Theater Opinions/Commentary

[jo]

But the biggest scene stealer is Keala Settle, who played the Bearded Lady in a workshop for Hugh's GREATEST SHOWMAN film--hope she gets to be in the eventual real thing. As snappy waitress Becky, she is full of life and has a powerhouse voice, which I first enjoyed in the musical HANDS ON A HARDBODY. When she's on stage, she dominates the proceedings.

Hope she makes it, too!

If so, she will get to sing THIS IS ME


Jo

[mamaleh]

TUCK EVERLASTING is based on a well-known children's book about a family who live forever at the ages they were when they drank from a magic spring. I think this show will need a magic trick to keep it running--or at least loads of families who are enticed by the title of a favorite tale. It's fairly bland, some key characters lack a logical backstory, the songs are very forgettable and the choreography seems thrown in because the producers felt it was time for dance number. The players include the always-wonderful Carolee Carmello, Terrence Mann, Fred Applegate and Andrew Keenan-Bolger (the last participated in the SHOWMAN workshop), but even they aren't enough to recommend this show. However, I must give a thumbs-up to Sarah Charles Lewis, the talented 11-year-old who plays Winnie, the central character. She was charming and has a powerful voice. I hope she gets into a better show soon.

DEAR EVAN HANSEN, Off-Broadway, has a kind of NEXT TO NORMAL vibe. When I looked at the Playbill, I realized why: same director, Michael Greif. It's a sweet-sad-funny musical exploring the angst of a lonely teen who feels he doesn't belong anywhere and how his well-intentioned lie balloons to proportions and consequences he never imagined. Ben Platt of the PITCH PERFECT movies is very appealing as the troubled teen. The score is serviceable and feels true to character. The themes of the show are very relevant to today's youth. Side note: I stood directly behind Vogue editor Anna Wintour in the ladies' room line. Yes, the inspiration for THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA didn't try to rush the line or find a private bathroom. Democracy thrives!

Ellen

[jo]

Lol!

I did read your comments on EVAN HANSEN on BWW before I saw this post here, Ellen.

It looks like TUCK EVERLASTING will not last long. If I remember right, Andrew Keenan Bolger posted a tweet re the workshop for THE GREATEST SHOWMAN ON EARTH.

Andrew Keenan-Bolger Verified account 
‏@keenanblogger
Doing a reading of @pasekandpaul’s new project and every number is basically the last 10 minutes of SISTER ACT 2. #takeoffyourrobes

I wonder if he might get a chance to reprise the Tom Thumb role in the actual movie ( depends on where the movie is filmed).

Re EVAN HANSEN -- there seems to be more emphasis in the last one or two decades now on shows that appeal to the teenage generation. That only means that the appeal of the theatre has broadened to a different demographics - which is good for the theatre! Presumably, there are expected crossover audiences now - the older generations watching shows like this ( or Wicked ) and the younger generations watching shows like Les Miserables without being miserable

Another related coincidence to SHOWMAN -- aren't the composing team of PASEK AND PAUL for EVAN HANSEN also the same music team for GREATEST SHOWMAN ON EARTH?

Re Anna Wintour - I remember her more as Hugh's friend ( she went to Toronto see BACK ON BROADWAY, has hosted one or two private screenings for Hugh movies, has been to one or two opening nights for Hugh's Broadway appearances) than as The Devil Who Wears Prada ( nah, she is not a Prada fan, if one looks at how she dresses). Also, didn't she sit next to Hugh and Deb at one of the Wimbledon matches? She is a great fan of Roger Federer!

Jo

[mamaleh]

Yes, I remember photos of Wintour hobnobbing with Mr. and Mrs. J, too.

No matter what the quality, or lack of it, I never hope for a show to close--think of all the lost jobs--so maybe enough families will ignore the largely blah-to-so-so reviews and keep it alive awhile. Interestingly, the Times's Isherwood liked it, at least mildly. But I remember that even a rave from the Times couldn't save HONEYMOON IN VEGAS. We'll see.

Yes, Pasek & Paul are indeed involved in both. I really liked their score for the musical version of A CHRISTMAS STORY and DOGFIGHT, too. DEAR EVAN HANSEN has just been extended by a week. They say a move to B'way is likely in the offing. It does have youth appeal, but I think it also appeals to parents of teens, past and current.

Ellen

[mamaleh]

Rushed BRIGHT STAR yesterday. I'll say outright that while it's not among the greats, $30 (rush price) for a down-front seat is a pretty good deal for a fairly good musical, especially if you like bluegrass music and tales of overcoming the odds to achieve success and happiness. Carmen Cusack, a B'way newbie, plays a poor teen in 1920s Zebulon, North Carolina, as well as that same person 23 years later, having overcome tragedy to become a successful and highly respected literary editor. She carries much of the tuneful load, making the show's largely ingratiating songs (by Steve Martin and Edie Brickell) sound even better than they are. Our old friend from TBFO, Michael Mulheren, does villain duty expertly in the show. His big number, "A Man's Gotta Do," ends with a slo-mo scene of such shocking depravity that I think it's going to stay with me for a long time. Chatting afterwards at the stage door, I told him that only a sweetie can so ably play such a meanie. He made a joke about his character, the mayor of Cusack's little town and the father of the boy she loves. Happy to report that Michael hasn't lost any of his wry wit.

Ellen

[jo]

I told him that only a sweetie can so ably play such a meanie.

Happy to report that Michael hasn't lost any of his wry wit.

That was why he was such an excellent auctioneer for THE BOY FROM OZ! Maybe Hugh himself learned some of his auctioning skills from a master wit

Thanks, Ellen.


Jo

[mamaleh]

I feel like I spent last week in the '60s--only without homework this time. Saw the City Center Encores! five-day concert staging of DO I HEAR A WALTZ?, a flop in the mid-decade that nonetheless had a quality pedigree: Richard Rodgers' lush melodies including one of his signature beautiful waltzes; and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim that show a little bit of the acerbic, cynical wit he would display to a much greater degree several years later in COMPANY, FOLLIES and A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC. If you've seen the Katharine Hepburn movie SUMMERTIME, you know the plot: middle-aged American tourist visits Rome, falls for a married man, and takes a good look at whom she has become. Interestingly, Sondheim's most stinging song, "We're Gonna Be All Right," only now bears his original intent; originally, Rodgers insisted on blander, less offensive lyrics--the ones that ended up on the OCR. It's fun to compare the two sets of lyrics. One can see why the show flopped, but since it ran before I began seeing Broadway shows, I enjoyed seeing at least this semi-staging.

Caught the new revival of FIDDLER ON THE ROOF. I wasn't going to sample it inasmuch as I felt "Fiddler"'d out, having seen several productions. But I'm glad I went. Danny Burstein is an amazing Tevye, and the choreography is refreshingly new, not at all the slavish imitation one often sees of Jerome Robbins' seminal work back in '64. All in all it's beautifully done. My Tonys wish: that Leslie Odom, Jr. and Burstein tie.

Ellen

[mamaleh]

Recent wrap-up: I had a fun time at the "lost Marx Brothers musical," as I'LL SAY SHE IS is advertised. First on B'way in the '20s, it was resurrected last year for the New York Musical Theater Festival, but was sold out before I could get to it. Now it's enjoying a commercial run Off-B'way. Not all of the original material was found, so the creatives filled in the blanks from this or that newspaper article, library document or other source. The "plot," and I'm using the term loosely here, is paper-thin, but it's a good excuse to trot out several lively songs and most of all some of the most famous Marx Bros. bits. In fact, the show is like seeing a Marx Bros. movie live on stage. Noah Diamond, who plays Groucho, also put the show together as a labor of love. If you're a Marx Bros. fan, definitely go.

HIMSELF AND NORA is blah musical that purports to portray the tempestuous relationship between James Joyce and his longtime paramour eventually turned wife Nora. Only the lively Michael McCormick, playing several roles (not Joyce) saved this show for me. Matt Bogart as Joyce tries hard, but the material does not do him justice. At the Minetta Lane Theater in the West Village.

I was really curious to see THE JUDAS KISS, as I've long been a Rupert Everett fan, so I'm glad I ventured out to Brooklyn to see this fascinating though flawed play about the shameful way Oscar Wilde was treated by the public, the courts and worst of all, by those who claimed to love him in his declining years. It's slow moving, but Everett's performance is a beautiful marvel. At BAM (specifically, the beautiful 1905-built Harvey Theater at the Brooklyn Academy of Music).

BABY, playing at Theatre Row on 42nd St., has been a favorite of mine since I first saw it back when my first baby was born in the early '80s. The Maltby-Shire score is alternately bouncy and sensitive. It's the story of three couples: two college students who unexpectedly find they are expecting, a happily married couple who have been trying to conceive for a while and getting frustrated at their lack of success, and an older married couple facing a surprise unplanned pregnancy after their grown offspring have left the nest. Some of the acting is a bit amateurish, but the voices sing the songs well. Among the better known songs from this show: "The Story Goes On" and the rousing "I Want It All."

Ellen

[jo]

I saw a local production of BABY - I came to see it because it featured our Lea Salonga in one of the leads


Jo

[mamaleh]

Was she the young college student? Or the sports-minded jockette?

Ellen

[jo]

That was sometime ago -- I can't remember anymore which role she played.

She has occasionally done local productions, one was MY FAIR LADY and another was CINDERELLA ( she joined a mainly Australian cast international production, and this was before the Broadway show opened...she still looked young and slim enough for the role -- that was probably at least 5 years ago).

[mamaleh]

Sitcom stars week on Broadway: I won the lottery for FULLY COMMITTED, starring Jesse Tyler Ferguson as a much put-upon reservations taker at NYC's hottest, most in-demand restaurant. OK, he's a sitcom star now (MODERN FAMILY), but I saw him on Broadway more than a decade ago in THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE and he's never very far from a stage, so you know he's got the chops, and in this funny play he exhibits them beautifully. Because no one else is available, he's alone in the restaurant's basement frantically fielding nonstop calls from irate and demanding patrons. As this is a one-person show, Ferguson enacts the personas of the people on the other side of the phone line as well as his own character, Sam. He not only adopts different accents and tones for each caller but embodies their physical movements, facial expressions and body language. In short, he's a hilarious dynamo--what energy. There's a story with heart underneath the hilarity, too. Recommended.

I'm not the biggest fan of Jim Parsons. Aside from THE NORMAL HEART, a little of him goes a long way with me, so I never saw his AN ACT OF GOD last season on Broadway. Happily, Sean Hayes, the erstwhile Jack of WILL AND GRACE, has brought it back to NYC for a short summer run. I caught it last night, and I'm glad I went. Hayes is hilarious as God in Sean Hayes' likeness, which the Almighty adopts to more easily come down from the heavens and give everyone a new set of commandments. The play was adapted from comedy writer David Javerbaum's TheTweetofGod Twitter account, which I was unfamiliar with, but his pedigree also includes writing for Jon Stewart, David Letterman, Stephen Colbert and James Corden. Updated political jabs and reworked dialogue that references Hayes' sitcom past are probably the only differences in the mostly funny text, punctuated by Hayes' amusing physical bits. The first hour is jam-packed with jokes that land, but unfortunately the humor peters out a little in the last 25 minutes. Still, if you're a Hayes fan or you like irreverent humor, definitely go.

Ellen

[mamaleh]

Hubby, daughter and I were able to rush the very popular HADESTOWN over the holiday weekend (thank you, New Yorkers, for going away for the weekend). It's a sung-through piece, more folk/New Orleans jazz opera than traditional musical. This creative take on the Orpheus-Eurydice myth is beguiling and clever. When hubby and daughter, not exactly theater lovers, wax positive about a show, you know it's worth seeing. In fact, hubby liked it as much as HAMILTON. Patrick Page is the king of Hades, his booming bass voice in full seductive flower. I got shivers. The rest of the cast is wonderful, too. Highly recommended. Try to rush it ($25) rather than pay full price ($99). At NY Theatre Workshop Off-B'way on E. 4th St. The poster outside the theater features the upcoming season. Daniel Craig and David Oyelowo's OTHELLO is sure to be another sellout.

Ellen

[mamaleh]

Just a word in memoriam for my original B'way crush: a favorite singing actor I've swooned over, admired and followed since my early teens: John McMartin, perhaps best known to most as Oscar in both the stage and movie versions of SWEET CHARITY, passed away the other day from cancer at 86. He was also the original Ben in FOLLIES and was one of the newspaper editors in ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN. Recently in ANYTHING GOES, his last B'way play was ALL THE WAY with Bryan Cranston in 2014. I was wondering why I hadn't heard of his taking on a new role lately; turns out he was ill. I was once invited to chat with him backstage, when he was doing a revival of SHOWBOAT playing Cap'n Andy. Such a sweet, lovely gentleman. I will miss seeing him on stage. May he rest in peace.

www.broadwayworld.com/article/Star-of-Stage-and-Screen-John-McMartin-Passes-Away-at-86-20160707

Ellen

[carouselkathy]

Ellen,
John McMartin was truly a talented actor on both stage and screen. Although I never saw him on stage, I always enjoyed his film performances. I bet he was a wonderful "Captain Andy".

[mamaleh]

He really was, Kathy. "Andy"'s sweet, impetuous self worked very well against Elaine Stritch's opinionated Parthy. Thanks.

Ellen

[jo]

Great pal Hal Prince writes a heartwarming tribute to John McMartin --

www.americantheatre.org/2016/07/11/chien-domestique-elephant-sauvage-remembering-the-cagey-epic-john-mcmartin/

[mamaleh]

Lovely tribute; thanks, Jo. I remember at the 1972 Tonys ceremony, FOLLIES director Hal Prince talking about John M., saying something about how he (Hal) had gotten his own personality mixed up with John's "Benjamin Stone" in th show; meaning that the portrayal was so powerful and real, it hit close to home. A shame John never won one of the several Tonys he was nominated for. And what a travesty he wasn't even nominated for his iconic performance in FOLLIES. I'm hoping they recognize him at least posthumously at next year's ceremony.

Ellen

[mamaleh]

Saw one of the seven performances of GOD BLESS YOU, MR. ROSEWATER last week at Encores!' Off-Center summer series of revivals of short-lived or little-known Off-Broadway musicals. While the book was somewhat weak, the songs by Alan Mencken (BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, LITTLE MERMAID, ALADDIN) were alternately beautiful and catchy, with uber-clever lyrics by much-missed Howard Ashman (LITTLE MERMAID, LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS). ROSEWATER, adapted from the Kurt Vonnegut novel, was the first Mencken-Ashman collaboration. If Ashman had not passed away so young, I have no doubt they'd have been as formidable a writing team as Kander & Ebb or the creatives of the Golden Age, such as Adler & Ross (PAJAMA GAME, DAMN YANKEES) or maybe even R&H. The theme of the show explores the question: Is it crazy or the right thing for a very rich man to give away much of his fortune to help the downtrodden? The show comes down squarely on the side of compassion. Santino Fontana, probably best known to most as the bartender Greg on TV's CRAZY EX-GIRLFRIEND, turns in yet another beautifully sung and acted performance as the eponymous Rosewater. Recently Prince Charming on Bway in CINDERELLA, he has, I'm sure, a bright future as a nascent top leading man.

Caught up with CAGNEY the other day. What a fabulous show! It's your classic musical bio of a film icon, from nobody to stardom, in this case James Cagney. But what sets it apart is the fantastic performance by the show's co-creator and star, Robert Creighton. Not only does he resemble Cagney facially, but he manages to convey Cagney's physicality and perfectly embodies the Cagney dancing style, most notably in the "Yankee Doodle Dandy" sequence. There's also plenty of eye-popping tap dancing, the best I've seen in a while. Josh Walden, who plays Cagney's brother, is also an amazing dancer. If you're a fan of old movies, especially Cagney's gangster and later musical movies, this is a must-see. A tip: Midweek evenings seem the best bet to rush the show (as I did) for just $25, a true bargain. It's at the Westside Theater, off 9th Ave. at 43rd St.

Ellen

[mamaleh]

Recent roundup: HOLIDAY INN at the Roundabout's Studio 54 is chockablock with Irving Berlin tunes--all great songs, but maybe there are too many of them. There's precious little character development, although perhaps that's besides the point in a show obviously crafted to squeeze in as much singing and dancing as possible. And I must admit, the dancing is just as great as the songs. When I saw Corbin Bleu during my second visit to IN THE HEIGHTS 7 or 8 years ago (I'd seen Lin-Manuel Miranda the first time), I wasn't overly impressed. But what a fabulous dancer he is in HOLIDAY INN. Overall, not great theater but entertaining enough.

THE VANITY: The piece of furniture for which this so-called musical play based on the Jekyll-Hyde story is named has more personality than just about anybody in this wreck. Off-Broadway, but don't bother.

THE LAYOVER at 2nd Stage starts out comedic and amiable, but it strays into a sort of Twilight Zone of what-the-heck-just happened. The actors are good, but I just didn't believe the characters as written, especially the female lead, and the two main characters' actions often didn't make sense. Not recommended.

Judith Light delivers a moving one-hour monologue which is the whole of ALL THE WAYS TO SAY I LOVE YOU at the Lortel in the Village. The play, by Neil LaBute, is touching but belabors the same point over and over. Essentially, a teacher beats herself up metaphorically for something she did and lied about years earlier. Recommended for fans of Judith Light, who is wonderful. I just wish she had better, meatier material.

Ellen

[jo]

Did Woody also act in the play? Wow - that is real talent -- to be the entire creative force in a play.


Jo

[mamaleh]

LOL

Ellen

[jo]

Haha -- I think I responded to a comment that is four years old

[mamaleh]

BACHELORETTE, which I missed at Second Stage, is now being mounted Off-Off-Broadway way downtown. Imagine the Kardashians without money. It's a probably true-to-life mirror of self-obsessed millennials who never tire of taking selfies, drinking to excess, engaging in promiscuity, snorting coke and talking trash about their supposed friends. The dark comedy depicts a bridal party consisting of spoiled brats in low-level jobs who heartily resent that their "fat friend" (the nicely figured actress was not a size zero and therefore obviously considered "fat") is about to be married before them. I got bored fairly quickly with their repetitive self-destructive behavior. Some of the lines elicited laughs, and others I could tell were meant to be funny but this or that actor simply didn't master the delivery. I wish I'd seen the Second Stage production to compare. I'd rate this one a "meh."

I'd seen bits and pieces of THE CHERRY ORCHARD on TV but never the full play, so I was psyched to see Roundabout's production of the Chekhov classic. Sorry to say I was sorely disappointed. The panoply of characters were never fully defined and therefore it was difficult to remember or distinguish who was who. I don't usually have any problem with colorblind casting, but equating the old Russian feudal (serf-master) relationship to the issue of the race in the US came across like a cheap shot and hindered believability of time and place. Too much of the dialogue sounded like static philosophizing, and the uninspired direction did not help. I was expecting a vibrant production; instead I noticed numerous walkouts at intermission, even if there were some cheers from ardent fans at the end. Tavi Gevinson, Diane Lane, Joel Grey and especially John Glover gave spirited performances to varying degrees, but on the whole this production left me flat.

Ellen

[mamaleh]

THE ENCOUNTER, an import from England, is a fascinating piece of mostly aural theater. Simon McBurney walks around a largely bare stage (except for microphones, tape and bottles) as he gives voice to an explorer who got lost along the Amazon river in 1969 and found himself at the mercy--sometimes curious, sometimes cruel--of native Brazilian tribespeople. Every audience member puts on headphones synced with a special microphone on stage that's shaped like a head. Sound comes either out of the right or left, depending on the needs of the tale. It's beautifully performed and of special interest to those psyched by anthropology or sociology.

Ellen