Some months ago I reviewed Amy Herzog's critically acclaimed 4000 MILES, about a troubled twenty-something young man visiting his ninety year old grandmother. There wasn't a lot to the play -- a bunch of short scenes chronicling the uneasy relationship between the young man and the elderly lady, an angry girlfriend and an unearned happy ending. The characters were well-drawn, the acting very good, but I didn't think it all amounted to much. Now with Jesse Eisenberg's THE REVISIONIST, we have another troubled twenty-something man in an uneasy relationship with an elderly lady. The difference is that THE REVISIONIST is much more than the sum of its parts with a surprise, not so happy, ending that makes total sense after one thinks about it. Eisenberg doesn't do all the thinking for his audience.
David (Jesse Eisenberg) is a writer who is having problems revising his novel (he has already written a young adult novel that sold 64,000 copies -- hardly Harry Potter numbers -- and garnered some good reviews and a pan from the New York TIMES. For reasons not clear at first, he has decided to do the revision in the shabby Szczecin, Poland flat of Maria, a second cousin he has never met (Vanessa Redgrave). Maria has made all sorts of preparations for David's arrival, but David is not the most socially adept creature, to put it mildly, and basically rejects all Maria's attempts at proper hospitality. David, who doesn't seem to be close to anyone, doesn't like to be touched emotionally or physically. At first he wants nothing more than to be left alone, but develops a writer's curiosity for Maria's past during the holocaust when her (and his?) family was murdered by the Nazis. Losing her family has made Maria fascinated, one might say obsessed, with the lives of her remaining distant relatives, even though she has only met one of them for coffee once.
Yes, David is there to revise his novel -- something he doesn't seem able to do -- but we discover that Maria is the real revisionist, living out a fantasy of family relationships though unable to deal with real familial intimacy, perhaps out of fear of losing loved ones again. There is a brief moment when these two lost souls come together, but not everyone can change easily. Maria tells David what she calls a joke, though there is no punch line, about a bird who falls into a pile of cow shit. The bird cleans off its feathers and flies off, only to be attacked and killed by a larger bird. The moral of Maria's story -- sometimes it's safer to be stuck in shit than to fly into freedom. Does the new post-Nazi, post-Soviet world frighten her? Would she prefer to be stuck in the shit of her isolation, except for the taxi driver who runs her errands and shaves her legs, who thinks of her as a replacement for his deceased mother? THE REVISIONIST is a totally absorbing play; funny in parts, but ultimately deeply moving as we come to understand some, not all, of the mystery of these two characters. Their backstories are sketchy because they don't give away a lot, but we find out enough to understand and empathize and our sympathies may switch from one character to another as the play goes on.
Of course Eisenberg can write for actors and THE REVISIONIST delivers 105 minutes of the best acting I have seen in a long time. Maria is a plum role for Redgrave, and I must say it isn't often in the theatre that I forget the actress and become totally absorbed in the character. Redgrave managed to do that. Eisenberg has written himself a part any casting director would want Jesse Eisenberg to play, but he does so with total commitment. He's a very physical actor, always a coiled spring -- like a cat he's all over the furniture -- but he's also always acting with Redgrave. On paper they may seem an unlikely acting team, but actually they play brilliantly together. Director Kip Fagan must share some of the credit for the magic. Eisenberg as playwright and actor and Redgrave as consummate actress make THE REVISIONIST a very special theatrical experience. The run at the Cherry Lane is sold out. If you don't have a ticket, pray that the rumors are true about a Broadway transfer.
THE REVISIONIST by Jesse Eisenberg. Cherry Lane Theatre. March 30, 2013.
Saturday, 30 March 2013
THE NANCE by Douglas Carter Beane
Douglas Carter Beane's fascinating, moving, if overlong play with music, THE NANCE, gives us a confrontation between two historic views of what it means to be homosexual. It is the late 1930s and Chauncey Miles is very much a product of his repressive times. The word "gay" is probably not yet part of his argot, though he knows the necessary codes for picking up "trade" (straight men willing to be serviced out of horniness or financial need) in the usual cruising places. Of course the late night restaurants, bars and parks where men meet for sex are often raided, but Chauncey knows this is part of the excitement of being a homosexual in New York City -- the man you hook up with may rob you, beat you or arrest you. Ironically, Chauncey is an ardent Republican, vehemently against all Franklin Roosevelt's social programs and virulently against the labor movement and communists. It doesn't matter that Fiorello LaGuardia, a Republican, is enforcing moral codes that endanger Chauncey and actually put him out of a job; for Chauncey is a burlesque comic and LaGuardia wants to ban burlesque from New York City before tourists pour in for the 1939 Worlds Fair. Chauncey thinks LaGuardia's repressive police actions are merely pre-election posturing and that nothing will change. He's very wrong. Chauncey is famous for playing the Nance, the burlesque pansy who is a caricature of effeminacy and homosexuality (totally linked at the time). Most comics who played the Nance were at least ostensibly straight, but Chauncey is a homosexual making his living by caricaturing homosexuals. He does it well enough to bring in a large audience. Unfortunately, since word is out that Chauncey is gay offstage as well as on, many in the audience are gay men who have sex with "trade" in the balcony during the performance, an activity the guardians of morality are bound to notice.
At the opening of THE NANCE, it is late at night and Chauncey is sitting in the Greenwich Village Automat, a known cruising site, giving out the discreet signs that he is shopping for sex. Enter Ned, a handsome, destitute young man from Buffalo. The rest of the play is in great part the story of Ned and Chauncey's relationship. Ned has never been indoctrinated into the signs, mannerisms and self-loathing of urban gay culture. He left his wife because he couldn't love her and has come to the city to find a loving relationship. In fact, Ned seems to be a twenty-first century homosexual stuck in the wrong time. Chauncey first sees "straight looking and acting" Ned as "trade" and is shocked to discover that Ned is attracted to men. He is more shocked to discover that Ned wants a real relationship with him. Ultimately, Chauncey cannot be anything but a product of his time. He tells Ned at their parting: "This is not for me. It is not what I should be having," a way of saying, men like him don't deserve a real marriage with another man. As Chauncey's burlesque career goes on the skids, Ned moves into "legitimate theatre", the chorus of a Cole Porter musical.
Scenes of the relationship between Chauncey and Ned and the end of burlesque in New York alternate with burlesque skits that mirror the scenes that precede them. Beane has done his research -- many of these skits are classic burlesque sketches.
Director Jack O'Brien, a master at fast-moving entertainment -- the George Abbott of our day -- has assembled a great cast that does justice to the burlesque material (though my full audience only found the sketches mildly amusing) and the warmth and sadness of the main narrative. The show is a vehicle for Nathan Lane and he gets to show his full range, from pansy schtick to a comic drag act to touching dramatic scenes. I have never seen Lane show so much range as an actor. His burlesque cohorts, particularly veteran comic actors Lewis J. Stadlen and Cady Huffman, are terrific both as their onstage and offstage personae. In the midst of all the camp and schtick, Jonny Orsini is perfect as the sweet, totally non-camp young man who loves Chauncey. Eventually Orsini's Ned also gets caught up in the burlesque acts, and he is as funny as the veteran performers.
OK, we've got a show about a burlesque comic. We've got performers who have won awards for their work in musicals. We've even got a small band -- sounding better than notoriously bad burlesque bands sounded. I kept thinking that THE NANCE is a play that cries out to be a real musical. Yes, I know we have a musical partly about burlesque that is one of the greatest musicals of all time -- GYPSY. Nonetheless, all the key moments in this show would have been more effective if they had been sung. We've also got a show that's too long. The farewell scene, in the Automat like the first scene, would have rounded out the show but, we've got another ten minutes or so after that to give Nathan Lane a few more big scenes. That may change -- the show is still in previews. The only big laughs the show got were jokes with contemporary resonance. The night's biggest laugh came in the midst of a heated political discussion, when one of the characters says, "Do you really think people will still be arguing about Social Security eighty years from now?"
THE NANCE is only running for twelve weeks and, despite its flaws, I highly recommend it. It's an ambitious play that gives us a glimpse into the sad history of gay men. Every young gay person should see it to see how far we have come. Chauncey isn't an aberration. All of us older gay men knew Chaunceys -- may even have been Chaunceys at some point in our lives. It's worth seeing just to see Nathan Lane's bravura performance, supported by an excellent cast.
THE NANCE. Lincoln Center Theatre at the Lyceum Theatre. March 29, 2013.
At the opening of THE NANCE, it is late at night and Chauncey is sitting in the Greenwich Village Automat, a known cruising site, giving out the discreet signs that he is shopping for sex. Enter Ned, a handsome, destitute young man from Buffalo. The rest of the play is in great part the story of Ned and Chauncey's relationship. Ned has never been indoctrinated into the signs, mannerisms and self-loathing of urban gay culture. He left his wife because he couldn't love her and has come to the city to find a loving relationship. In fact, Ned seems to be a twenty-first century homosexual stuck in the wrong time. Chauncey first sees "straight looking and acting" Ned as "trade" and is shocked to discover that Ned is attracted to men. He is more shocked to discover that Ned wants a real relationship with him. Ultimately, Chauncey cannot be anything but a product of his time. He tells Ned at their parting: "This is not for me. It is not what I should be having," a way of saying, men like him don't deserve a real marriage with another man. As Chauncey's burlesque career goes on the skids, Ned moves into "legitimate theatre", the chorus of a Cole Porter musical.
Scenes of the relationship between Chauncey and Ned and the end of burlesque in New York alternate with burlesque skits that mirror the scenes that precede them. Beane has done his research -- many of these skits are classic burlesque sketches.
Director Jack O'Brien, a master at fast-moving entertainment -- the George Abbott of our day -- has assembled a great cast that does justice to the burlesque material (though my full audience only found the sketches mildly amusing) and the warmth and sadness of the main narrative. The show is a vehicle for Nathan Lane and he gets to show his full range, from pansy schtick to a comic drag act to touching dramatic scenes. I have never seen Lane show so much range as an actor. His burlesque cohorts, particularly veteran comic actors Lewis J. Stadlen and Cady Huffman, are terrific both as their onstage and offstage personae. In the midst of all the camp and schtick, Jonny Orsini is perfect as the sweet, totally non-camp young man who loves Chauncey. Eventually Orsini's Ned also gets caught up in the burlesque acts, and he is as funny as the veteran performers.
OK, we've got a show about a burlesque comic. We've got performers who have won awards for their work in musicals. We've even got a small band -- sounding better than notoriously bad burlesque bands sounded. I kept thinking that THE NANCE is a play that cries out to be a real musical. Yes, I know we have a musical partly about burlesque that is one of the greatest musicals of all time -- GYPSY. Nonetheless, all the key moments in this show would have been more effective if they had been sung. We've also got a show that's too long. The farewell scene, in the Automat like the first scene, would have rounded out the show but, we've got another ten minutes or so after that to give Nathan Lane a few more big scenes. That may change -- the show is still in previews. The only big laughs the show got were jokes with contemporary resonance. The night's biggest laugh came in the midst of a heated political discussion, when one of the characters says, "Do you really think people will still be arguing about Social Security eighty years from now?"
THE NANCE is only running for twelve weeks and, despite its flaws, I highly recommend it. It's an ambitious play that gives us a glimpse into the sad history of gay men. Every young gay person should see it to see how far we have come. Chauncey isn't an aberration. All of us older gay men knew Chaunceys -- may even have been Chaunceys at some point in our lives. It's worth seeing just to see Nathan Lane's bravura performance, supported by an excellent cast.
THE NANCE. Lincoln Center Theatre at the Lyceum Theatre. March 29, 2013.
Friday, 29 March 2013
Odets' THE BIG KNIFE at the American Airlines Theatre
Two major revivals of the under-appreciated work of Clifford Odets in one season is almost miraculous. First we had the close to perfect Bartlett Sher production of GOLDEN BOY. Now we have the first major revival of THE BIG KNIFE (1949), under Doug Hughes direction.
Though THE BIG KNIFE is not as strong a play as GOLDEN BOY, it is something of a companion piece. Both are sagas of the price of success for a driven, talented, far-from-perfect individual. Joe Bonaparte, the boxer protagonist of GOLDEN BOY, dies young in his beloved automobile. Charlie Castle (Bobby Cannavale), the central character in THE BIG KNIFE, has lived long enough to see his life in tatters. He's one of the biggest box-office draws in America, but success has not bought him happiness -- it never does in Odets' work. He is guilt ridden about his involvement in a fatal hit and run accident. The studio covered up Charlie's responsibility for the event. His best friend was willing to take the blame (for a price), but now the starlet who was in the car with Castle is engaging in not-so-subtle blackmail of the studio. More overwhelming than Charlie's guilt is his general sense of losing his identity. His estranged wife Marian (Marin Ireland), knows that the only way to get his self worth back is to reject a long term contract the studio is strong-arming him into accepting. However, the monstrous studio head is engaging in his own form of blackmail. Charlie must accept the contract or be ruined.
Odets spent much of his career in Hollywood, not the most congenial environment for serious writers, and THE BIG KNIFE is his bleak picture of the corruption of the studio system and the tyrants who ran the studios (Louis Mayer at MGM, Harry Cohn at Columbia, Jack Warner). The most vividly drawn character in the play is studio head Marcus Hoff. Marcus veers between long, avuncular narratives, to teary sentimentality to ruthless manipulation. Cross him once too often and he will destroy you. In this production, Richard Kind captures Hoff's mercuric personality. The audience laughs at Kind's Hoff until his fangs are bared. Marcus Hoff is the most interesting character in the play because at its best, THE BIG KNIFE is a dark satire of the mores of Hollywood, from studio heads and their henchmen to starlets who are angry at the ways in which they are exploited to well-meaning agents to diva-like gossip columnists (Odets' picture of Louella Parsons or Sheila Graham). The less convincing parts of the play are the melodramatic ones surrounding Charlie Castle's efforts to save himself and his marriage. To some extent, this Roundabout production is a vehicle of Bobby Cannavale, and he does all he can to bring Charlie to life. I have never seen Cannavale on stage before but, despite his many excellent performances on television, you have to see him on stage to appreciate what a good actor he is. The original Charlie was John Garfield who moved from the Group Theatre in the 1930s to a successful Hollywood career in the late forties until the red scare undid him (he died young in 1953). Garfield had a very uneasy relationship with his studio, Warner Brothers (he eventually went independent), so it was possible to see both Odets and Garfield in Charlie Castle when the play had its premiere in 1949. Cannavale brings no such history to the role, but it's easy to believe that he is a Hollywood leading man and he brings a necessary sexiness to the role (for all his love of his wife, Charlie cannot seem to control his libido, even with his best friend's wife, and women can't resist him). Cannavale also matches Richard Kind's Marcus during their two lengthy confrontations, the best scenes in the play I can't imagine anyone better in the role than Cannavale. It isn't his fault that I don't find Charlie a totally believable character.
THE BIG KNIFE isn't as good as the plays Odet's wrote in the nineteen-thirties, particularly AWAKE AND SING, GOLDEN BOY and PARADISE LOST. Nonetheless it is worth reviving and Doug Hughes' production plays down the melodrama and works to make the characters as credible as possible. It's a sound choice, but it downplays the dark satire of the piece. The men in the cast are stronger than the women. I'd like a tougher Marian than Marin Ireland gives us and Brenda Wehle could do more with the character of the gossip columnist, but that may be a result of director Hughes's softening much of the satire. She's a monster and should be as big as Richard Kind's Marcus Hoff.
Though I have reservations, I thoroughly enjoyed this revival and am grateful to the Roundabout for giving us a chance to see this play by one of America's major playwrights.
THE BIG KNIFE. Roundabout Theatre Company at the American Airlines Theatre. March 28, 2013.
Though THE BIG KNIFE is not as strong a play as GOLDEN BOY, it is something of a companion piece. Both are sagas of the price of success for a driven, talented, far-from-perfect individual. Joe Bonaparte, the boxer protagonist of GOLDEN BOY, dies young in his beloved automobile. Charlie Castle (Bobby Cannavale), the central character in THE BIG KNIFE, has lived long enough to see his life in tatters. He's one of the biggest box-office draws in America, but success has not bought him happiness -- it never does in Odets' work. He is guilt ridden about his involvement in a fatal hit and run accident. The studio covered up Charlie's responsibility for the event. His best friend was willing to take the blame (for a price), but now the starlet who was in the car with Castle is engaging in not-so-subtle blackmail of the studio. More overwhelming than Charlie's guilt is his general sense of losing his identity. His estranged wife Marian (Marin Ireland), knows that the only way to get his self worth back is to reject a long term contract the studio is strong-arming him into accepting. However, the monstrous studio head is engaging in his own form of blackmail. Charlie must accept the contract or be ruined.
Odets spent much of his career in Hollywood, not the most congenial environment for serious writers, and THE BIG KNIFE is his bleak picture of the corruption of the studio system and the tyrants who ran the studios (Louis Mayer at MGM, Harry Cohn at Columbia, Jack Warner). The most vividly drawn character in the play is studio head Marcus Hoff. Marcus veers between long, avuncular narratives, to teary sentimentality to ruthless manipulation. Cross him once too often and he will destroy you. In this production, Richard Kind captures Hoff's mercuric personality. The audience laughs at Kind's Hoff until his fangs are bared. Marcus Hoff is the most interesting character in the play because at its best, THE BIG KNIFE is a dark satire of the mores of Hollywood, from studio heads and their henchmen to starlets who are angry at the ways in which they are exploited to well-meaning agents to diva-like gossip columnists (Odets' picture of Louella Parsons or Sheila Graham). The less convincing parts of the play are the melodramatic ones surrounding Charlie Castle's efforts to save himself and his marriage. To some extent, this Roundabout production is a vehicle of Bobby Cannavale, and he does all he can to bring Charlie to life. I have never seen Cannavale on stage before but, despite his many excellent performances on television, you have to see him on stage to appreciate what a good actor he is. The original Charlie was John Garfield who moved from the Group Theatre in the 1930s to a successful Hollywood career in the late forties until the red scare undid him (he died young in 1953). Garfield had a very uneasy relationship with his studio, Warner Brothers (he eventually went independent), so it was possible to see both Odets and Garfield in Charlie Castle when the play had its premiere in 1949. Cannavale brings no such history to the role, but it's easy to believe that he is a Hollywood leading man and he brings a necessary sexiness to the role (for all his love of his wife, Charlie cannot seem to control his libido, even with his best friend's wife, and women can't resist him). Cannavale also matches Richard Kind's Marcus during their two lengthy confrontations, the best scenes in the play I can't imagine anyone better in the role than Cannavale. It isn't his fault that I don't find Charlie a totally believable character.
THE BIG KNIFE isn't as good as the plays Odet's wrote in the nineteen-thirties, particularly AWAKE AND SING, GOLDEN BOY and PARADISE LOST. Nonetheless it is worth reviving and Doug Hughes' production plays down the melodrama and works to make the characters as credible as possible. It's a sound choice, but it downplays the dark satire of the piece. The men in the cast are stronger than the women. I'd like a tougher Marian than Marin Ireland gives us and Brenda Wehle could do more with the character of the gossip columnist, but that may be a result of director Hughes's softening much of the satire. She's a monster and should be as big as Richard Kind's Marcus Hoff.
Though I have reservations, I thoroughly enjoyed this revival and am grateful to the Roundabout for giving us a chance to see this play by one of America's major playwrights.
THE BIG KNIFE. Roundabout Theatre Company at the American Airlines Theatre. March 28, 2013.
Thursday, 21 March 2013
SMASH, kerplop
A lot of us who love musical theater had high hopes for SMASH. Well, those hopes have been dashed. First it was the awful idea at the heart of the show's premise -- that there would be a big musical made out of the life of Marilyn Monroe and that the making of that musical would interest millions of television viewers. BOMBSHELL isn't the sort of musical that gets to Broadway nowadays and given the awful songs that were created for this fictional show, it really wouldn't stand a chance. Then there was the contest between Megan Hilty and Katharine McPhee to be Marilyn. Hilty is a talented musical comedy performer. She was a fine Lorelei Lee in the City Center Encores revival of GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES last spring, but all SMASH seems to demand of her is that she pout a lot. Her rival, Katharine McPhee, may win an award as the blandest performer ever to have a leading role on a tv series. Neither of these women would be cast as Marilyn Monroe in the unlikely event that a show like BOMBSHELL would be remotely conceivable in this day and age.
OK, Season Two. First, the show has been degayed, or at least ostensible degayed. Tom (Christian Borle) is now sexless and the other obviously gay character Kyle (Andy Mientus) has no life other than his collaboration with the pouty character played by Jeremy Jordan. Even Sean Hayes has been rendered non-gay in his role as an idiotic Hollywood celebrity trapped in a musical version of LES LIAISONS DANGEREUSES. Now there's a worse idea for a musical than Marilyn, but at least LIASONS closes in a week. I guess the new producers thought the gayness was turning people off. Didn't they realize that the core audience for SMASH would be women and gay men?
I love the fact that a young songwriter can whip off a song and share it with the world without copyright, lawyers or agents. Now there's fantasy.
The plot keeps spinning its wheels with the same conflicts occurring in each episode. No wonder most of the viewing public has lost interest. The only saving grace is the occasional song by the talented young team of Pasek and Paul that is part of the score of the musical that Jeremy Jordan and Andy Mientus's characters are supposedly writing. Rather than a bad idea for a musical -- BOMBSHELL or LIASONS, their musical doesn't seem to have any controlling idea at all.
The first season of SMASH was interestingly bad. This season is both bad and boring. The show has been moved to the twilight zone of Saturday night, a way of letting it die without anyone noticing.
OK, Season Two. First, the show has been degayed, or at least ostensible degayed. Tom (Christian Borle) is now sexless and the other obviously gay character Kyle (Andy Mientus) has no life other than his collaboration with the pouty character played by Jeremy Jordan. Even Sean Hayes has been rendered non-gay in his role as an idiotic Hollywood celebrity trapped in a musical version of LES LIAISONS DANGEREUSES. Now there's a worse idea for a musical than Marilyn, but at least LIASONS closes in a week. I guess the new producers thought the gayness was turning people off. Didn't they realize that the core audience for SMASH would be women and gay men?
I love the fact that a young songwriter can whip off a song and share it with the world without copyright, lawyers or agents. Now there's fantasy.
The plot keeps spinning its wheels with the same conflicts occurring in each episode. No wonder most of the viewing public has lost interest. The only saving grace is the occasional song by the talented young team of Pasek and Paul that is part of the score of the musical that Jeremy Jordan and Andy Mientus's characters are supposedly writing. Rather than a bad idea for a musical -- BOMBSHELL or LIASONS, their musical doesn't seem to have any controlling idea at all.
The first season of SMASH was interestingly bad. This season is both bad and boring. The show has been moved to the twilight zone of Saturday night, a way of letting it die without anyone noticing.
Saturday, 16 March 2013
THE LYING LESSON
Craig Lucas's thoroughly enjoyable new play THE LYING LESSON begins like a horror movie. A deafening thunderstorm knocks out the power as an elderly lady who bears more than a fleeting resemblance to Bette Davis comes into a house in a small town in Maine. The lady who is, as it turns out, is Bette Davis, crouches on the floor with a butcher knife in her hand as an intruder comes through the kitchen window. We seem to be in a version of one of Davis's gothic later movies, WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE or HUSH, HUSH, SWEET CHARLOTTE. However, this Bette Davis is not a demented camp figure and the intruder is not Joan Crawford (or "that former prostitute" as Davis calls her), or Olivia de Haviland, but a tall, gangly young woman. From then on, the play gives us the twists and turns of Bette's relationship with this mysterious young woman. Bette may think of herself as a consummate actress, but Minnie Bodine is a pretty good actress herself. To Bette, Minnie's subterfuges aren't acting, they're lying, but what's the difference, and when is Bette acting?
THE LYING LESSON, thank, God, is not one of those over-the-top pseudo biographies of the latter days of a camp icon like Peter Quilter's treatment, or should I say exploitation, of Judy Garland in last season's END OF THE RAINBOW. Yes, there are some details of Davis's life thrown in, but the focal character is Minnie, the young woman who would like to escape miserable small town life as Davis did, but doesn't know how. Craig Lucas's version of Davis is a shrewd woman who doesn't quite know what she wants at this stage of her life and who thinks she wants to go back to where it all began. It is 1981 and even Davis's gothic classics are well in the past. Who is she when she's not a star?
THE LYING LESSON certainly isn't one of the best plays I have ever seen, but it is an entertaining, absorbing play brought to life by two fine actresses. Veteran Carol Kane does not try to "do" Bette Davis. She uses some of Davis's mannerisms, but this is a dramatic character, not an imitation. In fact, Kane's Bette is much less camp, much more restrained, than Davis ever was. It's a superb performance. Minnie is Mickey Sumner's debut role and she is fascinating. As with her recent production of WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF, Pam McKinnon has kept the play grounded in the fictional reality of these characters' motivations, objectives and interactions. There's never a false moment. Even the stormy opening doesn't seem hokey. Neil Patel has created a suitably shabby setting. The house Bette is occupying is part of what's at stake in the play and it is both substantial and an unlikely home for even a fading movie star who is worried about money.
THE LYING LESSON, Atlantic Theatre Company Linda Gross Theatre. March 16, 2013.
THE LYING LESSON, thank, God, is not one of those over-the-top pseudo biographies of the latter days of a camp icon like Peter Quilter's treatment, or should I say exploitation, of Judy Garland in last season's END OF THE RAINBOW. Yes, there are some details of Davis's life thrown in, but the focal character is Minnie, the young woman who would like to escape miserable small town life as Davis did, but doesn't know how. Craig Lucas's version of Davis is a shrewd woman who doesn't quite know what she wants at this stage of her life and who thinks she wants to go back to where it all began. It is 1981 and even Davis's gothic classics are well in the past. Who is she when she's not a star?
THE LYING LESSON certainly isn't one of the best plays I have ever seen, but it is an entertaining, absorbing play brought to life by two fine actresses. Veteran Carol Kane does not try to "do" Bette Davis. She uses some of Davis's mannerisms, but this is a dramatic character, not an imitation. In fact, Kane's Bette is much less camp, much more restrained, than Davis ever was. It's a superb performance. Minnie is Mickey Sumner's debut role and she is fascinating. As with her recent production of WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF, Pam McKinnon has kept the play grounded in the fictional reality of these characters' motivations, objectives and interactions. There's never a false moment. Even the stormy opening doesn't seem hokey. Neil Patel has created a suitably shabby setting. The house Bette is occupying is part of what's at stake in the play and it is both substantial and an unlikely home for even a fading movie star who is worried about money.
THE LYING LESSON, Atlantic Theatre Company Linda Gross Theatre. March 16, 2013.
Friday, 15 March 2013
HIT THE WALL
Everyone -- certainly every gay person -- knows that in gay history and hagiography the 1969 Stonewall uprising looms large. On a hot June night -- that day gay icon Judy Garland's funeral took place in New York -- a diverse group of gay men resisted a police raid on the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village, a mob run gay bar. Many were drag queens and many were Black and Latino. Martin Duberman has written the classic history of Stonewall. There have been documentary films as well as British film maker Nigel Finch's fictional account. Now we have Ike Holter's absorbing play, HIT THE WALL, powerfully directed by Eric Hoff, an import from Chicago"s Garage Rep, a subsidiary of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company.
In ninety minutes, with ten actors and three musicians, we get a cross section of the participants in the Stonewall rebellion. Each character is a representative of a segment of the rioters: a timid drag queen in mourning for her beloved Judy and the draft dodger who falls in love with him/her; a young Black and Latino who hang out daily on a tenement stoop on Christopher Street; a young man on his first trip to a gay bar; a butch lesbian and a Black lesbian who has become a political activist. These characters are, of necessity types, but each has been given his/her own language, from rhyming jive to eloquent laments to political exhortation. One actor plays a typical affluent middle class man who thinks he has a right to have sex with any you man he encounters and who thinks the Stonewall riots are a big mistake, and another plays a distillation of the brutal police who raided the bar as they had raided gay gathering places for decades. One accepts this group of types and stereotypes because the language is so vivid and the direction so exciting. Eric Hoff has used every inch of the small Barrow Street Theatre acting area for staging that is extremely effective. There are moments of beautifully choreographed wild abandon -- the dancing in the Stonewall Inn before the blinding light that signals the police raid and the subsequent rioting out in the street. The music ranges from sixties folk to hard rock. The cast is uniformly excellent. This is exciting theater. It's also important to give young theatergoers some sense of a crucial moment in gay history.
HIT THE WALL. Barrow Street Theatre. March 14, 2013.
In ninety minutes, with ten actors and three musicians, we get a cross section of the participants in the Stonewall rebellion. Each character is a representative of a segment of the rioters: a timid drag queen in mourning for her beloved Judy and the draft dodger who falls in love with him/her; a young Black and Latino who hang out daily on a tenement stoop on Christopher Street; a young man on his first trip to a gay bar; a butch lesbian and a Black lesbian who has become a political activist. These characters are, of necessity types, but each has been given his/her own language, from rhyming jive to eloquent laments to political exhortation. One actor plays a typical affluent middle class man who thinks he has a right to have sex with any you man he encounters and who thinks the Stonewall riots are a big mistake, and another plays a distillation of the brutal police who raided the bar as they had raided gay gathering places for decades. One accepts this group of types and stereotypes because the language is so vivid and the direction so exciting. Eric Hoff has used every inch of the small Barrow Street Theatre acting area for staging that is extremely effective. There are moments of beautifully choreographed wild abandon -- the dancing in the Stonewall Inn before the blinding light that signals the police raid and the subsequent rioting out in the street. The music ranges from sixties folk to hard rock. The cast is uniformly excellent. This is exciting theater. It's also important to give young theatergoers some sense of a crucial moment in gay history.
HIT THE WALL. Barrow Street Theatre. March 14, 2013.
Thursday, 14 March 2013
VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE
Having missed the Lincoln Center Theatre run of Christopher Durang's latest comedy because of the flu, I was delighted to catch an early performance of the Broadway run. This latest work in Durang's forty year career as a playwright is kinder and gentler than most of what preceded it. There's none of the anger that underlies many of his earlier plays and none of the violence that occurs in many of his works. Previously, Durang could make his audience laugh at some gruesome activities. Here we laugh at at his verbal wit and some outlandish comic moments. Throughout Durang's work there has been a love of literary parody. Here Chekhov is present in the title (so is Paul Mazursky's 1969 film, BOB AND CAROL AND TED AND ALICE) and in some of the action.
VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE is set in a lovely house in Bucks County, Pennsylvania (where the playwright lives). Vanya and his adopted sister Sonia, both in their fifties, have lived in the house all their lives. Until recently, they cared for their aging, now deceased parents. Neither Vanya nor Sonia work -- the bills are paid by their sister, Masha, a Hollywood star -- and they are prone to lament their meaningless existence in speeches reminiscent of Chekhov. Masha descends with her boy toy Spike, an exhibitionistic would-be actor. She has a history of failed marriages -- her five husbands have all left her, probably because they couldn't deal with her monumental self-absorption. Her decision to sell the house throws Vanya and Sonia into a crisis.
In typical Christopher Durang style, the play is filled with surprising, bizarre, hilarious moments. Much of the action centers on the preparations for and aftermath of a neighbor's costume party. Masha has decided to go as Disney's Snow White and insists that all the other characters go as her dwarfs (Spike gets to dress as her prince). Sonia, however, decides to go as the witch as she would be played by Maggie Smith. Masha is furious when Sonia's Maggie Smith is the hit of the party. There's a sweet, Pollyanna-ish girl next door, Nina, of whom Masha gets wildly jealous, but unbeknownst to her, Spike has eyes for yet someone else. There's also a housekeeper, Cassandra, who, like her namesake, is prone to making dire, but accurate predictions.
The plays is filled with hilarious one-liners, but also long solo moments that take virtuoso acting. Durang couldn't have a better cast for the play. Over the years, he has worked often with his Yale Drama School classmate Sigourney Weaver and with the great comic actress, Kristine Nielsen, and he has again given them plum roles as the not very loving stepsisters. Add to that David Hyde Pierce wisely underplaying Vanya until his long, semi-hysterical lament of the loss of 1950s television in the final scene. Billy Magnussen manages to make the boy toy into something more than a stereotypical dumb (male), scantily clad blonde. His recreation of his audition for "Entourage 2" is one of the many great comic moments in the show. Shalita Grant makes the most of Cassandra's incantations. Everyone but poor Genevieve Angelson as the dippy Nina gets a star turn. Director Nicholas Martin has paced all this perfectly. He and Durang have made sure that every seemingly outlandish moment springs from character.
I saw VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE with a sellout Wednesday matinee audience. More than any show I have seen since Jon Robin Baitz's OTHER DESERT CITIES (another Lincoln Center transfer), the audience looked like a weekday matinee audience from my youth. They were mostly well-dressed, middle-aged and older "ladies who lunch" with a few middle-aged and older gentlemen sprinkled among them. We all loved every minute of the play and, unlike many matinee audiences, the ladies surrounding me going down the balcony stairs were talking about the play, not where they were going next. What greater tribute could Christopher Durang's masterful comedy receive? The run is limited because the cast is irreplaceable. Get a ticket asap!!
VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE. John Golden Theatre. MArch 13, 2013.
VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE is set in a lovely house in Bucks County, Pennsylvania (where the playwright lives). Vanya and his adopted sister Sonia, both in their fifties, have lived in the house all their lives. Until recently, they cared for their aging, now deceased parents. Neither Vanya nor Sonia work -- the bills are paid by their sister, Masha, a Hollywood star -- and they are prone to lament their meaningless existence in speeches reminiscent of Chekhov. Masha descends with her boy toy Spike, an exhibitionistic would-be actor. She has a history of failed marriages -- her five husbands have all left her, probably because they couldn't deal with her monumental self-absorption. Her decision to sell the house throws Vanya and Sonia into a crisis.
In typical Christopher Durang style, the play is filled with surprising, bizarre, hilarious moments. Much of the action centers on the preparations for and aftermath of a neighbor's costume party. Masha has decided to go as Disney's Snow White and insists that all the other characters go as her dwarfs (Spike gets to dress as her prince). Sonia, however, decides to go as the witch as she would be played by Maggie Smith. Masha is furious when Sonia's Maggie Smith is the hit of the party. There's a sweet, Pollyanna-ish girl next door, Nina, of whom Masha gets wildly jealous, but unbeknownst to her, Spike has eyes for yet someone else. There's also a housekeeper, Cassandra, who, like her namesake, is prone to making dire, but accurate predictions.
The plays is filled with hilarious one-liners, but also long solo moments that take virtuoso acting. Durang couldn't have a better cast for the play. Over the years, he has worked often with his Yale Drama School classmate Sigourney Weaver and with the great comic actress, Kristine Nielsen, and he has again given them plum roles as the not very loving stepsisters. Add to that David Hyde Pierce wisely underplaying Vanya until his long, semi-hysterical lament of the loss of 1950s television in the final scene. Billy Magnussen manages to make the boy toy into something more than a stereotypical dumb (male), scantily clad blonde. His recreation of his audition for "Entourage 2" is one of the many great comic moments in the show. Shalita Grant makes the most of Cassandra's incantations. Everyone but poor Genevieve Angelson as the dippy Nina gets a star turn. Director Nicholas Martin has paced all this perfectly. He and Durang have made sure that every seemingly outlandish moment springs from character.
I saw VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE with a sellout Wednesday matinee audience. More than any show I have seen since Jon Robin Baitz's OTHER DESERT CITIES (another Lincoln Center transfer), the audience looked like a weekday matinee audience from my youth. They were mostly well-dressed, middle-aged and older "ladies who lunch" with a few middle-aged and older gentlemen sprinkled among them. We all loved every minute of the play and, unlike many matinee audiences, the ladies surrounding me going down the balcony stairs were talking about the play, not where they were going next. What greater tribute could Christopher Durang's masterful comedy receive? The run is limited because the cast is irreplaceable. Get a ticket asap!!
VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE. John Golden Theatre. MArch 13, 2013.
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