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Broadway 2017-18

Vic Sage Sep 11 2017 03:48 PM Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Feb 05 2018 09:48 PM

Another openin', another show, Another Tony-voting season to go: 1984 [B+] - This British theatrical adaptation of Orwell’s seminal novel goes for the throat and doesn’t let go. Brilliantly staged, with a use of video that supports and extends the themes of the text, and lighting and staging techniques that shock and awe, it sustains its intensity for nearly 2 intermission-less hours. But the production is somewhat undermined by a lead performance by Tom Sturridge that is less than compelling, and a confused attempt to manipulate time and space in its storytelling, intended to add a heightened theatricality to the work. It’s an interesting directorial concept, but one doesn’t really have to “help” Orwell’s text to remain frighteningly relevant. MARVIN’S ROOM [C-] – This Roundabout revival of the dark comedy presents Lilly Taylor and Jeanine Garafalo as the sisters estranged by their choices. Their performances are fine, but the play is neither funny enough nor tragic enough to arouse much interest. And the direction doesn’t find anything new to say about it. TERMS OF SURRENDER [B-] – Michael Moore has created a new theatrical form. Not a play, or monologue, or “performance piece” really, it is instead a combination of political rally, talk show, game show, stand-up routine, autobiography, cautionary tale, and a call to action. Director Michael Mayer has added some theatrical elements to the piece to try and make it all cohere (including a “Dancing with the Stars” musical finale), but it’s too much a hodgepodge for that effort to succeed and, instead, feels forced. But the show is successful in its autobiographical moments, giving the work a “one person can make a difference” theme that carries through all the goings on. Of course, Moore is preaching to the choir and makes no bones about that, assuming everybody in the house is as traumatized by the election as he’s been (and he’s right). And in that way, the show works best as a group therapy session intended to help us all get over it and start fighting back. And on that level, it totally works.

Vic Sage Sep 25 2017 09:16 PM Re: Broadway 2017-18

PRINCE OF BROADWAY[C-] - This revue of songs from Broadway shows produced and/or directed by Hal Prince is well staged (by Mr. Prince and Susan Stroman) and well performed by a veteran cast, but is utterly pointless. Since Prince didn't write any of this material, the book (such as it is) needed to develop some ideas about Prince's work (a career biography, some production anecdotes, common themes in material he's chosen... anything, really), but fails to do so. It doesn't even offer a chronological "and then I directed..." structure. So, without any reason to exist, beyond the occasional "oh I didn't know he worked on that show" moment, it adds up to nothing and cannot sustain audience interest.

bmfc1 Sep 28 2017 03:16 PM Re: Broadway 2017-18

I was disappointed to read the description and find that "Prince of Broadway" is not a one-man show starring Greg Prince reading from his books and columns.

Ceetar Sep 28 2017 03:19 PM Re: Broadway 2017-18

bmfc1 wrote: I was disappointed to read the description and find that "Prince of Broadway" is not a one-man show starring Greg Prince reading from his books and columns. I heard he pitched a 455 page deep dive into Lance Broadway's time as a Met but it wasn't appreciated.

G-Fafif Sep 28 2017 06:25 PM Re: Broadway 2017-18

bmfc1 wrote: I was disappointed to read the description and find that "Prince of Broadway" is not a one-man show starring Greg Prince reading from his books and columns. My dad, when his business was located in Manhattan, used to get calls for Hal Prince. Don't know if Hal ever got calls for my dad.

Vic Sage Oct 20 2017 09:30 PM Re: Broadway 2017-18

SPRINGSTEEN ON BROADWAY - There are no words. [A] TIME AND THE CONWAYS - I wish there were no words. [F]

Frayed Knot Oct 20 2017 11:14 PM Re: Broadway 2017-18

Vic Sage wrote: SPRINGSTEEN ON BROADWAY - There are no words. So he just hums the whole time?!?

Mets Willets Point Oct 21 2017 12:44 AM Re: Broadway 2017-18

Frayed Knot wrote: Vic Sage wrote: SPRINGSTEEN ON BROADWAY - There are no words. So he just hums the whole time?!? BOC

Vic Sage Oct 23 2017 02:13 PM Re: Broadway 2017-18 Edited 3 time(s), most recently on Feb 05 2018 09:47 PM

how... droll :) SPRINGSTEEN [A] – Bruce presents great acoustic arrangements of his songs to tell a more or less autobiographical story of his development as an artist and as a person. He starts with a confession: he’s a fraud because he’s never worked a day in his life, yet he’s made a good living singing about the working man. “So, thank you,” he says, both acknowledging and appreciating the irony. But he spends the rest of the show proving that the confession was unnecessary, as he sings his moving paeans to working class life in America that demonstrates a deep understanding and empathy known to only a few artists in the history of our culture. Bruce appears alone on a bare stage, playing guitar, harmonica, and a baby grand that he uses for a few songs that gives him a reason to cross to stage right. His wife, Patty, comes out for a pair of songs (including BRILLIANT DISGUISE), which felt like an unnecessary and unwelcome digression, but it’s his life and she's part of it, so whatever. There are moments though, where he steps down stage, away from the mike, and just sings directly to the audience and you can hear a pin drop in that 1000+-seat theater. Those moments are so intimate, you feel like you’re just hanging out with him in a hallway, and he's like "here, I just wrote this, check it out", and he's singing just to you. I've never had that feeling before in a Broadway theater.

Vic Sage Nov 08 2017 09:14 PM Re: Broadway 2017-18 Edited 3 time(s), most recently on Nov 09 2017 09:41 PM

TIME & THE CONWAYS [F] - This horribly dated British drawing room drama by JB Priestley attempts to be an intellectual inquiry into the metaphysical nature of time, but is really just one more tale about the decline of a wealthy family. Boo hoo. It has gotten a pointless revival by the Roundabout, starring Elizabeth McGovern, with outrageously cartoonish performances by everybody. The first act was awful. I can’t speak about the rest. M. BUTTERFLY [B ] – Clive Owen stars in Julie Taymor’s stylish revival of David Henry Hwang’s award-winning play about Western imperialism, cold-war espionage, the purity and destructiveness of love, and what happens when the perfect woman is a man. While Taymor’s direction overwhelms Hwang’s text, it’s a gorgeously visual production and still a beautifully moving story, with knockout performances by Owen and Jin Ha. JUNK [C ] - Ayad Akhtar’s tale of 1980s Wall Street shenanigans is another one of his plays (like his award-winning Disgraced) that is long on ideas and themes but short on well-developed characters I could give a damn about, one way or the other. Doug Hughes’ direction offers flashy, modern minimalism (ala Enron), and the performances are uniformly strong, but the actors, including Steven Pasquale as the Robert Milken-type tragic hero/villain, are all points of view, not people, and so they elicit no emotional response whatsoever, other than the feeling that I’d prefer not to be in a room with them a moment longer. Wolf of Wall Street was way more involving and entertaining on this topic, as were the dozens of movies based on this subject matter made over the last 30+ years, so one has to wonder what the point of returning to this dated material is when you have nothing new to add. Ultimately, it’s well executed, but predictable and unengaging.

Lefty Specialist Nov 08 2017 09:32 PM Re: Broadway 2017-18

Curious to see the reviews of Spongebob Squarepants on Broadway. If only I still had a 6-year-old.

Vic Sage Nov 15 2017 08:13 PM Re: Broadway 2017-18

THE BAND'S VISIT [A] - This new musical, based on a true story, is a small, intimate, musical meditation on love and loss...and the best thing I've seen in quite a while. An Egyptian police orchestra, coming to Israel for a concert, ends up in the wrong town. The musicians are taken in by the town folk for one night, and their lives intertwine. Touching, funny, brilliantly acted, and a terrific score by David Yazbek that sounds nothing like anything i've ever heard on Broadway, using Middle Eastern tonalities and instrumentation but with western melodic hooks, jazzy rhythms, and heartbreaking/hilarious lyrics. Unlike COME FROM AWAY, which claimed to be about something very important but really wasn't, playwright Itamar Moses' libretto says up front that "you may not have heard about this story; it wasn't very important," but ends up being about love and human relationships (not politics) in a specific (and therefore universal) way, and so is very important.

sharpie Nov 15 2017 10:20 PM Re: Broadway 2017-18

I went to one of the final previews of JUNK. With about two minutes left in the first act a voice came over the intercom saying that they were having technical difficulties and that the actors should leave the stage - which they did. After about ten minutes they said there would be a fifteen minute intermission. After about 20 minutes the two actors who were onstage when the snafu hit came back and said that the sound system had stopped working and they couldn't do the show without it,offering refunds or tickets for different dates. An usher said to us that the sound cues were not so important, a few offstage phone calls, and that surely they could have had actors just read the lines. I took the refund. I pretty much agree with Vic with respect to the first half. I won't see the second.

Vic Sage Nov 16 2017 03:59 PM Re: Broadway 2017-18

The play 1984 was declared ineligible for Tony awards because its producer, Scott Rudin, denied entry to a tony nominator for personal reasons. He not only refused to give the nominator his Tony ticket allotment, when the nominator bought his own ticket and went to see the play, he was denied entry and was walked out of the theater by security! Its a shame all the talented folks who worked on the show will suffer because their producer is a world-class a-hole, but the Tony Administration committee was really left no choice except to declare that the show did not meet Tony eligibility requirements.

Edgy MD Nov 16 2017 04:56 PM Re: Broadway 2017-18

It's a shame that Scott Rudin doesn't get his own play's lesson about totalitarianism. Wait a minute ... that nominator wasn't you, was it?

Vic Sage Nov 16 2017 09:08 PM Re: Broadway 2017-18

Edgy MD wrote: It's a shame that Scott Rudin doesn't get his own play's lesson about totalitarianism. Wait a minute ... that nominator wasn't you, was it? i'm a voter, not a nominator.

Vic Sage Nov 29 2017 10:11 PM Re: Broadway 2017-18

LATIN HISTORY FOR MORONS [B ] – John Leguizamo’s newest autobiographical comic monologue is as funny and sharp-edged as ever. While discussing his own self-loathing of his latin identity and how it has damaged his relationship with his son, he offers damning commentary (in the guise of a classroom lecture) on the history of subjugation, genocide and racism that has victimized Native and Latin-American populations over the centuries. But, you know, funny and, ultimately, triumphant.

Vic Sage Dec 11 2017 06:50 PM Re: Broadway 2017-18 Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Feb 05 2018 09:54 PM

SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS [C-] – This hyperactive adaptation of Nickelodeon’s cult cartoon series needs to take some Ritalin and calm the fuck down. From its day-glow “Rube Goldberg” set design, to the bombardment of endless effects (including dry ice, lasers, strobes, projections, star drops, streamer-and-confetti cannons, flying), to its multi-popstar score, to its over-the-top performances (even a great big ole tap-dancin’ kick line!), the creators clearly had no confidence in the material to speak for itself. This is more of a “throw everything at them but the kitchen sink”-style of show. Which might have been ok, if the book had brought it all together with humor, cleverness, heartfelt characters and a comprehensible narrative… but no, instead the book sinks the show like a rock. Its lame attempts at comedy fail much more often than it succeeds, its plot is hackneyed and nonsensical (even for a cartoon), and its attempt to sew threads of social commentary into the story's fabric are entirely forced and heavy-handed. It seemed like an attempt to stick “relevance” for grownups into what they obviously perceived as a kid show, but by doing so, they made it utterly irrelevant to anybody. Some may be charmed by the hardworking physical production elements (including its clever costuming), and the performances are quite good, with a talented cast that is able to create some comic moments when virtually none are provided by the text or lyrics. And most of the actors capture the essence of their characters, except for SquidWard, who is played like a campy show queen instead of the dour and cynical “Eeyore” to SpongeBob’s good-natured Pooh. But as for the score, while some of the songs are very good, others are less so, and there are too many 11 O'clock numbers and too few that serve the story. In fact, the songs in the TV series and movie were just better, overall, at providing humor, delineating character and advancing plot. For a show about the triumph of friendship and optimism, SPONGEBOB feels very cynically manufactured for kids and undiscriminating tourists. PARISIAN WOMAN [C-] – House of Cards author Bo Willemon has crafted a similar political drama about a power couple in the age of Trump, but the script’s smug jokiness undermines its otherwise astute political observations. The play is also brought down by odd, quirky unconvincing performances, particularly by Uma Thurman, who exposes herself as purely a film actress, where Tarantino can cut her performances together from bits and pieces. Only Blair Brown emerges unscathed. And the direction features pointless scene transitions composed of bars of light, to no apparent effect. But Willemon’s script seems to be continuously updated based on current headlines, so its timely attacks on Trump provided some solace, and there is a narrative twist that provided some interest, so it wasn’t all a total waste of time.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Dec 11 2017 07:20 PM Re: Broadway 2017-18

That Spongebob on stage sucks is the least surprising thing ever. It's perfect as a cartoon, why eff with it?

Vic Sage Dec 21 2017 06:09 PM Re: Broadway 2017-18 Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Feb 05 2018 09:52 PM

METEOR SHOWER [B-] – Steve Martin’s absurdist domestic comedy about marriage and “monsters from the id” is laugh-out-loud funny and nonsensical, in both good and bad ways. An older married couple invites a younger couple over to watch a meteor shower scheduled to rain down outside the windows of their fashionable Ojai CA home in 1993. We flash forward and back throughout the night, repeating moments differently, or seeing it from a different character’s POV, as the couples take turns trying to tear each other apart in what is basically a sketch-comedy version of WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF. Comedian Amy Schumer and sketch-comic Keegan-Michael Key both elicit laughs in their Broadway debuts, as do veterans Laura Benanti and Jeremy Shamos, but all the characters are cartoonish, so no real humanity is presented or explored. Still, the punchlines land more often than not, and the physical comedy is effectively staged by the noted Neil Simon director, Jerry Zaks. Yes, it’s all clownish chaos, but good for a laugh if you don’t think about it too hard.

Vic Sage Feb 02 2018 09:36 PM Re: Broadway 2017-18

THE CHILDREN [C] – MTC is presenting the U.S. premiere of an acclaimed but dull new British play by Lucy Kirkwood. The work offers provocative ideas about a post-apocalyptic world and who bears responsibility for fixing it, but its uneven tone and slow pacing makes it a plodding experience. Three characters talk in a room that stands askew, angled as if about to fall over the edge of the world. Comic and crude chitchat turns into serious melodrama as the narrative finally moves forward about 2/3 of the way through its one act, when we learn why an old friend has come to the seaside cottage of a couple, all having once worked at the nuclear plant that exploded decades earlier. But the characters never come to life, despite the considerable efforts of the excellent cast, and are merely stand-ins for the author’s arguments. Still, the arguments are compelling in their own right, so the play has some worth as an interesting essay if not a compelling drama. ONCE ON THIS ISLAND [A+] – This revival of the first Broadway show by Ahrens & Flaherty is a beautiful re-imagining of a terrific show, and it’s the best thing I’ve seen on a stage in recent memory. Using the Circle-in-the-Square stage to perfect effect, director Michael Arden employs every theatrical trick in the book to tell the tragic fable of love and death and hope, but despite its excesses, it’s never too much… in fact, it leaves you wanting more. The multi-cultural/multi-gendered cast of gods and goddesses work brilliantly, and the show features shiver-inducing performances from Alex Newell and Lea Solonga, among many others. This flawless ISLAND offers a transcendent experience that grabs an audience and leaves it breathless. This is why we tell the story. FARINELLI & THE KING [B-] – Claire Van Kampen’s new play has transferred from the West End to Broadway in a beautiful production of a flawed play. The incomparable Mark Rylance is the mad King Phillipe of Spain, brought back to sanity by the transcendent voice of the famed castrati opera singer Farinelli, summoned to the King’s court by Phillipe's loving Queen Isabella. Rylance is heartbreaking, hilarious and terrifying all at the same time, in the way that only he can be. Farinelli is played by 2 actors, one who plays the role and the other who sings… spectacularly. At first, this seems like a compromise in casting (unable to find such a terrific opera singer up to the task of acting the role?), but soon reveals itself as representing the way Farinelli felt about his own voice and fame, as something apart and separate from himself. The baroque instruments and orchestrations support the ethereal vocals, while the stage itself, designed like the Globe and lit by candlelight, is equally evocative. If only the play itself was up to all this razzle-dazzle. But alas, it falls short. What little narrative energy it has is constantly interrupted by beautiful arias that stop the play dead. The late introduction of a love triangle between the King, Queen and Farinelli is too little, too late. It just makes you realize that if they had developed this Arthur-Guinevere-Lancelot romantic element throughout the play, there might have been something really dramatic there, but all that the play’s weak, feeble gesture in that direction does is make you feel the missed opportunity. Still, Rylance is the greatest stage actor currently alive, and the music and staging is quite beautiful, so it's all certainly worth an evening out.

Vic Sage Feb 07 2018 10:06 PM Re: Broadway 2017-18

John Lithgow: Stories From the Heart (C) - Actor John Lithgow has written his own 1-man show, telling stories about his family and performing the stories his dad read to him as a child, including one by Ring Lardner and one by PG Wodehouse. The Wodehouse story is amusingly British and the Lardner one unpleasantly American, and his own reminiscences are sentimental, but without any particular dramatic interest. The whole thing is engaging enough, I suppose, because Lithgow is an engaging actor, and he means well. But he's asking profound questions about the importance of stories to the human animal, yet doesn't come close to offering any profound insights beyond "well, stories inspired me when I was a kid and they cheered my mom and dad up when they were old." But the half-hour of Lithgow performing the Wodehouse story in Act II was certainly entertaining.

Edgy MD Feb 09 2018 05:36 PM Re: Broadway 2017-18

Just announced: A Broadway musical based on the music of Huey Lewis and the News. Tell me we don't deserve Trump.

Edgy MD Mar 19 2018 05:39 PM Re: Broadway 2017-18

And my stars and garters, the reviews of Escape to Margaritaville are ... something. I don't know if the fake news legacy media has the juice anymore to sink an enterprise this corporately plugged in and built on the foundation of Baby Boomer brand loyalty, but I'm glad to see them firing their cannons.

Lefty Specialist Mar 19 2018 05:58 PM Re: Broadway 2017-18

Yeesh, read that review. Good thing Jimmy's got a couple hundred million dollars to fall back on.

Vic Sage Mar 20 2018 04:51 PM Re: Broadway 2017-18

so i switched my tickets to tomorrow's matinee, where i can go by myself and have the option to go back to my office at intermission if its awful, rather than dragging my wife in on a Friday night, paying for parking and dinner, gas and tolls, and feel obligated to stay due to the investment.

Vic Sage Mar 22 2018 09:49 PM Re: Broadway 2017-18

ESCAPE TO MARGARITAVILLE [F] – No, escape FROM Margaritaville! Which I did at intermission.

d'Kong76 Mar 22 2018 10:02 PM Re: Broadway 2017-18

1/2 lost-shakers-of-salt out of 5. - Vic Sage

MFS62 Apr 01 2018 12:19 AM Re: Broadway 2017-18

Vic Sage wrote: ESCAPE TO MARGARITAVILLE [F] – No, escape FROM Margaritaville! Which I did at intermission. I just saw the TV ad for that show, and my wife and both thought it looked like a high school production. It looks like you agree. Or was it worse? Later

Vic Sage Apr 03 2018 09:44 PM Re: Broadway 2017-18

MFS62 wrote: Vic Sage wrote: ESCAPE TO MARGARITAVILLE [F] – No, escape FROM Margaritaville! Which I did at intermission. I just saw the TV ad for that show, and my wife and both thought it looked like a high school production. It looks like you agree. Or was it worse? Later an insult to high school productions everywhere.

MFS62 Apr 04 2018 12:12 AM Re: Broadway 2017-18

Vic Sage wrote: Vic Sage wrote: ESCAPE TO MARGARITAVILLE [F] – No, escape FROM Margaritaville! Which I did at intermission. I just saw the TV ad for that show, and my wife and both thought it looked like a high school production. It looks like you agree. Or was it worse? Later an insult to high school productions everywhere. LOL! Thanks. Later

Vic Sage Apr 11 2018 03:49 PM Re: Broadway 2017-18

LOBBY HERO [B] – This is a taut, well-executed revival of Kenneth Lonergan’s comic drama about the moral choices faced by 4 people in an apartment building lobby. It features fine performances by a stellar cast, including the superheroes Michael (Scott Pilgrim) Cera and Chris (Captain America) Evans. The characters all start out a little cartoonishly, but they all evolve into empathetic people facing issues of race, power, sex, and morality. Cera is always Cera, but he works perfectly as the bumbling slacker security guard looking to do one thing right. Evans uses his square-jawed alpha male persona to great effect as a sympathetic villain; a comically arrogant and menacingly immoral cop, but highly competent and heroic, at least in his own mind. While the play is more diagrammed than plotted, and more a character study than a narrative, it’s still a compellingly human tragi-comedy.

Vic Sage Apr 19 2018 03:03 PM Re: Broadway 2017-18

CAROUSEL [B-] – Did we really need another revival of Rodgers &Hammerstein's wife-beater musical now, in the era of #MeToo? Sure, when it’s done this well. Gorgeous design, exciting choreography, and spectacular vocal performances elevate the problematic story of an abusive guy, the woman who loves him who is too weak to walk away, and their psychologically damaged daughter who is ultimately saved by a few words of encouragement from her dead dad, which somehow redeems him and gets him into heaven. Beyond the story, also problematic in this production are the one-note performances of the leads. Josh Henry is a just-angry Billy, lacking the charm and sensuality that explains his appeal, and the usually terrific Jessie Mueller is a particularly weak-willed Julie, lacking the strength and independence that define her choices and make her a character worth singing about. Their performances needed more shading to evoke sympathy, and required more chemistry to demonstrate the intensity and inevitability of their relationship. You have to believe their love is a transcendent thing that survives death, not just an all-too-familiar story of a pathetic woman in love with an abuser. But their love has no spark because their performances offer nothing but the most superficial elements of their complex characters. Their vocals, however, are another matter entirely, as they (along with a particularly strong supporting cast) highlight the strength of this show’s classic score. Yes, there are those particularly cheesy, cornball filler numbers like “June Is Bustin’ Out All Over” and “This Was A Real Nice Clambake”, but those lows are countered by some of the highest highs in all of the R&H canon, from the “If I Loved You” duet, to Billy’s Act I closer, “Soliloquy”, to the finale’s reprise of “Walk Through A Storm”. And the beautiful orchestrations underscore the thrilling choreography of couples elegantly cavorting, some spirited group numbers, and the heartbreaking pas de deux at the show’s climax. This isn’t a CAROUSEL for the ages, but it’s a worthy revival, and opera singer Renee Fleming’s rendition of “Walk Through A Storm” is worth the ride all by itself.

Vic Sage Apr 23 2018 02:45 PM Re: Broadway 2017-18 Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Apr 23 2018 03:36 PM

CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD [F] - This Roundabout revival exposes this acclaimed "issue play" as the trite "ABC After-School Special" that it is...except, you know, without the same depth and complexity. A white liberal 30-something teacher at a deaf school indulges his savior complex by stalking a young black woman in his charge, starting an inappropriate sexual relationship with her as he tries to teach her how to communicate. She reluctantly accepts his sexual advances but frustrates his attempts to teach her to read lips or speak, rejecting the hearing world on socio-political grounds. Or something. But all her signing really accomplishes is to give the shlubby teacher more lines, as he has to translate everything she says. In Act II, they either end up together or they don't... I don't know, since I left at intermission. I assume not, because who would want either of these 2 characters to end up happy? The girl gives a good performance but nobody else does, and the production is, well, let’s call it unexceptional and leave it at that. The play's the thing here, and it’s just awful.

Vic Sage Apr 23 2018 03:26 PM Re: Broadway 2017-18

ANGELS IN AMERICA [A] – This British revival is a welcome return of Kushner’s iconic play to Broadway, and the terrific performances by Nathan Lane and Andrew Garfield are large enough to match the epic scale of this historic work. A story ostensibly about the AIDS crisis of the 1980s, it functions as a tragi-comic critique of the American soul during the Reagan years, but at its core is really about the need for forgiveness and the attainment of grace. With its imaginative flights of fancy, poetic arias, hilarious bitchiness, astute political insights and a unique stream-of-conscience dramatic structure, the play meanders this way and that over the course of its 2-play / 8-hour duration. It tests the audience’s endurance, but also serves to carry you along its epic journey into the human heart. Is its length an act of self-indulgence? Oh my, yes. But it’s hard to say if the work’s impact would be as great were its excesses trimmed away. In addition to the great performances, the direction and design elements of this revival are superior in every way to the original Broadway production 25 years ago. The first of the two plays, MILLENIUM APPROACHES, uses rotating set pieces and overlapping dialogue to create transitions between scenes that are faster than the original, allowing it to maintain its narrative energy. The second play, PERESTROIKA, uses fewer physical sets and creates a more dreamlike space and a more amorphous structure, but the 2 plays work together in a way that’s greater than the sum of the parts, attempting to capture the entirety of the human experience. The play’s reach sometimes exceeds its grasp, but its ambition is awe-inspiring and its heartbreaking humanity makes it an enduring masterpiece of the American Theater.

Vic Sage May 01 2018 02:11 PM Re: Broadway 2017-18 Edited 2 time(s), most recently on May 01 2018 05:25 PM

Nominations for the 2018 Tony Awards Best Play The Children - Author: Lucy Kirkwood Farinelli and The King - Author: Claire van Kampen Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two - Author: Jack Thorne Junk - Author: Ayad Akhtar Latin History for Morons - Author: John Leguizamo Best Musical The Band's Visit Frozen Mean Girls SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical Best Revival of a Play Angels in America Edward Albee's Three Tall Women Eugene O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh Lobby Hero Travesties Best Revival of a Musical My Fair Lady Once On This Island Rodgers & Hammerstein's Carousel Best Book of a Musical The Band's Visit - Itamar Moses Frozen - Jennifer Lee Mean Girls - Tina Fey SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical - Kyle Jarrow Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre Angels in America - Music: Adrian Sutton The Band's Visit - Music & Lyrics: David Yazbek Frozen - Music & Lyrics: Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez Mean Girls - Music: Jeff Richmond / Lyrics: Nell Benjamin SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical - Music & Lyrics: Yolanda Adams, Steven Tyler & Joe Perry of Aerosmith, Sara Bareilles, Jonathan Coulton, Alex Ebert of Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, The Flaming Lips, Lady Antebellum, Cyndi Lauper & Rob Hyman, John Legend, Panic! at the Disco, Plain White T's, They Might Be Giants, T.I., Domani & Lil'C Best Direction of a Play Marianne Elliott, Angels in America Joe Mantello, Edward Albee's Three Tall Women Patrick Marber, Travesties John Tiffany, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two George C. Wolfe, Eugene O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh Best Direction of a Musical Michael Arden, Once On This Island David Cromer, The Band's Visit Tina Landau, SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical Casey Nicholaw, Mean Girls Bartlett Sher, My Fair Lady Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play Andrew Garfield, Angels in America Tom Hollander, Travesties Jamie Parker, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two Mark Rylance, Farinelli and The King Denzel Washington, Eugene O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play Glenda Jackson, Edward Albee's Three Tall Women Condola Rashad, Saint Joan Lauren Ridloff, Children of a Lesser God Amy Schumer, Meteor Shower Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical Harry Hadden-Paton, My Fair Lady Joshua Henry, Rodgers & Hammerstein's Carousel Tony Shalhoub, The Band's Visit Ethan Slater, SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical Lauren Ambrose, My Fair Lady Hailey Kilgore, Once On This Island LaChanze, Summer: The Donna Summer Musical Katrina Lenk, The Band's Visit Taylor Louderman, Mean Girls Jessie Mueller, Rodgers & Hammerstein's Carousel Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play Anthony Boyle, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two Michael Cera, Lobby Hero Brian Tyree Henry, Lobby Hero Nathan Lane, Angels in America David Morse, Eugene O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play Susan Brown, Angels in America Noma Dumezweni, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two Deborah Findlay, The Children Denise Gough, Angels in America Laurie Metcalf, Edward Albee's Three Tall Women Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical Norbert Leo Butz, My Fair Lady Alexander Gemignani, Rodgers & Hammerstein's Carousel Grey Henson, Mean Girls Gavin Lee, SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical Ari'el Stachel, The Band's Visit Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical Ariana DeBose, Summer: The Donna Summer Musical Renée Fleming, Rodgers & Hammerstein's Carousel Lindsay Mendez, Rodgers & Hammerstein's Carousel Ashley Park, Mean Girls Diana Rigg, My Fair Lady Best Scenic Design of a Play Miriam Buether, Edward Albee's Three Tall Women Jonathan Fensom, Farinelli and The King Christine Jones, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two Santo Loquasto, Eugene O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh Ian MacNeil and Edward Pierce, Angels in America Best Scenic Design of a Musical Dane Laffrey, Once On This Island Scott Pask, The Band's Visit Scott Pask, Finn Ross & Adam Young, Mean Girls Michael Yeargan, My Fair Lady David Zinn, SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical Best Costume Design of a Play Jonathan Fensom, Farinelli and The King Nicky Gillibrand, Angels in America Katrina Lindsay, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two Ann Roth, Edward Albee's Three Tall Women Ann Roth, Eugene O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh Best Costume Design of a Musical Gregg Barnes, Mean Girls Clint Ramos, Once On This Island Ann Roth, Rodgers & Hammerstein's Carousel David Zinn, SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical Catherine Zuber, My Fair Lady Best Lighting Design of a Play Neil Austin, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two Paule Constable, Angels in America Jules Fisher + Peggy Eisenhauer, Eugene O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh Paul Russell, Farinelli and The King Ben Stanton, Junk Best Lighting Design of a Musical Kevin Adams, SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical Jules Fisher + Peggy Eisenhauer, Once On This Island Donald Holder, My Fair Lady Brian MacDevitt, Rodgers & Hammerstein's Carousel Tyler Micoleau, The Band's Visit Best Sound Design of a Play Adam Cork, Travesties Ian Dickinson for Autograph, Angels in America Gareth Fry, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two Tom Gibbons, 1984 Dan Moses Schreier, Eugene O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh Best Sound Design of a Musical Kai Harada, The Band's Visit Peter Hylenski, Once On This Island Scott Lehrer, Rodgers & Hammerstein's Carousel Brian Ronan, Mean Girls Walter Trarbach and Mike Dobson, SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical Best Choreography Christopher Gattelli, My Fair Lady Christopher Gattelli, SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical Steven Hoggett, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two Casey Nicholaw, Mean Girls Justin Peck, Rodgers & Hammerstein's Carousel Best Orchestrations John Clancy, Mean Girls Tom Kitt, SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical Annmarie Milazzo & Michael Starobin, Once On This Island Jamshied Sharifi, The Band's Visit Jonathan Tunick, Rodgers & Hammerstein's Carousel Tony Nominations by Production Mean Girls - 12 SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical - 12 Angels in America - 11 The Band's Visit - 11 Rodgers & Hammerstein's Carousel - 11 Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two - 10 My Fair Lady - 10 Eugene O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh - 8 Once On This Island - 8 Edward Albee's Three Tall Women - 6 Farinelli and The King - 5 Travesties - 4 Frozen - 3 Lobby Hero - 3 The Children - 2 Junk - 2 Summer: The Donna Summer Musical - 2 Children of a Lesser God - 1 Latin History for Morons - 1 Meteor Shower - 1 1984 - 1 Saint Joan - 1 No nominations for: PRINCE OF BROADWAY ] ESCAPE TO MARGARITAVILLE TERMS OF SURRENDER STORIES BY HEART PARISIAN WOMAN M. BUTTERFLY MARVIN’S ROOM TIME & THE CONWAYS

Vic Sage May 01 2018 04:39 PM Re: Broadway 2017-18

MY FAIR LADY [A-] – Lauren Ambrose is a revelation as Eliza Dolittle in this latest revival of the Lerner & Loewe classic. She brings a less cartoonish approach to the role, investing the flower girl with a greater degree of realism and sweetness as she brings this iconic score to life with her beautifully controlled soprano. Her voice has a pure tone that’s clear as a bell and, like her acting, her bigger moments have even greater impact because she’s not playing to the top of her emotional range throughout. Meanwhile, Harry Hadden-Paton’s Henry Higgins is similarly grounded and every bit the match for Ambrose. Bartlett Sher’s exquisite direction goes back to Shaw’s play and takes the musical’s sort-of-quasi musical love story approach and refocuses it, instead, on the rise and emancipation of a lower-class woman in Edwardian England who finds her own voice. Eliza LEAVES; she doesn’t stick around in some sort of ambiguous relationship with Henry in order to be abused by the narcissistic misogynist (as she does in the musical adaptation), but Sher has her run off at the end, toward a future she will create for herself. And while this change (actually, a reversion to Shaw’s original intent) works better for the story, it does beg the question of why this play needed to be musicalized in the first place. Shaw was writing (as he always did) about class and gender… about ideas, not characters. His work was not romantic. But musicals inherently ARE romantic; they require big emotions (not ideas) because that’s why people break into song and start dancing. Lerner and Loewe, geniuses of the American musical that they were, instinctively understood this, and so wrote their show to underscore an implied romantic relationship that would justify all the singing and jumping about. But their grafting of a romance on Shaw’s story never sat comfortably, and the ambiguous ending of the musical, with its implication of an ongoing romantic relationship, was always somewhat unsatisfying. They ultimately answered that concern by writing one of the greatest scores (possibly THE greatest) in Broadway musical history, reducing all complaints about the book to mere quibbling. And while the quibbles remain even in this new interpretation (albeit now for different reasons), this is a wonderfully staged revival with great performances, direction and design.

Vic Sage May 01 2018 04:42 PM Re: Broadway 2017-18

HARRY POTTER [A-] – This epic 2-part continuation of the Harry Potter story has come over from its West End run to equal acclaim on Broadway, because the show works both as spectacle and intimate family drama. This “book 8” of the series picks up 20 years later, as the grownup Harry and his friends (and former nemesis) now have children of their own, going off to Hogwarts school for wizards, facing a new threat to bring back the dark lord. But at its core, this is a story of parents and children coming to terms with their disappointment in each other and moving past the hurt to find the love beneath. The problem with a “book 8” is it presupposes familiarity with books 1-7, and I can’t imagine an audience unfamiliar with the Potter stories being able to follow it or understand why they’ve been asked to invest 6 hours into what’s an ok but not great piece of drama. But Potter fans will see their dreams come true and be able to live once again in the world of JK Rowling, inhabited by these beloved characters, well-acted by a strong British cast. The standout is Anthony Boyle as Scorpius Malfoy, a bewildered but kindly scion forced to carry the sins of his father, Draco, just as Harry’s son, Albus, must bear the mantle of being the ineffective son of the greatest hero in the wizarding world. While I’m not really a Potter fan, I’ve seen all the films and I'm familiar enough with all the stories so as to not get lost in the goings on. I have no real emotional investment in these characters, however, so there is not the kind of emotional frisson for me just to be in Rowling’s world once more as there undoubtedly is for her those who grew up with Harry. But it’s John Tiffany’s direction that makes all the difference, even for the unconverted, as he uses every bit of classical stagecraft ever invented to create breathtaking effects, while using evocative music, elegant movement, and striking design to elevate the play into a must-see theatrical event.

Vic Sage May 02 2018 02:54 PM Re: Broadway 2017-18

SAINT JOAN [B] – Condola Rashad is magnificent (as usual) in MTC’s remounting of GB Shaw’s commentary on British society disguised as a history of the French saint, the maid of Orleans. As articulate, thoughtful, witty and biting as any of Shaw’s works, it’s also as talky, dull, dramatically inert and lacking in humanity as his other works, too. He writes plays about ideas, not people, and so he rarely elicits an emotional response from me. But if you like Shaw, you’ll like this smart production. Director Dan Sullivan’s palette of reds and golds strikes the right note inside the abstract but evocative and effective design (it looks like the play takes place inside a giant pipe organ). Though there are strong supporting performances by a wide range of Broadway veterans, it’s Rashad’s Joan (inspiring with her wide-eyed zeal and purity, and tempered by her youthful and realistic impatience with those who don’t recognize the rightness of her cause) that injects Shaw’s play with the requisite humanity it needs to make it all matter. As a final thought, I wonder how many times Arthur Miller saw Shaw's play before writing his own polemic, The Crucible. They are similar works, with similar flaws. But Miller cannot help but write about people, where Shaw rarely does, and so even that most political of his plays is ultimately a very human tragedy, while Shaw's work remains mired in its ideology.

Vic Sage May 04 2018 08:43 PM Re: Broadway 2017-18

THREE TALL WOMEN [A-] - Edward Albee’s 1994 Pulitzer winner brought him back after 20 years lost in the theatrical wilderness and it now finally gets its Broadway debut in Joe Mantello’s brilliantly directed revival of this lauded comic tragedy. It features a towering performance by Glenda Jackson, herself coming back after 30 years away from the stage, as the dying doyenne sharing memories and insights with the hilarious Laurie Metcalf and the striking Alison Pill, who are both more than able to hold their own as they join Jackson in discovering the play’s poetic rhythms, comic flow, and stark vision. Act I is a naturalistic portrait of a wealthy old woman (Jackson, identified only as “A”) sliding into dementia and decrepitude in her elegant bedroom, with her healthcare aid (Metcalf as “B”) comically trying to placate her, and the arrogant young attorney (Pill as “C”), visiting to straighten out her mismanaged affairs. Pill constantly challenges Jackson, much to Metcalf’s bemusement and exasperation, provoking the old woman into vicious ramblings that reveal her sad and hateful life. Though it’s very funny at times, the old woman’s awfulness and repetitions makes it feel like it’s all going on a bit too long. After she suffers a stroke, naturalism disappears in a more interesting Act II, as we spin off into the surreal, where we have literally gone through the looking glass into “A”’s mind. There, in the mirror image bedroom, the old woman is joined by the middle-aged and twenty-something versions of herself (Metcalf and Pill), as they tease, interrogate and terrify each other about what was and what will be. They are joined, too, by the rejected son who has come back to see his dying mother for a final, silent farewell. The only issue here is one of casting; Metcalf is a delight, as always, but she is too grounded and “middle-class” a character to fit comfortably between the younger Pill and the older Jackson, both of whom suggest an aristocratic demeanor that Metcalf entirely lacks. But this seems the only misstep in an otherwise flawless production. Albee is apparently the silent son in this unflinching portrait of his adoptive mother, with whom he had a stormy, loveless relationship. Despite his obvious anger at her, Albee offers us an honest but empathetic portrayal of the woman and the forces that shaped her. While there is no sentimental scene of rapprochement, there is a sense of understanding, and a coming to terms with her death, that is deeply moving in the end. While Albee continued to write interesting work throughout the rest of his life, this play is the classic culmination of his storied career.

Vic Sage May 11 2018 07:45 PM Re: Broadway 2017-18

THE ICEMAN COMETH [C] – This O’Neill warhorse gets another lap around the track, with Denzel Washington and a stellar supporting cast in an uninspired production directed by George C. Wolfe. The show’s 4 hour /2-intermission running time is still shorter than the 5+ hours that this dour celebration of alcoholic self-delusion usually runs, so cuts must have been made to the text. But it’s still a talky, sleepy, lumbering slog into despair, interrupted intermittently by monologues of great theatrical intensity, with an 11th hour revelation that comes too late to pack the emotional punch it requires. Wolfe’s direction gives this most ornate and impressionistic of American playwrights a naturalistic production at odds with the needs of the text. O’Neil’s poetic dialogue is done no favors by such realistic treatment. Wolfe also offers no new insight into this dated tale about the tragedy of self-deluding men forced by their natures to destroy the women they claimed to have loved. So why present this play again? Clearly, as a star vehicle for Mr. Washington, who must have had some free time in his schedule. Denzel plays Hickey, the Godot that finally shows up in a bar full of drunks who have been waiting for him, hoping he’ll bring joy into their pathetic lives. Instead of jokes and fun, however, he uses a preacher’s sober zeal to shake them from their self-delusion, but, in doing so, reveals the tragedy of his own pipe dream (and how do we know the play is about self-delusion? Well, O’Neill uses the phrase “pipe dream” 46 times. So that’s a clue, I guess). As to the elephant in the room: Mr. Washington is an African-American actor playing an Irishman in a naturalistic production of a play that takes play in NYC in 1912, in which another black character (played by an African-American actor) is targeted for ugly racist treatment, yet the race of Denzel’s character is unremarked upon and, in fact, is a character given much deference and respect. So why is the race of one character essential to the narrative and another cast in a way that is so contradictory? Sometimes color-blind casting of classics can work to add new meaning, like the current CAROUSEL, which features Joshua Henry as a black Billy whose race adds resonance to the character’s outsider nature and the doomed quality of his romantic relationship with Julie Jordan. And sometimes a cast that represents a wide range of races and ethnicities can offer comment on a work or reimagine it, or heighten its theatricality, or give it a different cultural perspective. And sometimes characters can be cast this way where race is irrelevant to the narrative. But none of that is true in ICEMAN. In this production, only 1 actor is cast against type in an otherwise naturalistic production, where race is a narrative issue in the play. So clearly Washington has been cast, not for aesthetic or thematic reasons, but because he’s a movie star that wanted to do the play. Like the drunks at Hope’s Bar, the audience must pretend to see something in this play other than it does, requiring it to view Mr. Washington’s casting as modern and progressive, rather than merely cynical commercialism. Casting aside, ICEMAN is still a play with flashes of brilliance. But this is a soporific production of a dated work that needs a fresh eye, not a movie star.

Vic Sage May 13 2018 02:35 PM Re: Broadway 2017-18 Edited 1 time(s), most recently on May 16 2018 08:32 PM

MEAN GIRLS [C] - meh.

Vic Sage May 16 2018 02:05 PM Re: Broadway 2017-18 Edited 1 time(s), most recently on May 16 2018 08:34 PM

FROZEN [C-] – Disney is just phoning it in at this point, with this theme-park quality adaptation of their hit animated musical. For a story about magic, it totally lacks any. To be fair, the lighting succeeds in doing most of the heavy lifting in this production, and clever costumes help, too. But the sets are chintzy, and there are some shockingly bad production numbers, like the “Hygge” semi-nude sauna number (don’t ask), with choreography that seems more like line dancing and milling around, and all of it is the result of ham-fisted direction. The director doesn’t offer the cast any help, either. Olaf the snowman is a puppet, but he still has more humanity than the stick figure love interests, Kristof and Hans. Frankly, the guy in the Sven reindeer costume gives a better performance than either of them. While the subpar supporting cast fails to support, the leads playing the royal sisters, Elsa and Anna, are excellent and their strong performances almost carry the show. But they can’t overcome the clunky book by Jennifer Lee, artlessly adapting her own screenplay, and songwriters Kristin & Bobby Lopez have added less than memorable songs to their movie score. Only the ubiquitous LET IT GO still has the power to rouse, which it certainly does as the Act I curtain closer and the finale reprise. While this cheezy celebration of girl power and sisterly love will likely entertain the tweens that comprise the WICKED audience, it does not compare in quality or emotional impact. It’s purely a by-the-numbers adaptation and, while not dreadful, certainly not worth seeing by anyone outside the target demographic.

Vic Sage May 16 2018 08:25 PM Re: Broadway 2017-18

TRAVESTIES [D] – Sometimes, a magazine story about a famous beauty will include her high school yearbook photo, to show her at an awkward, embarrassing time in her life. TRAVESTIES is Tom Stoppard’s high school yearbook photo. It’s a dated, early work that shows him at his least appealing… smug, pretentious, showy, preening in its smartassery and arrogantly self-satisfied. It tries to be funny (or, at least, absurd and wacky) but is, instead, a monumental bore. I couldn’t make it past intermission. However, Stoppard wrote some of the greatest plays of the last 50 years, including ROSENCRANTZ AND GILDENSTERN ARE DEAD, THE REAL THING, ARCADIA and the epic COAST OF UTOPIA trilogy, as well as screenplays for BRAZIL, EMPIRE OF THE SUN and SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE, so I’ll forgive him this one and move my grade up to a “D”, purely out of respect for his body of work.

Edgy MD May 16 2018 08:43 PM Re: Broadway 2017-18

I've seen a great Travesties. A sold-out run put on by a real back-door theater company. Fantastic.

Vic Sage May 16 2018 09:08 PM Re: Broadway 2017-18

i'll take your word for it. But "back-door theater company"? I'm afraid to ask.

Edgy MD May 17 2018 12:39 AM Re: Broadway 2017-18

Here you go: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/lo ... esties.htm Included our old friend Rhea Seehorn who went on to modest fame and is now a regular on Better Call Saul. It was fucking hilarious. Much better than any production of Rosencrantz & Guildenstern than I ever saw. Unfortunately, this was the first production of a new company my now wife had gone to work for, and it was so good, we didn't yet realize what a shitty outfit they were. Man, we saw some progressively bad theater. But we didn't pay hunnerts of dollars for it! We only damaged our souls!

sharpie May 17 2018 01:16 PM Re: Broadway 2017-18

Gotta disagree with Vic on TRAVESTIES. i saw the original with John Wood in the '70's, saw a college production shortly thereafter and now this after about a 40 year hiatus. I like the play a lot, especially the second act which Vic didn't stick around for. It's hard to be against TRAVESTIES and for ROSENCRANTZ & GUILDENSTERN as they are of a piece - one a gloss on THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST, the other a gloss on HAMLET. Yes there are some long speeches about the merits of Dadaism vs. Literature with a capital L and showoffy verbal pyrotechnics abound but that kind of thing are what you expect in a Stoppard play and what sets him apart from others. Tom Hollander as the main character who manages to misremember most of his past is terrific as are most of the rest of the players (I had a bit of a problem with James Joyce). A worthy production of a worthy play.

Vic Sage May 17 2018 02:09 PM Re: Broadway 2017-18

sharpie wrote: Gotta disagree with Vic on TRAVESTIES. i saw the original with John Wood in the '70's, saw a college production shortly thereafter and now this after about a 40 year hiatus. I like the play a lot, especially the second act which Vic didn't stick around for. It's hard to be against TRAVESTIES and for ROSENCRANTZ & GUILDENSTERN as they are of a piece - one a gloss on THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST, the other a gloss on HAMLET. Yes there are some long speeches about the merits of Dadaism vs. Literature with a capital L and showoffy verbal pyrotechnics abound but that kind of thing are what you expect in a Stoppard play and what sets him apart from others. Tom Hollander as the main character who manages to misremember most of his past is terrific as are most of the rest of the players (I had a bit of a problem with James Joyce). A worthy production of a worthy play. i love HAMLET and dislike ERNEST, so that could be some of the difference. Also, maybe its just the direction, but this production feels like the sort of self-conscious, absurdist artsy THEE-ATER that was all the rage in the 60s ("come, join us in the tub of life") but i find really pretentious and off-putting. Also, when Stoppard uses his Ox-Bridge cleverness to make the emotional impact he does in REAL THING, ARCADIA and UPTOPIA, he is using his powers for good. But pyrotechnics, linguistic or otherwise, for its own sake just sets off my smoke alarm. And when characters make academic proclamations about the importance of art from the lip of a stage, i went to rip my eyes out of my head and wander the Earth as a cautionary tale.

Edgy MD May 17 2018 04:38 PM Re: Broadway 2017-18

That's the thing though. The travesty. You're in Switzerland in the latter stages of the First World War, and you're wanking about literary theory and political theory and social theory and aesthetic theory while the world around you is on fire and you're utterly safe from consequences, and either ignorant or uncaring that the big theories you're bandying about as cocktail conversation with zero stakes is lighting the spark for the next global fire twenty years down the road. THAT'S dark comedy! It shouldn't make you poke your eyes out. (Joyce himself is already down to one.) But it perhaps should make you want to throttle Tristan Tzara a little.

Vic Sage May 23 2018 08:16 PM Re: Broadway 2017-18

SUMMER [F] - The Donna Summer "biopic"... a series of banal cliches set to awful music. The only smart thing they did was to present it without an intermission, holding us hostage for the entire show.

bmfc1 Jun 04 2018 11:43 AM Re: Broadway 2017-18

Everything Vic Sage says is true. I saw the show on Saturday and it is phenomenal. I felt like I experienced something magical. SPRINGSTEEN [A] – Bruce presents great acoustic arrangements of his songs to tell a more or less autobiographical story of his development as an artist and as a person. He starts with a confession: he’s a fraud because he’s never worked a day in his life, yet he’s made a good living singing about the working man. “So, thank you,” he says, both acknowledging and appreciating the irony. But he spends the rest of the show proving that the confession was unnecessary, as he sings his moving paeans to working class life in America that demonstrates a deep understanding and empathy known to only a few artists in the history of our culture. Bruce appears alone on a bare stage, playing guitar, harmonica, and a baby grand that he uses for a few songs that gives him a reason to cross to stage right. His wife, Patty, comes out for a pair of songs (including BRILLIANT DISGUISE), which felt like an unnecessary and unwelcome digression, but it’s his life and she's part of it, so whatever. There are moments though, where he steps down stage, away from the mike, and just sings directly to the audience and you can hear a pin drop in that 1000+-seat theater. Those moments are so intimate, you feel like you’re just hanging out with him in a hallway, and he's like "here, I just wrote this, check it out", and he's singing just to you. I've never had that feeling before in a Broadway theater.

Vic Sage Jun 07 2018 02:36 AM Re: Broadway 2017-18

Everything Vic Sage says is true. i'm going to make t-shirts with that on the front.

Vic Sage Jun 07 2018 07:40 PM Re: Broadway 2017-18

My final Tony ballot: Best Play The Children - Author: Lucy Kirkwood Farinelli and The King - Author: Claire van Kampen *Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two - Author: Jack Thorne Junk - Author: Ayad Akhtar Latin History for Morons - Author: John Leguizamo While POTTER is not a great play, it is a great production, and none of the other nominated plays were great, either. I would have voted for 1984, had it been nominated. It was certainly more worthy of a nomination than the overhyped and well-titled JUNK. Best Musical *The Band's Visit Frozen Mean Girls SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical BAND, and it's not even close. Best Revival of a Play *Angels in America Edward Albee's Three Tall Women Eugene O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh Lobby Hero Travesties Tough call between ANGELS and 3TWomen, but I"m going with epic over intimate. ANGELS is a great production of a landmark work. I also think M. BUTTERFLY deserved a nod over TRAVESTIES. Best Revival of a Musical My Fair Lady *Once On This Island Rodgers & Hammerstein's Carousel ISLAND should be required viewing for everybody. Best Book of a Musical *The Band's Visit - Itamar Moses Frozen - Jennifer Lee Mean Girls - Tina Fey SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical - Kyle Jarrow BAND, and again not close. Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre Angels in America - Music: Adrian Sutton *The Band's Visit - Music & Lyrics: David Yazbek Frozen - Music & Lyrics: Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez Mean Girls - Music: Jeff Richmond / Lyrics: Nell Benjamin SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical - Music & Lyrics: Yolanda Adams, Steven Tyler & Joe Perry of Aerosmith, Sara Bareilles, Jonathan Coulton, Alex Ebert of Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, The Flaming Lips, Lady Antebellum, Cyndi Lauper & Rob Hyman, John Legend, Panic! at the Disco, Plain White T's, They Might Be Giants, T.I., Domani & Lil'C Nobody is getting any closer to BAND. Best Direction of a Play Marianne Elliott, Angels in America Joe Mantello, Edward Albee's Three Tall Women Patrick Marber, Travesties *John Tiffany, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two George C. Wolfe, Eugene O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh It's between Mantello and Tiffany for me. I'm leaning towards Tiffany, because it seemed to me he had an inferior text with greater technical demands. i don't know what Marber was doing with TRAVESTIES, and I think Wolfe's ICEMAN was pedestrian at best. I'd rather have seen Taymor for M. BUTTERFLY (which unfairly got NO nominations) and Robert Icke & Duncan Macmillan, for their work adapting and directing 1984. Best Direction of a Musical *Michael Arden, Once On This Island =#FF4000]David Cromer, The Band's Visit Tina Landau, SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical Casey Nicholaw, Mean Girls Bartlett Sher, My Fair Lady Arden, Cromer and Sher all deserve the recognition, but Arden completely reinterpreted ISLAND in a very special way. Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play =#FF4000]Andrew Garfield, Angels in America Tom Hollander, Travesties Jamie Parker, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two *Mark Rylance, Farinelli and The King Denzel Washington, Eugene O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh Nobody is better than Rylance. Nobody. Garfield was great, but I've seen better Pryor Walters before. Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play *Glenda Jackson, Edward Albee's Three Tall Women Condola Rashad, Saint Joan Lauren Ridloff, Children of a Lesser God Amy Schumer, Meteor Shower Jackson or Rashad? Jackson. I loved Rashad, but Jackson was amazing. Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical *Harry Hadden-Paton, My Fair Lady Joshua Henry, Rodgers & Hammerstein's Carousel =#FF4000]Tony Shalhoub, The Band's Visit Ethan Slater, SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical Hadden-Paton had to make Henry Higgins a character you can feel something other than contempt for, and he does. Shalhoub deserves an award every time he stands on a stage, but BAND was really more of an ensemble work. Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical *Lauren Ambrose, My Fair Lady Hailey Kilgore, Once On This Island LaChanze, Summer: The Donna Summer Musical =#FF4000]Katrina Lenk, The Band's Visit Taylor Louderman, Mean Girls Jessie Mueller, Rodgers & Hammerstein's Carousel MFL vs BAND once again, with the same outcome. Ambrose was a revelation. Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play Anthony Boyle, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two Michael Cera, Lobby Hero Brian Tyree Henry, Lobby Hero *Nathan Lane, Angels in America David Morse, Eugene O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh Lane dominates once again. Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play *Susan Brown, Angels in America Noma Dumezweni, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two Deborah Findlay, The Children Denise Gough, Angels in America =#FF4000]Laurie Metcalf, Edward Albee's Three Tall Women This is a tough one. I love Metcalf, but she was miscast; Findlay was fine, but not exceptional; ditto for the woman from POTTER; and Gough was the least interesting thing about ANGELS. In honor of the range of characters she plays in ANGELS, and how well she plays each of them, i'm going with Susan Brown. Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical *Norbert Leo Butz, My Fair Lady Alexander Gemignani, Rodgers & Hammerstein's Carousel Grey Henson, Mean Girls Gavin Lee, SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical =#FF4000]Ari'el Stachel, The Band's Visit MFL vs BAND again. Same result. Norbert Leo Butz is a musical theater treasure. Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical Ariana DeBose, Summer: The Donna Summer Musical Renée Fleming, Rodgers & Hammerstein's Carousel *Lindsay Mendez, Rodgers & Hammerstein's Carousel Ashley Park, Mean Girls Diana Rigg, My Fair Lady Rigg is barely in MFL; I don't remember the MEAN GIRL at all; and the Donna Summer show? Please. The 2 women from CAROUSEL are my favorites. Fleming sings one song really well, but Mendez gives a more interesting performance overall. Best Scenic Design of a Play Miriam Buether, Edward Albee's Three Tall Women Jonathan Fensom, Farinelli and The King *Christine Jones, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two Santo Loquasto, Eugene O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh Ian MacNeil and Edward Pierce, Angels in America These are all great scenic designs, but POTTER has the heavy lifting and comes up big. Best Scenic Design of a Musical Dane Laffrey, Once On This Island Scott Pask, The Band's Visit Scott Pask, Finn Ross & Adam Young, Mean Girls Michael Yeargan, My Fair Lady *David Zinn, SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical I"ve got to give SPONGEBOB its due. Best Costume Design of a Play Jonathan Fensom, Farinelli and The King Nicky Gillibrand, Angels in America *Katrina Lindsay, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two Ann Roth, Edward Albee's Three Tall Women Ann Roth, Eugene O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh The POTTER costumes are part of the stagecraft, offering many opportunities for magical effects. They're not just costumes. Best Costume Design of a Musical Gregg Barnes, Mean Girls Clint Ramos, Once On This Island Ann Roth, Rodgers & Hammerstein's Carousel *David Zinn, SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical =#FF4000]Catherine Zuber, My Fair Lady SPONGEBOB vs ISLAND... hmm. My head says SpongeBob but my heart says ISLAND. Again, giving the devil its due. Best Lighting Design of a Play *Neil Austin, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two Paule Constable, Angels in America Jules Fisher + Peggy Eisenhauer, Eugene O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh Paul Russell, Farinelli and The King Ben Stanton, Junk All worthy, but i would have voted for 1984. Of these options, it's POTTER vs FARINELLI, which is lit by candlelight. But the lighting is too important for POTTER to overlook it. Best Lighting Design of a Musical Kevin Adams, SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical *Jules Fisher + Peggy Eisenhauer, Once On This Island Donald Holder, My Fair Lady Brian MacDevitt, Rodgers & Hammerstein's Carousel =#FF4000]Tyler Micoleau, The Band's Visit Between SPONGEBOB and ISLAND again, but this time i'm voting ISLAND. Fisher & Eisenhauer are legends and they provided some magical moments in this production that have stayed with me. Best Sound Design of a Play Adam Cork, Travesties Ian Dickinson for Autograph, Angels in America =#FF4000]Gareth Fry, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two *Tom Gibbons, 1984 Dan Moses Schreier, Eugene O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh Finally, i get to vote for 1984. Best Sound Design of a Musical =#FF4000]Kai Harada, The Band's Visit *Peter Hylenski, Once On This Island Scott Lehrer, Rodgers & Hammerstein's Carousel Brian Ronan, Mean Girls Walter Trarbach and Mike Dobson, SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical Sound design for a musical is a tough category to judge. I'm going with ISLAND, just because. Best Choreography Christopher Gattelli, My Fair Lady Christopher Gattelli, SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical *Steven Hoggett, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two Casey Nicholaw, Mean Girls =#FF4000]Justin Peck, Rodgers & Hammerstein's Carousel I think the choreography was unexceptional this year. CAROUSEL is the obvious choice, but the more i think about the stage movement in POTTER, the more impactful it becomes and the more intrigued i am about voting for a play for best choreography. Best Orchestrations John Clancy, Mean Girls Tom Kitt, SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical Annmarie Milazzo & Michael Starobin, Once On This Island *Jamshied Sharifi, The Band's Visit Jonathan Tunick, Rodgers & Hammerstein's Carousel BAND creates a unique middle-eastern sound for what in other hands could've been a standard Broadway score.

Vic Sage Jun 11 2018 04:00 PM Re: Broadway 2017-18

final score: 15-11. My ballot was not very predictive, but it rarely is. I expected BAND'S VISIT to win the major awards, but it surprised me by taking just about everything. With 10 Tonys the only one it missed was Scenic Designer. But i was very happy about it. It was, by far, the best show this year (play, musical, new, or revival). Based on an obscure foreign film, with political elements and without big stars, it needed the awards to start building an advance and keep running.

Edgy MD Jun 11 2018 04:03 PM Re: Broadway 2017-18

Tony Shalhoub isn't a big star? Maybe he's no Meeno Peluce, but he's pretty big from where I sit. I mean, if I saw him, I'd POINT!

Vic Sage Jun 11 2018 04:51 PM Re: Broadway 2017-18

Edgy MD wrote: Tony Shalhoub isn't a big star? Maybe he's no Meeno Peluce, but he's pretty big from where I sit. I mean, if I saw him, I'd POINT! yes, but if his name was on a marquee, would you put down $170/ticket to see him not sing in a musical?

John Cougar Lunchbucket Jun 21 2018 01:29 PM Re: Broadway 2017-18

Vic Sage wrote: SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS [C-] – This hyperactive adaptation of Nickelodeon’s cult cartoon series needs to take some Ritalin and calm the fuck down. From its day-glow “Rube Goldberg” set design, to the bombardment of endless effects (including dry ice, lasers, strobes, projections, star drops, streamer-and-confetti cannons, flying), to its multi-popstar score, to its over-the-top performances (even a great big ole tap-dancin’ kick line!), the creators clearly had no confidence in the material to speak for itself. This is more of a “throw everything at them but the kitchen sink”-style of show. Which might have been ok, if the book had brought it all together with humor, cleverness, heartfelt characters and a comprehensible narrative… but no, instead the book sinks the show like a rock. Its lame attempts at comedy fail much more often than it succeeds, its plot is hackneyed and nonsensical (even for a cartoon), and its attempt to sew threads of social commentary into the story's fabric are entirely forced and heavy-handed. It seemed like an attempt to stick “relevance” for grownups into what they obviously perceived as a kid show, but by doing so, they made it utterly irrelevant to anybody. Some may be charmed by the hardworking physical production elements (including its clever costuming), and the performances are quite good, with a talented cast that is able to create some comic moments when virtually none are provided by the text or lyrics. And most of the actors capture the essence of their characters, except for SquidWard, who is played like a campy show queen instead of the dour and cynical “Eeyore” to SpongeBob’s good-natured Pooh. But as for the score, while some of the songs are very good, others are less so, and there are too many 11 O'clock numbers and too few that serve the story. In fact, the songs in the TV series and movie were just better, overall, at providing humor, delineating character and advancing plot. For a show about the triumph of friendship and optimism, SPONGEBOB feels very cynically manufactured for kids and undiscriminating tourists. Wifey Bucket and Lunchpail surprised me with a father's day trip to see this, and I agree with the review for the most part. I felt like the costumes and lighting and sets were very well-done; the performances were good; the songs were eh; but the thing as a whole fell way short of the basic laughs you get from the cartoon, which I'm a huge fan of. Squidward's costume with the double legs for example was terrific but as soon as you saw him you knew you'd get a dance number out of it. I also felt his portrayal in particular veered too far to camp (Plankton didn't do much for me either). Mr. Krab's claw costume, and how he and Spongebob moved on stage, were hilarious and very evocative of the show. Mrs. Puff looked perfect -- would be a great Hallowwen costume. But had you not seen the cartoon previously I can't imagine the whole thing would make any sense at all. Fun to look at, not a great show.