Master Index of Archived Threads


Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

Vic Sage Jul 26 2012 02:36 PM

HARVEY - This Roundabout Theater revival of the 40s Pulitzer winner stars THE BIG BANG THEORY's Jim Parsons as the kind-hearted loon Elwood P. Dowd, who, much to his family's consternation, insists on spending his time with a 6-foot invisible rabbit named Harvey. Parsons is a sweet delight, sincere, daft and kind-hearted. His sister is given a quirky but interesting portrayal by Jessica Hecht, other supporting roles are somewhat less successful, though Carol Kane is always fun even in a small role. The play holds up well enough but i've got the same problem with it as i did with the movie adaptation, starring Jimmy Stewart. The play shows you that HARVEY is real (pages move, doors open, etc), resolving the issue of Elwood's sanity. So instead of seeing how a person, who may or may not be insane, has chosen to live his life ("I've been smart and I've been kind. Kind is better."), and how that choice affects those he loves and those around them, it instead becomes a fantasy about a 6ft rabbit, and who sees him and who doesn't. Which is infinitely less interesting. Entertaining, but less interesting. [B] Confirmed so far this season: BRING IT ON (8/1) - a touring musical based on the cheerleading movies makes a stop on Broadway (original score with music: Tom Kitt & Lin-Manuel Miranda / lyrics: Amanda Green & Lin-Manuel Miranda / book: Jeff Whitty) CHAPLIN (9/10) - A Chaplin bio-musical by Christopher Curtis AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE (9/27) - This MTC revival of Ibsen work stars Boyd Gaines and Richard Thomas, with new adaptation by Rebecca Lenkiewicz. GRACE (10/4) - New play by Craig Wright stars Paul Rudd CYRANO DE BERGERAC (10/11) - Roundabout revival stars Douglas Hodge WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOLFE (10/13) - Steppenwolf's 50th anniversary revival of Albee's masterpiece comes to Broadway, with Tracy Letts and Amy Morton. THE HEIRESS (Oct) - Moises Kaufman scheduled to do a revival of the Henry James adaptation. ANNIE (11/8) - again? oy. GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS (11/11) - Pacino stars in this Mamet revival, with Bobby Cannavale doing the role that Pacino did in the movie, and Pacino doing the Jack Lemmon part. THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD (11/15) - Roundabout revival of the Rupert Holmes musical adaptation of Dickens, featuring Chita Rivera. REBECCA (11/18) - this DuMaurier adaptation was supposed to come in last season; we'll see. A CHRISTMAS STORY (11/19) - This musical adaptation of the quirky xmas movie toured last year, and is trying it on Broadway this holiday season. THE ANARCHIST (12/2) - a new Mamet play, with Patti LuPone and Debra Winger. GOLDEN BOY (12/6) - 75th anniversary production of the Odets play presented by Lincoln Center, directed by Bart Sher PICNIC (Winter/2013) - Roundabout revival of Inge's pulitzer winning play MATILDA (4/11) - new Brit musical adaptation of Roald Dahl story, directed by Matthew Warchus THE BIG KNIFE (April) - another Odets revival, this time by Roundabout, with Bobby Cannavale

themetfairy Jul 30 2012 06:52 AM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

Does Christopher Durang's Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, through the Lincoln Center Theater, not count as Broadway?

Vic Sage Jul 30 2012 09:54 AM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

no, Durang's play is scheduled for the Newhouse theater, which is LC's off-Broadway stage; their Broadway stage is the Beaumont, or sometimes they license a Broadway house, if they have a 2nd show scheduled and want to keep their first show running at the Beaumont.

themetfairy Jul 30 2012 10:37 AM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

Gotcha. Broadway bound or not, D-Dad and I are seeing Vanya in September at the McCarter.

Swan Swan H Jul 31 2012 07:58 AM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

Looking forward to Glengarry Glen Ross. I never saw the original, but did get to the 2005 revival. Seeing Pacino as The Machine should be a hoot. I see Richard Schiff was cast as Aranow, which is a nice fit as well.

Vic Sage Aug 12 2012 01:06 PM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

BRING IT ON - a surprisingly entertaining if overly earnest adaptation of the Hollywood movie series about HS cheerleading competitions. A talented cast of young unknowns sing, dance, flip, fly and emote with energy and sincerity, never camping it up (except for the villainous cheerleader, channeling Anne Baxter from ALL ABOUT EVE), and pounding out songs about self -confidence and friendship so on the nose it leaves the audience in need of a rhinoplasty. Dancer Andy Blankenbuehler directed and choreographed with clarity and conviction. His collaborator on IN THE HEIGHTS, Lin-Manuel Miranda, pitched in with some rap-influenced musical sequences to hip-hop it up a bit, but its still as corny as Kansas in August. But the audience of 13 year old girls loved it. [B]

Vic Sage Aug 21 2012 09:45 AM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

the season starts taking shape: September CHAPLIN (M) AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE (P/R) October GRACE (P) CYRANO de Bergerac (P/R) WHO’S AFRAID of Virginia Wolfe (P/R) November THE HEIRESS (P/R) ANNIE (M/R) ELF (M/R) GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS (P/R) THE PERFORMERS (P) SCANDALOUS (M) REBECCA (M) A CHRISTMAS STORY (M) DEAD ACCOUNTS (P) THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD (M/R) December THE ANARCHIST (P) GOLDEN BOY (P/R) January THE OTHER PLACES (P) February CINDERELLA (M/R) March THE ASSEMBLED PARTIES (P) April KINKY BOOTS (M) MATILDA (M)

TransMonk Aug 21 2012 10:12 AM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

Vic Sage wrote: CINDERELLA (M/R) Is this the Rodgers and Hammerstein version?

Vic Sage Aug 21 2012 10:20 AM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

yup. From PlaybillOnline: CINDERELLA Theatre: Broadway Theatre First Preview: January 21, 2013 Opening: February 21, 2013 Director: Mark Brokaw Cast: Laura Osnes, Santino Fontana, Harriet Harris, Victoria Clark, Peter Bartlett, Ann Harada, Marla Mindelle, Greg Hildreth A re-imagined revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella. The classic musical is getting a new dramatic approach from Tony Award-nominated playwright Douglas Carter Beane. the involvement of Mark Brokaw (THE LYONS, CRY-BABY) and Doug Carter Beane (LYSISTRATA JONES, XANADU) with this charming classic smacks of disaster. Though Laura Osnes was impressive as "Bonnie" in the Wildhorn disaster BONNIE & CLYDE.

Vic Sage Oct 03 2012 12:17 PM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

CHAPLIN - When you’re making a musical about one of the greatest film comics of all time and it’s not funny, I think you’ve got a problem. And composer-lyricist-librettist Christopher Curtis has definitely missed the funny bone (sole authorship of a musical is rarely a good sign either, nor is bringing in Tom Meehan to doctor the book). Not that this monochromatic, paint-by-numbers, total bore of a show is without its moments. Those are primarily provided by star Rob McClure, whose lithe physicality ably recreates some of the little tramp’s greatest shtick. But the rest of the cast is forgettable, as is the music (I left the theater humming MACK & MABEL), while the lyrics are trite, and the book confused when it isn’t just pedestrian. In the end, a story of Chaplin that reduces his life to a Freudian complex about his mother has really missed the point. [D]

Vic Sage Oct 09 2012 02:57 PM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013 Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Oct 10 2012 09:43 AM

AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE - This new adaptation stars Boyd Gaines and Richard Thomas as Norwegian brothers in a power struggle. Gaines is the idealistic doctor, determined to tell the world the local spa (from which the town derives most of its income) is polluted, and Thomas is the mayor, and board-member of the spa, determined to discredit him. The play isn't about people; it's about ideas and arguments, a dialectic devoid of humanity. And if you like that sort of thing, then you might like this production. I don't and I didn't. Gaines plays the doctor as a vainglorious madman; Thomas's mayor all but twirls a mustache with quiet villainy. The rest of the cast and production is fine, as far as that goes, which isn't very. There's a lot of yelling and stomping around and slamming of doors and breaking of glass, so you think there's action, but there's not really. It's sound and fury signifying very little. In the end, the doctor's screed against the tyranny of the majority and the importance of exceptional men is just an Ayn Randian diatribe too painful to endure. At least Vonnegut's short story, HARRISON BERGERON, was funny and humane in making similar points. I don't know... it seems that once a play has entered the canon of western civilization (i.e., any successful old play by dead white European and American males), even dynamite can't get it out. And so we are stuck with endless revivals. And to wonder out loud as to "why" is to blaspheme. sigh. [D]

Vic Sage Oct 10 2012 09:05 AM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013 Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Oct 10 2012 09:48 AM

GRACE - Playwright Craig Wright's fascinating play about the nature of faith has been bouncing around in regional theaters since 2004 and now both the play and Wright make their Broadway debuts. A born again christian couple (Paul Rudd and Kate Arrington) from Minnesota have sold everything to move to Florida and pursue a doomed real estate venture (gospel-themed hotels). In the condo next door resides a withdrawn scientist (Michael Shannon) horribly scarred (inside and out) by a car crash that killed his girlfriend and left him alive. The fourth character is the condo's exterminator (Ed Asner) an old German fellow with little patience for "jesus freaks" but a twinkly humor and warmth hiding a deep guilt of his own. This great cast brings the text and characters to life in funny, tragic, thoughtful and moving ways, but the standout is Shannon, who projects the pain of life just by standing there. His growing relationship with the neglected wife next door gives both a moment of grace; the old man, too, finds a moment of forgiveness in the end, even as Rudd's christian faith, tied to his capitalist schemes, comes crashing down around him. The play, basically a romantic triangle that ends badly, actually starts with the tragic violent ending and then literally rewinds to the beginning of the story, so we are left seeing how the tragedy unfolds, rather than just being confronted with the violent end as a melodramatic resolution. It's not about how it ends, Wright seems to say, its about what we learn along the way. Grace is attainable, even under horrible circumstances, and sometimes because of horrible circumstances. And we need not look to a god for it. As Arrington says, "we are all here... even if its not for a reason, we can't just be here BESIDE each other; we have to be here FOR each other, just a little bit... right?" (I'm paraphrasing). This theme of human disconnectedness is further supported by the direction and design, employing a theatrical device in which the 2 condos are represented onstage by the same single set at the same time, with the characters moving through the space simultaneously but disconnected and oblivious to each other. While it's not a perfect play (it's too pat, too dogmatic, it's comic moments sometimes forced, and the characters sometimes seem more symbolic than real), it still offers an airtight 90-minute consideration that's thoughtful and worthy of its subject, mounted with expertise, and evincing a profound sense of humanity. [B+]

Edgy MD Oct 10 2012 09:33 AM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

Saw this back in 2004. More or less the same reading. I like Enemy of the People, but I only know it on the page. Didn't read it as Randian.

Vic Sage Oct 10 2012 09:41 AM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

when you saw it in 04, did they do the same 1set/2condos device? I'm wondering if that was a directorial notion, or if it is part of the stage directions of the play by the author. with ENEMY, i make the 'Randian' comparison because the play explicitly makes the point that society is better served if it allows its exceptional people to have control, rather than the mindless masses; the deification of the individual will over the collective. Surely Rand isn't the only one to make the point (as i note by also comparing it to Vonnegut), but the didactic way in which its discussed struck me as, well, Randian. And for some, that's a compliment.

Edgy MD Oct 10 2012 10:09 AM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

Yeah, they did the two families living on one set thing. Good device. The difference I see between Rand and Ibsen is that the Howard Roark wants to be free from a well intentioned government with a legitimate public interest, under the notion that no matter how legitimate that interest is, it shouldn't trump the rights of the individual. The mob is stirred up by the media with their competing private interests. Dr Stockmann, on the other hand, has performed his great achievement on behalf of the public interest (even if it strokes his vanity) and it's a corrupt and exploitative government body that frustrates him and stirs up a mob against him. Both works seem to decry the rabble's susceptibility to demagoguery. I imagine both have been frequently brandished by demagogues. Man Against Society in Literature. That's sort of 200 level course.

MFS62 Nov 20 2012 08:06 AM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

Vic, what did you think of Scandalous? Kathie Lee Gifford's show was sure getting a lot of hype on her show and the Today show. From the parts of the musical numbers I saw it looked very "old style" Broadway musical. Later

Vic Sage Nov 26 2012 03:24 PM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

Vic, what did you think of Scandalous? Kathie Lee Gifford's show was sure getting a lot of hype on her show and the Today show. From the parts of the musical numbers I saw it looked very "old style" Broadway musical. i haven't seen it yet, and was hoping it would do a quick open-and-close, like THE PERFORMERS, so i wouldn't have to see it. But it looks like its sticking around, damn it. In the meantime, i have seen 2 other plays: CYRANO DE BERGERAC - Rostand's 19th century French verse play is a classic that I've seen in many variations, from Jose Ferrer's film to Derek Jacobi's RSC Broadway revival, to Kevin Kline's recent attempt, even in regional and school productions. It's a beautiful tragicomic contemplation on the nature of love -- of others, and of oneself, and it has always moved me. Until now. This Roundabout revival uses a vulgar new adaptation filled with colloquialisms, and director Jamie Lloyd has a mostly mediocre cast hurry through the text in an arrhythmic fashion so as to play AGAINST the poetry of the work, thus undermining its verse couplets. This naturalistic interpretation is echoed by the sets and costumes, all of which to work against the very nature of the play, which is both romantic and Romantic, and highly musical in its verse. John Hodge (who won a Tony last season for LA CAGE AUX FOLLES) transforms himself and gives a great performance as Cyrano, to the extent the director permits it, but no one else measures up. And even Hodge seems a bit too short to project the physical stature of this great warrior / poet. And if the inarticulate realism swallows up Cyrano's dying line about his "panache" (as the 2 girls sitting behind me said: "what he say?"), then one has to wonder what the point is of this exercise. If the director didn't like the play, he should have just chosen another instead of sabotaging this one. Perhaps those less enthusiastic about the work will enjoy this production; it's not terrible, it's just entirely wrongheaded [C-] WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF - This Steppenwolf revival of Mr. Albee's classic features Amy Morton and Tracy Letts in the Liz & Dick leads of "George" and "Martha", and both their performances and the production as a whole seems spot on in its fidelity to the work. But unlike this season's CYRANO, director Pam McKinnon's fidelity is somewhat problematic, leaving the audience in the presence of awful people doing terrible things to each other for 3 hours. In the movie adaptation (which has its own problems), Taylor & Burton were drunken grotesques, but their own reality (2 people who really loved each other but couldn't help but hurt one another) became the necessary subtext for George & Martha, investing it with a humanity that isn't really present in the text until the last 10 minutes of the play... which was too little, too late to allow me to care. Letts and Morton, both solid actors, are unable to project that essential underlying love needed to allow the audience to invest themselves in those characters. Instead, they remain monsters. And the younger couple, "Nick" and "Honey" are no less awful. They were played by George Segal and Sandy Dennis in the film version with a funny quirkiness that softened their considerable edges. Here, Honey is just a pathetic, neurotic, vomiting drunk and Nick a venally ambitious, cheating biologist, with no hint of that softening humor. This is not to say the play doesn't have tremendous power, and poetic dialogue, and deal with essential human truths. It is Albee, for heaven's sake, and bad Albee is better than good just-about-anybody-else-you-can-think-of playwrights whose careers overlap his. But Albee also must be compared to Albee, and i prefer DELICATE BALANCE and SEASCAPE, for example, because of their underlying humanity. WOOLF, on the other hand, is just mean. [B]

Vic Sage Dec 11 2012 10:30 AM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013 Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Jan 16 2013 02:35 PM

THE HEIRESS - Film star Jessica Chastain ("Zero Dark Thirty") leads a cast featuring the always excellent stage vets David Straitharn and Judith Ivey, and the callow Daniel Stevens ("Downton Abbey"), in Moises Kaufman's beautifully adorned revival of this Henry James chestnut, adapted by Ruth & Augustus Goetz back in 1947. The role gave Olivia De Havilland an Oscar in 1940s and Cherry Jones a Tony for a revival in the `90s, and Chastain is surprisingly good with a different take on the part. The heiress is supposed to be neither clever nor beautiful nor charming; she is unloved by her father and sought after by a penniless fortune-seeker, likely after her money. Usually, she is played by a believably dowdy actress, or one made to look so. But Chastain repels dowdiness like ScotchGuard, so what is she to do? She renders the girl nearly autistic, suffering from a form of social anxiety that makes her fine features and bone structure irrelevant, and makes her lack of appeal and confidence entirely believable. What is interesting about the role is that as long as she holds out hope that she can earn her father's love, she is an emotional cripple. But when she finally realizes that he actually hates her and his love will be forever withheld, she is "healed", becoming serene and self-confident, but ultimately unloving. Her heart is dead. And when she climbs that ominous staircase at the end, her ascent is ironic, as we are witness to her tragedy. As for the others, Straitharn’s “father” is more sympathetic in this production, and thus his daughter is less so. Judith Ivey’s “aunt” is not only amusing and sweetly silly, she is also a cynical pragmatist. Even Dan Stevens’ “suitor” suggests some ambiguity... he might well have loved her, or at least treated her well as he spent her money. The production is more ambivalent, less black & white in its characterizations and themes, than I recall and so is more complex and interesting. I don't generally go in for the "masterpiece theater" style of drama, but this work has always been special to me, and this is a worthy production of it. Certainly a more gorgeous physical production of this play you are unlikely to see. [A]

MFS62 Dec 11 2012 09:36 PM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

Vic, looks like you got your wish on Scandalous. Later

Vic Sage Dec 12 2012 08:25 AM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013 Edited 4 time(s), most recently on Dec 13 2012 02:25 PM

I really don't wish ill for any show (heh heh), but i wasn't terribly surprised. but as for the piece of crap i saw last night... A CHRISTMAS STORY - This musical adaptation of the cultish comedy Christmas movie (itself an adaptation of short stories and radio program anecdotes by storyteller Jean Shepherd) is mechanical product created only to be bought and sold, like a warehouse full of unopened sardine cans .* (see joke below) It is without purpose, imagination or character, basically just a beat-by-beat retelling of the movie with unnecessary songs that are forgotten in the same moment they are heard. The physical production is cheesy and uninspired. The story is supposed to take place in the 1940s, but nothing in the direction, sets, costumes or music (other than for a moment here or there) evokes the era. There are a couple of good production numbers ("Ralphie to the Rescue" [a cowboy dream sequence], "a major award" [the father's Busby Berkeley number upon winning the leg lamp], and the teacher's 40s/Ann Miller style tap number in Act II), and a decent musical comedy performance by the dad. Dan Luria as the narrator (Shepherd) is also fine, a warm and ubiquitous presence throughout, but he adds nothing but commentary and punchlines. In the end, they try and pay off the character (and the show) with cheap 2nd act sentimentality, but it's all unearned, and so feels forced and manipulative. You are left feeling the story is really about the narrator, but they are either too lazy or lacking in vision or talent to pull it off. And there are way too many kids singing and dancing, for my taste. Now I've long believed that ANY kind of material can be musicalized (e.g., see SWEENEY TODD for an excellent musical about cannibalism), but the themes of the story and the "wants" of the characters have to be of sufficient emotionality and scale to sing about. Here, while they try to elevate Ralphie's quest for a BB gun to Arthurian grail-like proportions, the material simply doesn't support it and it all feels rather pointless, because the larger themes (the perfect imperfection of familial love; the glow of memory; the magnetic pull of home; the evocative power of storytelling to keep our pasts present) are entirely undeveloped, some only hinted at. While Act II is much better than Act I, with more heart and character, it’s not enough to save this soulless show. [D] * Mr. Brown calls his friend Sam Rogers and says, “Sam, do I have a deal for you. I have a warehouse filled with thousands of cans of sardines. Since you’re my friend, I’ll let you have them for only $10,000.” Rogers agrees to buy them and two weeks later calls his friend William Green. He says, “Bill, do I have a deal for you. I have a warehouse filled with sardines, which, since you are my friend, I’ll let you have for just $15,000.” Green buys them and soon after that calls his friend Harvey Scott. He says to Harvey, “Since you're my best friend, I have a wonderful deal for you. I have 500 shipping containers filled with tins of sardines which I can let you have for only $25,000.” Scott sends him a check and a month later goes to the warehouse to see his sardines. While there, he decides to taste them. He opens a tin and discovers that the sardines have spoiled. So he tries another can. Same result. He thinks maybe these are an exception and so he tries sardines from three other containers. All are spoiled. Upset, he calls his friend Bill Green who in turn calls his friend Sam Rogers who then calls Lewis Brown. “Lew,” he says, “I just learned that all the sardines you sold me are rotten. What’s going on?” Sam says to him, “What did you expect. These are not eating sardines; they are buying and selling sardines.”

MFS62 Dec 12 2012 08:29 AM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

Sounds like a wasted evening. At least you didn't shoot your eye out. Later

Vic Sage Dec 12 2012 08:34 AM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

the thought had occurred to me to try.

Edgy MD Dec 12 2012 08:38 AM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

It's a natural for the market.

themetfairy Jan 03 2013 04:45 PM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

What's the advance word on Holland Taylor as Ann Richards at the Vivian Beaumont?

Vic Sage Jan 04 2013 09:37 AM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

i haven't heard anything. sorry.

themetfairy Jan 04 2013 03:30 PM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

OK - thanks.

The Second Spitter Jan 05 2013 12:34 AM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

I saw South Pacific in the week before Christmas. Pretty good production.

sharpie Jan 07 2013 01:35 PM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

I saw Golden Boy on New Years Day. Not yet reviewed by Vic. I'll hold.

Swan Swan H Jan 07 2013 02:09 PM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

Has anyone else seen Glengarry Glen Ross yet? I was not overwhelmed. I thought it was played a bit too broadly for my taste, particularly by John McGinley. I never got to see the original run, but I preferred the 2005 revival to this one.

Vic Sage Jan 07 2013 03:11 PM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

I'm seeing GOLDEN BOY and GLENGARRY next week. I have not heard good things about GLENGARRY, which is too bad. i love that play. Great movie adaptation, too. The added-on opening monologue by Alec Baldwin is pure gold. But Robert Prosky and Joe Mantegna in the original Broadway production will be hard to top. meanwhile... THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD - Rupert Holmes' mediocre `80s musical adaptation of the unfinished Dickens story is revived by Roundabout for no good reason. When I saw it back then, I thought it was twee, arch and virtually unendurable. 25 years later, it remains so. This time I left at intermission but, from what I saw in Act I, the production elements are first rate and the actors do the best they can. But who cares? The music is unrelentingly bland and forgettable, the "mystery" dull, the characters cardboard cutouts, the humor cornball-ish, and the 19th century music hall story-within-a-story too self-conscious by half. And requiring the audience to vote on the conclusion is just an empty gimmick. Some people like this sort of unfunny, tuneless, farcical camp, but I’m not among them. [D]

Vic Sage Jan 16 2013 10:06 AM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

ANNIE – This holiday season revival of the perennial family show is a perfectly adequate production of a perfectly mediocre entertainment. Lilla Crawford’s Annie is feisty and fine, even if vocally a bit nasal (a common technical flaw among child performers), and Anthony Warlow’s Daddy Warbucks is blustery and moving, with a terrific voice. Their scenes together are what shines in this production. The orphans, too, give good show. But Miss Hannigan is rendered by Katie Fineran as more of a cartoon than the cartoon ever was, and her cohorts, Rooster and and Lily, are notably dreadful, while Bryn O’Malley is just invisible as Grace. The physical production and direction overall seems fine, if unremarkable. The only misstep was the replacement of the Act II Christmas tree (which was always a crowd-pleasing bit of scenic design) with an abstract version using lighting effects which has no impact at all. The songs are the songs, the story is the story, the kids are the kids. You either like this kind of stuff or you don’t. [C+] GOLDEN BOY - This 75th anniversary revival production of Clifford Odets’ classic play gets a big, opulent production from Lincoln Center. Directed with power and style by Bartlett Sher, the huge cast gives mostly over-the-top performances delivering Odets’ stylized and juicy dialogue with snap and crackle, and the story, despite its old-fashioned 3-act melodrama, still has pop. The kid from WAR HORSE gives an intense performance in the lead and he works beautifully off of the understated grace of Tony Shaloub as his father. Shaloub gives a performance to remember. But what is most memorable is the power of Odets’ voice, which offered a note of humanism in a difficult time, and suggested all that glittered was not gold. And what, he asks, does it profit a man to gain the world if he loses his soul? [A-]

sharpie Jan 16 2013 10:43 AM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

Saw "The Heiress" last Saturday (the night before Jessica Chastain won the Golden Globe) and I'm in accord with Vic's review. Interesting choices all around. As for "Golden Boy," I don't get it. Yes, a smashing production but of dated, obvious material. There's a reason that Clifford Odets' reputation has fallen over the years: his plays don't age well. Also, I had no use for the would-be husband of the ingenue. I didn't really care about his separation from his wife or his on-and-off love for the girl. I did, however, like the scene between the father and the palooka boxer and the show was great to look at (plus actual boxing!)

Vic Sage Jan 16 2013 02:33 PM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013 Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Jan 28 2013 10:34 AM

i agree that GOLDEN BOY is creaky, and i agree that it, like most Odets work, hasn't aged well. But the play is still powerful and says important things that need saying every generation or so. Without GOLDEN BOY questioning the values of the "American Dream", and the value in pursuing an authentic life (or "truthful success", as the play calls it) and the tragedy of pursuing the wrong things, then you never get DEATH OF A SALESMAN in the next generation, raising the same issues with a (then) more modern style, where we are inside the mind of the protagonist as he has a play-long mental breakdown. And we don't get to GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS a generation or 2 later. Every era an artist makes the point in a way that resonates in their time. Even as times change, and styles change, the point is still worth making, and seeing how its been done before can be enlightening and even moving. Speaking of GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS - Mamet's steel cage death match about men, out there with a "smile and shoeshine" like foul-mouthed Willy Lomans, devouring each other for survival. It still works. This time, Pacino plays Shelley the Machine Levene, offering a typically strange and idiosyncratic performance of the aging salesman at the end of his tether looking for one more good lead, and Bobby Cannivale is brilliant in Pacino's old role as Ricky Roma, young shark, existential poet and current king of the hill. All the supporting players are excellent too, but if you enjoy Pacino's self-indulgent narcissism, you're a better man than I. Beyond that, he's miscast. The role requires an innate core of decency and integrity, in order to see its corruption. Robert Prosky had that in the original, Alan Alda had it in the last revival, and Jack Lemmon in the film oozes it out of every pore. But Pacino just seems like a corrupted desiccated figure at his core. Also, after the excellent movie adaptation, one does miss that opening Alec Baldwin monologue. I do wish Mamet would incorporate it into the play at this point. It sets the scene so well for all that follows. [B+] click here to see it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kZg_ALxEz0

themetfairy Jan 16 2013 03:24 PM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

Is there any advance word on Kinky Boots?

Vic Sage Jan 16 2013 03:40 PM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

it has a Chicago tryout which was fairly well received. Lauper got praise for her score, but Fierstein's book needs some Act II help. But what musical doesn't?

themetfairy Jan 16 2013 04:34 PM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

Thanks. We got an offer to see it in previews, and we're thinking about it.

Swan Swan H Jan 19 2013 05:14 AM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

I'm going to see the cast of Once (no specifics on who or how many) doing a cabaret show at 54 Below in February. After seeing the show twice and listening to the cast album dozens of times I'm looking forward to seeing what the individual musical sensibilities of the cast are.

Edgy MD Jan 19 2013 06:55 AM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

Seeing Once twice sort of violates the spirit of the thing, doesn't it?

Swan Swan H Jan 19 2013 07:24 AM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

Edgy MD wrote: Seeing Once twice sort of violates the spirit of the thing, doesn't it? The second time I fell much more quickly.

Vic Sage Jan 23 2013 03:31 PM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF - Yet another revival of Williams' 1955 Pulitzer winner, this time with Scarlett Johansson in the title role. She was brilliant a few seasons ago in VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE, and while not brilliant here, she is very very very good, and the only reason to see this production. Her accent is inconsistent and a little distracting, but she is every bit the carnal kitty scheming for survival that the part requires. Unfortunately, Benjamin Walker's "Brick" is too well named, because he sinks every scene he's in like a loaf of concrete. The normally reliable Debra Monk as Big Momma is one-note and wasted and the rest of the supporting cast is weak. Only Ciaran Hinds keep ups with Ms. Johansson, offering a "Big Daddy" of depth and complexity. Rob Ashford's direction is long on entertainment value but woefully short on poetry, subtlety and subtext. He keeps things flying, but when the play has to sit down for a moment, the seams show. The set is gorgeous, but the sound and lighting (with the fireworks outside, and the coming storm, and the cacophony of the servants) are ludicrous in underlining every phrase with ponderous meaning. All in all, its an entertaining enough revival of a dated but still poignant play with a movie star giving a movie star performance. [B-]

metirish Jan 23 2013 03:45 PM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

Got missus tix to see Evita tomorrow night....why is it closing down Vic?

Vic Sage Jan 23 2013 09:45 PM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

i don't know... cuz it sucks? nah, that can't be it. shows close either because they're losing a star and can't find a famous enough replacement, or they're not selling tickets. Since it has no stars, i'll bet the latter.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Jan 23 2013 09:50 PM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

Ricky Martin has probably moved a shocking amount of tickets for those producers. (And what, Vic-- not a big Cerveris fan?)

Vic Sage Jan 24 2013 07:54 AM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013 Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Jan 24 2013 10:10 AM

Since theater ticket buyers (particularly for musicals) are predominantly middle-aged suburban women, i wouldn't be at all surprised to know that Ricky Martin was able to sell some tickets. But he probably HURT ticket sales with just about any other demographic. He also wasn't very good. Michael Cerveris, on the other hand, was brilliant. He's just not a star that sells tickets to people other than NYC-based musical theater geeks. Musicals are sustained by tourist money, and tourists are like "Michael will serve us? Serve us what? Who's Michael?"

Vic Sage Jan 24 2013 08:36 AM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

here was my original review of EVITA from last season: EVITA – This long-running London revival of the Webber/Rice mega-hit finally comes back to Broadway, featuring a tiny Argentinean spitfire, Elena Roger, and Ricky Martin, the Latin pop star of the 90s, as the sardonic narrator, Che. But it's a pretty mediocre production of an overrated show. Evita Peron is an Argentinean peasant girl who rises from obscure poverty to wealth, power and celebrity, before dying young (at 33, like Jesus) after becoming First Lady of a nation and a (not so) secular saint. In combining Mary Magdalene with the Virgin Mary, Madonna with The Madonna, and Lady Macbeth with Lady GaGa, Webber/Rice created a complex character. Originally, the show tempered Evita's story by using passionate revolutionary Che Guevara as the narrator and critic of both Evita and her Fascist husband's behavior. As played by Mandy Patinkin, Che's acerbic commentary and begrudging admiration formed a conversation with Evita's naked ambition and profligacy, giving the show some balance. But the lightweight Ricky Martin is just a generic "Che" with no revolutionary edge, and his critique is more admiring than begrudging, more disappointed than angry. The narrative imbalance in this production is unintentionally exacerbated by the terrific Michael Cerveris as Evita's husband, Argentinean president Juan Peron. His brilliant performance turns the character from a mere opportunist into a charismatic leader and loving husband, leaving the Che/Evita dialectic far from the audience's consideration. Yet none of this would matter if Roger's Evita was able to make the music take flight, as Patti LuPone and Elaine Paige once did. Unfortunately, Roger’s soprano is thin, nasal and harsh, with an unpleasant vibrato in the upper register. She is a terrific actress and dancer, but EVITA is an opera, entirely sung through, with much of the score comprised of dull recitative and filler that bursts only occasionally into ecstatic moments of gorgeous melody. So unless you have an Evita that can make each of those melodic outbursts soar, then the show doesn't either. And this show is surely one soarless bird, sorely in need of some goosebumpery. Brit director Michael Grandage does nothing to help the show take wing, staging the work in a prosaic, respectful and sincere manner that remains utterly earthbound, even with Rob Marshall's excellent choreography. Ultimately, it pales in comparison to the sparklingly innovative staging provided by Hal Prince in the show's original Broadway incarnation. The show does still have its moments, including the opening of Act II, where Roger is able to pull off DON'T CRY FOR ME ARGENTINA with a subdued and restrained beauty that marks the highlight of this production. And her love story with Cerveris is more fully felt than I've seen in the work before, due in part to their performances, but also the inclusion of the song from the movie adaptation, YOU MUST LOVE ME, meant originally to give Madonna an Oscar opportunity, but serving now to bolster their marital relationship, strengthening a former weakness in the story. All in all, though, EVITA is a dull, plodding piece of work that was once elevated by an ironic approach, ingenious staging and a brilliant cast… and is now not. [C+]

Vic Sage Feb 07 2013 10:35 AM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

PICNIC - This Roundabout revival of William Inge's Pulitzer-winning classic is surprisingly vital after all these years. Not because this dated play is particularly worth reviving (the fact that it won the 1953 Pulitzer over GODOT and THE CRUCIBLE is a cruel joke of history), but because a great cast given its head can be a thing of beauty. And it is, here, starting with Broadway veterans Ellen Burstyn (as the nice old lady next door, who gets off on hiring good-looking bums to do chores), Elizabeth Marvel (the spinster school teacher, sexually repressed and desperate for marriage) and Reed Birney (as the teacher's reluctant boyfriend, a store owner set in his ways), joined by Broadway "newcomer" and film/tv veteran Mare Winningham (as the stolid mother of 2 girls, trying to push them toward better lives) who seems like she was born to these kind of roles. She moves you just by standing still. And as the 2 young lovers, Hal (sebastian stan) the gorgeous ne'er-do-well, and Madge (Maggie Grace) the beautiful older daughter who wants to be something more than beautiful, make their instant lust plausible, and more than a little tragic. It is appropriate that a play all about what is unspoken, hidden and repressed in a small mid-western mid-century town is played on a single unit set of a courtyard between the home of the family and that of their neighbor, where action also takes place inside the house, where characters can only be seen through open windows and behind curtains. In a play with little razzle, and even less dazzle, it is a thoughtful directorial choice that give the play life. While the play is a hoary chestnut loaded with cliches, and while Inge lacked the poetry of Tennessee Williams, O'Neill and Odets, or the brilliantly surreal absurdism of Albee, Beckett and Shepard, or the modern sense of plebian tragedy of Miller and Mamet, he had as good an ear for the intense emotional pain bubbling beneath our conventional lives as anybody. And that ain't nothing. [B]

metirish Feb 10 2013 03:21 PM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

A question about Foxwoods, looking at getting three tickets for Spider-Man, not sure if you can help here but, I can get three tickets at a reasonable price at the very back in the balcony section. Would those seats be good enough to enjoy the show, would two five year olds see the show?

Vic Sage Feb 11 2013 01:11 PM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

i don't know that there are ANY seats where you can enjoy the show... as for seats where you can SEE the show, well the back of the balcony is a lonnnnnnnnng way away. Its a huge, cavernous theater and i don't know what the view is from up there, and maybe it won't matter to 5-year olds, but i'd hate to see anything from that distance.

metirish Feb 11 2013 01:40 PM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

Thanks Vic, good info to have. Tickets are just so expensive, damn.

Vic Sage Feb 13 2013 08:04 AM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

THE OTHER PLACE - It's easy to dismiss Sharr White's play as a standard "smart woman facing illness" play, like WIT, PROOF or even WHOSE LIFE IS IT ANYWAY, or a couple dealing with the loss of a child like David Lindsay-Abaire's RABBIT HOLE, in either case better suited as a Lifetime TV special. And it is that, except it has better theatrical chops then those comparisons suggest, and is, instead, one of the best plays in this dry white season. Laurie Metcalf offers a towering performance as a scientist coming apart at the seams without knowing why. As our unreliable narrator, she takes us through the looking glass, and we're never quite sure about the footing beneath us. But the real revelation here is Zoe Perry, Metcalf's real-life daughter, playing multiple parts. In a scene toward the end, she pretends to be Metcalf's daughter, to quiet and soothe her, and its as heartbreaking as anything your likely to see on a stage. Clearly, their relationship works to deepen the subtext of the characters. Bill PUllman is solid as the put upon husband. The direction by Joe Mantello is a mixed bag, with a physical production that is annoyingly cluttered, but with great performances and brisk pacing that is worth appreciating. It's a difficult play, but at 75 intermission-less minutes, it doesn't feel too long or too hard a slog, and its final image, of the "girl in the yellow bikini", will take your breath away. [B+]

Swan Swan H Feb 17 2013 07:42 PM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

Just saw the cast of "Once" - minus the ailing Steve Kazee - do a performance at 54 Below. A few songs from the play, some covers, some originals, a good amount of Celtic playing and singing. Everything they did from the play was presented in an original way save for "Falling Slowly," which was played in its familiar arrangement. A really lovely, fun night.

seawolf17 Feb 17 2013 07:47 PM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

Swan Swan H wrote: Just saw the cast of "Once" - minus the ailing Steve Kazee - do a performance at 54 Below. A few songs from the play, some covers, some originals, a good amount of Celtic playing and singing. Everything they did from the play was presented in an original way save for "Falling Slowly," which was played in its familiar arrangement. A really lovely, fun night. Awesome. Who played the Kazee role in the tunes? My friend Mike understudies him in the show, but I don't know about these off gigs.

Swan Swan H Feb 17 2013 08:24 PM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

Mike Zygo? He sang the co-lead on "Falling Slowly" - and did a really nice job. David Abeles did "Lies," which was in the movie but cut from the play in previews, and which they said Kazee was scheduled to do tonight. Cristin Milioti, who hinted that her time in the cast may be coming to an end, did "Leave," and totally brought the house down. "Broken Hearted Hoover Fixer Sucker Guy" was blown up and turned into a hoe-down, with everyone singing. Killer.

seawolf17 Feb 18 2013 07:02 AM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

Swan Swan H wrote: Mike Zygo? He sang the co-lead on "Falling Slowly" - and did a really nice job. David Abeles did "Lies," which was in the movie but cut from the play in previews, and which they said Kazee was scheduled to do tonight. Cristin Milioti, who hinted that her time in the cast may be coming to an end, did "Leave," and totally brought the house down. "Broken Hearted Hoover Fixer Sucker Guy" was blown up and turned into a hoe-down, with everyone singing. Killer. Yep. Went to college with Zygo and Lucas (who plays Svec). It's such a trip to me that not only are they on Broadway, but they're in the original Broadway cast of this wildly successful show.

Swan Swan H Feb 18 2013 07:05 AM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

Lucas did an original song that he wrote about the show and the cast. It was funny, a bit bittersweet, and really well done.

themetfairy Mar 10 2013 05:38 PM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

We just saw Kinky Boots in previews. I loved it, D-Dad liked it and MK tolerated it. The Cyndi Lauper music isn't of a level of, let's say Wicked, but it's enjoyable fare. The book isn't particularly original but it's fun. Billy Porter wasn't in great voice, but overall the cast was fine. The story of keeping a small shoe manufacturer in business by recognizing the need for fetish footwear is right up Harvey Fierstein's alley and made for a fun afternoon at the theater.

Vic Sage Mar 11 2013 08:13 AM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

yeah, that's about what i expected. Took princess sage to see CINDERELLA this weekend: Rogers & Hammerstein's CINDERELLA - The Rogers & Hammerstein classic TV musical has been undermined by a stupid book update by the relentlessly irritating Doug Carter Beane, as well as touring production quality sets and costumes, cheezy outdated stage effects and a strikingly diminutive prince. That being said, Laura Osnes is a wonderful Cinderella, Victoria Clark a terrific fairy godmother and Harriet Harrison offers her usual solid support as the stepmother. And Josh Rhodes' choreography is athletic, if not particularly innovative or even necessary. The songs are, as ever, a delight, except for the few additional numbers they dug out of the R&H trunk to flesh out the ridiculous new plot elements imposed on the fairy tale by Mr. Beane. Reeking of political correctness, Beane has made Cindy more "proactive" and given the book a proto-feminist/sociological slant, introducing an overtly political subplot wherein Cindy introduces the concept of parliamentary government and free elections to the Prince's domain, as well as creating a "bonding" moment between Cindy and one of her stepsisters [a WICKED-like attempt at "Girl Power"]. And the glass slipper? First she takes it with her, then later she intentionally hands it to the prince so he can find her. I kid you not. Bending over backwards to make the tale something it's not, Beane has succeeded only in breaking its back. Better to have perhaps just pruned and trimmed the original TV version and stage it as well as it could be staged, with first rate effects and design. Cuz if it ain't broke, don't fix it. My daughter was bored and disappointed; i was angry, because this may be the stupidest show I've ever seen... and I've seen STARMITES. [C-]

Vic Sage Mar 18 2013 11:40 AM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

ANN - Actress Holland Taylor has written a 1-woman show for herself as the former Texas governor Ann Richards. The performance is a triumph, but the play less so. Structured as a commencement speech, with an extended digression to allow us to witness her time as governor before returning, post-mortem, to conclude her speech. The structure is forced, phony and arch and the play is dramatically inert... a series of amusing anecdotes that play like an old rock band's "behind the music" special, in which they tell us "and then I wrote..." We like their greatest hits, of course, but it doesn't tell us anything except chronology. ANN doesn't actually dramatize a life; Taylor just recites it with her amusing, dry, slightly bawdy wit. There is no arc, no perceivable journey for the character, just an ongoing sequence of "and then I...", but that doesn't make it a play. And while there is mention of Richards’ alcoholism and divorce, the details are all left “off-stage”, so what remains onstage is pure hagiography. Still, Taylor the actress makes up for a lot of Taylor the writer's shortcomings, and so the production is not without its entertainment value. [C+] [add 2 grades if you’re a middle-aged southern woman and Richards was your secular saint].

Vic Sage Mar 28 2013 09:37 AM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

HANDS ON A HARDBODY – In a particularly bad year for musicals, I was so rooting for this new one (from Doug Wright, Amanda Green and Trey “Phish” Anastasio) to work. It had a quirky original concept and some really talented folks executing it, and with GREY GARDENS, Wright showed how rich a documentary can be for musicalization. But watching these rednecks stand up for 5 days, having to keep their hand on a truck to win it, made me feel like I was right there with them… and not in a good way. The cast is not nearly as strong as this sort of thing requires to make us care about the clichéd character types on display. Keith Carradine, especially, has to make an unlikeable fella likeable, and he does (to some degree), but he just doesn’t sing very well anymore. The lyrics are tedious and don’t sit well on the music, and the music runs the emotional gamut from A to ..,. B. When you pull out not 1 but 2 gospel numbers, a cheaply manipulative ploy, you’re pandering in a desperate way. The story lacks both the visceral social critique of THEY SHOOT HORSES, DON’T THEY (itself poorly musicalized [sort of] by Kander & Ebb as STEEL PIER) or the intimate, personal, moving stories against an exciting theatrical background of CHORUS LINE, though it’s trying hard to do both. Ultimately, I just didn’t care who won the damn truck. The direction and design add almost nothing to the text, with the stage practically bare except for the truck (which rotates, spins, and goes back and forth, and so moves more than the play does). The choreography is somewhat inhibited by the needs of the actors to keep their hands on the car, except sometimes they don’t, and we don’t know if it’s a fantasy moment or the character has lost the contest. Still, HARDBODY is an original musical, with strong social themes, and some good songs – not a complete waste of time, though it is a wasted opportunity. [C+]

themetfairy Mar 28 2013 10:24 AM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

Hey Vic - Do you remember Dennis Cunningham, who used to review theater for Channel 2? You sometimes remind me of him. In a good way.

Vic Sage Mar 28 2013 11:57 AM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013 Edited 2 time(s), most recently on Apr 01 2013 10:57 AM

VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE - Chris Durang's new comedy stars Sigourney Weaver and David Hyde-Pierce in a supposedly witty tale of an absurdly tortured family and their ancestral home. With its many references to pop culture detritus, including various other plays (particularly the works of Chekov), and with its daffily absurdist dialogue archly delivered, it’s a play for aesthetes and academics rather than audiences. The performances are terrific, however. Particularly Kristine Nielsen, as the much put upon and complaining sister Sonia, whose Act II monologue on the phone to a potential gentleman caller is beautiful and heartbreaking and sweet and the only genuine moment in the entire play. Hyde-Pierce as her brother Vanya is, as always, a marvelous part of any cast but he's primarily a reactive, laconic presence, keeping his two sisters from killing each other, until he too has a sparkling Act II monologue that steals the show. Unfortunately, his rant (about cell phones, and postage stamps, and 50s TV -- about his preference for the past over the present and his fear of change) has almost nothing to do with the rest of the play. Sigourney Weaver is their sister Masha, a movie star who pays for the family estate that her siblings have continued to live on since their parents' deaths. Weaver is a cartoon villainess, whose overt theatricality washes away any trace of human behavior, but she is clearly written that way. There is some funny physical comedy between her and her young lover, Spike (Billy Magnussen), who represents the crass, tasteless, selfish, oversexed boorishness of contemporary society (I suppose). And there is a Caribbean housekeeper, Cassandra, whose warnings go unheeded (nudge nudge wink wink), but she is used as a Deux ex Machina to move things along. All in all, VANYA is occasionally funny and sweet (particularly in Act II), with top-notch acting, direction and design, but I prefer plays about people, not satires about theatrical constructs. Maybe that's just me. [B-]

Edgy MD Mar 28 2013 12:12 PM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

David Hyde-Pierce always seemed to me that he'd make a good Chekhov actor. In fact, you could drop (or could've dropped) the entire cast of Frazier into Uncle Vanya and had a pretty outstanding production with about two days worth of rehearsals.

Vic Sage Mar 28 2013 02:27 PM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

themetfairy wrote: Hey Vic - Do you remember Dennis Cunningham, who used to review theater for Channel 2? You sometimes remind me of him. In a good way. Remember when theater was important enough for TV critics to review it? Now somebody has to burst into flames on stage for any TV news show to even acknowledge it as, you know, a thing.

themetfairy Apr 03 2013 06:02 AM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

What's the deal with Orphans? Do you think it will be any good?

Vic Sage Apr 03 2013 09:30 AM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

Baldwin is a good stage actor, and its a well-regarded play. Yes, it might be good.

themetfairy Apr 03 2013 09:35 AM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

Does the last minute cast change factor in? Any buzz?

Ashie62 Apr 03 2013 09:42 AM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

You mean Dennis Sage Cunningham? Yeah, I remember him..

Vic Sage Apr 03 2013 02:40 PM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

themetfairy wrote: Does the last minute cast change factor in? Any buzz? i'm sure the loss of Shia LaBoeuf has not made the producers happy. But i haven't heard any buzz about the show itself.

themetfairy Apr 03 2013 03:48 PM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

OK - Thanks.

Vic Sage Apr 11 2013 09:46 AM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

KINKY BOOTS - If you're stumbling through a desert, a mud hole will look like an oasis. And so, in this dry white season on the great white way, an otherwise middling musical like KINKY BOOTS feels like SHOWBOAT. Thoroughly enjoyable and entertaining, BOOTS is a cross between THE FULL MONTY and LA CAGE AUX FOLLES. A young Englishman's family shoe factory is going down the tubes, taking the factory townfolk with it, when a bunch of London drag queens save the day, inspiring a new line of kinky boots. But Harvey Fierstein's book, adapting the British film on which it’s based, is obvious, predictable and heavy-handed. The story is about the bond between Charlie, the "young prince" who feels obligated to take over his late dad's factory and his dream, and the "queen", Lola/Simon, whose natural proclivities disappointed his father, a boxer. Despite Charlie's love-interest subplots, BOOTS is a story of fathers and sons, and of acceptance...ladled on with a trowel. But director/choreographer Jerry Mitchell does a marvelous job of keeping things fast and funny, and the choreography is ingenious, particularly a conveyor-belt number that ends the first act, with enough flips and splits (pulled off by a Greek Chorus of drag queens) to impress a Russian women's gymnastics team. Cindy Lauper's music is fine and wide-ranging in its stylings, even if not especially memorable. Her lyrics are less successful, demonstrating a lack of technique common to pop song writers attempting theater music, where songs are required to take a listener from point A to point B. Still, the score overall is a strength of the show, and is probably the strongest new score of the season (though I've yet to see MATILDA). And the performances, particularly Billy Porter as Lola/Simon, are terrific, with the whole cast well able to pull off the singing, dancing, comedy and sentiment the show requires. Brava, ladies. Brava. [B+]

Vic Sage Apr 12 2013 01:30 PM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013 Edited 9 time(s), most recently on May 03 2013 03:15 PM

April is the cruelest month -- here's the schedule for my Bataan Death March to the Tony deadline, starting this week: [crossout:outasyxs]KINKY BOOTS – Wed eve 4/10[/crossout:outasyxs] [crossout:outasyxs]ORPHANS – Fri 4/12[/crossout:outasyxs] [crossout:outasyxs]MATILDA – Sat mat 4/13[/crossout:outasyxs] [crossout:outasyxs]MOTOWN - Wed mat 4/17 THE NANCE – wed eve 417[/crossout:outasyxs] [crossout:outasyxs]THE BIG KNIFE – Sat eve 4/20 JEKYLL & HYDE – Sun mat 4/21[/crossout:outasyxs] [crossout:outasyxs]MACBETH – Mon 4/22[/crossout:outasyxs] [crossout:outasyxs]LUCKY GUY – Tues 4/23[/crossout:outasyxs] [crossout:outasyxs]TESTAMENT OF MARY - wed mat 4/24[/crossout:outasyxs] [crossout:outasyxs]THE ASSEMBLED PARTIES – Wed eve 5/1[/crossout:outasyxs] TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL – Tues 5/7 PIPPIN – Sat mat 5/11 [crossout:outasyxs]I’LL EAT YOU LAST – Wed mat 5/8[/crossout:outasyxs] - cut all tony tickets [crossout:outasyxs]BREAKFAST AT TIFFANYS - wed mat 5/15[/crossout:outasyxs] (closing 4/21) That's 15 shows in about a month, about 5 of which i actually want to see. This late opening show glut seems to be getting worse every year.

Edgy MD Apr 12 2013 01:44 PM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

Cyndi Lauper may be a marketable name, but it's not like she really ever made her mark as a composer.

Vic Sage Apr 15 2013 09:35 AM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

ORPHANS - Alec Baldwin stars in this terrific Broadway revival of the off-Broadway show written by Lyle Kessler, originally done at Chicago's Steppenwolf in the mid-80s, followed by a West End production and a film (starring Albert Finney). The play sits somewhere between comedy and tragedy, between the real and the surreal, and is compelling throughout. Baldwin is "Harold", a mysterious businessman who may be on the lamb. He's kidnapped and taken to the North Philly ramshackle home of 2 brothers, feral and dangerous Treat and his mentally deficient younger brother Phillip, whom Treat has taken care of since their mother died. Even after Harold turns the tables on them, they become a surrogate family and begin to grow and learn about a world beyond their street. Its humor doesn't rely on punch-lines but on revelations of character. Its tragedy does likewise. Baldwin is terrific, with an avuncular charm that belies whatever evil the character must be up to. Ben Foster (cast at the last minute for the fired Shia LaBoeuf) carries Treat’s wounded, vulnerable anger quite well. But the real find here is Tom Sturridge as Phillip, who leaps about the stage like a cat, but is Earth-bound and damaged all the same, imprisoned in adolescence by his brother. The design and direction contribute little, but it's an excellent play. [A-] MATILDA - The reviews here and in London for this new adaptation of the Roald Dahl story were ecstatic. Well, I don't know what critics saw, but my son and I loathed this show (as did some folks I heard grumbling around us). The design is indeed impressive, and some of the dance scenes inventive, and performances (by and large) quite good, but a musical with bad music is a bad musical. And this show has some of the worst music in recent memory. It's not bad like LEAP OF FAITH, with lots of pointless gospel numbers, or bad like MAMMA MIA, with lots of ABBA songs, or just boring or innocuously bad and forgettable like this season's CHRISTMAS STORY. No, Tim Minchin's score is actively and painfully ugly music that couldn't find a melody with an FBI dragnet. Act II is somewhat better in this regard, when they can tackle a passing melody to the ground and hold it hostage for a bit. But Act I made my ears bleed. This is exacerbated by lyrics that are virtually incomprehensible. This may be the result of kids singing in a muddy chorale with faux-English accents, or poor musical direction or miking, or (most likely) lyrics lacking the kind of rhythm and rhyme that allow them to sit comfortably on the music, so as to be sung clearly by the characters and heard and understood easily by an audience. But it is what it is, and the lack of comprehensibility left some sitting near us sputteringly angry. My son, however, was angrier at some of the book changes. For instance, much is made of Matilda's genius, and in the story she employs her genius to solve the central conflict. Here, her genius is, again, important, but ultimately she never uses at all. Other incomprehensibilities abound. There is a "gym" scene put in, which seems a natural school setting for abuse and humiliation, but it becomes about joyously leaping, tumbling and dancing in a very entertaining scene that contradicts the point that needed to be made. And there is a green laser light show near the end that I have idea what it had to do with anything, except it gave the villain the chance to push a button and watch bad things happen. The girl playing Matilda is 1 of 4 playing the role, and I wouldn't be surprised if she was one of the weaker ones. Still, she has a strange but bright quality, and was perfectly adequate. In any case, I don't think even Sarah Bernhardt would've made the music more listenable. As for the rest of the cast, they include cartoon villains -- garish, vulgar, physically distorted and inhuman characters. The other school children are written, directed and performed almost entirely without individuating characteristics so they remain generic (although I do recall that one was a fat boy and another a spunky Asian girl). The sympathetic characters (Matilda, the librarian and the teacher) are of human dimension and are fine, but it’s all rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. Even with some great design elements, and some good performances and choreography, expecting an audience to listen to mush-mouthed munchkins swallowing unintelligible lyrics while belting out atonal notes, just to tell a story about caricatures doing inexplicable things, doesn't seem to me a recipe for a great musical. But it is according to the NY Times…which may say more about the NY Times than it does about this musical. [C-]

Vic Sage Apr 18 2013 12:52 PM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

MOTOWN – Berry Gordy has written a love letter to himself using a Crayola, perpetrating an amateurish, cringe-inducing libretto that undermines the "Motown sound". They are great songs, of course. And some are well performed, others less so, but some are truncated to serve the needs of the absurd book. You wish they would all just shut up and sing, and that it could've been a book-less jukebox show. But even so, none of the songs function as musical theater songs, to advance plot or develop character… which is not the fault of the songs, of course, but of the “mind” behind this vanity project. Producer/writer Gordy’s exploitation of the Motown catalogue in this show demonstrates the same casual disregard for talent he showed in his exploitation of the Motown artists themselves (all of whom left his label – gee, I wonder why?). As for the rest, the cast was good enough not to burst out laughing at their own dialogue, but not much better than that. The director, choreographer and designers all do the best it can, considering what they are working with. But there is more truth in the fictional account of these events presented in DREAMGIRLS than there is in any single moment of MOTOWN. [F] THE NANCE - Doug Carter Beane’s new play stars Nathan Lane as Chauncey, a gay Burlesque performer in New York in the late 1930s. He is a “Nance”… a burlesque character who is a comically swishy “fairy”, acting in bits filled with double entendres. When burlesque theaters start getting shut down for portraying such immorality, Chauncey believes it’s just a fad, but it’s really the end of an era. The play alternates burlesque scenes with moments from Chauncey’s life with his fellow performers and his boyfriend. A Self-loathing Republican, defending the very politics that is destroying his way of life and labeling him a deviant, Chauncey also ends up destroying his domestic happiness, likely out of a sense that he doesn’t deserve to be loved. The play echoes moments from CABARET, and calls to mind the German Jews who stayed too long in Germany because they thought they were Germans, but discovered too late that they were only Jews. Also, Olivier’s THE ENTERTAINER, clinging desperately to a music hall tradition that was vanishing. There is also a hint of LENNY, as the embattled performer goes off-book to launch into rants on stage against his persecution. But it’s the burlesque scenes that work here… Lane working at the top of his form with Lewis Stadlen in classic, corny comedy sketches (“Slowwwly I turned…”), with amusingly cheesy stripper numbers in between. Unfortunately, the backstage and domestic scenes are soapy, obvious, unsurprising and more than a little dull. Overall, a well-executed, well-acted production of an overlong and only intermittently interesting play [C+]

Vic Sage Apr 22 2013 09:49 AM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

THE BIG KNIFE - The second Odets play to be revived this season, and its first Broadway production in 65 years, KNIFE is Odets’ very personal condemnation of Hollywood values, and his penitence for selling out to them. Like the earlier and much better GOLDEN BOY, a man has a choice between filthy lucre and a life of artistic/spiritual fulfillment, and makes the wrong choice. Unlike BOY, this one is dull, attenuated over 3 acts, and lacks the poetic Odets sparkle. It seems more lethargic, and the characters, particularly the hero, much less sympathetic. Bobby Cannavale as the movie star, Charlie Castle, gives (as always) a terrific performance but he can’t rise about the limitations of the part. Richard Kind as the Sam Cohn-style studio boss perfects a particular blend of classless nebbish and soulless monster. Castle’s wife, Marian (Marin Ireland), pushing him to give up Hollywood and leave with her and their son, lacks the spark or passion needed to make their love a plausible reason for him to give up everything and a valid alternative to selling his soul. Design and direction are solid, but the play, filled with speeches of self-flagellation allowing Odets to expiate his own guilt and complicity, doesn’t really hold up much anymore. [C+] JEKYLL & HYDE - Frank Wildhorn’s gothic horror musical is a tale of scientific hubris and Victorian-era hypocrisy crashing together to the tune of power pop ballads. The show has its adherents, and it’s the closest thing Wildhorne’s ever had to a success. But while its music is lush and melodic, its clichéd key changes and similarity of musical vocabulary from one song to the next, gives it all a sameness that gets tedious after a while. However, the lyrics and dialogue are clearly tedious from the outset. As for the qualities of this particular revival, the performances are inconsistent. Constantine Maroulis gives it his AMERICAN IDOL best, giving some of the songs a pseudo-heavy metal style regardless of the appropriateness of such an interpretation. The 2nd act number where he argues with himself ("Confrontation") is staged as a bad rock video, with projections and effects and bursts of virtual flames, and Maroulis's connection to either Jekyll OR Hyde in that moment is hard to perceive. The scene is quite hilarious, but not in a good way. Deborah Cox, however, is excellent as Lucy the prostitute, giving her scenes a greater depth of feeling than anyone else in the show. Plus, as a former R&B recording star of the 90s, she has the pipes. Unfortunately, the sweet Emma Carew, the 3rd part of the triangle (quadrangle?), is played by Teal Wicks, a cute little west-coast ingénue with a pretty voice and absolutely no presence whatsoever. Cox overpowers her easily, throwing off the balance in the show. That being said, while I preferred this revival to the original Broadway production, at least with regard to its design and direction (the music video moment aside), the voices of Bob Cuccioli, Linda Eder and Christianne Noll (and Carolee Carmello, on the original pre-Broadway concert album) are transcendent things unmatched by anything here. But if you like this show, then I don’t see why you wouldn’t appreciate this version of it. [C]

Edgy MD Apr 22 2013 10:01 AM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

Know what play would be a license to print money? Twelve Angry Klingons. You're welcome.

Vic Sage Apr 23 2013 11:53 AM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

sign me up for that one! unfortunately, i get stuck seeing... MACBETH - Alan Cumming's (nearly) 1-man adaptation of the "Scottish play" put me out like a shot of Nyquil. Now don't get me wrong. I really like Alan Cumming. And I'm not a Shakespeare purist; I like seeing new interpretations and approaches to the canon as long as they are clear and don't screw with the text. But this version truncates the text to 90 minutes, with all roles performed by Cumming, in his distinctive Scottish brogue. He tries gamely to differentiate the characters, but fails (rendering many scenes almost incomprehensible, unless you're a Shakespeare academic). Also, we are presented with a new narrative framing story that has Cumming reciting the story from a mental ward, interacting with a doctor and a nurse. It's all a metaphor for something, I guess, but remains vague and opaque. So this version breaks my two rules of Shakespearean adaptation by cutting the text to pieces and drowning its clarity in a bathtub... presumably the same bathtub Macbeth drowns himself in on stage. I don't know which of the 2 directors on this show was in charge of the evisceration of the text or the grad-school level concept, but I wish he'd join Macbeth in the tub. There is also something wrong at the very heart of the conception of this play as a 1-man performance. A play is about conflict. When the characters are in conflict, you can see it. But when one person is playing all the parts, conflict is replaced by confusion. It ceases to be a drama and becomes a recitation instead. Now Shakespeare’s language is so profound that a recitation has its charms, but Macbeth was not written as a sonnet. He intended for characters to be sparked into conflict and a 1-man version (even as good as Cumming is) simply fails to deliver the drama inherent in the tensions between people. All that being said, Cumming's accomplishment is pretty impressive, and there are some truly intense emotional moments, albeit they are based on the newly created aspects of the show and not on the play itself, which appears to have been turned into a platform for the artistic aspirations (and ego) of others. Maybe it’s intended for people who don't like the play. But I do, so I didn’t. [D]

themetfairy Apr 23 2013 01:23 PM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

Vic Sage wrote: Maybe it’s intended for people who don't like the play. But I do, so I didn’t. That's kind of my thought about Vanya and Sonya and Masha and Spike being for people who don't like Checkhov. I've seen enough Checkhov to feel comfortable with giving up on his plays - I just don't enjoy them. So Durang's parody entertained me more than it would have if I liked the original material.

Vic Sage Apr 24 2013 08:47 AM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

That's kind of my thought about Vanya and Sonya and Masha and Spike being for people who don't like Checkhov. I've seen enough Checkhov to feel comfortable with giving up on his plays - I just don't enjoy them. So Durang's parody entertained me more than it would have if I liked the original material. I hear you and I, too, have no use for his plays. But you still need to have seen much of Chekhov to even get the jokes in VANYA..., so the play assumes a level of theater history knowledge that approaches the academic. And like much satire, my impression was that it was more affectionate than mean-spirited and would be appreciated by Chekhov lovers as well as those who don't like his work. in the meantime... LUCKY GUY – This last play from the late Nora Ephron is ostensibly about newspaper columnist Mike McAlary and the world of tabloid journalism in New York in the 1980s-90s. As such, it’s not a subject of such import as to be worth watching, or even writing about. And that was my impression after Act I – highly entertaining, but so what? Except that Ephron wrote this play as she was dying, and the play ends up (in Act II) being about a woman dying of cancer writing a play about a guy dying of cancer, and she takes the opportunity to say a posthumous Lou Gehrig-style goodbye. As a result, and to my surprise, the play ends up being a profoundly moving piece of theater. And “theater” it most definitely is. The play is structured in a highly stylized and theatrical way, as a story being told by a bunch of drunken reporters in a bar recalling their friend. It uses shifting narrators to comment on the action, acting it out and moving it along, which establishes a terrific ensemble of actors in support of Tom Hanks. Courtney B. Vance and Maura Tierney are particularly worth mentioning. As for Hanks, the movie-star more than holds his own and ends up carrying the show. His innate core of decency and likability allows us to care about McAlary, who might otherwise come off as an unsympathetic jerk. In fact, the play would end up being about an asshole that gets cancer and dies, and we’d be ok with that, while wondering on the way home why we bothered. Director George Wolfe keeps things moving swiftly and his design concept suggests a black-box approach, with props and scenic elements (desks, a bar, a kitchen sink, a bed) quickly brought in to suggest locations rather than trying to realistically replicate them. There are a few unnecessarily emphatic lighting effects, but they don’t mar an otherwise spot on production. I’ve never been an Ephron fan, with her “sophisticated smart-ass women quipping their way through life, as they complain about men”-type movie scripts. But this work luckily sounds nothing like her; instead she wrote her own eulogy in the guise of a tale about a bunch of tough, drunken Irishmen. What that says about her, I do not know. But it was surely worth the ink. [A-]

Edgy MD Apr 24 2013 08:57 AM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

So, for 12 Angry Klingons, would we want to do a rewrite or do we just want actors playing the original characters from 12 Angry Men reinterpreted as Klingons? >>> "Has the jury come to an agreement on a verdict?" >>> "Well, the three surviving members have, Your Honor." >>> "Excellent. Well done."

Vic Sage Apr 24 2013 02:39 PM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

TESTAMENT OF MARY - Fiona Shaw is a force of nature in Irish writer Colm Toibin's mesmerizing monologue about the mother of Christ. Shaw, one of the greatest actresses currently living on planet Earth (there may be better thespians elsewhere, but I doubt it), carries us along as she literally strips herself naked to enact and articulate the story of her son's rise and fall, and her role in it. She is a virtual prisoner of her son's acolytes who are only interested in her attesting to their dreams about him, but she will only bear witness to the truth. And her truth is, essentially, that of a heartbroken mother who had to watch her son, a good boy with a bright future, get involved with a gang of misfits, then stop calling or coming home, and ends up getting arrested and killed. Though she feels guilty about it, she doesn't want her son's gang members spinning his life into some myth to suck other poor mother's sons into their gang... metaphorically speaking. It's a fascinatingly Earth-bound take on an ancient tale. Play and performance aside, the stage is littered with a sparse collection of items (jugs, barbed wire, a ladder, a table, some chairs, a tree, a pool), and a set of moving panels behind the action. There's even a live bird on stage, of a vaguely predatory breed. What is he doing there? No idea. No idea, either, as to why the panels move when they do, nor do I get what the director is doing as she has Shaw moving constantly through the space, performing little domestic tasks seemingly unrelated to anything. But the effect of all this, in conjunction with Shaw's masterful voice caressing beautiful words, the subtle underscoring and a delicate lighting palette, is quite literally hypnotic and the play casts its spell to the final moment. When told by an apostle that her son’s death redeemed the world, she says “it wasn’t worth it.” What mother would think that it was? Best play of this season. [A]

Vic Sage Apr 25 2013 09:22 AM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

So, for 12 Angry Klingons, would we want to do a rewrite or do we just want actors playing the original characters from 12 Angry Men reinterpreted as Klingons? >>> "Has the jury come to an agreement on a verdict?" >>> "Well, the three surviving members have, Your Honor." >>> "Excellent. Well done." Juror #3: "Ptach maachh Ftak" [let us look at boy's knife] Juror #2: "Mak sung KFar?" [where did knife go?] Jury #9: "Soong Tak Mtak" [It is in chest of juror #5... wait, I'll clean for you.]

Vic Sage Apr 30 2013 09:40 AM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013 Edited 4 time(s), most recently on May 15 2013 01:08 PM

delete

Vic Sage May 02 2013 09:55 AM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013 Edited 1 time(s), most recently on May 02 2013 02:49 PM

ASSEMBLED PARTIES - Richard Greenberg's comedy about family secrets is warm, funny and tragic. An extended Jewish family, over-educated, well-to-do Upper-Westsiders all, gather for 2 Xmas dinners 20 years apart. So many of their lives are built on lies, or truths untold, and mothers and their children are in a perpetual state of war. It's like a Woody Allen movie with emotional depth. The cast is terrific, particularly Jessica Hecht, ethereal as the virtually sainted mother, and Judith Light, caustic but caring, as her sister-in-law. The men, overall, make distinctly less of an impact. The set is spectacular; the 14-room apartment on Central Park West is explored as it rotates, allowing scenes to play in different rooms on all 4 sides. There's a kind of smug satisfaction and too pat quality to much of the action, and the dialogue, while hilarious, is also occasionally showy and not, generally speaking, the musings of human beings. That being said, there are some Act II monologues that play like arias, and the play has an emotional impact in the end. It's entertaining and substantial, which is about as good a 1-2 punch as an audience can hope for from a modern play. [A-]

Edgy MD May 02 2013 10:16 AM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

Do actors ever get nominated when a play is extended into a second (or later) season and they take over a role?

sharpie May 02 2013 10:17 AM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

I saw THE ASSEMBLED PARTIES last Sunday and pretty much agree with everything Vic said. Yes, some of the lines showy but noting that the constant Yuletide playing of Bing Crosby's "White Christmas" is like "a tiny acoustic rape" was something that needs to be said.

Vic Sage May 02 2013 02:53 PM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

Edgy MD wrote: Do actors ever get nominated when a play is extended into a second (or later) season and they take over a role? There was an effort, a few years ago, to create a "replacement actor/cast" award, to get stars to go into ongoing shows with the promise of a possible tony nomination, but it was dropped after 1 or 2 years. There were rarely enough eligible actors to fill out the category.

Vic Sage May 08 2013 11:55 AM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL - This excellent revival of the Horton Foote play uses a black cast to tell the story of an old woman who needs to get back to a home that no longer exists. And when the old woman is Cicily Tyson, you're in for a great night. If only the rest of the cast could keep up with her. Alas, while Cuba Gooding and Vanessa Williams are perfectly fine as Mama's weak son and spoiled daughter-in-law, they can only pale in comparison. Condola Rashad, brilliant last season in STICKFLY, is excellent here, too, in a one-dimensional role of a nice girl that Mama meets on the bus. Same for Tom Wopat, as the nice sheriff. In fact, everybody is just so dern nice, even the ensemble characters, and even Williams is merely selfish and spoiled, not actually evil, so there is no real tension in the story. And the resolution leaves everybody where they started, with Mama finally getting to see her old home apparently sufficient recompense for her putting up with her daughter-in-law until the day she dies. I would wish better for her. But it’s a lovely production, well directed and designed, and performed to a fare-thee-well. And the reverse race casting works wonderfully, allowing you to reconsider the piece from a new perspective without ever feeling forced or gimmicky. Considering Foote's plays generally put me to sleep, and this one has a first scene in a semi-darkened room with people speaking lowly during which I did start to nod off, this one is more engaging than most of his down-home elegiac remembrances of small-town Texas life that I experience as an activity uncannily similar to watching paint dry. [B+]

Vic Sage May 09 2013 12:48 PM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

last show of the season -- PIPPIN -- on Saturday.

Vic Sage May 12 2013 09:57 AM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013 Edited 1 time(s), most recently on May 16 2013 09:38 AM

Done! PIPPIN - A thrilling, high-flying new interpretation of this classic Stephen Schwartz musical by director Diane Paulus. A young man's journey to maturity, and to an understanding of what is truly fulfilling in life, has always been told by a traveling troupe of players, but now the troupe is literally a circus act of tumblers, gymnasts and aerialists that are actually doing the "magic to do," all played out under a circus tent. It's a great concept, though sometimes its too much and gets in the way of the smaller more intimate numbers, and sometimes obscures and distracts from the Fosse choreography lovingly reconstructed by Chet Walker. Schwartz and bookwriter Roger Hirson seem to have made some relatively inconsequential revisions (some new lyrics, some new dialogue), but have created a new ending that is lightyears better than the original. Instead of ending on a bare stage, it allows the return of the troupe, and shows that the journey continues for each of us. Pippin is well played by Matthew James Thomas (the British kid who played Spider-man), and Patina Miller is terrific as the Mephistophlean Lead Player. Terrance Man is a suitably rough and regal and paternal king, but Charlotte D'Amboise (his wife on stage and off) doesn't have quite the ooomph that the sexpot Queen should have. But Andrea Martin is an absolute scene-stealer as Pippin's grandma, delivering the moral of the tale from a trapeze, eliciting laughs, tears, and excitement all in a single breath. Best musical of the year. [A-]

Vic Sage May 15 2013 01:08 PM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

Final Tony Ballot: Best Play The Assembled Parties /Author: Richard Greenberg Lucky Guy /Author: Nora Ephron The Testament of Mary /Author: Colm Toíbín Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike /Author: Christopher Durang - They overlooked my 2 favorite plays of the season, GRACE and THE OTHER PLACE, and VANYA certainly didn't deserve a nom over either of those. LUCKY GUY is a better production than it is a play. TESTAMENT and ASSEMBLED PARTIES are both excellent, but TESTAMENT is more a monologue, a recitation, than it is a play. Best Musical Bring It On: The Musical A Christmas Story, The Musical Kinky Boots Matilda The Musical - They gave an unwarranted nom to XMAS STORY over HANDS ON A HARDBODY, which at least had ambition. My vote here is KINKY BOOTS, by default. Best Revival of a Play Golden Boy Orphans The Trip to Bountiful Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? - I would've preferred the HEIRESS or GLENGARRY over VIRGINIA WOLF. GOLDEN BOY was solid, and BOUNTIFUL beautifully performed, but my vote is ORPHANS. Best Revival of a Musical Annie The Mystery of Edwin Drood Pippin Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella - A terrible category this year; the only show left out was JEKYLL & HYDE, and while i preferred that to DROOD, i can't really make an argument for it. PIPPIN is the only possible choice; in fact, it’s the best musical of the year. Best Book of a Musical A Christmas Story, the Musical /Joseph Robinette Kinky Boots / Harvey Fierstein Matilda The Musical /Dennis Kelly Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella / Douglas Carter Beane - Doug Wright's book for HANDS ON A HARDBODY was better than any of these, and CINDERELLA was a disgrace. I guess it’s Fierstein’s heavy-handed work on KINKY BOOTS, by default. Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre A Christmas Story, The Musical /Music and Lyrics: Benj Pasek and Justin Paul Hands on a Hardbody / Music: Trey Anastasio and Amanda Green. Lyrics: Amanda Green Kinky Boots /Music & Lyrics: Cyndi Lauper Matilda The Musical /Music & Lyrics: Tim Minchin - the music for BRING IT ON was probably one of the better scores this season, certainly better than XMAS STORY and MATILDA, whose music was aggressively awful. I guess i would go with Lauper's KINKY music here. Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play Tom Hanks, Lucky Guy Nathan Lane, The Nance Tracy Letts, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? David Hyde Pierce, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike Tom Sturridge, Orphans - I didn't like MACBETH either, but how could you not nominate Alan Cumming for that performance? Letts was mediocre, Pierce really had a supporting ensemble role, ditto Sturridge. And where are Jim Parsons (HARVEY), Doug Hodge (CYRANO), and Michael Shannon (GRACE)? It's down to Lane and Hanks. I'd go Lane, by a whisker. Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play Laurie Metcalf, The Other Place Amy Morton, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Kristine Nielsen, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike Holland Taylor, Ann Cecily Tyson, The Trip to Bountiful - I'd prefer to see either Kate Arrington (GRACE) or Jessica Hecht (ASSEMBLED PARTIES) over Amy Morton. And I'd prefer to see Fiona Shaw (TESTAMENT OF MARY) over anybody here! What, are they, drunk? It’s between Ms. Tyson and Metcalf, who were both terrific; I think I have to go for Tyson. Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical Bertie Carvel, Matilda The Musical Santino Fontana, Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella Rob McClure, Chaplin Billy Porter, Kinky Boots Stark Sands, Kinky Boots - Anthony Warlow (ANNIE) deserved a nod over Bertie Carvel (who should be in the supporting category, and gives a cartoonish portrayal at any rate), and Fontana was no great shakes in CINDERELLA. Frankly, the kid from PIPPIN was more worthy of a nomination. However, it doesn’t really matter, because I'd go with Rob McClure's expert performance as Chaplin regardless of who else got nominated. Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical Stephanie J. Block, The Mystery of Edwin Drood Carolee Carmello, Scandalous Valisia LeKae, Motown The Musical Patina Miller, Pippin Laura Osnes, Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella - No one should be nominated from either MOTOWN, DROOD or SCANDALOUS but here we are. Among the overlooked is Deborah Cox (JEKYLL & HYDE). Osnes was a terrific Cinderella and i would have voted for her until I saw Patina Miller in PIPPIN. She would be my vote, except i am disqualified from voting in this category. Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play Danny Burstein, Golden Boy Richard Kind, The Big Knife Billy Magnussen, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike Tony Shalhoub, Golden Boy Courtney B. Vance, Lucky Guy - All worthwhile nominees, I'd go with Shalhoub in GOLDEN BOY. Also worth mentioning here are David Straitharn (HEIRESS), Bobby Cannavale (GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS), Ciaran Hinds (CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF) and Lewis Stadlen (THE NANCE) Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play Carrie Coon, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Shalita Grant, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike Judith Ivey, The Heiress Judith Light, The Assembled Parties Condola Rashad, The Trip to Bountiful - Coon and Grant aren't worthy of a nomination, while overlooked were Zoe Perry (OTHER PLACE), Ellen Burstyn, Mare Winningham and Elizabeth Marvel (PICNIC), and Maura Tierney (LUCKY GUY). Rashad is good in a 1-note role; Ivey is terrific, as is Light. I’d go Light. Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical Charl Brown, Motown The Musical Keith Carradine, Hands on a Hardbody Will Chase, The Mystery of Edwin Drood Gabriel Ebert, Matilda The Musical Terrence Mann, Pippin - Carradine is unworthy of a nomination, as is anybody from MOTOWN and DROOD. Ebert was perfectly adequate in MATILDA and Mann was slightly better than that. Overlooked was the father from XMAS STORY. Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical Annaleigh Ashford, Kinky Boots Victoria Clark, Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella Andrea Martin, Pippin Keala Settle, Hands on a Hardbody Lauren Ward, Matilda The Musical - I have no complaints here, and it's a tough choice. It is between Andrea Martin’s grandmother and Victoria Clark’s fairy godmother, but I’ll go with Martin. Best Direction of a Play Pam MacKinnon, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Nicholas Martin, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike Bartlett Sher, Golden Boy George C. Wolfe, Lucky Guy - Moises Kaufman’s work on THE HEIRESS, Daniel Sullivan on GLENGARRY and ORPHANS, are all preferable to MacKinnon’s unoriginal take on WOOLF or Martin’s inability to make VANYA anything more than a caricature. Of these, I’d take George Wolfe. Best Direction of a Musical Scott Ellis, The Mystery of Edwin Drood Jerry Mitchell, Kinky Boots Diane Paulus, Pippin Matthew Warchus, Matilda The Musical - Andy Blankenbuehler (Bring It On: The Musical) was able to make BRING IT watchable, and Scott Ellis could not do the same for DROOD. But Paulus added a lot to a new spin on PIPPIN, so she gets the nod. Best Choreography Andy Blankenbuehler, Bring It On: The Musical Peter Darling, Matilda The Musical Jerry Mitchell, Kinky Boots Chet Walker, Pippin - All reasonable choices; Walker was just recreating Fosse’s choreography, so I’m going with Jerry Mitchell. Best Scenic Design of a Play John Lee Beatty, The Nance Santo Loquasto, Assembled Parties David Rockwell, Lucky Guy Michael Yeargan, Golden Boy Best Scenic Design of a Musical Rob Howell, Matilda The Musical Anna Louizos, Edwin Drood Scott Pask, Pippin David Rockwell, Kinky Boots Best Costume Design of a Play Soutra Gilmour, Cyrano de Bergerac Ann Roth, The Nance Albert Wolsky, The Heiress Catherine Zuber, Golden Boy Best Costume Design of a Musical Gregg Barnes, Kinky Boots Rob Howell, Matilda The Musical Dominique Lemieux, Pippin William Ivey Long, Cinderella Best Lighting Design of a Play Fisher & Eisenhauer, Lucky Guy Donald Holder, Golden Boy Jennifer Tipton, Testament of Mary Japhy Weideman, The Nance Best Lighting Design of a Musical Kenneth Posner, Kinky Boots Kenneth Posner, Pippin Kenneth Posner, Cinderella Hugh Vanstone, Matilda Best Sound Design of a Play John Gromada, The Trip to Bountiful Mel Mercier, The Testament of Mary Leon Rothenberg, The Nance Still and Salzberg, Golden Boy Best Sound Design of a Musical Deans and Helm, Pippin Peter Hylenski, Motown John Shivers, Kinky Boots Nevin Steinberg, Cinderella Best Orchestrations Chris Nightingale, Matilda Stephen Oremus, Kinky Boots Popp and Crook, Motown Danny Troob, Cinderella

bmfc1 May 16 2013 07:47 AM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

Great job Vic. Thank you.

seawolf17 Jun 07 2013 02:22 PM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

Tony Awards this weekend. My friend Mike from college -- one of the guys in the "Once" cast -- introducing host NPH tonight as part of the opening act. That's fucking awesome.

Vic Sage Jun 10 2013 09:53 AM Re: Broadway Season 2012 - 2013

I'm the perfect reverse barometer of popular taste. Shows should pay me NOT to vote for them.