Monthly Archives: October 2011

‘NEW YORKER’ THEATRE LISTINGS, 11/7 PLAYDECK · Oct 31st



 

ALL-AMERICAN

LCT3 presents a new play by Julia Brownell, in which the daughter of a former N.F.L. star is pressured to become her high school’s quarterback. Rebecca Creskoff and C. J. Wilson star; Evan Cabnet directs. In previews. Opens Nov. 7. (The Duke on 42nd Street, 229 W. 42nd St. 646-223-3010.)

 

BLOOD AND GIFTS

Bartlett Sher directs a new play by J. T. Rogers, about a C.I.A. agent who fights against the Soviets in Afghanistan during the war in the eighties. In previews. (Mitzi E. Newhouse, 150 W. 65th St. 212-239-6200.)

 

THE BLUE FLOWER

Second Stage presents a new musical written by Ruth Bauer and Jim Bauer, about four friends—three artists and a scientist—who explore passion and art during the First and Second World Wars. Will Pomerantz directs. In previews. (305 W. 43rd St. 212-246-4422.)

 

BONNIE & CLYDE

Laura Osnes and Jeremy Jordan star in a new musical based on the story of the famous bank-robbing couple. Jeff Calhoun directs, with music by Frank Wildhorn, lyrics by Don Black, and a book by Ivan Menchell. Previews begin Nov. 4. (Schoenfeld, 236 W. 45th St. 212-239-6200.)

 

BRITS OFF BROADWAY

The annual festival of British theatre kicks off with three solo plays: James Gaddas’s “Shadow Boxing,” about a prizefighter; “The Maddening Rain,” by Nicholas Pierpan, about a finance broker coping with the global recession; and “Bunny,” by Jack Thorne, about a young woman whose boyfriend was the victim of a random brutal attack. (59E59, at 59 E. 59th St. 212-279-4200.)

 

BURNING

The New Group presents the première of a play by Thomas Bradshaw, which intersects two stories—one set in the present, about a black painter who hides his race from a gallery owner in Germany, and the other set in the eighties, about a homeless teen who is taken in by two gay men. Scott Elliott directs. In previews. (Acorn, 410 W. 42nd St. 212-239-6200.)

 

A CHARITY CASE

Wendy Beckett wrote and directs this play, which examines a seventeen-year-old girl’s relationship with her biological and adoptive mothers. The cast includes Alison Fraser and Alysia Reiner. In previews. Opens Nov. 2. (Clurman, 410 W. 42nd St. 212-239-6200.)

 

DESDEMONA

Part of the White Light Festival, the New York première of a musical with text by Toni Morrison and music and vocals by Rokia Traoré, directed by Peter Sellars. Nov. 2-3. (Rose Theatre, 60th St. at Broadway. 212-721-6500.)

 

GODSPELL

Daniel Goldstein directs the 1971 rock musical, conceived by John-Michael Tebelak, with music and new lyrics by Stephen Schwartz. Hunter Parrish stars. In previews. Opens Nov. 7. (Circle in the Square, 235 W. 50th St. 212-239-6200.)

 

HOW MUCH IS ENOUGH: OUR VALUES IN QUESTION

Kirk Lynn wrote this piece, co-created by Melanie Joseph and presented by the Foundry Theatre, which explores the meaning of the word “value” in a variety of contexts. Previews begin Nov. 3. (St. Ann’s Warehouse, 38 Water St., Brooklyn. 718-254-8779.)

 

HUGH JACKMAN, BACK ON BROADWAY

Jackman sings and dances his way through numbers that illustrate his life and career. Warren Carlyle directs and choreographs. In previews. (Broadhurst, 235 W. 44th St. 212-239-6200.)

 

KING LEAR

Sam Waterston plays the title role in the Shakespeare tragedy, directed by James Macdonald. Also starring Kelli O’Hara, Bill Irwin, Arian Moayed, Richard Topol, Michael McKean, and John Douglas Thompson. In previews. Opens Nov. 8. (Public, 425 Lafayette St. 212-967-7555.)

 

OTHER DESERT CITIES

Jon Robin Baitz wrote this comedic drama, in which a woman visits her parents’ Palm Springs home, where she unveils her plans to publish a memoir about her family’s turbulent history. Stockard Channing, Rachel Griffiths, Stacy Keach, Judith Light, and Thomas Sadoski star; Joe Mantello directs the Lincoln Center Theatre production. In previews. Opens Nov. 3. (Booth, 222 W. 45th St. 212-239-6200.)

 

PRIVATE LIVES

Kim Cattrall and Paul Gross star in Noël Coward’s 1930 comedy, about a divorced couple who rekindle their romance while they are both honeymooning in the South of France with new spouses. Richard Eyre directs. Previews begin Nov. 6. (Music Box, 239 W. 45th St. 212-239-6200.)

 

QUEEN OF THE MIST

Transport Group presents the première of a musical by Michael John LaChiusa, directed by Jack Cummings III, based on the true story of the daredevil Anna Edson Taylor (Mary Testa), who was the first person to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel. In previews. Opens Nov. 6. (Gym at Judson, 243 Thompson St. 866-811-4111.)

 

SEMINAR

Sam Gold directs a new play by Theresa Rebeck, starring Alan Rickman, Lily Rabe, Jerry O’Connell, and Hamish Linklater, about a literary legend who holds a class for young writers. In previews. (Golden, 252 W. 45th St. 212-239-6200.)

 

SHE KILLS MONSTERS

This play, in which a girl learns about her deceased sister when she finds her Dungeons and Dragons diary, is a collaboration between Vampire Cowboys Theatre Company’s co-artistic directors, the playwright Qui Nguyen and the director Robert Ross Parker. Previews begin Nov. 4. (Flea, 41 White St. 212-352-3101.)

 

69S.

Phantom Limb created this multimedia production, which evokes Sir Ernest Shackleton’s 1914 trans-Antarctic expedition. Directed by Sophie Hunter. Nov. 2-5. (BAM’s Harvey Theatre, 651 Fulton St., Brooklyn. 718-636-4100.)

 

SUICIDE, INCORPORATED

Jonathan Berry directs this Roundabout Underground production of a play by Andrew Hinderaker, which centers on a service that provides clients with suicide notes. Opens Nov. 2. (111 W. 46th St. 212-719-1300.)

 

VENUS IN FUR

Nina Arianda reprises her performance in this play written by David Ives, directed by Walter Bobbie. Hugh Dancy also stars in the Manhattan Theatre Club production. In previews. Opens Nov. 8. (Samuel J. Friedman, 261 W. 47th St. 212-239-6200.)

 

WILD ANIMALS YOU SHOULD KNOW

 

MARTHA WILSON INTERVIEW · Oct 29th





 

(Britta Wheeler’s article appeared in the October online issue of BOMB Magazine.)

I met Martha Wilson in 1996 in Santiago, Chile, when we were both invited by Alexander Del Re to attend Performare, a performance art symposium there. I interviewed her for my sociological research about the institutionalization of performance art. Since then, she has spoken to my classes and commissioned me to make a visual map of my research, Performance Art and Its Institutionalization: A Map. This work is traveling internationally under the auspices of History of Disappearance, a 30th anniversary exhibition drawn from Franklin Furnace’s archives.

Martha Wilson is the founding director of Franklin Furnace, a 35-year old organization that tries to make the world safe for avant-garde art. Its mission is to present, preserve, interpret, proselytize, and advocate on behalf of avant-garde art, especially forms that may be vulnerable due to institutional neglect, their ephemeral nature, or politically unpopular content. The Martha Wilson Sourcebook: 40 years of Reconsidering Performance, Feminism, Alternative Spaces contains images, documents, and influences that made her who she is today. This is the first of a series of sourcebooks that Independent Curators International has decided to publish. These are books by artists that help people see inside the artist’s brains. The next in this series will be by Hans Haacke.

We talked in early September over BLT’s and the newly published Martha Wilson Sourcebook on the eve of her opening at P.P.O.W. Gallery.

http://bombsite.com/issues/999/articles/6158

HANNAH MOSCOVITCH: “CANADA’S HOTTEST YOUNG PLAYWRIGHT” · Oct 29th



 

(Chris Jones’s article appeared 10/26 in the Chicago Tribune.)

When several shows open on the same night — a frequent occurrence in Chicago — we critics have to see some productions a little later. So that was how I came to roll up at the Signal Ensemble Theatre on Thursday of last week. It was a last-minute change of plan; I gave the theater almost no notice and received an abject lesson in how much some small Chicago theater companies without seasonal subscribers risk when they produce an unknown new play.

In the audience were the director, Ronan Marra, a couple of Saints (the volunteer usher corps), a guy by himself and maybe two couples. And me. Yet we shared one of the more gripping shows of the season so far: "East of Berlin" by a remarkable young Canadian playwright named Hannah Moscovitch.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/ct-ott-1028-jones-loop-20111026,0,6107438.story

NICHOLAS WRIGHT: ‘THE LAST OF THE DUCHESS’ (REVIEW PICK, UK) · Oct 28th

(Charles Spencer’s article appeared in the Telegraph, 10/27.)

The public fascination with Wallis Simpson, whose far from obvious charms so entranced Edward VIII that they led to his abdication, shows little sign of abating 25 years after her death.

Madonna has just co-written and directed a film about her, she naturally put in an appearance in the Oscar-winning movie The King’s Speech, and she is also the subject of a new biography.

Now Nicholas Wright has come up with a richly comic but also unexpectedly moving play based on a book by Lady Caroline Blackwood who tried to secure a newspaper interview with the frail and widowed Duchess of Windsor in 1980.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/theatre-reviews/8851278/The-Last-of-the-Duchess-Hampstead-Theatre-review.html

THE BOLSHOI REOPENS AFTER SIX YEARS · Oct 27th



 

(Susanna Beyer’s and Mattias Schepp’s article, translated by Christopher Sultan, appeared in Der Spiegel, 10/27.)

The Russian word awos is hard to translate into English. It means "perhaps" and "hopefully," but awos is also a broader term that conveys the notion that, in the chaos of existence, everything will eventually turn out for the best. These days, awos aptly describes the mood at Moscow's Bolshoi Theater.



The theater has one of the richest traditions of all Europe's stages. It is famous for opera and, most of all, for its ballet company. With its 200 dancers, the Bolshoi Ballet is the world's largest dance company. The theater was closed for six years. During that time, its dancers and singers performed in another building while the main building was being renovated at a cost of €570 million ($798 million).

The reopening ceremony for the theater will be held this Friday as part of a spectacle to be broadcast live in theaters worldwide, on television and online. But, at the moment, workers from Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan are still scraping bits of adhesive from the steps. It smells of paint, and in the stage-set storage area 20 meters (66 feet) underground, water still leaks through the ceiling whenever it rains. The principal dancers are practicing for the big gala event on a rehearsal stage.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,794174,00.html

ANTHONY BURGESS: ‘A CLOCKWORK ORANGE’ (REVIEW PICK, UK) · Oct 27th



 

(Elisabeth Mahoney’s article appeared in the Guardian, 10/26.)

Few modern classics bring more challenges, in particular the burden of expectation, than Anthony Burgess's dystopian shocker. How do you stage it to give the full force of its lawlessness and cruelty while creating something that's still watchable?

Volcano's startling version is short and viciously sharp, with a couple of core inventive touches that work well. The role of Alex, narrating, is shared across the cast of five: their accents range from Glaswegian to New York via Cockney. This move deepens the sense of menace – you never quite know where it will land next – and also the universality of Burgess's key question: is it better to choose to be evil than be forced to be good?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2011/oct/26/clockwork-orange-paul-davies-review

BROOKLYN PERFORMANCE ARTIST GIVES BIRTH IN ART GALLERY · Oct 26th

(From AP/NBC New York, 10/26.)

A performance artist who said giving birth is the "highest form of art" has delivered a baby boy — inside a New York City art gallery.

Marni Kotak gave birth at 10:17 a.m. on Tuesday, the Microscope Gallery in Brooklyn said in a brief statement, adding that everyone was recuperating on Wednesday. It said the baby was 21 inches long and weighed 9 pounds, 2 ounces.

The gallery did not say how many people attended the birth or offer other details. A video of the birth will be added to the gallery's upcoming exhibition.

http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Marni-Kotak-Microscope-Gallery-Art-Museum-Birth-Performance-Art-Boy-132608898.html

MERCADANTE/ROMANI: ‘I DUE FIGARO’ (REVIEW PICK, NY) · Oct 26th



 

(Michael Feingold’s article appeared in the Village Voice, 10/26.)

The two classic comedies that Beaumarchais devoted to the exploits of the trickster valet, Figaro, gave rise to two comic operas that became even greater triumphs, Rossini's Barber of Seville and Mozart's Marriage of Figaro. Ever since, writers and composers have dreamed of creating a third panel for this triptych. Beaumarchais's own, rather glum finish to his trilogy, The Guilty Mother, has provoked several intriguing modern operas, but little enthusiasm.

A better solution, it turns out, lay sleeping in dusty archives. Last summer, at conductor Riccardo Muti's behest, the Salzburg Festival revived I due Figaro (The Two Figaros), by Saverio Mercadante (1795-1870), currently receiving its U.S. premiere from the tiny but game Amore Opera (Connelly Theater). And though not quite on the Mozart or Rossini level, it's something of a gem.

http://www.villagevoice.com/2011-10-26/theater/figaro-refurbished/

HAROLD PINTER: FORGOTTEN SKETCH REDISCOVERED—READ HERE NOW! · Oct 25th

(Pinter’s short play and Mark Brown’s article appeared in the Guardian, 10/24.)

It was part of a 1960 revue at the Nottingham Playhouse called You, Me and the Gatepost, performed for one night only, and then promptly forgotten.

But the sketch, written by a 29-year-old Harold Pinter and lost for more than half a century, has re-emerged as a result of some diligent detective work and is published by the Guardian for the first time and in full.

The sketch, set on the sunbathed terrace of a large hotel and called Umbrellas, is very Pinter, and if there was any doubt who the author was, then the 12 designated pauses are something of a giveaway.

Pinter's widow, Lady Antonia Fraser, said she had been "completely unaware" of the existence of Umbrellas. "It's fun. We've all been quarrelling over acting it in the family. I want to act B, which is the better part, but so far I've only managed to act A, so we're waiting for some really good actors to do it."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2011/oct/24/harold-pinter-sketch-umbrella