Monthly Archives: October 2011

‘NEW YORKER’ THEATRE LISTINGS, 11/31 PLAYDECK · Oct 25th



 

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. (The Duke on 42nd Street, 229 W. 42nd St. 646-223-3010.)

 

ASUNCION

Jesse Eisenberg wrote and stars in this comedy, about two liberal roommates who have a chance to prove that they are not racists when a Filipino woman moves in with them. Kip Fagan directs, for the Rattlestick. In previews. Opens Oct. 27. (Cherry Lane, 38 Commerce St. 212-352-3101.)

 

THE ATMOSPHERE OF MEMORY

Labyrinth Theatre Company presents this drama by David Bar Katz, about a playwright whose work explores the distinction between art and life. Ellen Burstyn, John Glover, and Max Casella star; Pam MacKinnon directs. In previews. Opens Oct. 30. (Bank Street Theatre, 155 Bank St. 212-513-1080.)

 

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. Previews begin Oct. 27. (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.)

 

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. Previews begin Oct. 28. (Clurman, 410 W. 42nd St. 212-239-6200.)

 

CHILDREN

Scott Alan Evans directs this play by A. R. Gurney, set in 1970, based on John Cheever’s short story “Goodbye, My Brother,” in which a family receives a visit from an estranged son. A TACT production. In previews. Opens Oct. 27. (Beckett, 410 W. 42nd St. 212-239-6200.)

 

CHINGLISH

David Henry Hwang’s new comedy is about an American trying to do business in a Chinese province. Gary Wilmes and Jennifer Lim star; Leigh Silverman directs. In previews. Opens Oct. 27. (Longacre, 220 W. 48th St. 212-239-6200.)

 

DANCING AT LUGHNASA

Irish Repertory Theatre presents this Tony Award-winning play from 1990, by Brian Friel, about a clash of customs and beliefs between five Irish sisters and their brother, a priest who has spent twenty-five years in Uganda. In previews. Opens Oct. 30. (132 W. 22nd St. 212-727-2737.)

 

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. (Circle in the Square, 235 W. 50th St. 212-239-6200.)

 

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. (Public, 425 Lafayette St. 212-967-7555.)

 

LOVE’S LABOR’S LOST

Karin Coonrod directs Shakespeare’s comedy, as part of Public Lab. In previews. Opens Oct. 31. (Public, 425 Lafayette St. 212-967-7555.)

 

MILK LIKE SUGAR

Playwrights Horizons, Women’s Project, and La Jolla Playhouse co-produced this play by Kirsten Greenidge, about an inner-city teen-age girl who has to decide whether to honor the pregnancy pact she made with her friends. Starring Tonya Pinkins, Angela Lewis, and Cherise Booth; Rebecca Taichman directs. In previews. Opens Nov. 1. (Playwrights Horizons, 416 W. 42nd St. 212-279-4200.)

 

ON THE LINE

Canal Park Playhouse presents a revival of Joe Roland’s 2006 play, in which three blue-collar friends take on their union. Michael Tisdale directs. Previews begin Oct. 27. Opens Nov. 1. (508 Canal St. 866-811-4111.)

 

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. (Booth, 222 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. (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. Previews begin Oct. 27. (Golden, 252 W. 45th St. 212-239-6200.)

 

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. In previews. (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. (Samuel J. Friedman, 261 W. 47th St. 212-239-6200.)

RACINE: ‘BRITANNICUS’ (REVIEW PICK, UK) · Oct 24th

(Michael Billington’s article appeared in the Guardian, 10/23.)

Once shunned by the British theatre, Racine is edging back into fashion. It is well worth the detour to London's East End to catch Irina Brown's modern-dress revival of this austere 1669 masterpiece, even if a few lines of Timberlake Wertenbaker's excellent new translation get lost in Wilton's echoing acoustic.

Like all great dramatists, Racine anticipates modern thought. There is something deeply Freudian about the anger of Agrippina when she finds herself shunned by the son, Nero, whom she has lovingly installed as Roman emperor in place of his half-brother, Britannicus: Racine even goes out of his way to remind us of the dynasty's incestuous history and Agrippina's seduction of her uncle, Claudius. In portraying Nero's transition from virtuous ruler to embryonic tyrant and foreshadowing the rise of the law-busting overlord, Racine also astutely holds the mirror up to Nietzsche.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2011/oct/23/brittanicus-review

VIVIENNE FRANZMANN: ‘MOGADISHU’ (LISTEN NOW ON BBC RADIO 3 UNTIL 10/30–LINK BELOW) · Oct 23rd

Vivienne Franzmann's cutting-edge play explores the consequences of an assault on a white female teacher by a troubled black student and her well-meaning but misguided attempt to protect him.

Listen at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b0167s72

Mogadishu was originally produced at the Manchester Royal Exchange in 2011 and won both the Bruntwood Award for Writing and The George Devine Prize for 'Most Promising Playwright'. The critics called it "A startling debut", "A tough, gripping spectacle", "The play of the year? Quite possibly".

As the school investigates an allegation of physical and racial abuse, the teacher becomes entangled in a mesh of legal requirements and formal processes that threaten her family stability and her career.

Franzmann – a former teacher herself – has adapted the play for radio and uses multiple perspectives on the incident to show how formal procedure and protocol can override common sense and professional judgement.

Mogadishu unfolds in a series of actions, reversals and counter-reversals with sharp dialogue and fast-pacing. The language of contemporary teenagers is presented with considerable authenticity revealing them to be complex, dysfunctional, funny and vulnerable.

The play contains the strongest language and some racist insults.

Amanda ….. Candida Benson,
Jason ….. Malachi Kirby,
Chris ….. Jonathan Guy Lewis,
Becky ….. Shannon Tarbett,
Saif ….. Farshid Rokey,
Chuggs ….. Tendayi Jambere,
Dee ….. Chereen Buckley,
Firat ….. Michael Karim,
Peter ….. Ashley Campbell,
Ben ….. Darren Saul.

Sound by Ross Adams.
Directed by Willi Richards.
Produced by Roger James Elsgood.
Mogadishu is an Art and Adventure production for the BBC.

IBSEN/BREUER/MITCHELL: ‘MABOU MINES DOLLHOUSE’ (REVIEW PICK, D.C.) · Oct 22nd




  

(Nelson Pressley’s article appeared in the Washington Post, 10/21; video clips are from other venues of the production.)

So exactly how “out there” is the fever dream of Henrik Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House” by the avant-garde troupe Mabou Mines? The one with small actors (roughly four feet tall) as the play’s domineering men lording it over their comparatively large women?

“Mabou Mines DollHouse,” on the Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower Stage, is not altogether as bizarre as it sounds, but it is a bit of a circus. Some of the elements are pretty arresting, like the stripping and groping between 19th-century Norwegian characters who typically only arch eyebrows at one another. Or the giant governess, 10 feet tall, who appears in a nightmare to Nora, the wife who famously walks out on her stifling household in Ibsen’s revolutionary 1879 play. Or the leading lady lip-syncing opera. In the nude. With a chorus of puppets.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/mabou-mines-dollhouse-at-the-kennedy-center/2011/10/21/gIQAOqyS4L_story.html

***** JOHN OSBORNE: ‘INADMISSIBLE EVIDENCE’ (REVIEW PICK, UK) · Oct 22nd

(Tim Walker’s article appeared in the Telegraph, 10/21.)

It isn’t only policemen, but also Chelsea Pensioners who look young to me these days. Even more worryingly, scenes I recall from my early life – cluttered offices full of typewriters, smokers, copies of the Daily Express and political incorrectness – are now presented as “period” drama on stage.

Bill Maitland, the central character in John Osborne’s semi-autobiographical Inadmissible Evidence, seems all too well aware that he’s a dinosaur on the brink of extinction in Sixties Britain. Whenever the old hack lawyer is in his chambers and takes a swig from his bottle of whisky, humiliates his underlings or pinches his secretary’s pert posterior, he knows it could be the last time that he enjoys the privilege.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/theatre-reviews/8841744/Inadmissible-Evidence-at-Donmar-Warehouse-Seven-magazine-review.html

SONDHEIM/GOLDMAN: ‘FOLLIES’ (REVIEW PICK, CHI) · Oct 21st



 

(Chris Jones’s article appeared in the Chicago Tribune, 10/13.)

No glamorous ghosts haunt Gary Griffin's human-scaled, Chicago-style production of "Follies." And, unlike the current Broadway revival of this most unstinting, despairing and gorgeously scored of musicals, there is no beautiful spectacle on Kevin Depinet's set, no sepia-toned celebration of the nostalgic pleasures of bygone entertainments, no dustcloths or shrouds — nothing, really, that can help any viewer over 40 forget about the road not taken, or the inevitability of slowly losing one's mind.

Here, there's just a reunion of showgirls — second-tier showgirls, mostly — and their stage-door Johnnies in an old theater — a fleapit that once held young souls who forgot the one thing that young souls always forget: the brevity of the moment when all life's turnstiles remain open. And since even a reunion of accountants is complex, the party first concocted by James Goldman and Stephen Sondheim in 1971 has several sides. Most "Follies" are framed by a proscenium. Chicago Shakespeare Theater has a proscenium arch at the rear — here filled with an elevated, 12-piece, all-acoustic orchestra. We easily assume that the character of the foxy old producer Dimitri Weismann (played by the foxy old Mike Nussbaum) has assembled it on the stage for this one last shebang, never intending his guests to fill it with their own neuroses. Ah, but they do. Still, the core of Griffin's real party — the conversations, the impromptu performances, the meltdowns — is located in the gut of the theater, on the thrust stage, where there is no easy remove for anyone.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/theater/theaterloop/ct-ott-1014-follies-review-20111012,0,2326749.column

COEN/MAY/ALLEN: ‘RELATIVELY SPEAKING’ (REVIEW PICK, NY) · Oct 21st



(Charles Isherwood’s article appeared in The New York Times, 10/20.)

Mothers come in for some serious savaging in “Relatively Speaking,” a reasonably savory tasting platter of comedies by Ethan Coen, Elaine May and Woody Allen that opened on Thursday night at the Brooks Atkinson Theater.

This will come as no surprise. Nagging, wheedling, needling, needy or demanding moms — often of the Jewish persuasion, it must be said — have been an endlessly fertile resource for comedy writers, the mother lode if you will permit a blunt pun. It is safe to assume that as long as women give birth, their beloved boys and girls will grow up to write bruising punch lines about them.

But few family members are spared in this enjoyable if lightweight diversion, loosely assembled around the idea that our nearest and dearest can do us wrong in infinitely inventive ways. Husbands and wives, aunts and uncles, stepfathers and even unofficial family members like the rabbi and the therapist take plenty of hits too.

Old-fashioned boulevard comedy — bright, easygoing fare that doesn’t require the deciphering of plummy or crummy British accents — has more or less evaporated from the Broadway marketplace since the heyday of Neil Simon. “Relatively Speaking” brings back this once-popular genre in manageable bite-size portions, provided by starry showbiz names who sometimes seem to be channeling Mr. Simon’s gag-driven style. These plays are not going to do anything much in the way of reputation burnishing for their three celebrated authors — and certainly none is required — but they are packed with nifty zingers and have been directed by John Turturro with a boisterous flair for socking home the borscht-belt humor.

http://theater.nytimes.com/2011/10/21/theater/reviews/relatively-speaking-at-brooks-atkinson-theater-review.html?hpw

IBSEN: ‘BRAND’ (LISTEN NOW ON BBC RADIO 3 UNTIL 10/23–LINK BELOW) · Oct 20th

As part of Radio 3's Conviction series, Henrik Ibsen's study of a religious zealot who refuses to compromise, leading him to risk catastrophe for himself and his family. Faced with possible tragedy for his loved ones, will he persist with his absolutism?

Listen at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006tnwj 

Brand ….. Gerard Murphy
Agnes ….. Morven Christie
Mayor ….. Jeremy Swift
Mother/Voice ….. Ann Mitchell
Ejnar ….. Carl Prekopp
Gerd, Son, Woman ….. Alex Tregear
Doctor ….. Alan Cox
Provost ….. Mark Tandy
Guide, Man ….. James Lailey
Crazed Woman ….. Susie Riddell
Gipsy, Woman ….. Elaine Claxton
Sexton, Man ….. Reg Stewart
Schoolmaster, Man ….. Gerard McDermott
Man ….. Simon Bubb

Music composed and performed by Nicolai Abrahamsen.

Directed by Peter Kavanagh.

MAC WELLMAN: ‘3 2’s; or AFAR’ (REVIEW) · Oct 20th

Doctoral candidates may want to investigate the organic use of thinking from Nishida and Shuzo Kuki in Mac Wellman’s 3 2’s; or AFAR, currently at Dixon Place only through October 29: The play is “in part, a Meditation on Martin Heidegger’s 'Dialogue on Language between a Japanese and an Inquirer.'"  It’s also about the Japanese idea of “coquetry.” It sounds like an exciting, challenging foray into the avant-garde with a midterm to follow—unfortunately, many may feel that they’ve gone beyond Brecht’s alienation theory into a fortress of intellectual overcrowdedness and impenetrability.  Not only does Wellman, a 3-time Obie winner, invoke philosophers–and presumably their thought without much context or explanation–the play is absurd, which pretty much means getting away with everything.  A young puppeteer meets a would-be lover in a Park Slope diner—soon both are exploring the darkness of a haunted puppet theatre (a strong, young cast has found an exactness of emphasis and enunciation with his words).  Wellman’s dialogue is diamond hard and his rejection of the well-made play for more musical and visual or cinematic theming is assured.  He is also able to offer us surprise. Regarding the sofa, the shoes, and the bowling ball, though, you’re on your own.  

While we’re on the subject of Dixon Place and puppets, don’t forget their November commission, The Secret Death of Puppets (or) How Do Puppets Die (or) do Puppets Die in Secret by playwright Sibyl Kempson. They tell us, "The Secret Death of Puppets is a collection of three playlets about forbidden knowledge and our own fragile understanding of reality. Kempson was a student of Mac Wellman." For more information visit: www.dixonplace.org

Review text (c) 2011 by Bob Shuman 

Dixon Place presents a Mondo Cané! Commission

3 2's; or AFAR

by MAC WELLMAN

THURSDAYS – SATURDAYS,
OCTOBER 6-8, 13-15, 20-22, 27-29 at 7:30pm

…everything in "3 2's; or AFAR" eludes, and deliciously so.
–Claudia La Rocca, The New York Times

Mac Wellman's latest comes alive at Dixon Place
–Alexis Soloski, The Village Voice

Tickets: $15 (advance); $18 (door)

PLEASE ARRIVE AT LEAST 15 MINUTES IN ADVANCE:
DUE TO THE INTIMATE NATURE OF THE THEATER,
THERE WILL BE ABSOLUTELY NO LATE SEATING FOR THIS SHOW.

Check out the rave reviews in The New York Times,The Village Voice, NYTheatre and NYTheatreReview.

Directed by MEGHAN FINN
Produced by LESLIE STRONGWATER
with:
Lighting by BRIAN ALDOUS
Sets by KYLE CHEPULIS
Costumes by NORMANDY SHERWOOD
Music by CÉSAR ALVAREZ
Sound Design by CHRIS GIARMO

Director of Marketing is TIM RANNEY


featuring:
JAN LESLIE HARDING,* JOCELYN KURITSKY, QUINLAN CORBETT,* SOPHIE NIMMANNIT and CHUJA SEO

Stage Manager: ANNA KROUP
Assistant Director: SARAH PAINTER
Assistant Stage Manager: COURTNEY ULRICH
Choreography: LAURA DIFFENDERFER

Set in a haunted puppet theater (which looks suspiciously like Dixon Place), 3 2's; or AFAR is a meditation on philosopher Martin Heidegger's Dialogue on Language between a Japanese and an Inquirer, the presence of certain suspicious and abandoned footwear, as well as an exploration of the Japanese notion of IKI (coquetry). From the critically-acclaimed playwright and linguistic gymnast, Mac Wellman, comes a new play about what endangers, what is near, and what is nearer than that.

Read an interview with Mac in the lastest issue of The Brooklyn Rail.

MAC WELLMAN's recent work includes The Difficulty of Crossing a Field (with composer David Lang) at Montclair and 1965 UU for performer Paul Lazar, and directed by Stephen Mellor at the Chocolate Factory. He is also working on two plays for chorus: The Invention of Tragedy (Classic Stage Company), and Nine Days Falling commissioned by the Stuck Pigs Company of Melbourne, Australia. He has received numerous honors, including both NEA and Guggenheim Fellowships and received his third Obie for Lifetime Achievement. His third novel, Q's Q, was published by Green Integer, and a volume of stories, A Chronicle of the Madness of Small Worlds, was published by Trip Street Press. His recent books of poetry are Miniature and Strange Elegies, both from Roof Books. He is the Donald I. Fine Professor of Play Writing at Brooklyn College.

3 2'S; OR AFAR is commissioned and first presented by Dixon Place with public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency, and the City of New York Department of Cultural Affairs; and with private funds from The Peg Santvoord Foundation..

NICKY SILVER: ‘THE LYONS’ (REVIEW PICK, NY) · Oct 18th

(Michael Feingold’s article appeared in the Village Voice, 10/18.)

Looking though they do like conventional realistic comedies, Nicky Silver's plays have, to a critic, a reassuring oddity. Never exactly about what they start out being about, they tend to twist, or more often to hop arbitrarily, away from the straightforward narrative you initially thought they were conveying. Although Silver's plays rarely break the frame of the contemporary reality in which they live, they shift focus to reveal, abruptly, wholly unexpected facets of their characters. With equal unexpectedness, they distribute rewards and punishments. And they cap the entire disorienting display by ending what has mostly consisted of harsh, sardonic satire on a quasi-optimistic tone of quiet, philosophic resolve, like a bagful of quarreling cats that has suddenly voted to live in peace and cautious hopefulness.

http://www.villagevoice.com/2011-10-19/theater/glints-of-silver/