then, I'll do my best to describe what's so special here, starting with Lear deBessonet--a barely-30 director who has been consistently working around the edges of the downtown and nonprofit scenes for at least five years now. I first became aware of her in her first Brecht outing, <i>Saint Joan of the Stockyards</i> at PS122 in 2007. There, too, on a shoestring budget and Showcase Code cast, deBessonet forged ahead with her eccentric but crystal clear vision of a difficult play. What delighted me was not only that someone had successfully resurrected this totally forgotten (and admittedly odd) early Brecht gem, but had also infused it with a totally genuine contemporary American pop sensibility without flinching from the play's politics at all. The key was Kristen Sieh's winning performance of Joan as an honest-to-God happy Christian, an interpretation amplified by a live bluegrass score which situated that religiosity in a recognizable and playable down-home context.<br />
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DeBessonet--who has <a href="http://theater.nytimes.com/2007/05/06/theater/06piep.html">spoken</a> about the challenges of bringing good-faith spirituality into our atheistic theatre culture--may have miffed some Brecht purists for not treating Joan's preaching with snyde sarcasm. But her concept worked because Brecht--while no believer--was himself clearly fascinated with religion, which is why he wrote so much about it in his plays. Even a Marxist must admit and contend with the power of that "opiate of the masses." In Brecht's work--and especially in <i>Szechwan</i>--religion is often the countervailing force to capitalism, just an ultimately ineffectual one. In Sieh's performance, Joan's likability and infectious optimism made her tragic failure at the end all the more heartbreaking.<br />
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<i>Szechwan</i> may be a more well known and frequently produced play than <i>Joan</i>. But that doesn't mean it's any easier to pull off. At least in most performances I've seen. This relatively late Brecht drama (as well as the similar, almost interchangeably produced <i>Caucasian Chalk Circle</i>) always comes off in performance as stiff, grey, and interminable "epic theatre" that occasionally tries (with great labor) to be fun. Despite the lively elements in its story, the sheer length and wordiness of most translations--combined with a prevailing tendency to play such a "classic" with the solemnity of Shakespeare--often weighs down what is, at heart, a simple fable, a folk take. What this production does that I haven't seen anyone else do, is strip away a lot of the dead weight (even efficiently cutting many walk-on characters) and restore the folk tale element--even down to childrens-theatre tiny cardboard houses that populate Matt Saunders' outwardly makeshift set. The show plays here with the energy of a <i>commedia</i> farce--further enabled by an almost bare stage of planks, quick-change costumes, and lots of direct audience address (and solicitation). I knew this production had a chance when the play's quasi-narrator, the often-annoying water-boy, Wang, delivered his opening monologue entering down the aisle...and was funny! Actor David Turner--one of the many eccentric players DeBessonet has populated the cast with--deserves much credit for setting and sustaining the joyous yet caustic tone of the evening.<br />
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Speaking of tone, much of it is also supplied by yet another contemporary on-stage band DeBessonet has recruited, <a href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CDAQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thelisps.com%2F&ei=-8QqUai1JIrL0wG774CwCA&usg=AFQjCNFsGNgOIKsLytXucSVKBxH4BQLBLw&bvm=bv.42768644,d.dmQ">The Lisps</a>. Their eclectic score ranges from rockabilly to Motown to garage-rock, constantly bringing the story into the now, even while DeBessonet and her designers always pay winking homage to the story's early-industrial Chinese setting. (Much fun is had throughout with scattered red petals.) As in her <i>Saint Joan</i>, DeBessonet's use of local dive-bar bands reconnects with the cabaret impulse in Brecht's use of music. It helps here that the Lisps' specialty seems to be <i>percussion, </i>used to consistently jarring, stirring, dare I say even "alienating" effect.<br />
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But let's get back to Taylor Mac. In case you didn't know, casting a man in the starring role of Shen Tei is not the norm. Shin Tei is a young prostitute who begins almost as a deliberately "hooker with a heart of gold" cliche. She is also one of the great female roles in modern European theatre. But since she spends a good third of the play in the guise of her invented alter-ego, "<i>Mr.</i> Shui Ta," one can see the temptation to cast such a gender-bending male performer as Mac (who has made a career downtown and in cabaret exploring gender and sexual identities in his own devised pieces.) The choice brings up some of the same issues faced when dealing with how all those Shakespearean "breeches parts" (Rosalind, Viola) were all written for boys playing women playing boys! Recent all-male Shakespeare productions (especially by English troupes Cheek by Jowl, Propeller, and The Globe) have reminded us of some of the lost dynamics built into those plays' original casting. (For instance, the men who interact with Rosalind as "Ganymede" or Viola as "Cesario" don't seem like gullible idiots any more.)<br />
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Brecht of course did <i>not </i>write Shen Tei for a man or boy, or a queer/trans icon like Mac. But without taking anything away from the fine actresses who have played the role (I still remember Cherry Jones at A.R.T. in 1987!), something special here happens when Mr. Shui Ta appears on the scene. "He" becomes very convincing! Bursting onto the stage with an almost goosestep authority to a martial drumbeat, dressed as a classic Weimar-era pinstriped and bowler-hat capitalist, Mac makes quite a chilling entrance.<br />
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Or should I say, Shen Tei does. Because one thing this casting "trick" reveals is how good an <i>actress </i>Shen Tei has to be to pull this "act" off. (She has to invent Shui Ta to be the ruthless "bad cop" businessman to her more charitable "good cop" storekeeper when she can no longer do good works without going broke.) Obviously it doesn't take only a male actor to play a male convincingly. But rarely have I seen an actress cast in the role who can. (As a female "lead," Shin Te is often lazily cast with either a classic ingenue or a Shavian/Ibsenite "strong woman" who can get one side of the character but not the other.)<br />
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Then again, the issue isn't really being "convincing" in any naturalistic sense. Because Brecht deliberately set up this built-in "play acting" in his story in order to model his acting ideals--which called for the performer to both credibly inhabit and comment upon the character simultaneously. (Brecht wants us to see Shin Tei "performing" her idea of "The Businessman.") Taylor Mac does this brilliantly not because he is a man, but because he is a powerful and (in the best sense of the word) self-aware performer. We see the soul-crushing effort it takes Shen Tei to become this monster. (She doesn't do it as just a lark.) So not only is Taylor Mac good enough to convince us he's Shin Tei; this Shin Tei turns out to be so good an actress that she can convince us she's...well, Taylor Mac!<br />
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There is a spellbinding moment towards the end of the first act where this whole Brechtian "genderfuck" comes together and fuels the argument of the play. It's during one of Shin Tei's songs. (Yes, these late Brecht plays are musicals, too. As if they weren't hard enough!) The song is the one that's sometimes translated as "The Song of Defenselessness" (I couldn't catch in this show's version) and in it she rails against the gods for leaving her to shoulder the burden of tending to the poor. But theatrically, Brecht undermines her self-pity by showing her donning Shui Ta's "mask" all the same, even while she claims she doesn't want to. What DeBessonet and Mac (and The Lisps in one of their most aggressively rocking selections) do with these few instructions takes the idea to the hilt. Mac, beginning as Shen Tei, strips off her feminine garments and--all the while singing at full voice at breathtaking speed--begins to don the black pinstriped suit and mustachioed visage of her alter-ego and self-inflicted nemesis. When the song climaxes, the transformation is complete--Shen Tei <i>has become </i>Shui Ta right before our eyes, and not just in clothes. Mac lands immediately in the next scene--in full Shui Ta mode--without even a pause for applause.<br />
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Such transformation of character before our eyes was a favorite device of Brecht's. In <i>Galileo </i>we watch the sensible priest who once supported the scientist turn against him in the course of one scene--a scene in which he is enrobed as the new Pope. ("The clothes make the man" must have been a favorite expression of Bert's.) One of Brecht's many challenges to "Aristotelian" conventions was his rejection of "character" as a stable entity. While most playwrights have striven to "develop" characters who are "consistent," even when they are challenged by a cruel world, Brecht saw mankind as utterly mutable given the circumstances. (Marxism, after all, is premised on the primacy of material circumstances in shaping all aspects of our lives.) Hence, in this story, we can't just easily excuse Shen Tei for doing the cruel things she does as Shui Ta. She is changed by the process. Struggle though she does, she has learned to accept "the lesser evil." Her tragedy is not that of a John Proctor, going to the gallows with his "dignity" intact, the way so few of us do in real life. No, like most of us poor souls, she does what she needs to do to survive, no matter how shitty she feels about it.<br />
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I'll stop there. Suffice it to say that DeBessonet and Mac's work here did much to clarify this conflict in the play. And "clarify" is the apt word here. Rarely have I seen such a lucid, uncluttered, streamlined staging of one of the Brecht epic tragedies. Think how hard it is to pull off <i>Mother Courage</i>, too. I look forward to DeBessonet scaling <i>that</i> mountain in the near future--perhaps starring the indomitable Lisa Kron, who also appears here, hilariously, in two supporting roles. (Shen Tei's mother-in-law, let's just say, arrives in Sezchwan by way of the L.I.E.) After the sententious <a href="http://playgoer.blogspot.com/2006/08/review-mother-courage.html">"Mother Meryl"<i> </i></a>in the Park a while back, I would welcome this director's eclectic, irreverent, yet thoroughly text-grounded "Brecht 2.0" remix.<br />
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(PS. You can see Mac give an in-studio approximation of his moving closing speech as Shin Tei in the Times' "<a href="http://nyti.ms/11T68xK">In Performance</a>" video series.)Playgoerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02994724588504353485noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12657288.post-53104484434511438812013-02-17T11:56:00.002-05:002014-01-01T15:28:59.241-05:00Playgoer's Rules of PlaygoingYou thought attending the theatre was entertainment? It's hard work! But if you abide by the following proscriptions, you will make playgoing pleasanter for you and all around you.<br />
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First, dinner. Always, <i>always</i> eat near the theatre. I mean, one-block-radius near. There is no more stressful 15 minutes for the serious theatregoer than the time between realizing it's 7:45 and you haven't gotten your check yet and that moment when you are finally, safely ushered to that seat. It's challenging enough to accomplish this feat when you're down the block. But when you have to negotiate five blocks of heavy Time Square pedestrian traffic? Worse, imagine the poor soul who has gotten fleeced into dinner <i>uptown</i>? You might as well have just sold those tickets on StubHub, pal.<br />
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I know this isn't going to make theatre any more appealing to those who already see it as a chore, but...Going to the theatre is in many ways like air travel. Getting there is often the hardest part (especially in a cab), but you have to get there on time. It <i>will </i>take off without you. And , unlike the movies, you can't just wait around for the next show. (Not without paying a pretty price, at least. Neither business is in the habit of giving refunds just because you were late.)<br />
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The Dinner Rule plus the Airport Rule together lead to a third rule: do whatever you can to have the tickets--your "boarding pass"--in your hand before dinner. Aside from getting them mailed to you--worth the fee--today you can sometimes even print them at home (yes, like the boarding pass). Otherwise, go pick them up from the box office <i>before </i>dinner. Of course, in order to do that you need to be eating nearby. See Rule 1.<br />
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Another (unfortunate) comparison to airplanes is the claustrophobic seating. Both spaces try to pack as many bodies into their finite square footage as possible. So therefore: no carry-on luggage, please. You'll have room on your lap for a coat and/or a purse, but not much else. (And, worse than a plane, no overhead.) If you are unavoidably stuck with a messenger bag, backpack, or shopping bag... underneath the seat! Believe me, there is room under there. (You'll just have trouble standing up because the seat won't flip up.) This is not just to be considerate to your neighbors, who may want to pass you from time to time. This is for your own good. You don't want to sit through a three-hour play submerged in enough gear for a hiking party. Especially if that includes bags that crinkle or crackle. Paper or plastic? Neither!<br />
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Obviously this means no big shopping sprees immediately pre-theatre. This may be tough for tourists who go from one "event" to another and don't see the inside of their hotel rooms till midnight. But, tough. Plan the shopping for another day. This is theatre, dammit! (Or see a matinee.)<br />
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Yes, coatcheck rooms should theoretically solve this problem. But, seriously, when was the last time you checked something at the theatre? I gather Broadway houses still have them. But can you imagine the lines? Still, if they're an option, go ahead and use them. Just be prepared to be the first one there (super-early) and the last one out.<br />
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Speaking of "baggage" you tow to the seat... This may surprise you, but there is<i> </i>no rule that you <i>must </i>hold your Playbill in your hand throughout the performance. In fact, please don't. By all means look at it before curtain, but once the show starts, put it away. If you have a bag, it goes in there. Otherwise your lap--or even the floor!--will do fine. You see, if you hold onto it, the greater the chance you will...well, <i>do </i>something with it. You might drop it. (Which in some spaces makes some noise.) You might start flipping through it, consciously or not. (More noise.) And, worst of all, god forbid, you might start <i>reading </i>it. During the performance. Yeah. Not cool.<br />
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Food and beverage: It used to just not be allowed. But now many theatres are so dependent on "concessions" so <i>of course, you may bring that $6 coke to your seat, sir/madam! So </i>we need some ground rules. First, to the theatres: no ice, dudes! I mean, really. Also, please do not sell Peanut M & M's, Jaw Breakers, or any other candy that requires severe mastication. (And don't sell them in little cardboard boxes in which the stray Goobers rattle around!) But even when it comes to smuggling in, audiences need to be careful, too. Many are in the habit of toting plastic water bottles without a second thought, for example. But then they spend the whole performance <i>squeezing</i> that plastic every time they go for a sip. Glass or aluminum may be heavier, but they're quieter.<br />
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As for food, there are <i>some </i>foods that are smuggle-appropriate. Obviously, the theatre is not the place to break out your doggie bag of ribs, lo mein, or osso buco. One of my go-to, no-time-for-dinner fallbacks is the simple bagel and cream cheese. That's just cream cheese, no extras. You can grab one at any deli near the theatre (for just two or three bucks, mind you), wrapped in simple cellophane. Throw out the paper bag and stick in your tote or coat pocket. It's the perfect stealth-sandwich because it's doesn't fall apart, doesn't crunch (no toasting on the bagel) , and you can quietly tear little bites off with your hand if you must sneak a munch. Better yet, eat half just before curtain and half at intermission.<br />
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Drinks? Personally I'm a coffee drinker so to maintain my caffeine levels (and who <i>can </i>get through some of today's shows without caffeine?) I like to carry in my bag one little Starbucks "Doubleshot" espresso can. (Or the Illy version.) If you buy it just before the show (many delis now carry this, too) and stash it in your bag or pocket, it will stay reasonably chilled through intermission, when you'll need it. And you can drink it down in two or three sips, so you won't have to worry about storing an open can. (This solves a major problem of intermission "house coffee"--it takes you forever to wait in line to get a cup, then it's too hot to drink, then intermission is over before you've had a sip. And <i>then </i>they don't even let you take it to the seat! Yes, I'm looking at you BAM...)<br />
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Speaking of caffeine, an even better "delivery system" is chocolate espresso beans. I mean, it's coffee <i>and </i>chocolate! I often carry a small pouch around to any "marathon" performances. (It's a long day's journey into night <i>indeed </i>without them, let me tell you...) Many Starbucks have these, too. But if you're a real Playgoer and you know you'll need a steady supply, go to Trader Joe's and bring home the bulk size tub, from which you can then routinely transfer a handful to a plastic baggie. How many should you take? People will respond differently to the caffeine kick, but I try not to have more than five at a time. So having a dozen or so regularly on you (per person, of course) should do you.<br />
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Finally, we come to the really delicate subject. Bathroom breaks. It is my sworn goal never to have to use a theatre bathroom. (In fact, it is my goal never to leave the seat once seated, but that's only for diehards.) If you can hold it in, going after the show is a much better proposition. Because during pre-curtain or intermission, there will <i>always </i>be a line. It will <i>always </i>be small. You will <i>never </i>have time. And I'm not just talking about the Ladies', though that is always exponentially worse, and facilities may be even more off-putting. (Especially at many of our Off-Off venues.)<br />
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Naturally, the worst scenario is having to go <i>during </i>the performance when you do not have an aisle seat. So barring a medical or ageing condition, this you <i>really </i>want to avoid. (And if that's your condition, get that aisle seat.)<br />
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So what to do? It's "Nature's Call" after all, you say. Well each man or woman knows his or her own bladder best. But at the risk of over-sharing, here's my formula: If you're attending an evening show, don't drink any beverage after lunch. Then make sure to relieve yourself just before dinner. (Definitely before you take even a sip of water at the restaurant.) Then, hopefully, you should be good till 10 or 11pm.<br />
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(Ah, isn't this what a theatre blog is for? Jill Dolan may be alright, but, dammit, if this kind of insight does not deserve a <a href="http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/Dec11/NathanAward.html">George Jean Nathan Award</a>, what does!)<br />
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I haven't even touched on the numerous noise-offenses we encounter every night from our fellow audiences. The talkers. The toe-tappers. The "repeaters" (reflexively echoing every joke that pleases one). The "breathers" (heavy, that is). The sleepers and snorers (see "caffeine," above). And, then, my favorite, the clothes-fondlers. Often men in wide corduroy who love the feeling of it through their fingers a little too much. Also beware of acrylic coats or leather pants.<br />
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One special circle of hell is reserved for not just talkers but that subset who keep talking <i>after the curtain has risen </i>but before any dialogue begins. So hear me now: just because no one on stage is speaking yet does not mean the play hasn't started. Sometimes that "moving around" the actors do is important, too.<br />
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You may have noticed I have not even <i>mentioned </i>cell phones yet. Need I? It's 2013 now. I say if you still haven't learned by now how to turn it off, how to keep it off, how to make sure it doesn't ring <i>again</i> when you have a voice mail, how to not have an excruciatingly poor-taste ring for when it <i>does </i>go off...then we'll just have to take it away from you. That's right. There's no Second Amendment in this case. License and register them, I say, with full background checks. Because in the theatre, my friends, they are lethal weapons.<br />
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I know some may say: Playgoer, you are so bourgeois. These codes of social behavior to keep us tethered to our seats, in the dark, only looking forward, uncommunicative with our fellow spectators<i> </i>are, in fact, only a relatively recent trend historically to deaden the live-performance experience, all in the name of some unattainable and dubious standard of "realism." Why not liberate the audience, let us behave like the social creatures we are--such as at sporting events or rock concerts, where we truly participate and respond to the action.<br />
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To which I say: yes, these are entirely socially constructed norms of behavior, specific to Western middle-class realist aesthetics and are, indeed, doomed to die out when our techno-indulgent marketplace finally bans silence and long attention spans from our culture forever.<br />
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But until then? While we're still paying exorbitant amounts to hear what Scarlet Johansson is saying on stage? Please keep your cell phones off and your Playbills on the floor. Dammit.<br />
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(What would <i>you </i>add to The Rules?)Playgoerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02994724588504353485noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12657288.post-15322400552076055182013-02-10T12:27:00.000-05:002013-02-10T12:28:08.096-05:00REVIEW: CliveIf I told you that Ethan Hawke was enlisting playwright friend Jonathan Marc Sherman to adapt Brecht's <i>Baal </i>for him to star in (<i>and </i>direct) so he could sport a Billy Idol 'do, wheeze away at the guitar, and surround himself with scantily clad babes for an intermissionless hour and forty minutes in front of a paying audience... you'd probably say: gee, that sounds pretty indulgent.<br />
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And guess what? You'd be right!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Clive" chewed out by the mighty bear D'Onofrio.<br /><i>Photo: Sara Krulwiich, New York Times</i></td></tr>
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Not much more can be said about <i>Clive </i>(the re-titled adaptation) that already hasn't been by the first round of scathing reviews. But I'll just add that mere self-indulgence isn't even the biggest problem with the show. The problem is <i>Baal</i>. Now I'm embarrassed to admit that I have never read <i>Baal</i>--Brecht's first play that is rarely if ever produced and/or studied today. But I do know enough to know that it's not the kind of work we now expect from Brecht. This is Brecht the angry teenager--channeling German late-romantic decadence and nihilism. (The deliberately schematic expressionistic narrative charts the slow decline and assorted crimes of a hedonistic rebel poet.) So all it would have going for it is really the poetry. Poetry, of course, is hard enough to fulfill in translation. But am I right to be extra dubious about the ability of Mr. Sherman (still known chiefly as the author of that acting school staple <i>Women and Wallace</i>) to match the poetry of a young Bertolt Brecht? (Especially when Sherman admits in the program to adapting the original German text via Google Translate!)<br />
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Updating <i>Baal</i>, as <i>Clive </i>does,<i> </i>to the <i>Rent</i>-era1990s might have seemed to Hawke and Sherman (and New Group A.D. Scott Elliott who has produced it) the most sensible thing to do, this choice may be the project's fatal flaw, even if its only reason for being. This muddled and pretty generic picture of punk/grunge Alphabet City ennui ends up not nearly as interesting or arresting as <i>Baal </i>would be in its original period of Weimar Germany--which I imagine unfolding in a series of Egon Schiele images brought to life.<br />
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The only reason, I assumed, to do this kind of "update" of <i>Baal </i>would be as an excuse to stage a decadent rock-concert mash-up of Brecht's basic idea. I'd be ok with that. But while <i>Clive </i>is billed as only being "inspired" by <i>Baal</i>, the adaptation isn't nearly free enough to make the concept work. Plus, worst of all: the music stinks! What there is of it, at least. Hawke does bear a properly debauched Tom Waits-style voice (or is that just Hawke's usual untrained, strained raspiness? the flu?), but he can barely get a chord out of his ever-present guitar. If "Clive" is supposed to be some magnetic rocker who packs them in at Bowery Ballroom...well let's just say you're not going to want his CD.<br />
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To end on a higher note, though, I will say I was most looking forward to <i>Clive </i>for the chance to see a rare stage appearance by the mighty Vincent D'Onofrio. My only disappointment he wasn't in it more. Playing the sidekick character, he seems miscast, being some 15 years older than Hawke and sporting some odd redneck accent+mustache. But when he actually does get to plant his big, big presence center stage--even for something as ridiculous as dog-whoofing--I wanted more. Come back, Vincent, come back! Forget Ethan and even Bertolt and go back to Sam Shepard where you belong!Playgoerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02994724588504353485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12657288.post-5124138127852531642013-02-03T15:04:00.000-05:002013-02-03T15:51:53.155-05:00Playgoer Lives!Well that was some "hiatus," wasn't it? Where were we...<br />
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For the few of you that might still be tuning in, welcome back! Sorry for the prolonged, um, "intermission." My excuse is simply lack of time, mainly. I finally completed my PhD in the fall--at the <a href="http://www.gc.cuny.edu/Page-Elements/Academics-Research-Centers-Initiatives/Doctoral-Programs/Theatre">CUNY Graduate Center Theatre Program</a>--and went right into a busy semester of adjunct teaching. (For the academically uninitiated, for "adjunct" think "freelance.") So the good news is, I'm finally--as my mother always wished-- "a doctor"! The, as of yet, less manifestly good news is that I'm now "on the market" seeking full time academic employment as a professor. So please excuse the blatant plea, but if you're in academia and your department is hiring, and you're a fan of this blog, tell them to hire Dr. Playgoer!<br />
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While I'm groveling, I also want to put out there that Playgoer is looking for any other kinds of new "revenue streams." That includes being more available for hire, personally, for writing/reviewing. And if anyone has offers or suggestions of what to do with the blog to "monetize" it more, please share! That includes advertising; for a long time I have sold a small amount of ad space (simple text links), so if you or your company is interested. (You can also still purchase ads via "Blogads" in the upper right margin.)<br />
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As before, I can be reached at playgoer_at_gmail, with any tips, offers, or inquiries.<br />
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Indeed, the increasing economic challenges of both freelancing and running a blog (not to mention during a Depression!) have taken their toll on me as well. <a href="http://blog.chloeveltman.com/2012/09/will-write-for-food-not.html">Chloe Veltman</a> testified to this eloquently a few months back. (Her argument, basically: freelance theatre writing has ceased to be a sustainable self-supporting profession, even of the most minimal kind.) And when I look around the Blogosphere as a whole, I see a similar cresting, perhaps, after a wave of volunteer bloggers in the 2000's subsidized the whole discourse. More and more onetime independent blogs are either folding or, with luck, being acquired. (Hey, anyone wanna buy a theatre blog?)<br />
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I admit thinking long and hard about whether to resume The Playgoer at all. It's definitely become much harder for me than it used to be to stay online all day and keep up with everything going on in theatre. And I've completely lost touch with whatever remains of what we used to call "the theatresphere"--the coterie of other theatre bloggers upon whom I once relied to generate the kind of conversations that fueled this whole endeavor. But <i>is </i>there even a theatre blogosphere any more? I'm heartened to see many of the <a href="http://parabasis.typepad.com/">old</a>-<a href="http://www.superfluitiesredux.com/">timers</a> are <a href="http://matthewfreeman.blogspot.com/">still</a> <a href="http://theatreideas.blogspot.com/">posting</a>. But I haven't even begun to be able to catch up with what they're doing lately.<br />
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My sense is that, with the new mobile technologies, a lot of theatre-blogging-type activity has migrated to <a href="https://twitter.com/theplaygoer">Twitter</a> and other bite-size platforms. Debates that used to go on for days between different blog sites in long posts now transpire over a few hours between several theatre folk at once in 140 characters or less. Does anyone have time any more to actually sit down and read a blog? Can a classic 1200-word blog-rant survive the attention span we give to our handhelds?<br />
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Well I've decided to stop worrying about such questions and go ahead and do what I can right here on this little piece of web real estate I have. So, for now, this will become a kind of Playgoer "Weekend Edition"--which will be devoted mostly to reviews.My primary objective right now is just to get back into writing about theatre, and that's the easiest way to start. So if you want to keep following, expect a single post each weekend (possibly Friday, possibly Sunday) discussing one or more current or recent New York productions. (Or out of town shows, if I've been traveling.) I also aim to step up my Twittering, to supplement the more long-form writing here with quicker links and comments on theatre news and gossip.<br />
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Playgoer Weekend Edition begins this weekend with my <strike>shortly forthcoming</strike> writeup of the current <i>Cat on a Hot Tin Roof</i>. [Now posted, see below.] Which, as anyone who's seen it can attest, is just irresistible to write about for so many reasons!<br />
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Meanwhile, for now, I'll just say welcome back and I hope you'll find some virtual space for Playgoer in your busier-than-ever online reading habits. (Links to new posts will go out on Twitter and Facebook, in addition to the usual RSS feeds.) The landscape of The Theatresphere has changed and I look forward to you and I discovering--or REdiscovering--it together.Playgoerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02994724588504353485noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12657288.post-57022136229685474962013-02-03T14:58:00.000-05:002014-01-01T14:47:54.230-05:00REVIEW: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof<i>If only</i> the current Broadway revival of <i>Cat on a Hot Tin Roof </i>featured something as jarring and surprising as a "Ghost Skipper" floating in and out of the background. Despite the understandable <a href="http://www.nypost.com/p/entertainment/theater/cat_needs_an_exorcism_WNLojujBRW1WikfFhig8LN">ridicule</a> of that eventually discarded idea (which was cut by the time I saw a press performance), I might not have minded such a choice were it part of a bold, expressionistic dream-like reinvention of the play. But director Rob Ashford ends up serving up something much duller--a rudderless stumble-through of a long and flawed play where souped-up visuals try to substitute for drama.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2013/01/18/arts/18CAT/18CAT-articleInline-v2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2013/01/18/arts/18CAT/18CAT-articleInline-v2.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sara Krulwich,<i> </i>for <i>The New York Times</i></td></tr>
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I suppose I should start with the element that has made this production happen at all--the misguided star casting of Scarlett Johansson as "Maggie The Cat." I say misguided not because Johansson lacks talent or even stage chops. As she proved in her debut in <i>A View from the Bridge</i>, unlike other movie star Broadway novices, Johansson has a natural presence and energy on stage. (Only her voice--no doubt exhausted from delivering her <i>long </i>opening monologue eight times a week--gives away a lack of training. When little Scarlett starts sounding like Kathleen Turner with laryngitis, you know something ain't right.) Scarlett Johansson is not what's wrong with this <i>Cat</i>. If anything, it works against the show that this "star" character is basically only prominent on stage at the very beginning and very end! (That's certainly going to backfire with fans buying tix only to see her...)<br />
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No, what's wrong is that you have talented, able actors who are at sea in a script that certainly does not "direct itself." Ashford has put a lot of care into the setting and ambiance. (More on the many dubious "atmospherics" later.) But one doesn't get the sense of much insightful scene coaching in rehearsal.<br />
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That opening monologue of Maggie's, for instance, is quite a challenging <i>aria </i>and puts a lot of pressure on the actress to ground everyone in the play. But poor Scarlett seems to have gotten little advice other than "louder, faster, funnier." Even the more seasoned actors suffer from a clear unease and lack of direction. While everyone else in the audience that night seemed there either for our young starlet or seeing "Bloody, Bloody" Benjamin Walker in a towel, I was most looking forward to veteran Irish thesp Ciarán Hinds as Big Daddy. Anyone familiar with Hinds' stage and screen roles as gangsters and even the Devil himself (in MacPherson's <i>The Seafarer</i>) would expect the ultimate menacing patriarch. Instead, with that wan, weather-beaten face buried under bushy grandaddy whiskers and a Yosemite Sam accent, he's completely de-fanged. And just as Johansson seems completely on her own through her long Act One, Hinds and Walker spend their big Act Two confrontation dully sitting around and talking with occasional random bouts of wrestling.<br />
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As for Walker, the very fact I find little to say about him is revealing enough. True, Brick is an awfully hard part--more <i>re</i>active than active, forced to listen more than talk. But whatever punk rock presence he brought to <i>Bloody, Bloody Andrew Jackson</i> is sorely missing. Like his lean, tall, but frankly unimposing and somewhat delicate bare physique on constant display, Walker conveys little energy, strength or purpose on stage. But again--he doesn't seem to have received much direction other than "keep your shirt off." (And, perhaps conversely: "keep your towel from dropping.")<br />
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Ashford--formerly known for direction and choreography of hit musicals--began making a more dramatic name for himself in London, where his "Streetcar" (with Rachel Weisz) was a recent hit at the Donmar. But while the British rightly celebrate Williams, I've noticed they seem to like their Tennessee with a heavy dollop of "Southern Gothic" exoticism. So based on this <i>Cat</i>, I can see why they may have liked about Ashford's style. Here, Brick's little upstairs bedroom becomes a veritable grand ballroom--with a chandelier and several balcony windows encircling his regal bed. The airiness of it all (gossamer walls and high ceilings) is certainly pretty. But it makes it awfully hard to feel sorry for the guy. Or to believe this is a real house, for that matter.<br />
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And far more questionable, to my mind, than any visions of Brick's dead admirer is the added presence Ashford gives to the scripted characters of the African American household servants. I'm referring to their singing of black spirituals (!) during the Act Three climax. Now, even though the play is set nearly a hundred years after the Civil War, if one <i>wants</i> to paint Big Daddy as a plantation owner and his estate as some throwback to Dixie and Tara, I'm game if it's meant to add to the feeling of corruption and moral decay in the family. But these <strike>slaves</strike> servants sure are one happy bunch of Singing Negroes! The elder female maid is seen genuinely caring as she eavesdrops on one of Big Mama's concerned phone calls. And the men smile when they are ordered about by Big Daddy. Perhaps this is Ashford's way of trying to justify these characters and flesh them out. But wouldn't it be more humanizing to show the truth of their situation--that they are there merely because it is their job?<br />
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Now that the (mostly negative) reviews are in (<a href="http://www.stagegrade.com/productions/1176#">StageGrade</a> average: C-!), it will be interesting to see how the show fares at the box office. (The production is, after all, a purely commercial enterprise.) <a href="http://www.playbill.com/features/article/174460-Broadway-Grosses-Jan-21-27">Playbill</a> shows the house last week was at 83.5% capacity--not bad for a nonmusical play (oh wait, this <i>is </i>a musical!), but not the 99% I'm sure the producers expected Scarlett Johannson to draw. If what they wanted was a vehicle for her, maybe they should have avoided a three-act, two-intermission(!), talky script, where she's not even on stage half the time.<br />
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And I left really thinking the play is not even among Williams' top works. Nothing much happens, Brick is a cypher, and who outside of the family would care about Big Daddy's inheritance anyway? The play lives or dies, therefore, on the dynamism of the acting. And the acting in a meandering, plotless script like this depends more than usual on the directing.<br />
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Here's a directorial suggestion, by the way: <i>Cat </i>is basically one long continuous one-act, isn't it, unfolding more or less in real time in that one bedroom. So how about a site-specific, intermissionless staging in an actual upstairs room of a mansion, where the audience is stuck in that room with bedridden Brick, with the cast of eccentric characters popping in and out.<br />
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Such speculation, at least, diverted me for much of the performance at the Richard Rodgers Theatre...Playgoerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02994724588504353485noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12657288.post-9083356868106141352012-08-07T13:14:00.002-04:002012-08-07T13:14:24.055-04:00Playgoer on HiatusAs has been apparent since the Tony Awards, The Playgoer has been taking the summer off. But I do indeed intend to resume blogging during the fall <i>in some form</i>. What does that mean? Shifting to weekly? Migrating to Twitter? Tune in next month and see...Playgoerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02994724588504353485noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12657288.post-72337334357459825182012-06-10T20:04:00.031-04:002012-06-11T16:50:30.335-04:00Tony Blogcast 2012<i>For Twitter followers: additional Tony observations were tweeted at: @theplaygoer</i><br />
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11:10 <i>Once</i> for Best Musical. What can I say. I didn't see it coming. And I'm glad they didn't follow my advice to fold. But the reason I was skeptical about their B'way prospects was that I've seen way too many "small" and good shows die on Broadway in pursuit of some antiquated retro dream of a Broadway that is no more. But, hey, they made it work! How did they do that? A subject worthy of further reporting... Meanwhile, Parker & Stone presenting Best Musical? Craven plea for audience? Yes. But brilliant nonetheless. And why? Because <i>the </i>big question hovering over Broadway this year--from <i>Book of Mormon </i>to <i>Smash</i>--is: can Broadway take back its place in truly "Popular Culture"--the realm from which it came. More to come....Good night! <br />
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10:55 The anointing of Nina Arianda! Look, she's great. But <i>Venus in Fur</i>? As a <i>play</i>? Crap, no? (Also, love how CBS announcer pronounced her character's name as "VAnda" ('a' as in "Mandy")... Audra is indeed fantastic in <i>Porgy</i>. Pretty much the reason to see it.....Ad-Buy Watch: the new Woody film (there's your demographic indicator)<br />
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10:48 Re: James Corden's Best Actor Tony: 1) Yes, PS Hoffman was clearly pissed. I liked him very much in <i>Salesman</i>. But now I realize... did he do this for the Tony? 2) Corden is fabulous. And he embodies how, at its best, <i>1Man/2Guvs </i>wonderfully displays the inherent porousness of stage comedy. (i.e. actors/audience interaction). But, look, this award (and <i>2Guvs'</i> B'way success) was Anglophilia all the way<br />
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10:40 Upset for Steve Kazee, another harbinger of <i>Once</i>'s big night. Big upset. The anointing of Jeremy Jordan will have to wait....Add to CBS-unworthy list: Michael Kahn's Regional Theatre Tony for his Shakespeare DC Theatre...And yet Hugh Jackman's Special "Humanitarian" Tony gets primetime, replete with clips from <i>Hugh Jackman: Back on Broadway!</i> And presented to him by... Mrs. Hugh Jackman. Why? To prove to Middle America that there is a Mrs. Hugh Jackman...<br />
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10:30 Tony Low Point: A musical number Live from a Cruise Ship! Ok, admittedly, those cruise ships do employ, at any given moment, probably 50% of AEA musical performers* (And Ish<a href="https://twitter.com/nytimestheater/status/212007973294313473"> tweets</a> that Royal Caribbean has bought mucho ad time on the broadcast) .....Awkward as it must have been for CBS Primetime viewers, Mandy & Patti's singing back & forth of classic lyrics was the first <i>true </i>theatrical-talent moment of the night.... Big upset for <i>Porgy </i>over <i>Follies </i>(hmm, a little FU to the latter's composer, Sondheim's trashing of the former?) <br />
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<i></i>10:20 Ricky Martin makes such a happy "Che" doesn't he? And poor Elena Rogers (playing, ahem, Evita!) doesn't get to do a thing.... <i>Note Bene</i>: One important thing to keep in mind about all these production numbers on the broadcast: the shows <i>pay </i>for them themselves. Yes. Really. Infomercials within an informercial, if you will...."Blah-Blah-Blah Unimportant Drama Fag" awards update: Lighting Design/Play: <i>Peter/Starcatcher... </i>Ad-Buy watch: <i>Les Miz</i> The Movie!<br />
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10: 10 Jim Parson's intro to Best Play? Just plain weird. ... Same goes for slow-mo blocking of <i>Clybourne Park </i>actors. Oh wait, are those even the real actors? And...cue B-Roll. (CBS just doesn't know what to do with plays, do they?)... Kudos to <i>Clybourne Park</i> and kudos for Tony voters for not finding a way out of it. But for anyone watching the broadcast... it might as well be in a different universe, right? It's like Best Foreign Film at the Oscars...<br />
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10:00 "Other Awards" update: Lighting/Play for <i>Once</i> ....Ad-Buy Watch: <i>Rebecca: The Musical</i>...<br />
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9:55 Haven't seen <i>Once</i> yet. (Maybe because I'm still humiliated from <a href="https://twitter.com/theplaygoer/status/170191288333897730">predicting</a> its demise!) But that number they did tonight, I bet, goes over much better than the rest with most of America. Why? Because at least they won't find it <i>cheezy</i>.... Meanwhile stay tuned for Ricky Martin and a cruise ship....(kid you not)<br />
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9:45 "Those Other Awards" update: Bob Crowely, Set Design/Play for <i>Once.... </i>BigTime bow to genuine Pop Culture: Tyler Perry presents Best Play/Revival<br />
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9:40 I'm afraid any progress the current <i>Porgy & Bess </i>was striving for in the depiction of "simple negro folk" was not helped by their on-air speed-freak medley..... Meanwhile in Broadcast Ad-Buy watch: <i>Rock of Ages</i>--the MOVIE!<br />
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9:35 A while ago, Ellen Barkin delivered the official B'way statistics that it's been "another record breaking box office season." Eerily reminded me of Politburo announcements about crops in the latest 5-Year Plan...<br />
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<div class="js-tweet-text tweet-text ">9:30 More "killing time during commercials" awards: Best Set Design (Play): <i>Peter/Starcatcher... </i>As I just <a href="https://twitter.com/theplaygoer/status/211993365565288454">tweeted</a>: "Is it too much for ATW and <a class="twitter-timeline-link" data-expanded-url="http://TonyAwards.com" href="http://t.co/2F95lOPy" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: 0pt; line-height: 0;">http://</span><span class="js-display-url">TonyAwards.com</span><span class="tco-ellipsis"><span style="font-size: 0pt; line-height: 0;"> </span></span></a> THEMSELVES to tweet out the winners of offscreen awards? Really?" It really hasn't been easy to find that info online tonight. There's only so many twitter feeds I can troll....</div><i> </i> <br />
9:23 Who says the Tony broadcast doesn't honor plays. "Here's one line of B-roll from each play!" EXCEPT, any "Play with Music" gets a break. Hence: <i>Peter/Starcatcher </i>and <i>End of the Rainbow</i>. Dangerous precedent? As for <i>One Man Two Guvs,</i>viewers out there must be wondering what the hell the otherwise brilliant James Corden is doing slapping himself with a weird British accent...<br />
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9:13 In "Other Awards" news.... Best Costumes to <i>Peter/Starcatcher</i> and <i>Follies</i>... CBS Advertising Watch: Roundabout's <i>Harvey </i>w/ Jim Parsons<br />
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9:08 During the <i>Nice Work</i> segment I realized: I miss the excerpts that were just about one great number sung by one great star. But now, since Matthew Broderick is still (still!) a bigger media star than Kelli O'Hara, we get three seconds of her "Someone to Watch Over Me" and three minutes of his "college try" at "Sweet and Low Down." It's Production Number by Committee.<br />
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9:01 No, I have not seen <i>Peter/Starcatcher</i> and Christian Borle is undeniably a fab actor. But is his award a <i>Smash</i> shout-out? How could it not be...<br />
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8:55 Not-ready-for-prime-time awards are indeed still being handed out...during commercials. Latest: Sound Design for <i>Once</i> (musical) and <i>Peter/Starcatcher </i>(play) <br />
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8:49 Lowpoint so far: Orchestra cutting off Mike Nichols. Mike Frickin' Nichols!<br />
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8:40 Buddy's number from <i>Follies </i>must seem pretty weirdly out of context to viewers. (It's kind of a crazy dream sequence--hence the trippy vaudeville suit.) But while such uninformed rabble are thinking this typifies everything they hate about Broadway, I just want to pay tribute to Danny Burstein, one of those hundreds of NYC actors who in any other era would be considered major stars. (And as <a href="https://twitter.com/CharlesMcNulty/status/211979903959175169">McNulty</a> points out, he just got in on the redeye from LA, where <i>Follies </i>just ended its tour.)<br />
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8:31 Michael McGrath is indeed excellent in <i>Nice Work</i>--a show I enjoyed more than most. The rare "revisal" that honors and retains the spirit of the original.<br />
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8:30 Shows so far buying advertising time during the broadcast: <i>The Best Man</i>. Developing....<br />
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8:25 That <i>Newsies </i>music sure wouldn't inspire <i>me </i>to dance like that. Although I do appreciate the cheesy attempt to musicalize <i>Waiting for Lefty</i>--"Strike!Strike! Strike!"--although Odets probably didn't imagine a funky beat<br />
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8:20 Tony Mysteries--Why was Patti LuPone pushing a lawnmower? What was Amanda Seyfreid doing there? (And why didn't her mike work?)<br />
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If Neil's special opening number was another Shaiman & Wittman special commission.... not up to their usual. No big laughs. Which makes it just...a...waste...of...airtime.<br />
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8:15 While I love <i>Book of Mormon</i>, odd choice to start with "Hello." This really assumes a "target demographic" for the broadcast, doesn't it. If you don't know the musical, would you think those decadent Broadway heathens are just making fun of Mormons? No use in questioning motive, though, since that's easy: extend advance sales for <i>Book of Mormon</i>! (and Scott Rudin, inc)... James Earl Jones with the Darth Vader autograph equipment, though, was pretty priceless <br />
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All in all, pales in comparison's to last year's far more original, elaborate, and even confrontational number, "Broadway: It's Not Just for Gays Any More." <br />
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8:00 Let's start the festivities the way I always like to start: unearthing from off-screen obscurity the not-so-trivial awards already handed out. And, quite frustratingly, I must say TonyAwards.com does not make this info very easily accessible, something they--of all websites--should be able to do immediately, you'd think.... First there's the little matter of Best Book--that is, script or <i>play</i> in the musical category--going to Irish playwright Enda Walsh for <i>Once. </i>Kinda important, don't you think. Anyway, that plus Martin Lowe's intimate orchestrations signal a good night for <i>Once.</i><br />
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Also in major non-network news is the Choreography award to Christopher Gattelli for <i>Newsies</i>--which apparently is the chief reason that show is in such contention. Go figure. I guess all that matters to them is we'll see some of the dancing on the broadcast.<br />
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No sign at all of the design awards yet, which usually join these other "obscure" categories in preshow exile. What's up with them?<br />
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*UPDATE: Martha Plimpton <a href="https://twitter.com/MarthaPlimpton/status/212006759991214080">tweets</a> me straight on the cruise issue: "Now non-union cruise ships are the same as Broadway, FYI. Good performers should have union protection."Playgoerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02994724588504353485noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12657288.post-10028735755939246192012-06-09T12:54:00.000-04:002012-06-09T12:54:05.568-04:00The Annual Playgoer Tony Live Blogcast...is on!<br />
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Yes, sorry we've been absent here a long time. But help nurse Playgoer back to life by visiting and taking part in the traditional Tony Live Blogcast here tomorrow night starting at 8:00 EST.<br />
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Past blogcast archive--going all the way back to 2005!--<a href="http://playgoer.blogspot.com/search/label/Tony%20Blogcast">here</a>.Playgoerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02994724588504353485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12657288.post-8172830825517733542012-05-01T10:14:00.001-04:002012-05-01T10:28:09.536-04:00Tony Noms 2012They're <a href="http://www.tonyawards.com/en_US/nominees/index.html">out there</a>. <br />
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Random thoughts:<br />
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First I recklessly <a href="https://twitter.com/#%21/theplaygoer/status/170191288333897730">tweet</a> that <i>Once</i> would not even make it to opening night on Broadway, now it leads the pack with 11 Tony nominations. Go figure. (And have I seen it? Of course not.) And given the competition, I now (equally recklessly) say it's the odd on favorite to win Best Musical.<br />
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Of the four Best Musical nominees, three are based on movies and one is a "revisal" of an old Gershwin musical (old songs, new script). I actually am not among those lamenting movies-into-musicals-- before that it was plays-into-musicals, no? (And even books.) But, as movies, <i>Newsies </i>and <i>Once</i> already <i>were </i>musicals, although I gather much new music has been added to both for Broadway? So <i>Leap of Faith </i>has the only fully <i>original </i>score of the bunch.<br />
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Note that for the actual "Best Original Score" category they couldn't even <i>find </i>four satisfactory musicals. 1) <i>Newsies, </i>which is only partially original for the stage; 2) <i>Bonnie and Clyde</i>, which... speaks for itself; 3) <i>Peter and the Starcatcher</i>, a play with music; and 4) <i>One Man Two Guvnors</i>, another play, featuring a mock-Beatles band playing 60's rockabilly pastiche between scenes. So, anyone want to comment on the state of the new musical?<br />
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Speaking of <i>2Guvs</i> (as the kids call it), a shame it apparently was deemed neither fish nor foul by the committee: Although it's actually a loose adaptation of Goldoni's <i>Servant of Two Masters</i>, it was ruled ineligible for the "play revival" category. Yet it appears to have seemed too (deliberately) old fashioned for Best "New" Play--a category which instead includes an adaptation of an old Viennese novel, a <i>Peter Pan</i> "prequel," and a <i>Raisin in the Sun </i>"sequel."<br />
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Best Play Revival includes <i>Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman </i>and <i>Gore Vidal's The Best Man</i>. I don't believe that's what they were called when they opened originally. So let's call them new plays! (Ditto for <i>The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess</i>, of course.)<br />
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Remember <i>Spider-Man</i>? The Tonys didn't. Sets and costumes is all they get. But as Erik Piepenburg @nyt just <a href="https://twitter.com/#%21/nytimestheater/status/197316376636043265">tweeted</a>, the show's producers are probably just relieved, for legal purposes, that Julie Taymor did not get any further validation as "director."<br />
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As for performers...<br />
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Best Actor/Play looks like a tossup between three formidable fatmen: Philip Seymour Hoffman, James "2Guvs" Corden, and James Earl Jones. Jones would probably win in the "Featured" category--what's he doing here?<br />
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When you consider that Venus in Fur is playing to only 57% capacity (up 9 points from last week!), you wonder how Manhattan Theatre Club feels throwing a <i>lot </i>of money away for the sake of Nina Arianda's Best Actress nomination. Girl <i>owes </i>them! (Oh yeah, got Best Play nod, too. So David Ives owes them!)<br />
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Speaking of MTC, blessed year for them. From what I heard, no one particularly liked their (pointless) <i>Wit </i>and <i>Master Class </i>remounts. Yet both are nominated for Best Play Revival. (And likewise the only faintly praised Cynthia Nixon for Best Actress in <i>Wit</i>.)<br />
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Special Award for Hugh Jackman??? Well he did make some folks a ton of money this season.<br />
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And finally, shoutout to Shakespeare Theatre DC for the regional award. About time!Playgoerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02994724588504353485noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12657288.post-62002357565619187502012-04-04T11:10:00.000-04:002012-04-04T11:10:51.320-04:00Review: The Morini StradMy latest for Time Out: Willy Holtzman's <a href="http://www.timeout.com/newyork/theater/the-morini-strad-drama"><i>The Morini Strad</i></a> at Primary Stages.<br />
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The takeaway: "<i>Tuesdays with Morrie</i> for the WQXR crowd."<br />
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By the way, forgot to mention in the review that this is "based on a true story." But I must say I found myself wondering: where's the "story" here???Playgoerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02994724588504353485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12657288.post-12162298000208667162012-03-27T10:41:00.000-04:002012-03-27T10:41:52.331-04:00Rush Tickets for All!Kudos to producer Jordan Roth for simplifying the <a href="http://www.playbill.com/news/article/161123-Clybourne-Park-Doesnt-Discriminate-Rush-Policy-for-All-Announced">rush ticket policy</a> for at least <i>one </i>Broadway show:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">A limited number of lower-price general rush tickets will be available for every performance of the Broadway run of Bruce Norris' Pulitzer Prize-winning <i>Clybourne Park</i>, the comedy-drama about the personalities behind racial shifts in a neighborhood, producer Jordan Roth announced on March 26, the day of the play's first preview. "We hope to give as many people as possible the opportunity to share this astonishing theatrical experience," Roth said in a statement.<br />
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Rush tickets (at $30 each) will be available on the day of the performance at the Walter Kerr Theatre box office beginning at 10 AM. Limit two per customer. Opening night for the limited 16-week engagement is April 19.<br />
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</blockquote>Yes. Finally. <i>Increasing</i> the opportunities to see a show instead of constricting them. What a concept.<br />
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Let's hope this scores big, since it's about time Broadway in general simplified the whole rush policy mess. Every show has its own policy--which is usually <i>not publicized</i>. Many are for only for the under-30 set (or even younger, requiring student ID). Do they have to make it so <i>obviously</i> begrudging?<br />
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When, in fact, I bet when a show is actually <i>good</i>, tons of folks will, er, rush to any opportunity to go for less than $40, or even $50.<br />
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And seriously, producers, how do you feel about your churlish rush policies when you're staring at all those empty seats during previews, huh?Playgoerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02994724588504353485noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12657288.post-15762218289753951762012-03-23T13:57:00.000-04:002012-03-23T13:57:03.482-04:00Correction of the DayTime we had a little humor in the Mike Daisey affair...<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">A writer named Jason Mick, at the <a href="http://www.dailytech.com/Famed+WriterMonologist+Caught+Lying+About+Much+of+Apple+China+Expos/article24253.htm">Daily Tech site</a>, criticizes, as <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/03/the-sad-and-infuriating-mike-daisey-case/254661/">I have</a>, the things that Daisey got wrong or made up. Then he adds: <br />
<blockquote>Mr. Daisey is married to Deborah Fallows, a Chinese native who wrote the book <i>Dreaming in Chinese</i>.</blockquote>It is true that <a href="http://www.deborahfallows.com/">Deborah Fallows</a> . . . wrote the book Dreaming in Chinese. It is true that friends have told her that she might as well have been born a native Chinese person, since her spirit matches that of Chinese women in so many ways. But she is a native of Chicago, not any place in China, and of Czech rather than Chinese ethnic background. And she is most definitely <b>not</b> married to Mike Daisey. At least that is what she told me when she stormed back into the bedroom this morning irate about what she had just seen about herself online. </blockquote>-Mr. <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/03/the-most-ironic-critique-of-mike-daiseys-inaccuracies/254681/">James Fallows </a><br />
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("Jason Mick might want to ratchet back his outrage over Mike Daisey's sloppiness with facts," he adds.)<br />
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And for the record, Daisey is married to his director/collaborator Jean-Michele Gregory.Playgoerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02994724588504353485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12657288.post-41768237238791243242012-03-19T15:04:00.000-04:002012-03-19T15:04:15.975-04:00Orson at 24<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgur7wGy4Zy9y9eCWqRCTBFoZF4UBgUQnHSR4u827CxXoJqvmnRNYu3xBQGwOJDiYaZpr0itNGbmFeIF0N8gP6LPMqQByRK0rttdG6GzAR1d01CZy-uPYChx4XItKDzvpwGbEsx/s1600/article-0-122B9619000005DC-407_306x423.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgur7wGy4Zy9y9eCWqRCTBFoZF4UBgUQnHSR4u827CxXoJqvmnRNYu3xBQGwOJDiYaZpr0itNGbmFeIF0N8gP6LPMqQByRK0rttdG6GzAR1d01CZy-uPYChx4XItKDzvpwGbEsx/s400/article-0-122B9619000005DC-407_306x423.jpg" width="288" /></a></div><br />
Orson Welles in 1939, when he was still a stage and radio star, pre-<i>Citizen Kane</i>. From a new exhibit of Golden Age Hollywood color photos at the <a href="http://www.npg.si.edu/exhibit/exhwarnecke.html">National Portrait Gallery</a> in DC.<br />
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Kinda looks like "the tall guy" in any twenty-something theatre company today, doesn't he?Playgoerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02994724588504353485noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12657288.post-70213316127227645372012-03-18T12:04:00.000-04:002012-03-18T12:04:29.663-04:00About Mike D"We do not and cannot fact check our artists; we're a theater, not a news organization. The vast majority of what occurs on our stages is fiction. If we didn't believe fiction could reveal truth, we would have to give up our profession. With that said, it obviously matters a great deal to me that our audience understands what they are seeing."<br />
<br />
-Oskar Eustis, AD of the Public Theatre, presenter and producer of Mike Daisey's <i>The Agony and Ecstasy of Steve Jobs</i>--which, if you didn't know already--came under a bit of <a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hi9rYo6ZMrmffYm8Wmn2xmQOhwVw?docId=3bfbce2dd9674d55a106a80cb97a1682">heat</a> this weekend. <br />
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I am just way too busy this weekend to weigh in on this coherently. But I think Eustis basically gets it right, from a theatrical standpoint.<br />
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On the other hand, someone who gets it wrong (at least in this quote) is the man who called him out, <i>This American Life</i>'s Ira Glass, who <a href="https://twitter.com/#%21/ditzkoff/status/181014755551625219">complained</a>: "The normal worldview is: somebody stands on stage and says this happens to me, I think it happened to them." Yes, I think Daisey did himself in when taking his stage show to NPR without accounting for the semiotic differences in mediums. But, man, the ambiguity of "truth" on stage...that's what theatre's all about!Playgoerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02994724588504353485noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12657288.post-2118103246701769822012-03-09T11:03:00.000-05:002012-03-09T11:03:01.098-05:00A Site with a View<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://images.nypl.org/?id=3946372&t=w" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://images.nypl.org/?id=3946372&t=w" width="258" /></a></div>From NYPL, an online Noel Coward <a href="http://exhibitions.nypl.org/NoelCoward/index.html">archive</a> with bio and lots of photos. Take a tour and add a little <i>style </i>to your weekend!<br />
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The Lincoln Center Performing Arts branch will also have an on-site exhibit of many of the same materials starting <a href="http://www.nypl.org/events/exhibitions/star-quality-world-noel-coward">next week</a>.<br />
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<i>At right: Poster for original Broadway production of Coward's </i>Design for Living <i>, with from l to r: Alfred Lunt, the playwright, Lynn Fontanne</i>Playgoerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02994724588504353485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12657288.post-33219971599886371662012-03-06T11:03:00.000-05:002012-03-06T11:03:45.702-05:00Review: Beyond the HorizonFor <i>Time Out</i> this week I review Eugene O'Neill's 1920 Broadway debut play, <a href="http://newyork.timeout.com/arts-culture/theater/2744689/review-beyond-the-horizon"><i>Beyond the Horizon</i></a>. A title long familiar to me from theatre history books, nice to finally see it in this Irish Rep revival. <br />
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By the way, I wrote this last week, so that "slut" line was pre-<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/rush-limbaugh-sandra-fluke">Limbaugh</a>, I promise.Playgoerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02994724588504353485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12657288.post-61431998187302966412012-03-03T17:09:00.000-05:002012-03-03T17:09:00.832-05:00Kickstarter: Better than NEA?Are you sitting down? The crowd-funding site, Kickstarter, will soon be able to boast a bigger arts-funding treasure-chest than the National Endowment for the Arts.<br />
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Or, at least, <a href="http://idealab.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/02/kickstarter-expects-to-provide-more-funding-to-the-arts-than-nea.php">so boasts its boss</a>:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"> Kickstarter is having an amazing year, even by the standards of other white hot Web startup companies, and more is yet to come. One of the company’s three co-founders, Yancey Strickler, said that <b>Kickstarter is on track to distribute over $150 million dollars to its users’ projects in 2012, or more than entire fiscal year 2012 budget for the National Endowment of the Arts (NEA), which was $146 million.</b> “It is probable Kickstarter will distribute more money this year than the NEA,” said Stricker in an exclusive phone interview with TPM. </blockquote>Of course Kickstarter works very differently from a federal granting agency, and basically relies on how well you can bully (I mean, encourage) thousands of friends into coughing up a few bucks each. Sullivan rounds up the debate over the claim's merits <a href="http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/2012/03/could-kickstarter-replace-the-nea.html">here</a>.<br />
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And to be fair, Strickler himself is far from suggesting his company supplant the Endowment:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">“We view that number and our relationship to it in both a good and bad way.” <br />
As Strickler explained, the milestone is “good” in the sense that it means that Kickstarter may now reach a point where it will funnel as much money to the arts as the federal agency primarily responsible for supporting them, effectively doubling the amount of art that can get funded in the country. “But maybe it shouldn’t be that way,” Strickler said, “Maybe there’s a reason for the state to strongly support the arts.”</blockquote><br />
Free-marketers would probably be happy to suggest a Kickstarter-like solution for "privatizing" public sector arts funding. Which is why I think the right lesson to draw from this is not that the NEA is unnecessary but that--in its current atrophied and deliberately starved state--it's so <i>small</i>!<i> </i>At a time when anyone from political campaigns to Kickstarter projects can raise millions online in small contributions, $150 mil ain't much.<br />
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Just a reminder that-- No, Republicans, cutting the NEA won't do <i>bupkis</i> for the deficit.<br />
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So I'm all for Kickstarter <i>shaming </i>the congress by showing up how pathetically small their arts funding is. Unfortunately it won't be taken that way by many.<br />
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Meanwhile...how long till you think some major nonprofit starts taking to Kickstarter when subscriptions decline?Playgoerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02994724588504353485noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12657288.post-66265368246663219012012-02-23T07:54:00.000-05:002012-02-23T07:54:38.163-05:00MTC's Big BuySo I'm up early today and I decide to tune into "Morning Joe" on MSNBC, and what do I see a commercial for? Manhattan Theatre Club! No, not one of those 15-second blips at the end of the commercial-reel that stations reserve for cheap local ads. A proper 30-second glossy spot that I assume is going out nationally--or at least on the East Coast (6-6:30am time slot), or just the greater metro area if that's possible.<br />
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I can't find any video online yet to post, but basically it's Cynthia Nixon telling us all how wonderful MTC is. Yes, also a plug for her star turn in <i>Wit</i>, but that's just mentioned along the way. (And, no, she's not bald in this one.)<br />
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Why do I find this at all interesting? Well, it seems pretty unprecedented--a nonprofit theatre company spending BIG bucks on a nationally broadcast cable news show to basically advertise its brand. (Using Nixon and <i>Wit </i>as a hook, their latest "product.") I don't believe the word "subscribe" is ever used, but, hey, it <i>is </i>almost spring, which means subscription time. While there is no 2012-2013 season yet, titles of past greatest hits (<i>Proof</i>! <i>Rabbit Hole</i>!) flash across the screen. And the "copy" is all about how you can always count on a fabulous night out at the theatre there, with lots of shots of the "Samuel Friedman Theatre" lit up on the Great White Way. (No mentioned of the subterranean Stages 1 & 2.)<br />
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But if this <i>is </i>a national spot it may not even be about subscriptions. It's aimed at <i>tourists</i>, closing with a line something like: "MTC: as exciting as New York itself!" (No comment.) Competing for Broadway consumers, basically. <br />
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So I guess I have to admire their balls, at least. 'Cause that sure must cost <i>a lot </i>of their precious funds.<br />
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(Anyone know <i>how </i>much, by the way?)Playgoerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02994724588504353485noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12657288.post-76153219181353142082012-02-17T11:19:00.000-05:002012-02-17T11:19:06.780-05:00Garofalo's Stage Debut"Stage-acting, she feels, is a true test of discipline for someone who is used to flying by the seat of their pants 'in that you've <i>got</i> to say this here and you <i>must</i> put that prop there. You <i>must</i> turn the light on right now. <i>That</i> gets me because of my immature response to authority. I perceive it as an authority figure telling me, even though it's not. That's just how immature I am.'"<br />
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-<a href="http://www.playbill.com/news/article/159790-The-Truth-About-Janeane-Garofalo-Shes-Making-Her-Stage-Debut-At-Last/pg1">Janeane Garofalo</a>, on what it's like to make your stage debut (in New Group's <a href="http://www.thenewgroup.org/season1.htm"><i>Russian Transfer</i></a>) in your 40s after years of standup and movies.<br />
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Pretty apt tribute to stage actors, actually.Playgoerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02994724588504353485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12657288.post-53865726015390442572012-02-16T10:06:00.000-05:002012-02-16T10:06:33.147-05:00Not Student/Not SeniorLooks like 9-5 employed adults are finding it just as hard there as here to get <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/theatreblog/2012/feb/14/theatre-discount-deals-for-life">a decent theatre ticket discount</a>:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">While young people have access to youth ticket discounts (and so they should) and retirees have the time to take advantage of mid-week matinee offers, it's the average Joes – average age, average salary, average working hours – who are missing out on the chance to develop what could be a long-term passion. The sad fact is that if you didn't have the means to acquire one earlier in life, you often have little opportunity to do so in adulthood, either.</blockquote>And don't get me started on all-day camp-outs!Playgoerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02994724588504353485noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12657288.post-44918543153860987992012-02-13T15:22:00.000-05:002012-02-13T15:22:48.791-05:00Is Kickstarter Working?Yesterday, the fundraising website <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/">Kickstarter</a> reached a milestone when not one, but <i>two </i>of its clients passed the <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/02/until-yesterday-kickstarter-had-no-1-million-projects-151-today-it-has-2/252916/">million-dollar</a> threshold.<br />
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I mused last year upon the opportunities here for small theatre productions (and companies) and have noticed many doing so this season. In fact, "theater" has its own category on the site so you can check out current projects <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/discover/categories/theater?ref=sidebar">there</a>.<br />
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So my question to those doing so...How's that working out for you? Is there a future in this? Success stories? Fails? Please share!Playgoerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02994724588504353485noreply@blogger.com3