When one thinks of Jane Austen adaptations, one recalls the period pieces created by film makers and television producers -- lovely period settings and costumes inhabited by British actors. Works that emphasize the narrative of intelligent women seeking appropriate, somewhat rebellious mates. Often they lose Austen's wry wit, though Whit Stillman's recent LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP is laugh out loud funny. Bedlam's stage version of Austen's SENSE AND SENSIBILITY, adapted by Kate Hamill and directed by Eric Tucker, is nothing like the pretty Ang Lee film version. In the Spartan confines of The Gym at Judson with the audience on two sides of the playing area, Bedlam gives us Austen on speed. The show begins with the actors in contemporary dress dancing to a contemporary tune as if this were a party. Gradually the music changes as the actors transform into early 19th century characters dancing at a very different, more proper sort of social function. In a sense, the dancing never stops. Characters, along with furniture and set pieces (on wheels), whirl around the stage gossiping to each other and often to us in the audience. The production is one big dance. Ten actors take a variety of roles, sometimes within the same scene. The result is both immensely entertaining and a fitting twenty-first century homage to Austen. It is also very timely. This SENSE AND SENSIBILITY is about gossip and misinformation as is much of our lives in the internet age.
The acting by this fine ensemble is a lively blend of period and contemporary. There are a few moments when the comedy gets a little too broad, particularly when the actress in question is literally in your face or on your lap, but over all, this is one of the most delightful evenings of theater I have seen in the past few seasons. The costumes look like they came out of a trunk in someone''s attic, but that fits the style of the production.
One friend of mine has seen Bedlam's SENSE AND SENSIBILITY three times. It is the most enjoyable production in New York right now. I eagerly await Bedlam's next production.
SENSE AND SENSIBILITY. The Gym at Judson Memorial Church. August 2, 2016.
Wednesday, 3 August 2016
Monday, 1 August 2016
PRIVACY at the Public
At the end of James Graham and Josie Rourke's delightful, if a bit overlong, interactive show, PRIVACY, at the Public, Daniel Radcliffe order the audience not to reveal what happens during the show. I'll try to obey their edict.
PRIVACY is a docudrama, part fiction, but greatly fact, in which a group of actors play multiple real people. The script is full of quotes from experts on privacy in the internet age. It's the kind of play one finds in major London fringe theatres like the Tricycle. This production came from London's Donmar Warehouse, best known for starry revivals, but Josie Rourke, the Donmar's current artistic director, the co-author and director of PRIVACY, honed her skills on the London fringe (she was artistic director of the Bush Theatre). Docudrama isn't as common in the U.S. as it is in London, though we have had classics like THE LARAMIE PROJECT and the solo work of Anna DeVeare Smith.
In PRIVACY, a writer (Daniel Radcliffe) is in a personal crisis after a breakup. His ex-boyfriend accused him of being too guarded, too remote. Is he capable of opening up? The question PRIVACY poses is how to open up, to be oneself, in the internet age? It also asks whether we surrender too much information to our phones and computers.
The originality of this show is in its engagement with the audience. It's very much an audience participation show, particularly through our cellphones which we are encouraged to keep on throughout.
That's all I can tell you, except that Daniel Radcliffe is his usual charming self onstage and that he is surrounded by an excellent ensemble including Rachel Dratch of Saturday Night Live fame. The show is fun, challenging, frightening at times. It does overstay its welcome a bit. An intermissionless 90 minutes would have been enough.
PRIVACY. Public Theatre. July 31, 2016.
PRIVACY is a docudrama, part fiction, but greatly fact, in which a group of actors play multiple real people. The script is full of quotes from experts on privacy in the internet age. It's the kind of play one finds in major London fringe theatres like the Tricycle. This production came from London's Donmar Warehouse, best known for starry revivals, but Josie Rourke, the Donmar's current artistic director, the co-author and director of PRIVACY, honed her skills on the London fringe (she was artistic director of the Bush Theatre). Docudrama isn't as common in the U.S. as it is in London, though we have had classics like THE LARAMIE PROJECT and the solo work of Anna DeVeare Smith.
In PRIVACY, a writer (Daniel Radcliffe) is in a personal crisis after a breakup. His ex-boyfriend accused him of being too guarded, too remote. Is he capable of opening up? The question PRIVACY poses is how to open up, to be oneself, in the internet age? It also asks whether we surrender too much information to our phones and computers.
The originality of this show is in its engagement with the audience. It's very much an audience participation show, particularly through our cellphones which we are encouraged to keep on throughout.
That's all I can tell you, except that Daniel Radcliffe is his usual charming self onstage and that he is surrounded by an excellent ensemble including Rachel Dratch of Saturday Night Live fame. The show is fun, challenging, frightening at times. It does overstay its welcome a bit. An intermissionless 90 minutes would have been enough.
PRIVACY. Public Theatre. July 31, 2016.
PRIVACY at the Public
At the end of James Graham and Josie Rourke's delightful, if a bit overlong, interactive show, PRIVACY, at the Public, Daniel Radcliffe order the audience not to reveal what happens during the show. I'll try to obey their edict.
PRIVACY is a docudrama, part fiction, but greatly fact, in which a group of actors play multiple real people. The script is full of quotes from experts on privacy in the internet age. It's the kind of play one finds in major London fringe theatres like the Tricycle. This production came from London's Donmar Warehouse, best known for starry revivals, but Josie Rourke, the Donmar's current artistic director, the co-author and director of PRIVACY, honed her skills on the London fringe (she was artistic director of the Bush Theatre). Docudrama isn't as common in the U.S. as it is in London, though we have had classics like THE LARAMIE PROJECT and the solo work of Anna DeVeare Smith.
In PRIVACY, a writer (Daniel Radcliffe) is in a personal crisis after a breakup. His ex-boyfriend accused him of being too guarded, too remote. Is he capable of opening up? The question PRIVACY poses is how to open up, to be oneself, in the internet age? It also asks whether we surrender too much information to our phones and computers.
The originality of this show is in its engagement with the audience. It's very much an audience participation show, particularly through our cellphones which we are encouraged to keep on throughout.
That's all I can tell you, except that Daniel Radcliffe is his usual charming self onstage and that he is surrounded by an excellent ensemble including Rachel Dratch of Saturday Night Live fame. The show is fun, challenging, frightening at times. It does overstay its welcome a bit. An intermissionless 90 minutes would have been enough.
PRIVACY. Public Theatre. July 31, 2016.
PRIVACY is a docudrama, part fiction, but greatly fact, in which a group of actors play multiple real people. The script is full of quotes from experts on privacy in the internet age. It's the kind of play one finds in major London fringe theatres like the Tricycle. This production came from London's Donmar Warehouse, best known for starry revivals, but Josie Rourke, the Donmar's current artistic director, the co-author and director of PRIVACY, honed her skills on the London fringe (she was artistic director of the Bush Theatre). Docudrama isn't as common in the U.S. as it is in London, though we have had classics like THE LARAMIE PROJECT and the solo work of Anna DeVeare Smith.
In PRIVACY, a writer (Daniel Radcliffe) is in a personal crisis after a breakup. His ex-boyfriend accused him of being too guarded, too remote. Is he capable of opening up? The question PRIVACY poses is how to open up, to be oneself, in the internet age? It also asks whether we surrender too much information to our phones and computers.
The originality of this show is in its engagement with the audience. It's very much an audience participation show, particularly through our cellphones which we are encouraged to keep on throughout.
That's all I can tell you, except that Daniel Radcliffe is his usual charming self onstage and that he is surrounded by an excellent ensemble including Rachel Dratch of Saturday Night Live fame. The show is fun, challenging, frightening at times. It does overstay its welcome a bit. An intermissionless 90 minutes would have been enough.
PRIVACY. Public Theatre. July 31, 2016.
PRIVACY at the Public
At the end of James Graham and Josie Rourke's delightful, if a bit overlong, interactive show, PRIVACY, at the Public, Daniel Radcliffe order the audience not to reveal what happens during the show. I'll try to obey their edict.
PRIVACY is a docudrama, part fiction, but greatly fact, in which a group of actors play multiple real people. The script is full of quotes from experts on privacy in the internet age. It's the kind of play one finds in major London fringe theatres like the Tricycle. This production came from London's Donmar Warehouse, best known for starry revivals, but Josie Rourke, the Donmar's current artistic director, the co-author and director of PRIVACY, honed her skills on the London fringe (she was artistic director of the Bush Theatre). Docudrama isn't as common in the U.S. as it is in London, though we have had classics like THE LARAMIE PROJECT and the solo work of Anna DeVeare Smith.
In PRIVACY, a writer (Daniel Radcliffe) is in a personal crisis after a breakup. His ex-boyfriend accused him of being too guarded, too remote. Is he capable of opening up? The question PRIVACY poses is how to open up, to be oneself, in the internet age? It also asks whether we surrender too much information to our phones and computers.
The originality of this show is in its engagement with the audience. It's very much an audience participation show, particularly through our cellphones which we are encouraged to keep on throughout.
That's all I can tell you, except that Daniel Radcliffe is his usual charming self onstage and that he is surrounded by an excellent ensemble including Rachel Dratch of Saturday Night Live fame. The show is fun, challenging, frightening at times. It does overstay its welcome a bit. An intermissionless 90 minutes would have been enough.
PRIVACY. Public Theatre. July 31, 2016.
PRIVACY is a docudrama, part fiction, but greatly fact, in which a group of actors play multiple real people. The script is full of quotes from experts on privacy in the internet age. It's the kind of play one finds in major London fringe theatres like the Tricycle. This production came from London's Donmar Warehouse, best known for starry revivals, but Josie Rourke, the Donmar's current artistic director, the co-author and director of PRIVACY, honed her skills on the London fringe (she was artistic director of the Bush Theatre). Docudrama isn't as common in the U.S. as it is in London, though we have had classics like THE LARAMIE PROJECT and the solo work of Anna DeVeare Smith.
In PRIVACY, a writer (Daniel Radcliffe) is in a personal crisis after a breakup. His ex-boyfriend accused him of being too guarded, too remote. Is he capable of opening up? The question PRIVACY poses is how to open up, to be oneself, in the internet age? It also asks whether we surrender too much information to our phones and computers.
The originality of this show is in its engagement with the audience. It's very much an audience participation show, particularly through our cellphones which we are encouraged to keep on throughout.
That's all I can tell you, except that Daniel Radcliffe is his usual charming self onstage and that he is surrounded by an excellent ensemble including Rachel Dratch of Saturday Night Live fame. The show is fun, challenging, frightening at times. It does overstay its welcome a bit. An intermissionless 90 minutes would have been enough.
PRIVACY. Public Theatre. July 31, 2016.
FIDDLER ON THE ROOF
Bartlett Sher loves the look of a big, bare stage, a canvas he can draw on. When one enters the giant Broadway Theatre, one sees a bare box painted light grey, decorated only with a sign "Anatevka." Occasionally the side wings rise to make way for scenery (designed by Michael Yeargan), but even then one is still aware of an expanse of stage behind and around it. Characters often enter by walking up stairs at the rear of the playing area, as if they are ascending out of some pit of basement. FIDDLER ON THE ROOF is both a show about a coherent, tradition bound community, and about the people who assert their individuality. Women who defy tradition. Men who rebel. A patriarch who is also too much of a romantic. Sher's brilliant, if a bit chilly, revival emphasizes that this community isn't ever as coherent as some would have it. The dances that are so important to this show (the original Jerome Robbins choreography with additions and revisions by Hofesh Schecter), aren't as orderly as they were in the original production. There's more of a sense of improvisation, of individuals dancing.
FIDDLER ON THE ROOF is an odd show. It's more book heavy than most classic musicals, more a play with music. The music is nowhere near as inspired as Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick's score for SHE LOVES ME, which opened the year before and just had a perfect revival a block away from the Broadway Theatre where FIDDLER is being performed. Sher's production avoids the show's pitfalls. It is never awash in sentiment. Most important, Tevye isn't played as a self-indulgent star turn as it was with Zero Mostel and some of his many successors. Danny Burstein, a performer of immense talent and integrity, makes Tevye a real character. There's no cheap schtick, the stock in trade of many Tevyes of yore. Some might miss that. The female comic leads are played straight, so straight that they barely seem to exists. Bea Arthur was the first Yente the matchmaker, but this Yente (Alix Korey) is played so straight that she hardly seems to be in a musical. I've never understood the critics' love for Jessica Hecht. Her Golde just seems depressed. Why is Tevye so frightened of her when she's so passive? The daughters and their boyfriends are well cast. Throughout there's an overriding sense of intelligence and taste. As much as I hate sloppy, self indulgent performances of FIDDER, I occasionally wanted some sense of "this is a musical, folks." I was in the second row and couldn't help wondering how it played in the far reaches of one of the biggest Broadway houses.
A mixed bag, but gorgeous to look at.
FIDDLER ON THE ROOF. Broadway Theatre. July 30, 2016.
FIDDLER ON THE ROOF is an odd show. It's more book heavy than most classic musicals, more a play with music. The music is nowhere near as inspired as Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick's score for SHE LOVES ME, which opened the year before and just had a perfect revival a block away from the Broadway Theatre where FIDDLER is being performed. Sher's production avoids the show's pitfalls. It is never awash in sentiment. Most important, Tevye isn't played as a self-indulgent star turn as it was with Zero Mostel and some of his many successors. Danny Burstein, a performer of immense talent and integrity, makes Tevye a real character. There's no cheap schtick, the stock in trade of many Tevyes of yore. Some might miss that. The female comic leads are played straight, so straight that they barely seem to exists. Bea Arthur was the first Yente the matchmaker, but this Yente (Alix Korey) is played so straight that she hardly seems to be in a musical. I've never understood the critics' love for Jessica Hecht. Her Golde just seems depressed. Why is Tevye so frightened of her when she's so passive? The daughters and their boyfriends are well cast. Throughout there's an overriding sense of intelligence and taste. As much as I hate sloppy, self indulgent performances of FIDDER, I occasionally wanted some sense of "this is a musical, folks." I was in the second row and couldn't help wondering how it played in the far reaches of one of the biggest Broadway houses.
A mixed bag, but gorgeous to look at.
FIDDLER ON THE ROOF. Broadway Theatre. July 30, 2016.
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