Master Index of Archived Threads


Broadway 2009-2010 season

Vic Sage Oct 16 2009 12:49 PM

It's that time of year again folks. Another opening, another show. Here's this year's list of scheduled openings, with my thumbnail reviews to be added as i see them: New Musicals *BURN THE FLOOR (special event) - dance piece *FELA! - off-Broadway AfroBeat musical about African musician/activist Fela Kuti moves to Bway *MEMPHIS - fictionalized story based on original rock dj Alan Freed, with music by Bon Jovi keyboardist David Bryan *SPIDER-MAN - Its probably not coming in *THE ADDAMS FAMILY - you rang? With Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth a little short on original musicals this year, probably as a result of the down economy. New Plays *A BEHEADING IN SPOKANE - Martin McDonagh's new play *A STEADY RAIN - Woverine and James Bond in new play by Keith Huff *AFTER MISS JULIE - Patrick Marber adapts Strindberg's "Miss Julie" *IN THE NEXT ROOM - new Sarah Ruhl comedy at Lincoln Center *NEXT FALL - off-Bway Naked Angels play by Geoffrey Nauffts planning move to Helen Hayes *RACE - Mamet's new play. wonder what its about? With James Spader and David Alan Grier *SUPERIOR DONUTS - new Tracy (AUGUST:OSAGE CTY) Letts comedy from Steppenwolf Co *TIME STANDS STILL - MTC presents new Donald Margulies play with Alicia Silverstone, Laura Linney and Brian Darcy James *WISHFUL DRINKING - Princess Leia's one-woman show plays are cheaper to produce than musicals...and revivals are cheaper and easier than new works Musical Revivals *A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC - sondheim's adaptation of Bergman's "Smiles of a Summer Night" with Angela Lansbury and Catherine Zeta-Jones. *BYE-BYE BIRDIE - John Stamos and Gina Gershon in a Roundabout revival of tuneful Strouse/Adams show *FINIAN’S RAINBOW - how are things in Gloccamorra? Encores production moves to Bway *IRVING BERLIN’S WHITE XMAS - its baaaaack! just for the holidays... *LA CAGE AUX FOLLES - I am who I am! Jerry Herman's hit comes back in an British revival *RAGTIME - The Kennedy Center revival of McNally/Ahrens/Flaherty adaptation of Doctorow book comes back to Bway Play Revivals *BRIGHTON BEACH MEMOIRS / BROADWAY BOUND - 2 of Neil Simon's BB trilogy to be done in rep *COLLECTED STORIES - MTC is reviving Donald Margulies play they originally did off-Bway in `97. *HAMLET - Jude Law as the melancholy dane *OLEANNA - another Mamet revival, with Bill Pullman and Julia Stiles *PRESENT LAUGHTER - Roundabout revival of N.Coward comedy with Victor Garber *THE ROYAL FAMILY - MTC revival of Kaufman play

Vic Sage Oct 16 2009 01:31 PM Re: Broadway 2009-2010 season

MEMPHIS – An overly earnest and obvious musical about race in the early days of rock n roll. A young Memphis hick in the 1950s becomes a popular radio and TV DJ promoting black music for white audiences until his romantic relationship with a black singer destroys his career in an era of miscegenation laws. It’s slickly mounted and well performed by appealing leads and talents supporting cast, with occasionally uplifting musical moments. But having your heart in the right place doesn’t make up for a lack of dramatic inspiration, or even interest, beyond the most superficial cliched situations [C+]

Vic Sage Nov 05 2009 09:15 AM Re: Broadway 2009-2010 season

A STEADY RAIN - Solid police procedural with stunning performances by Wolverine and 007. Effective minimalist design. [B+] WISHFUL DRINKING - Princess Leia’s 1-woman show is amusing, entertaining, but ultimately a self-indulgent exercise in transmuting her private tragedies into public comedy. Rambling, artless, pointless except as a promo for electroshock therapy. But your mother will love it! [C+]

Vic Sage Nov 10 2009 02:04 PM Re: Broadway 2009-2010 season

BYE-BYE BIRDIE - This tuneful relic of a bygone era had no reason to be revived, and was thoroughly vilified by critics, but it’s genial enough. John Stamos and Gina Gershon have little chemistry but both are adequately engaging in the leads. That incomparable clown, Bill Irwin, gives a bizarre, over-the-top performance as the small town dad, but he gives the show its few seriously comedic beats. The direction and design are too busy and self-conscious by half, but what else are going to do with this chestnut? Surely the sexist and racist stereotyping inherent in the material shouldn’t be left to speak for itself [C]

Vic Sage Nov 10 2009 02:21 PM Spider-Man hangs by a thread

Spidey musical ensnares new producer, rock promoter Michael Cohl: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/07/theater/07spider.html Mr. Cohl also injected home-town confidence, noting that the Yankees were celebrating their 27th World Series championship in Manhattan on Friday. “Today we have a team in New York that spent millions of dollars to win a championship,” Mr. Cohl said. “Sometimes it takes a lot of money to build a championship team, and that’s what we’re doing.”

Edgy DC Nov 10 2009 02:34 PM Re: Broadway 2009-2010 season

Wow, sudden random feelilngs of seething hatred for U2. That's odd.

Vic Sage Nov 25 2009 09:23 AM Re: Broadway 2009-2010 season

Finian's Rainbow - This is one of the best scores in Broadway history (which is saying something), attached to one of the stupidest, clunkiest books in Broadway history (which is also saying something). The production looks like a cheap bus-&-truck production, but the cast is good, the voices great. [C+] Royal Family - Unfunny farce is one of the most painful things a human being can be subjected to. Confronted with not 1 but 2 intermissions and the prospect of an interminable evening, i fled after Act I [F]

Farmer Ted Nov 25 2009 09:57 AM Re: Broadway 2009-2010 season

On deck, Julia Stiles in Oleanna. Mmmm. Julia Stiles.

TransMonk Nov 25 2009 10:16 AM Re: Broadway 2009-2010 season

Stiles didn't impress me with her Mamet-speak in the film version of Edmund. MLBS though...so she's got that going for her.

Vic Sage Nov 26 2009 08:56 AM Re: Broadway 2009-2010 season

MLBS?

Swan Swan H Nov 26 2009 09:05 AM Re: Broadway 2009-2010 season

Met Lovin' Big Shot.

Number 6 Nov 27 2009 11:04 PM Re: Broadway 2009-2010 season

Has anyone seen Fela!, either on or off-Bway? I love his music, and was thinking of checking it out.

Vic Sage Dec 03 2009 03:08 PM Re: Broadway 2009-2010 season

AFTER MISS JULIE - Brit Patrick Marber adapted Strindberg's "Miss Julie" to post-war England, on the night that the Labor party defeated Churchill. I mean, is there anything more tedious than class conflicts that keep lovers apart resulting in suicide? This melodrama is well enough acted, i suppose, and Sienna Miller is smoking hot, but why oh why must we be subjected to it? Thankfully my seat was quite cozy so i could nap comfortably.[D]

Vic Sage Dec 04 2009 01:34 PM Re: Broadway 2009-2010 season

HAMLET - Jude Law proves he's an actor, not just a movie star, with a great performance in this difficult play. Were the rest of the cast equally good, it would have been amazing, but they weren't so its not. Ophelia was particularly irritating. Most complete version of the text i've seen on stage, which means it meanders and drags in Act II. What did that Shakespeare fellow know anyway? [C+]

Vic Sage Dec 09 2009 03:17 PM Re: Broadway 2009-2010 season Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Dec 09 2009 03:19 PM

avi

Vic Sage Dec 09 2009 03:18 PM Re: Broadway 2009-2010 season

SUPERIOR DONUTS – an entertaining little play by Tracy (AUGUST:OSAGE COUNT) Letts; it doesn’t attempt much, but it succeeds on its own terms. Funny and poignant. An aging, disconnected ex- hippy running the family donut shop on the wrong side of the tracks in Chicago is brought back to life by the fast-talking young black man who comes to work for him. As always, their pasts haunt them. Michael McKean is a revelation as a dramatic lead. [B ]

G-Fafif Dec 09 2009 04:43 PM Re: Broadway 2009-2010 season

[quote="Vic Sage"]SUPERIOR DONUTS – an entertaining little play by Tracy (AUGUST:OSAGE COUNT) Letts; it doesn’t attempt much, but it succeeds on its own terms. Funny and poignant. An aging, disconnected ex- hippy running the family donut shop on the wrong side of the tracks in Chicago is brought back to life by the fast-talking young black man who comes to work for him. As always, their pasts haunt them. Michael McKean is a revelation as a dramatic lead. [B ]

Just saw it. It was no August, but not a bad way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

Edgy DC Dec 09 2009 08:09 PM Re: Broadway 2009-2010 season

Didn't you always think Michael McKean had it in him?

Vic Sage Dec 18 2009 09:49 AM Re: Broadway 2009-2010 season

IN THE NEXT ROOM, or THE VIBRATOR PLAY - Sarah Ruhl's new work is a comic, poetic and profound rumination on a woman's quest for empowerment. Great performances by Laura Benanti and Michael Cerveris, and a final scene that is startlingly romantic in its imagery and dramatic impact. Best play i've seen in quite a while... and not just because of the girl-on girl action! [A]

themetfairy Dec 29 2009 10:25 AM Re: Broadway 2009-2010 season

This isn't Broadway, but D-Dad and I are going to see Fetch Clay, Make Man at Princeton's McCarter Theater next weekend. I received a call from the box office letting me know that, due to a staging reconfiguration, our seats are actually going to be on the stage. It should be an interesting experience.

Vic Sage Jan 04 2010 03:55 PM Re: Broadway 2009-2010 season

RAGTIME - they've made this epic musical into a more intimate, moving experience without losing its grand scope. And its still one of the best scores written for Broadway in the last 20 years. The fact that its closing so quickly, while a POS like ROCK OF AGES keeps running, makes me despise my fellow theater goers more than usual. [A]

Vic Sage Jan 06 2010 09:19 AM Re: Broadway 2009-2010 season

FELA! – If you like “Afrobeat” music (a fusion of African rhythms, Motown bass, jazz horns and guitars, tribal dancing girls and political lyrics), then this is the show for you. If you don’t, it’s not. I didn’t, so it wasn’t. There is some attempt to delineate the life of Fela, the Nigerian musician/political activist and mama’s boy that this concert disguised as a show is ostensibly about, but it’s mostly of the first person narrative variety. The only truly dramatized, theatrical moments occur toward the end of act II, when Fela dreams of seeing his dead mother during a breathtaking blacklight dance, building to a beautiful aria by the incomparable Lilias White. Otherwise, despite some exciting dance moments, the droning repetition of the music, the largely undramatized story structure, the obviousness of the plot (such as it is) and heavy-handedness of the themes rendered me nearly catatonic. Your mileage may vary. [C]

Vic Sage Jan 13 2010 10:08 AM Re: Broadway 2009-2010 season

RACE - David Mamet directed his new play, a courtroom drama without a courtroom... and, unfortunately, without much drama. James Spader plays a slight variation on his BOSTON LEGAL character, David Alan Grier is solid as his law partner, and Kerry Washington is screechingly irritating (as almost all Mamet female characters are), as their new associate. Richard Thomas, as the wealthy client hiring the lawyers to defend him from a rape charge, floats in and out, as if from another play. There is still some snap in Mamet's dialogue, sparklingly brisk and brusque; it's just his thinking that's gotten fuzzy, and his storytelling that has gone flaccid. [C-]

Vic Sage Jan 13 2010 10:54 AM Re: Broadway 2009-2010 season

2010 update: New Musicals *BURN THE FLOOR (special event) - dance piece [closed] *FELA! - off-Broadway AfroBeat musical about African musician/activist Fela Kuti moves to Bway *MEMPHIS - fictionalized story based on original rock dj Alan Freed, with music by Bon Jovi keyboardist David Bryan *SPIDER-MAN - [update] It's not coming in till next season *THE ADDAMS FAMILY - you rang? With Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth Update: * AMERICAN IDIOT - Rock show based on Green Day's music * COME FLY AWAY - Twyla Tharp does a new dance piece based on Sinatra songs * MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET - a new musical based on the 1956 jam session between Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis with classic rock`n`roll songs of the period * SONDHEIM ON SONDHEIM - conceived and directed by James Lapine, uses interviews and the sondheim songbook to explore the writer's life and process New Plays *A BEHEADING IN SPOKANE - Martin McDonagh's new play *A STEADY RAIN - Woverine and James Bond in new play by Keith Huff [closed] *AFTER MISS JULIE - Patrick Marber adapts Strindberg's "Miss Julie" [closed] *IN THE NEXT ROOM - new Sarah Ruhl comedy at Lincoln Center *NEXT FALL - off-Bway Naked Angels play by Geoffrey Nauffts planning move to Helen Hayes *RACE - Mamet's new play. wonder what its about? With James Spader and David Alan Grier *SUPERIOR DONUTS - new Tracy (AUGUST:OSAGE CTY) Letts comedy from Steppenwolf Co [closed] *TIME STANDS STILL - MTC presents new Donald Margulies play with Alicia Silverstone, Laura Linney and Brian Darcy James *WISHFUL DRINKING - Princess Leia's one-woman show Update: * ALL ABOUT ME - Dame Edna is back on Broadway, this time with musical accompaniment by Michael Feinstein. * ENRON - A Brit import about financial shenanigans, with music, dance, video. * LOOPED - Valerie Harper in a new comedy about Tallulah Bankhead Musical Revivals *A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC - sondheim's adaptation of Bergman's "Smiles of a Summer Night" with Angela Lansbury and Catherine Zeta-Jones. *BYE-BYE BIRDIE - John Stamos and Gina Gershon in a Roundabout revival of tuneful Strouse/Adams show *FINIAN’S RAINBOW - how are things in Gloccamorra? Encores production moves to Bway *IRVING BERLIN’S WHITE XMAS - its baaaaack! just for the holidays... [closed] *LA CAGE AUX FOLLES - I am who I am! Jerry Herman's hit comes back in an British revival *RAGTIME - The Kennedy Center revival of McNally/Ahrens/Flaherty adaptation of Doctorow book comes back to Bway [closed] Update: *PROMISES, PROMISES - 1st Broadway revival of the Burt Bacharach/ Neil Simon musicl adaptation of Billy Wilder's THE APARTMENT Play Revivals *BRIGHTON BEACH MEMOIRS / BROADWAY BOUND - 2 of Neil Simon's BB trilogy to be done in rep [closed] *COLLECTED STORIES - MTC is reviving Donald Margulies play they originally did off-Bway in `97. *HAMLET - Jude Law as the melancholy dane [closed] *OLEANNA - another Mamet revival, with Bill Pullman and Julia Stiles [closed] *PRESENT LAUGHTER - Roundabout revival of N.Coward comedy with Victor Garber *THE ROYAL FAMILY - MTC revival of Kaufman play

[closed]

Update:
* A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE - Liev Schrieber and Scarlett Johansson in Arthur Miller revival.
* FENCES - Denzel Washington in August Wilson's play.
* LEND ME A TENOR - Stanley Tucci directs this Ken Ludwig farce, with Tony Shaloub.
* LIPS TOGETHER, TEETH APART - The Roundabout revives this Terrence McNally play, originally done by Manhattan Theater Club, with Megan mullally and Lilly Taylor.
* THE MIRACLE WORKER - Little Miss Sunshine is Helen Keller in this arevival of the William Gibson play.

Vic Sage Jan 20 2010 03:40 PM Re: Broadway 2009-2010 season

PRESENT LAUGHTER - The Roundabout's revival of this Noel Coward comedy is well staged and utterly pointless. Garish, cartoon characters running about in all their hammy glory... slamming doors, maiking calls, stirring up "who-is-sleeping-with-whom" faux-suspense for no purpose. If you find this type of thing funny, you're probably over 70. Why do they keep producing this dated nonsense? Life is too short, and tix are too expensive, and TV is free [D]

Vic Sage Feb 09 2010 10:58 AM Re: Broadway 2009-2010 season

A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC - This revival of Sondheim’s chamber musical about love’s pain and joy walks the thin line between farce and poignancy with great skill. Catherine Zeta-Jones is every inch the musical theater star and keeps up with the legendary Angela Lansbury. The secondary roles are less successfully rendered and the physical production is kind of clunky, but overall a beautiful production, with a score that features some of Sondheim’s best and most delicately crafted work. [A-]

sharpie Feb 09 2010 11:26 AM Re: Broadway 2009-2010 season

Saw A Little Night Music about three weeks ago. For the most part agree with Vic's assessment. Go see it.

Vic Sage Feb 10 2010 03:23 PM Re: Broadway 2009-2010 season

A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE - This Arthur Miller revival is terrifically acted by Liev Shrieber and Scarlett Johanssen, as well as spot on supporting cast, with terrific design. It is vintage early Miller, with a lowly family enacting a greek tragedy with the inevitability of death. [A]

Vic Sage Mar 08 2010 12:53 PM Re: Broadway 2009-2010 season

TIME STANDS STILL - this new play by pulitzer winner Donald Marguilies is somewhat interesting and slightly amusing, but not by much. A great cast (Laura Linney, Brian Darcy James, Eric Bogosian and Alicia Silverstone) are left floundering a bit in this "issues play" grafted onto a soap opera. It has ideas about the moral and philosophical role of the observer/reporter among other things, but none of them are particular insightful nor fully fleshed out. The soap opera aspect is hindered by characters that are basically unlikeable enough that you don't really care who ends up together. Silverstone, alone, makes her ditsy character heart-felt and sympathetic. [C+] A BEHANDING IN SPOKANE - Martin (Lt of Inishmore, Pillowman, Beauty Queen of Leenane)McDonagh's new black comedy has a terrifically quirky performance by Chris Walken as a violent character who has been hunting for his hand for 47 years, a smarmy, scary Sam Rockwell as a hotel clerk with delusions of heroism, and a drug-dealing couple who have conned a guy you don't want to cross. Throw in a suitcase filled with severed hands and you've got a fun night of theater. Unlike McDonagh's other plays, this one doesn't add up to very much, and it sort of peters out by the end, but its a taut, grisly entertainment. [B ] THE MIRACLE WORKER - This chestnut is being revived in the round, which means that, no matter where you sit, you are guaranteed to miss something at some point. That being said, young Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine) does a fine job opposite the terrific Alison Pill, as reluctant student and determined teacher. The play still works. I dare you not to be moved. [B+]

Frayed Knot Mar 09 2010 02:12 PM Re: Broadway 2009-2010 season

A BEHANDING IN SPOKANE - Martin McDonagh: Lt of Inishmore, Pillowman, Beauty Queen of Leenane And in between all he did was write and direct 'In Bruges' - a flick which has been making the rounds of cable stations lately and gets funnier every time I see it.

Edgy DC Apr 02 2010 07:09 PM Re: Broadway 2009-2010 season

Advertisement designed to keep me from spending any money at the theater this year: "TYNE DALYE IS MARIA CALLAS."

Vic Sage Apr 08 2010 10:21 AM Re: Broadway 2009-2010 season

LOOPED – Valerie Harper is Tallulah Bankhead, in this slight piece of theater about an uptight film editor and his sound engineer trying to hold the fading icon together, as she drinks, swears, snorts, leers, and smart-asses her way through a “looping session” to re-record some dialogue for her last film. The first act is amusing, in a garish campy way, but Act II devolves into a psycho-sexual soap opera as the great lady forces the editor into revealing his secret shame. Harper gives a moving performance that could easily have become a cartoon but doesn’t. The editor is an awful role, so the actor should be held blameless. The play is altogether atrocious but not without entertainment value, if you leave at the intermission [C-] NEXT FALL - This off-Broadway “gay play” by Geoff Naufts and his Naked Angels theater company was helped to Broadway by Elton John. It is well told, surprisingly funny, mostly well acted, and even beautiful in moments. But it’s also a heavy-handed examination of religion and sexuality that alternates insight with utter banality. Still, a worthy, if not entirely successful, effort. [B-]

Swan Swan H Apr 08 2010 11:30 AM Re: Broadway 2009-2010 season

Last night my daughter gave a very nice birthday gift - she's taking me to see West Side Story in a couple of weeks. I love the music and like the movie a lot, and based on all of the reviews I've read (including Vic's in last year's thread) I'm sure we will have a great time.

Ashie62 Apr 08 2010 12:26 PM Re: Broadway 2009-2010 season

Green Day on Broadway? How could ya Billy Joe

RealityChuck Apr 08 2010 01:44 PM Re: Broadway 2009-2010 season

LEND ME A TENOR -- I don't remember when I laughed more. It's certainly not sophisticated comedy, but the cast and staging manage to go for the laughs all the time. Tony Shalhoub is spectacular every minute he's on stage. Jason Bartha is also extremely good as Max (really the center of the play). And Anthony Piaglia has a lot of fun in a role that's not his usual fare. There's a lot of great comic business throughout. It's broad, but that's what makes it work so well. A Special tip: it looks like the box office is still selling General Rush tickets (subject to availability) for only $26.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Apr 09 2010 01:11 PM Re: Broadway 2009-2010 season

Holy hell did Ben Brantley hate "The Addams Family." Imagine, if you dare, the agonies of the talented people trapped inside the collapsing tomb called “The Addams Family.” Being in this genuinely ghastly musical — which opened Thursday night at the Lunt-Fontanne Theater and stars a shamefully squandered Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth — must feel like going to a Halloween party in a strait-jacket or a suit of armor. Sure, you make a flashy (if obvious) first impression. But then you’re stuck in the darn thing for the rest of the night, and it’s really, really uncomfortable. Why, you can barely move, and a strangled voice inside you keeps gasping, “He-e-e-lp! Get me out of here!” That silent scream rises like a baleful ectoplasm from a production that generally offers little to shiver about, at least not in any pleasurable way. The satisfying shiver, of course, was what was consistently elicited by the gleefully macabre cartoons by Charles Addams that inspired this musical, as well as a 1960s television series and two movies in the early 1990s. It’s a rare American who isn’t familiar with the sinister little clan (which first appeared in The New Yorker magazine in 1938) for whom shrouds are the last word in fashion, and a guillotine is the perfect children’s toy. This latest reincarnation of “The Addams Family” is clearly relying, above all, on its title characters’ high recognition factor. That such faith is not misplaced is confirmed by the audience’s clapping and snapping along with the first strains of the overture, which appropriates the catchy television theme song. When the curtain parts to reveal a Madame Tussauds-like tableau of the assembled Addamses, there is loud, salutatory applause. There they are, lined up like tombstones (appropriately, since the setting is a cemetery) and looking as if they had just stepped out of Charles Addams’s inkwell. Shrink these impeccably assembled creatures to a height of 10 inches, and you could give them away with McDonald’s Happy Meals (or, given the context, Unhappy Meals). This is not an inappropriate thought, since this show treats its characters as imaginative but easily distracted children might treat their dolls, arbitrarily making them act out little stories and situations. The creators of “The Addams Family” — which has a book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice and songs by Andrew Lippa — have said they wanted to return to the spirit of the original New Yorker cartoons. It’s true that the show has moments that quote directly from Addams’s original captions. But those captions were for a limited number of single-panel cartoons. So what to do for the rest of the evening? The answer, to borrow from Irving Berlin, is “everything the traffic will allow.” A tepid goulash of vaudeville song-and-dance routines, Borscht Belt jokes, stingless sitcom zingers and homey romantic plotlines that were mossy in the age of “Father Knows Best,” “The Addams Family” is most distinctive for its wholesale inability to hold on to a consistent tone or an internal logic. The show, which was previously staged in Chicago, has a troubled past. The original directors, Phelim McDermott and Julian Crouch (also the production’s designers), still retain director credit, but Jerry Zaks, identified in the program as a creative consultant, is known to have reworked the show. (The look is Charles Addams run through a Xerox enlarger, though it makes witty use of the classic red velvet curtain.) Mr. McDermott and Mr. Crouch were responsible for the blissfully ghoulish little show “Shockheaded Peter,” and their darkly precious aesthetic is the opposite of that of Mr. Zaks, a veteran purveyor of Broadway razzmatazz. So a collision of sensibilities was to be anticipated. What’s more surprising (given Mr. Brickman and Mr. Elice’s solid collaboration on “Jersey Boys”) is the ragbag nature of the script, which seems to be shaped by an assortment of mismatched approaches. The show begins with the expected milking of classic Addams perversity, in which morbidity is automatically substituted for cheerfulness. But somewhere along the way the plot becomes a costume-party rehash of the proper-boy-meets-girl-from-crazy-family story line that dates back to “You Can’t Take It With You.” Gomez (Mr. Lane) and Morticia (Ms. Neuwirth), the heads of the family, discover to their alarm that Wednesday (Krysta Rodriguez), their 18-year-old daughter, has fallen in love with Lucas Beineke (Wesley Taylor), a young man from a middle-class all-American home. What’s more, Wednesday has invited Lucas and his parents — Mal (Terrence Mann) and Alice (Carolee Carmello) — for dinner, and insists that the family try to act “normal” for the night. That directive includes Uncle Fester (Kevin Chamberlin), Grandma (Jackie Hoffman), little Pugsley (Adam Riegler) and Lurch (Zachary James), the towering, taciturn butler. It is clear things will not go well when, as soon as the Beinekes arrive, Mal asks, “What is this, some kinda theme park?” Of course it is, Mal. This is a 21st-century Broadway musical. Did I mention, by the way, that the Addams homestead in this version is in Central Park? In what appears to be a tourist-courting stratagem, the seeming strangeness of the Addamses is equated with the strangeness of New Yorkers as perceived by middle Americans. (Cue the old New York City jokes.) But it turns out that all of us are strange in our own ways (even Beinekes), that love conquers all, and that Morticia and Gomez are really just a pair of old softies, who worry about the same things that all moms and dads do, like getting older and seeing their children leave the nest. These worries have been set to blandly generic music by Mr. Lippa. (Sergio Trujillo did the perfunctory choreography, which includes a chorus line of ancestral ghosts.) And though the show makes fun of the greeting-card perkiness of Alice, who writes poems, listen to what Gomez sings to his daughter: “Life is full of contradictions/Every inch a mile./At the moment, we start weeping/That’s when we should smile.” Though encumbered with a Spanish accent that slides into Transylvania, Mr. Lane is in fine voice and brings a star trouper’s energy and polish to one wan number after another. Ms. Neuwirth, whose priceless deadpan manner is one of Broadway’s great assets, here uses it as a means of distancing herself from an icky show and a formless part. Everyone else tries not to look embarrassed, though it’s not easy in a show that relies on a giant squid to solve its plot problems, makes Uncle Fester a cloyingly whimsical sentimentalist (he’s in love with the moon) and transforms Grandma into an old acid head out of Woodstock. That squid is the work of the wonderful puppeteer Basil Twist, who also whipped up a giant iguana, a regular-sized Venus fly trap and a charming animated curtain tassel. Fans of the “Addams” television show will be pleased to learn that Thing (the bodiless hand) and Cousin Itt make cameo appearances. They receive thunderous entrance applause and then retire for most of the night. They are no doubt much envied by the rest of the cast.

Edgy DC Apr 09 2010 01:30 PM Re: Broadway 2009-2010 season

Wait, it's got a giant squid?

Vic Sage Apr 14 2010 10:03 AM Re: Broadway 2009-2010 season

RED - This overrated Brit import by screenwriter John Logan is a portrait of the artist as an irritating bully, with a heart of gold. No cliche goes unused. But its a brilliant production of a mediocre play, well directed and designed, and acted with exclamation points by Alfred Molina as Mark Rothko and Eddie Redmayne as his young assistant. Alot of pretension and self-seriousness about a guy who painted red and black rectangles, but entertaining in spots. For all its railing against the commodification of "art", this play is the embodiment of it. [C+]

themetfairy Apr 14 2010 10:20 AM Re: Broadway 2009-2010 season

Thanks Vic. I had actually been considering that one, because D-Dad and I enjoy Rothko's art. But it sounds like the play is worth a miss.

Vic Sage Apr 14 2010 01:59 PM Re: Broadway 2009-2010 season

[quote="themetfairy":fgpj04jz]Thanks Vic. I had actually been considering that one, because D-Dad and I enjoy Rothko's art. But it sounds like the play is worth a miss.[/quote:fgpj04jz] if you like his work, you may like the play. I didn't like either, and feel they both suffer from similar excesses. But my wife liked the play very much so your mileage may vary. It's certainly a good production, and not without entertainment value. And its likely to garner oodles of awards, because theater folk like this kind of middle brow stuff with high brow pretensions.

themetfairy Apr 14 2010 03:18 PM Re: Broadway 2009-2010 season

LOL - I'll keep that in mind :)

Vic Sage Apr 22 2010 11:54 AM Re: Broadway 2009-2010 season

COME FLY AWAY - one of the longest nights i've spent in a theater this year, despite its mere 2hr running time. This plotless, pointless dance piece by Twyla Tharp is bone-crunchingly, mind-numbingly dull and repetitive, generally humorless, and totally unengaging. The dancers were nothing special, the production uninspired. The only good point was hearing Sinatra's disembodied vocals singing his great classics, backed by a really good jazz quartet supported by a swinging 12-piece horn section. I wanted the dancers to get the hell out of the way so i could hear and see the band more clearly. [D-]

RealityChuck Apr 22 2010 01:12 PM Re: Broadway 2009-2010 season

Funny. I felt exactly the same way about her Movin' Out. It was the worst dancing I'd ever seen.

Vic Sage May 03 2010 12:59 PM Re: Broadway 2009-2010 season

THE ADDAMS FAMILY – Nathan Lane shines in this sporadically amusing, mostly tepid new musical adaptation of the famous cartoon strip / tv show / movies / lunch box / etc. Lane’s performance is expectedly funny but also surprisingly touching. Kevin Chamberlin’s uncle fester and Jackie Hoffman’s grandmamma are also fairly engaging performances, but everyone else (including Bebe Neuwirth) are various degrees of forgettable. The staging and design is often cleverer than the book, which has traded mordant wit for gags and schmaltz. To the extent the score makes any impression at all, it’s not a good one. If mediocrity was the mortal sin the NY Times pretends it is, this show would be damned to hell. But even crass commercialism + craft is not the worst of all possible sins [C-] FENCES – August Wilson’s play is as close to DEATH OF A SALESMAN as the 2nd half of the 20th century has produced. But this great play is somewhat undermined by the badly miscast Denzel Washington, who works hard but is unconvincing in the role made famous by James Earl Jones. Washington simply lacks the aged but still imposing physicality the role demands, and his screen skills are too subtle for the stage. Viola Davis, however, is terrific as his wife, and the play, therefore, becomes more bout a marriage and family than it once was, which may not be bad thing. The supporting cast is strong, the staging thoughtful and evocative, and a great background score composed by Branford Marsalis adds a great deal. In fact, in a season with only 2 musicals that had original scores, I wouldnt be surprised if this play got a tony nomination for its score. [B ] LEND ME A TENOR – Ken Ludwig’s hilarious backstage farce is not as hilarious as it’s been before. Perhaps it’s that, while Tony Shaloub’s brilliant comic turn as the opera impresario is perfect in its shallowness, Anthony LaPaglia’s more heartfelt performance as the drunken star tenor is slower than farce can reasonably bear. While both performances are good, the two styles conflict, and Stanley Tucci’s direction is slack, overall, where farce requires velocity. [C+]

Vic Sage May 06 2010 08:46 AM Re: Broadway 2009-2010 season

ENRON - This exhilarating new play by Brit Lucy Prebble uses myriad theatrical pyrotechnics to explore the dark underbelly of the American Dream. Naturally, it failed to get a "best play" nomination and is closing abruptly. Norbert Leo Butz is scarily compelling as the visionary entrepreneur / avatar-of-the-free-market-apocalypse Jeff Skilling. The supporting players, direction, design are all first rate. Even the musical elements are innovative. [A]

Vic Sage May 06 2010 01:57 PM Re: Broadway 2009-2010 season

LA CAGE AUX FOLLES - This revival of the Jerry Herman/Harvey Fierstein musical is as toe-tapping and cornballishly sentimental and old fashioned as ever. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Thoroughly entertaining, with a charming and believable Kelsey Grammar opposite the garishly cartoonish, but ultimately touching, Douglas Hodge. Well done, ladies! Brava! [A-]

Vic Sage May 14 2010 12:48 PM Re: Broadway 2009-2010 season Edited 1 time(s), most recently on May 18 2010 12:47 PM

American Idiot - Green Day's rock album is turned into a Broadway musical. The music is powerful, energetic, melodic and surprisingly varied, moving from angry rock anthem to poignant ballad with ease. The performances are first rate, the direction and design is unique and thrilling. The story, however, veers from banal to ludicrous without ever passing over any terrain I found compelling. The notion that if you're an idiot, raised on TV, the internet and video games, you're bound to make some pretty stupid decisions seems self evident without having to belabor the point. Maybe if you were 17 years old, you'd take it as an insightful cautionary tale, but as a 49-year old I found no sympathy or tragedy in the plight of these characters; they were just stupid and pathetic and deserved everything they got. But I felt that way about RENT and SPRING AWAKENING, too, so take that observation however you will. While this is the first genuine rock score I’ve ever heard that wasn’t watered down for Broadway consumption, that's not necessarily a good thing. Rock & Pop songs have a different function than musical theater songs. They are generally declaratory, stating a particular idea or emotion, and rarely attempt to develop character or further a narrative, which is required of songs in musical theater. So, for a show incorporating such songs, it becomes imperative that the book provide a well crafted narrative, like JERSEY BOYS does. But this book fails on that account, as well. [B]

Ceetar May 17 2010 07:29 AM Re: Broadway 2009-2010 season

[quote="Vic Sage"]American Idiot - Green Day's rock album is turned into a Broadway musical. The music is powerful, energetic and surprsingly melodic. The performances are first rate, the direction and design is unique and thrilling. The story, however, veers from banal to ludicrous without ever passing over any terrain I found compelling. The notion that, if you're an idiot raised on TV, you're bound to make some pretty stupid decisions seems self evident without having to belabor the point. Maybe if you were a 17-year old, you'd take it as an insightful cautionary tale, but as a 49-year old i found no sympathy or tragedy in the plight of the characters; they were just stupid and pathetic and deserved everything they got. But i felt that way about RENT and SPRING AWAKENING, too, so take that observation however you will. But, while this is still the first genuine rock score ever played on Broadway without being watered down, that's not necessarily a good thing. Rock & Pop songs are generally declaratory... they simply state a particular idea or emotion. They do not often develop character or further a narrative, which is required in musical theater. So, for a show incorporating such a score, it becomes iimperative that the book be really good at that, like JERSEY BOYS is. But this book fails on that account, as well. [B]

I saw it yesterday, enjoyed the music but there wasn't a whole ton of plot or character development. I enjoyed some of the effects and the projections on the wall though. And I likeGreen Day so the music made it enjoyable anyway.

Vic Sage May 17 2010 03:06 PM Re: Broadway 2009-2010 season

PROMISES, PROMISES - this revival of the Bacharach / Neil Simon musical (skillfully adapted from the great Billy Wilder comedy, THE APARTMENT) has charm, humor and tunefulness oozing of every nook and cranny. You can't even see the seams where they stuck in a few extra Bacharach hits (I SAY A LITTLE PRAYER, A HOUSE IS NOT A HOME). Sean Hayes is totally winning and Kristin Chenoweth is the adorable songbird she always is. You'll smile til your face aches. [A]

Swan Swan H May 17 2010 03:18 PM Re: Broadway 2009-2010 season

[quote="Vic Sage"]PROMISES, PROMISES - this revival of the Bacharach / Neil Simon musical (skillfully adapted from the great Billy Wilder comedy, THE APARTMENT) has charm, humor and tunefulness oozing of every nook and cranny. You can't even see the seams where they stuck in a few extra Bacharach hits (I SAY A LITTLE PRAYER, A HOUSE IS NOT A HOME). Sean Hayes is totally winning and Kristin Chenoweth is the adorable songbird she always is. You'll smile til your face aches. [A]

I've been thinking about seeing this one, but most of the reviews have been middling at best. I believe you have nudged me over the top, Vic. Thanks.

Edgy DC May 17 2010 08:38 PM Re: Broadway 2009-2010 season

"You can't just retrofit my other songs into this play we did independently of the rest of my songbook! If we wanted to do a review, we'd have done that in the first place. This score stands on its own. Where's your sense of artistic JUSTICE?!" "Burt, here are the box office projections without those songs; here they are with those songs." "Homina, homina, homina...." "What? I can't quite make out what you're saying."

Vic Sage May 20 2010 03:14 PM Re: Broadway 2009-2010 season

EVERYDAY RAPTURE - It's in every way ruptured. What is this bad cabaret act doing on Broadway? Apparently, it made a wrong turn at DON'T TELL MAMA. [F] SONDHEIM ON SONDHEIM – A thoroughly entertaining cabaret of talented performers (Barbara Cook, Vanessa Williams, Norm Lewis, Tom Wopat, etal) doing songs from the Sondheim songbook, accompanied by video clips of the Great Man himself talking about his life and work. Unfortunately, the evening is a rambling, shapeless and, ultimately, pointless piece of hagiography. [B]

Vic Sage May 28 2010 11:35 AM Re: Broadway 2009-2010 season

MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET - musical dramatization of the night at Sun Records where Elvis, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins gathered for an impromptu jam. Great music, of course, but songs ares often interrupted with banal exposition by or about Sun record producer Sam Phillips. I really wished they'd just shut up and sing. The guys playing Cash and Lewis were terrific, Perkins was just OK, and Elvis was strangely awful. Overall, though, its a very enjoyable, albeit short and superficial, entertainment. Could have been so much more. [B-] COLLECTED STORIES - This Broadway revival of Donald Marguilies's off-Broadway play is beautifully rendered, with Linda Lavin at her best, playing the writing professor / surrogate mother to Sarah Paulson's student/assistant/surrogate daughter. A tale of teachers and students, and mothers and daughters, becoming colleagues and friends, who can hurt each other as only those close to us can. The play is utterly predictable but so well executed, its hard to fault. [A-] and that's it for the season. Now, i'll turn to the Tony thread and cast my votes.

themetfairy Jul 25 2010 06:49 PM Re: Broadway 2009-2010 season

[quote="Vic Sage"]LA CAGE AUX FOLLES - This revival of the Jerry Herman/Harvey Fierstein musical is as toe-tapping and cornballishly sentimental and old fashioned as ever. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Thoroughly entertaining, with a charming and believable Kelsey Grammar opposite the garishly cartoonish, but ultimately touching, Douglas Hodge. Well done, ladies! Brava! [A-]

I saw this one today. Liked it but didn't love it.

Kelsey Grammar wasn't in it today, but I don't think that's the reason why I was disappointed. I saw the original version of La Cage, and absolutely loved it. It was a bigger, glitzier production (at the Palace Theater, as opposed to the Longacre), with a bigger chorus and a fuller orchestra. I have listened to that soundtrack a million times, and the current show's songs just seemed smaller in comparison.

I nonetheless still got chills during a couple of the numbers, especially during Albin's Act I ending I Am What I Am. But overall, it lacks the glitz and robustness of the original. I'd give it a B+ instead of your A-.

Vic Sage Jul 25 2010 09:49 PM Re: Broadway 2009-2010 season

Kelsey Grammar made the whole thing work for me. I'm sorry you missed him. i hadn't seen the original, so it didn't pale in comparison for me.

themetfairy Jul 25 2010 09:51 PM Re: Broadway 2009-2010 season

I probably would have liked it better with Kelsey. But I'd still miss the larger orchestra and chorus. And it could have used a few more spangles.