http://dctheatrescene.com Washington DC's Liveliest Theater Website Fri, 25 May 2012 19:37:45 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 Washington DC's Liveliest Theater Website DC Theatre Scene no Washington DC's Liveliest Theater Website http://dctheatrescene.com/wp-content/plugins/powerpress/rss_default.jpg http://dctheatrescene.com http://dctheatrescene.com/2009/04/13/exit-the-king-chasing-manet-and-33-variations/ http://dctheatrescene.com/2009/04/13/exit-the-king-chasing-manet-and-33-variations/#comments Mon, 13 Apr 2009 12:45:23 +0000 Richard Seff http://dctheatrescene.com/?p=5672 http://dctheatrescene.com/2009/04/13/exit-the-king-chasing-manet-and-33-variations/feed/ 0 http://dctheatrescene.com/2009/04/01/cruising-with-chita-early-to-bed-and-happiness/ http://dctheatrescene.com/2009/04/01/cruising-with-chita-early-to-bed-and-happiness/#comments Wed, 01 Apr 2009 16:09:57 +0000 Richard Seff http://dctheatrescene.com/?p=5370 http://dctheatrescene.com/2009/04/01/cruising-with-chita-early-to-bed-and-happiness/feed/ 0 http://dctheatrescene.com/2009/02/17/hedda-gabler-this-beautiful-city-music-in-the-air/ http://dctheatrescene.com/2009/02/17/hedda-gabler-this-beautiful-city-music-in-the-air/#comments Tue, 17 Feb 2009 13:47:01 +0000 Richard Seff http://dctheatrescene.com/?p=4063 http://dctheatrescene.com/2009/02/17/hedda-gabler-this-beautiful-city-music-in-the-air/feed/ 0 http://dctheatrescene.com/2009/02/04/billy-elliot-august-osage-country-the-third-story/ http://dctheatrescene.com/2009/02/04/billy-elliot-august-osage-country-the-third-story/#comments Wed, 04 Feb 2009 22:14:38 +0000 Richard Seff http://dctheatrescene.com/?p=3853 http://dctheatrescene.com/2009/02/04/billy-elliot-august-osage-country-the-third-story/feed/ 0 http://dctheatrescene.com/2009/01/29/shreks-brian-darcy-james/ http://dctheatrescene.com/2009/01/29/shreks-brian-darcy-james/#comments Thu, 29 Jan 2009 17:30:13 +0000 Richard Seff http://dctheatrescene.com/?p=3764 http://dctheatrescene.com/2009/01/29/shreks-brian-darcy-james/feed/ 1 http://dctheatrescene.com/2009/01/27/the-american-play-and-leaves-of-glass/ http://dctheatrescene.com/2009/01/27/the-american-play-and-leaves-of-glass/#comments Tue, 27 Jan 2009 17:44:00 +0000 Richard Seff http://dctheatrescene.com/?p=3718 http://dctheatrescene.com/2009/01/27/the-american-play-and-leaves-of-glass/feed/ 0 http://dctheatrescene.com/2009/01/23/speed-the-plow-any-day-now/ http://dctheatrescene.com/2009/01/23/speed-the-plow-any-day-now/#comments Fri, 23 Jan 2009 18:19:44 +0000 Richard Seff http://dctheatrescene.com/?p=3662 http://dctheatrescene.com/2009/01/23/speed-the-plow-any-day-now/feed/ 0 new york Speed-the-Plow, Any Day Now by Richard Seff - David Mamet speeds words at you as though they were coming straight from the mouth of an automatic rifle. I've never acted in one of his plays but even in my salad days I think I'd have been terrified to ... Speed-the-Plow, Any Day Now by Richard Seff David Mamet speeds words at you as though they were coming straight from the mouth of an automatic rifle. I've never acted in one of his plays but even in my salad days I think I'd have been terrified to try. For it's boom bang bing; it's all manic music. You must play the piece with only your body and voice as instruments, and there are no notes on a music stand. You're not on your own. No, you're in it together, you and your fellow players, for the speed and energy must be maintained or the effect is diminished, and the simplicity of the plot may be revealed, which would not be good. So it is that I was curious to see if Norbert Leo Butz could cut it in this revival at the Ethel Barrymore Theater. He had stepped into the Jeremy Piven role of Bobby Gould almost overnight when Piven, claiming mercury poisoning, left the cast suddenly. Could Butz possibly get through it, let alone own it? At the matinee I caught on January 7th, days after he'd entered the cast, he let me know within seconds (for it is he who has the opening monologue) that he was in full command. The overlapping wordage that followed for a good ten minutes was startling in its power. Two speeded up movie executives, one (the Butz character) newly appointed head of the studio, the other an old and dear friend Charlie Fox, (played by the equally gifted Raúl Esparza) who works under him as an ambitious writer, joyously salivate over the situation brought into the room by Fox. For you see, Fox has pulled a coup. He has enticed a best selling novelist to allow Gould's studio to film a hot novel of his, even though he had a relationship with the studio next door. If Gould will greenlight the movie by 10:00 AM the next morning, the property is his. If not, he loses it to a competitor. Even though Gould does not much like the property, at the end of Fox's brilliant argument touting the commercial possibilities of this cop story, he firmly agrees to greenlight the movie. Into this fierce exchange, a temp secretary Karen, (played impeccably by Elizabeth Moss), brings them much needed coffee, and at scene's end, Fox bets Gould $500 that Gould will date her and bed her, despite Gould's denial that he has any personal interest in her at all. Fox leaves and Gould gives Karen an assignment; to read a dark and intensely philosophical doomsday novel that Gould had been asked to give a "courtesy read" to see if it would make a film. He knows that it would not, but he uses the bait to get Karen to accept an invitation to come to his home that evening with her report. He's already decided the novel is not for him, but he'd like to win the $500 if only to show his friend how irresistible he is.   "Aha!," we think as the curtain falls on Scene One. The chase is on. Well, Bobby was right!  In the second scene we are in Gould's Beverly Hills mansionette, a sumptuous living room overlooking a garden and pool. There, that very night, Miss Karen  has shown up, shorn of her very proper temp secretary little black dress, now in a cardigan, a shirt and torn jeans and sneakers. From the first moment she is in full control and by the last moment she has turned everything around and confused the hell out of Bobby Gould. She has, in great detail, convinced him that this very uncommercial novel has a spine that is universally appealing, though it deals with radiation ending the very planet on which we live. In this second scene, playwright David Mamet's misogynistic soul is revealed, for Karen (no last name offered) is everything she would appear not to be. She says several times that she wishes she were not so naïve, but she needn't worry.  She is kith and kin to "Oleanna", one of Mamet's heroines, a student who manages to figuratively castrate and destroy her professor, by twisting and turning everything to her own ambitious advantage. This Karen too is totally manipulative, knows just which buttons to push on Gould, DC Theatre Scene no http://dctheatrescene.com/2009/01/07/pal-joey/ http://dctheatrescene.com/2009/01/07/pal-joey/#comments Wed, 07 Jan 2009 15:44:49 +0000 Richard Seff http://dctheatrescene.com/?p=3531 http://dctheatrescene.com/2009/01/07/pal-joey/feed/ 6 http://dctheatrescene.com/2009/01/01/yiddish-theatres-gimpel-tam-and-kids-and-yiddish/ http://dctheatrescene.com/2009/01/01/yiddish-theatres-gimpel-tam-and-kids-and-yiddish/#comments Thu, 01 Jan 2009 23:16:51 +0000 Joel Markowitz http://dctheatrescene.com/?p=3462 http://dctheatrescene.com/2009/01/01/yiddish-theatres-gimpel-tam-and-kids-and-yiddish/feed/ 2 http://dctheatrescene.com/2008/12/24/shrek-cripple-of-inishmaan/ http://dctheatrescene.com/2008/12/24/shrek-cripple-of-inishmaan/#comments Wed, 24 Dec 2008 15:14:46 +0000 Richard Seff http://dctheatrescene.com/?p=3431 http://dctheatrescene.com/2008/12/24/shrek-cripple-of-inishmaan/feed/ 1 http://dctheatrescene.com/2008/12/09/white-christmas-and-saturn-returns/ http://dctheatrescene.com/2008/12/09/white-christmas-and-saturn-returns/#comments Tue, 09 Dec 2008 16:08:15 +0000 Richard Seff http://dctheatrescene.com/?p=3044 http://dctheatrescene.com/2008/12/09/white-christmas-and-saturn-returns/feed/ 0 http://dctheatrescene.com/2008/11/25/forbidden-broadway-and-the-seagull/ http://dctheatrescene.com/2008/11/25/forbidden-broadway-and-the-seagull/#comments Tue, 25 Nov 2008 13:29:05 +0000 Richard Seff http://dctheatrescene.com/?p=2844 http://dctheatrescene.com/2008/11/25/forbidden-broadway-and-the-seagull/feed/ 0 http://dctheatrescene.com/2008/11/11/a-man-for-all-seasons-and-13/ http://dctheatrescene.com/2008/11/11/a-man-for-all-seasons-and-13/#comments Tue, 11 Nov 2008 15:09:20 +0000 Richard Seff http://dctheatrescene.com/?p=2650 http://dctheatrescene.com/2008/11/11/a-man-for-all-seasons-and-13/feed/ 0 http://dctheatrescene.com/2008/10/24/irma-la-douce-a-body-of-water-romantic-poetry/ http://dctheatrescene.com/2008/10/24/irma-la-douce-a-body-of-water-romantic-poetry/#comments Fri, 24 Oct 2008 13:55:42 +0000 Richard Seff http://dctheatrescene.com/?p=2462 http://dctheatrescene.com/2008/10/24/irma-la-douce-a-body-of-water-romantic-poetry/feed/ 0 http://dctheatrescene.com/2008/10/16/to-be-and-two-rooms/ http://dctheatrescene.com/2008/10/16/to-be-and-two-rooms/#comments Thu, 16 Oct 2008 16:28:27 +0000 Richard Seff http://dctheatrescene.com/?p=2372 http://dctheatrescene.com/2008/10/16/to-be-and-two-rooms/feed/ 0 http://dctheatrescene.com/2008/09/19/enter-laughing-whats-that-smell-and-a-tale-of-two-cities/ http://dctheatrescene.com/2008/09/19/enter-laughing-whats-that-smell-and-a-tale-of-two-cities/#comments Fri, 19 Sep 2008 17:56:35 +0000 Richard Seff http://dctheatrescene.com/?p=2054 http://dctheatrescene.com/2008/09/19/enter-laughing-whats-that-smell-and-a-tale-of-two-cities/feed/ 0 http://dctheatrescene.com/2008/09/09/summer-ends/ http://dctheatrescene.com/2008/09/09/summer-ends/#comments Tue, 09 Sep 2008 15:40:44 +0000 Richard Seff http://dctheatrescene.com/?p=1989 http://dctheatrescene.com/2008/09/09/summer-ends/feed/ 0 http://dctheatrescene.com/2008/07/28/you-must-remember-these/ http://dctheatrescene.com/2008/07/28/you-must-remember-these/#comments Mon, 28 Jul 2008 16:12:27 +0000 Richard Seff http://dctheatrescene.com/?p=1860 http://dctheatrescene.com/2008/07/28/you-must-remember-these/feed/ 0 http://dctheatrescene.com/2008/07/14/summer-therapy/ http://dctheatrescene.com/2008/07/14/summer-therapy/#comments Mon, 14 Jul 2008 16:21:26 +0000 Richard Seff http://dctheatrescene.com/?p=1678 http://dctheatrescene.com/2008/07/14/summer-therapy/feed/ 0 http://dctheatrescene.com/2008/07/12/defending-the-caveman/ http://dctheatrescene.com/2008/07/12/defending-the-caveman/#comments Sat, 12 Jul 2008 17:34:51 +0000 Rosalind Lacy http://dctheatrescene.com/?p=1642 http://dctheatrescene.com/2008/07/12/defending-the-caveman/feed/ 1 http://dctheatrescene.com/2008/06/19/final-bows-of-the-season/ http://dctheatrescene.com/2008/06/19/final-bows-of-the-season/#comments Thu, 19 Jun 2008 11:31:56 +0000 Richard Seff http://dctheatrescene.com/?p=1480 http://dctheatrescene.com/2008/06/19/final-bows-of-the-season/feed/ 4 http://dctheatrescene.com/2008/06/09/world-of-jewtopia/ http://dctheatrescene.com/2008/06/09/world-of-jewtopia/#comments Mon, 09 Jun 2008 21:37:17 +0000 Janice Cane http://dctheatrescene.com/2008/06/09/world-of-jewtopia/ http://dctheatrescene.com/2008/06/09/world-of-jewtopia/feed/ 1 http://dctheatrescene.com/2008/06/01/the-drama-league-awards/ http://dctheatrescene.com/2008/06/01/the-drama-league-awards/#comments Sun, 01 Jun 2008 20:52:15 +0000 Richard Seff http://dctheatrescene.com/2008/06/01/the-drama-league-awards/ http://dctheatrescene.com/2008/06/01/the-drama-league-awards/feed/ 0 new york A well loved family affair By NY Theatre Buzz columnist Richard Seff - The social event of the season in theatre is the Drama League Luncheon, which celebrates the best of the ending season's performances on and Off-Broadway, A well loved family affair By NY Theatre Buzz columnist Richard Seff The social event of the season in theatre is the Drama League Luncheon, which celebrates the best of the ending season's performances on and Off-Broadway, and presents the Drama League Awards. For those working onstage during the season, this luncheon is the event they truly most enjoy attending, for it's all about them. And they get a chance to meet and greet their colleagues, all of whom are employed in their season. You can feel the camaraderie in the air, and for a time, all is harmonious and lovely in the world of the fabulous invalid, where 100% employment is rare indeed, but all on this dais are currently nightly plying their trade. There were 58 honorees on the podium in the ballroom at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in Times Square at noon on Friday May 16. One of them is selected each year for the Distinguished Performance of the Season. Other awards for non-actors are for unique contribution to theatre, for distinguished achievement in musical theatre, for excellence in directing, distinguished revival of a musical and of a play, distinguished production of a new play and new musical. One of the two highlights of the afternoon is the comments offered by each of the 58 actor honorees as he or she rises from his or her lunch plate to say a few words. For the other highlight, you might like to wander with me through one of the ante-rooms during the pre-luncheon period, in which the clan gathered.  This room is reserved only for the 58 honorees and their guests; the Drama League members who paid $150 and up for lunch to support the League have an ante-room of their own. But the real fun can only be had with the performers, many of whom have rolled out of bed and trouped directly to the Marriott, for 11;30 am is not a late hour for an actor working nightly in theatre, and that's when they were asked to arrive to greet the press and each other. You and I got special permission to poke around. First, I stumbled upon Patti LuPone, celebrated for Gypsy, locked in an embrace with Paolo Szot, the handsome star of South Pacific. It's not nice to eavesdrop so all I can tell you about what went on between them is conjecture. Judging by their expressions, the embrace was not romantic, but clearly was an exchange from one champion to another, with a look of  "I'm so sorry I haven't  been able to see your show as we're on the same schedule. But when  you do a Sunday night or Monday night benefit, I'll be there, you can count on it!"  I'm probably all wrong, and for all I know, a hot affair was about to begin, but it's not likely, as Ms.LuPone is happily married. Besides, both are very busy eight times a week playing their classical roles of Mama Rose and Emile de Beque. Continuing my perambulation, I slid past Faith Prince chatting up André Bishop, artistic director of Lincoln Center Theatre. Ms. Prince is having a great personal success as the mother in A Catered Affair, and I like to think she and Mr. Bishop were cooking up a project for the two of them at Lincoln Center next season. But for all I know they were merely exchanging a recipe for chicken soup. Next, Peter Gallagher of The Country Girl was heavily into a conversation with Laurence Fishburne of the one-man play Thurgood. I don't recall anything in which these two fine actors played together, so I'm guessing again that the talk was about - well, it might have been "My dressing room has a shower in it, does yours?"  Next up on my walk was another odd couple, Patrick Stewart, who's had a personal triumph in Macbeth, embracing Cheyenne Jackson who has been delighting audiences all season on roller skates as the hero of Xanadu, a dark horse of a musical that opened with no advance sale, and is now a contender for Best Musical of the Season at the Tony Awards coming up June 15th. Stewart might well have been saying "You know I do a bit of a song myself in the Scottish Play, DC Theatre Scene no http://dctheatrescene.com/2008/05/16/two-musicals-one-dark-one-fluffy-then-cue-the-prince/ http://dctheatrescene.com/2008/05/16/two-musicals-one-dark-one-fluffy-then-cue-the-prince/#comments Fri, 16 May 2008 23:08:12 +0000 Richard Seff http://dctheatrescene.com/2008/05/16/two-musicals-one-dark-one-fluffy-then-cue-the-prince/ http://dctheatrescene.com/2008/05/16/two-musicals-one-dark-one-fluffy-then-cue-the-prince/feed/ 0 new york on Adding Machine, No No Nanette!, and a Master Class with Harold Prince By NY Theatre Buzz columnist Richard Seff - It's difficult to believe that in his early twenties Elmer Rice wrote The Adding Machine, that the Theatre Guild produced it, on Adding Machine, No No Nanette!, and a Master Class with Harold Prince By NY Theatre Buzz columnist Richard Seff It's difficult to believe that in his early twenties Elmer Rice wrote The Adding Machine, that the Theatre Guild produced it, that its cast included Dudley Digges, Helen Westley, Edward G. Robinson and a host of other Broadway favorites of the time, and that it ran for 3 ½ months. It must have struck a sour note during those roaring twenties, for it is a bleak and unrelenting look at the dark side of society in a period known more for its gentlemen and the blondes they preferred than to those poor folk stuck in loveless marriages and soul-stealing assembly line jobs. And what an unlikely source for a 21st century musical. But miracle of miracles, Joshua Schmidt and Jason Loewith, writers, directors and sound designers in regional theatre, have co-authored Adding Machine, a smashing musical play that manages to fascinate at the same time it causes you to turn away in horror. From the opening prelude, called "In Numbers" in which office workers drone out numbers to be counted by hand by other office workers in grim, grimy, lightless and airless chambers (brilliantly designed and lit by Adinah Alexander and Keith Parham), you are stuck. As the "Spider Woman" once said: "You can run, you can hide, but you cannot escape." We move from the office to the bedroom of Mr. Zero, the central character and there, in bed, wide-eyed awake, he is harangued and harassed by his harridan of a wife, to be told again and again that he is "something to be proud of" as she rips him apart. She is the wife from hell, and yet, in the brave and daring performance of Cyrilla Baer, Mrs. Zero earns her place in the pantheon of major monsters, far more scathing than Regina Giddens, Eve Harrington or even Medea. Her Mrs. Zero could drive a person crazy. Which is what she does. Mr. Zero finally bumps her off, and with his office co-worker, the long suffering Daisy who is secretly in love with him, he begins the long path to perdition. No, there is no escape for any of the luckless characters Mr. Rice created and the adapters have now fitted with shattering tunes and powerful lyrics. Scenically, the musical is arresting, and surprisingly complex for an Off-Broadway outing. When it climaxes in a factory that refurbishes dead souls for re-use, well - things don't get more bleak than that on stages anywhere else in town. I, who am always attracted to the positive, was very surprised that I was totally absorbed, involved, and ultimately moved by this masterful work.  Joe Farrell, who plays Shrdlu (I don't know why he is so oddly named), a character who is riddled with guilt because he killed his own mother, and Amy Warren, who plays Daisy, the secretary who is so in love with her boss, are both exciting, even thrilling in the force of their performances. And in the leading role, Joel Hatch, last seen Off-Broadway as the amiable Daddy Warbucks in Annie Warbucks, shows enormous range as he howls and wails of the misery of his life on this earth.  Allowed to hit the Elysian Fields in Purgatory along with Daisy who killed herself, his and her private hell continues in ways I urge you to discover for yourself. Wow! This little musical with a cast of nine has all the power of grand opera at its best. --------------- From virtually the same period, we have the opposite side of the coin, the sunny and cheerful perfect musical comedy.  The pre-Broadway tryout of No, No Nanette (the original production in 1924) was plagued with problems. So many problems that it finally shut down for repairs. The book was tweaked again and again, songs were dropped and others added. It's the only musical I know that had one composer (Vincent Youmans) and two lyricists who did not work together! One, Irving Caesar, wrote half the lyrics, and Otto Harbach, who was a very big name in those days, wrote the other half. DC Theatre Scene no http://dctheatrescene.com/2008/05/06/politics-sexual-intrigue-and-lost-souls/ http://dctheatrescene.com/2008/05/06/politics-sexual-intrigue-and-lost-souls/#comments Tue, 06 May 2008 14:51:17 +0000 Richard Seff http://dctheatrescene.com/2008/05/06/politics-sexual-intrigue-and-lost-souls/ http://dctheatrescene.com/2008/05/06/politics-sexual-intrigue-and-lost-souls/feed/ 0 new york Politics, Sexual Intrigue and Lost Souls November, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, and Port Authority - By Richard Seff - David Mamet has always been bright and very much in tune with his times, often giving us goose bumps as he makes us face some ... Politics, Sexual Intrigue and Lost Souls November, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, and Port Authority By Richard Seff David Mamet has always been bright and very much in tune with his times, often giving us goose bumps as he makes us face some of the harsh truths lurking just below the surface. But this time he's put on his funny hat, and come up with a farce in the manner of Molière, perfectly timed for this year of political shenanigans sometimes called ‘nomination season' or ‘how to delegate the delegates.'  Calling his comedy November, Mamet's gotten a gaggle of producers together (I mean it; there are fifteen of them), headed by Jeffrey Richards, Jerry Frankel and Jam Theatricals, which made it possible for him to mount his timely play quickly. He's also managed to corral Nathan Lane, Laurie Metcalf and Dylan Baker for the three central spots, and had he had a year to find a cast, he couldn't have done better than that.  Add Ethan Phillips and Michael Nichols for perfection in the smaller roles, and visit the Barrymore Theatre for lessons in the art of comic acting. "Comedy is hard," said actor Edmund Gwenn, supposedly on his death bed. This kind of material is particularly difficult to play because it's much larger than life. But played too largely, it can quickly turn into nonsense. Nathan Lane is a national treasure, and he's found himself a role that allows him to use all of his vast comic weapons to make us howl in appreciation. Watch that rubbery face of his as he reacts to comments from the others on everything from war to the price of turkeys by the pound, and  you'll instinctively know that that sort of control is not teachable; it's in the blood. What's equally impressive about Lane's work is his growth over the years (in girth as well; he must watch that), for he's learned that as effective as the large gestures and bizarre readings are, the silences in between can be just as moving or merry, and he does a couple of those "Jack Benny" slow takes that rock the rafters. Ms. Metcalf, who's always been a fascinating actress, shows new comic genes herself, as she plays Clarice Bernstein, Jewish lesbian speech writer to Lane's President Charles Smith.  Her insistence on adopting a baby from China with her partner is the comic device with which author Mamet manages to extract every measure of mirth available. And Ms. Metcalf knows just what to do with rich material like that. The play concerns itself with the final days before Election Day in which incumbent Smith hopes to be elected for a second term. His four year record has been dismal, and he's at the low point in his popularity polls.  Remind you of anyone you know?  And with Dylan Baker as his right hand man prompting him, correcting him, advising him, directing him, he still manages to put his foot in his mouth about once in every four statements.   He insults almost every possible segment of his constituency, without the slightest awareness that he's hurting anyone. That's dangerous, and doesn't Mr. Mamet know it. Mr. Baker is the perfect WASP straight man, and combined with his very different turn earlier this season in Mauritius, he too is turning into one of New York theatre's great assets. I caught this winner at the Actors' Fund Benefit performance, which means that the audience was particularly responsive, for it contained many who work in theatre.  But though the cast might have been delighted at the hoots and hollers they received all through the Morning, Night and Morning of the play's two acts, I'm certain they receive the same sort of response every night, minus only a decibel or two.                                                                                                           *** Those nasty people are back again. Joining the evil-doers of Speed-the-Plow, The Homecoming, Sweeney Todd, The Vortex and  The God of  Carnage of recent vintage, DC Theatre Scene no http://dctheatrescene.com/2008/04/02/39-steps-moves-to-broadway/ http://dctheatrescene.com/2008/04/02/39-steps-moves-to-broadway/#comments Thu, 03 Apr 2008 01:04:13 +0000 Richard Seff http://dctheatrescene.com/2008/04/02/39-steps-moves-to-broadway/ http://dctheatrescene.com/2008/04/02/39-steps-moves-to-broadway/feed/ 0 new york The 39 Steps, The Fifth Column, The Slug Bearers of Kayrol Island, Ghosts - by Richard Seff, NY Theatre Buzz columnist - Take a London concoction, fly one of four actors across the pond to recreate his role, The 39 Steps, The Fifth Column, The Slug Bearers of Kayrol Island, Ghosts by Richard Seff, NY Theatre Buzz columnist Take a London concoction, fly one of four actors across the pond to recreate his role, add three zany and original other actors, stir - don't shake, and what have you got?  Spring, on a stage, that's what.   I'm talking about Roundabout Theatre Company's "The 39 Steps," an amusingly conceived and executed spoof of the low budget Alfred Hitchcock classic film of that name, which helped establish the director's reputation in l935.  I don't know the playwright Patrick Barlow's work, but in England he is famous for his hilarious two man "National Theatre of Brent," which has become legendary on stage, in tv and on radio. His other titles "Shakespeare: The Truth!" and "The Complete History of the Whole World" give you an indication of the kind of nuttiness that buzzes about his head. I've recently seen the Hitchcock film on which this burlesque is based, and I take off my hat to the imaginative Mr. Barlow for his willingness to adapt an original concept by Simon Corble and Nobby Dimon, which in turn was based on a book by John Buchan. All well and good, but it's Mr. Barlow who has taken the film's screenplay, and scene by scene, has managed to turn suspense, drama, melodrama and heavy romance into pure hilarity. And he's done it without missing a scene from the film, without distorting the dialogue, and that means including air crashes, rainstorms, hiding under waterfalls, and some brilliant homages to Mr. Hitchcock's entire oeuvre. Wow! Blessed with a cast of fresh faces and no inhibitions, and a director in Maria Aitken who knows how to tend to this sort of flock, I found myself succumbing to this soufflé about four lines into the matinee. It took that long because I had a very bad seat, way over by the side wall of the theatre, and I was in a temper because one third of the stage was not visible to me. My temper disappeared just as soon as Charles Edwards (the import from Britain) settled into an armchair and gave us his opening monologue. For here before us was Robert Donat, who created the role in the film, plus every other square-jawed British leading man who ever faced a camera or trod the boards. Early on, an actress called Jennifer Ferrin joined him as Annabella Schmidt (think Dietrich as played by Madeline Kahn) but as Fraulein Schmidt was bumped off early in the show, she reappeared later as the Madeleine Carroll character, the leading lady, and again as another woman. Ms. Ferrin is making her Broadway debut, arriving via a run in the daytime serial "As the World Turns", for which she's garnered two daytime Emmy nominations. Who would have dreamed?   All very well done. But it was the antics of Cliff Saunders and Arnie Burton as "Man #1" and "Man #2, two roles that morphed almost instantaneously into at least forty other roles, that blew me away. Saunders, Bilbo Baggins in the musical "Lord of the Rings" in Canada, a jolly jovial man with a voice that can reach high enough so that only dogs can hear him, and low enough to sound like  Eugene Pallette, is fun from start to finish. And Arnie Burton, younger, more raffish, on his way to being an offbeat leading man if he wants to be, throws all that away to favor us with a collection of lunatics. Watch this cast entering a room during a raging windstorm, fleeing a train compartment through the window, then running on top of the train from car to car, watch Mr. Burton play two people at the same time, and I defy you not to laugh out loud.  He ranges from an elderly Scottish innkeeper's wife to a tacky compère in a music hall to a toothy English toff to - well, there are just so many variations, one cannot keep up. But the precision, the bravery, the range, the polish, all I can say is, it's as refreshing as an autumn breeze in August.  I would not like to be the understudy to anyone in this cast. They are a very tough act to follow. DC Theatre Scene no http://dctheatrescene.com/2008/03/31/a-musical-hit-for-the-national-yiddish-theatre/ http://dctheatrescene.com/2008/03/31/a-musical-hit-for-the-national-yiddish-theatre/#comments Mon, 31 Mar 2008 20:36:22 +0000 Joel Markowitz http://dctheatrescene.com/2008/03/31/a-musical-hit-for-the-national-yiddish-theatre/ http://dctheatrescene.com/2008/03/31/a-musical-hit-for-the-national-yiddish-theatre/feed/ 0 musicals,new york Kibitzing with Itzy Firestone, Suzanne Toren and Eyal Sherf from Di Ksube by Joel Markowitz - Oy Vey!   Yiddish theatre is still going after 93 years, thanks to The National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene. Kibitzing with Itzy Firestone, Suzanne Toren and Eyal Sherf from Di Ksube by Joel Markowitz Oy Vey!   Yiddish theatre is still going after 93 years, thanks to The National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene. They were nominated for a Drama Desk Award for the Yiddish version of Pirates of Penzance, and now they have a hit on their hands with the musical Di Ksube. Take a boorish plumber, his suffering wife, his only daughter and her statistician fiancé,  Now, throw in the "we need to be in total control" overbearing in-laws and an oversexed  widow who lives upstairs. Then, add some meshuganah musical numbers and what do you have? A funny, heart tugging comedy with music called The Marriage Contract ("Di Ksube").   Di Ksube was written in Hebrew by Ephraim Kishon, an Israeli humorist in 1953, and was one of the longest running hits on the Israeli stage. This adaptation, playing now at The Folksbiene at The JCC in the upper west side of Manhattan, is  performed in Yiddish with English and Russian subtitles.     Actors Itzy Firestone and Suzanne Toren kibitzed about the revival of the Yiddish Theatre at the Folksbeine in NYC, and the importance of keeping the Yiddish language alive. Listen in as they schmooze about their roles in Di Ksube,  and sing highlights "Vu Bin Ikh Farkrokhn" ("What Have I Gotten Myself Into") and "Ikh Vel Vider Zayn a Kavalir" ("I'll Be a Bachelor Again").    Eyal Sherf, who plays Robert, the groom,  speaks about the importance for young Jewish actors to perform Yiddish musicals, and talks about his character and favorite scene in Di Ksube. Eyal concludes his interview as he serenades us with a bissell from a song from Folksbiene's Yiddish production of The Pirates of Penzance.     Di Ksube runs through until April 6th. You can purchase tickets by calling Ticket Central, by phone at (212) 279-4200 or online . To listen, click here. DC Theatre Scene no http://dctheatrescene.com/2008/03/25/two-marriages-and-some-salza/ http://dctheatrescene.com/2008/03/25/two-marriages-and-some-salza/#comments Tue, 25 Mar 2008 14:41:58 +0000 Richard Seff http://dctheatrescene.com/2008/03/25/two-marriages-and-some-salza/ http://dctheatrescene.com/2008/03/25/two-marriages-and-some-salza/feed/ 1 new york Life is a Duet, Next to Normal, In the Heights By Richard Seff, NY Theatre Buzz Columnist - On a recent Saturday night I joined a friend on the #7 subway out of Manhattan headed for the far reaches of Queens. At the penultimate stop on the line, Life is a Duet, Next to Normal, In the Heights By Richard Seff, NY Theatre Buzz Columnist On a recent Saturday night I joined a friend on the #7 subway out of Manhattan headed for the far reaches of Queens. At the penultimate stop on the line, we landed on an outdoor platform that felt more like East Finchley, London than it did Flushing, Queens. We were told a bus would be waiting to take us off to the Queens Theatre in the Park. There was not a soul around, not one, only the lonely looking token clerk, and she didn't know anything about the Queens Theatre. So we followed the sign, and found ourselves on a long boardwalk that seemed to lead endlessly into the murky black night.  The rains came, the winds with them, and we walked at least half a mile. We were in a Hitchcock film, but there was no camera and no crew. When at last we reached an ominous building we asked the only human being standing there in yellow slicker and hat, "Where is the bus to the theatre???"  He bellowed back: "No bus! No bus! You see bus? Where bus park? No bus here! You go back. Go! Go now!" So we turned round and walked a half mile back to the subway station. There, at the bottom of the stairs stood the red and green bus, empty, and waiting. It was close to curtain time; we seemed to wind round endless empty lots, past a crumbling Aquacade from the 1939 World's Fair, past a Tennis Pavilion, past dozens of ominous forms made of concrete, and then there it was.  A circular one story building, the Queens Theatre in the Park. Inside there was a mob of local folks who seemed jolly and happy to be there.  I mumbled something about "I feel like we've just crossed the moon," but one or two let me know they love their theatre, rarely trek into Manhattan, and surely know how to make a lot of noise.  Why were we there? Because Michael Tucker and Jill Eikenberry, two old friends, were offering their musical biography, "Life Is a Duet", which they've performed elsewhere, but never in the New York area. Though both actors have extensive credits onstage and onscreen, they are most fondly remembered for their eight year stint on "L.A.Law" as Stuart Margulies and his bride Anne Kelsey. Happily married off-screen as well, they managed to convince the nation that a tall, beautiful "shiksa" could find joy and fulfillment with a balding, adorable short Jewish guy and that their romance could be as hot as any Brangelina coupling due to a number of innovative ploys on Stuart's part, one of which was the Venus Butterfly. The 3 piece combo played us an overture, then there they were, entering one from Stage Right, the other from Stage Left, singing "Cabaret" - in Italian. Odd? Not once they explained that they'd recently bought a second home in Umbria, they were knee deep in Italian lessons, and they used the language whenever they could, so why not here? Fair enough. On they went, delighting us with tales of their first meeting 37 years ago, of their 2 year trial marriage during which they played the Public Theatre in "Trelawney of the Wells", and songs like "It's An Art" and "No Two People" about how to make a marriage last.  Then came Michael alone singing "I Love My Wife" from "I Do, I Do", and we were done with a delightful First Act. Intermission was jolly too - for the Queens audience was out for a fun Saturday night, rain or no rain, and there was a buzz in the corridors as Blondies and Brownies and M&MsTM were devoured as fast as they could be pulled from the counter.  Act II began in a less light vein - Ms. Eikenberry had been slugged with a breast cancer diagnosis some years back, and she was about to deal with that. In song, it came out as "Both Sides Now", and with her mate, "Let's Face the Music And Dance." Both of these gifted actors can sing - Ms. Eikenberry with a legit soprano that's very pleasing to the ear, though she can get low down and funny when she needs to. Mr. Tucker has a rougher instrument, DC Theatre Scene no http://dctheatrescene.com/2008/02/17/sondheim-saves-us-from-the-mid-feb-slump/ http://dctheatrescene.com/2008/02/17/sondheim-saves-us-from-the-mid-feb-slump/#comments Sun, 17 Feb 2008 11:31:01 +0000 Richard Seff http://dctheatrescene.com/2008/02/17/sondheim-saves-us-from-the-mid-feb-slump/ http://dctheatrescene.com/2008/02/17/sondheim-saves-us-from-the-mid-feb-slump/feed/ 0 musicals,new york by Richard Seff, NY Theatre Buzz Columnist  Dead Man's Cell Phone  . Hunting and Gathering . Sunday in the Park with George - Feb 18, 2008 -- We'd been warned that business would be off in New York theatre in the bleak days of January-Febr... by Richard Seff, NY Theatre Buzz Columnist  Dead Man's Cell Phone  . Hunting and Gathering . Sunday in the Park with George Feb 18, 2008 -- We'd been warned that business would be off in New York theatre in the bleak days of January-February. But no one told us that the Artistic Directors at Playwrights' Horizons and Primary Stages would be having a slump too.  It's not realistic to ask that each entry be a home run, but one is beginning to suspect a touch of elitism creeping in to blur objective decisions. Sarah Ruhl, at Playwrights Horizons, has a new play called "Dead Man's Cell Phone" and its cast includes Mary-Louise Parker, Kathleen Chalfont and David Aaron Baker, among other talented players. So one approaches the theatre with high hopes. I certainly did.  After all, Ms. Ruhl's "The Clean House" was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, her "Euridice" delighted major members of the press, her "Demeter In The City" was nominated for an NAACP Award. I haven't seen all her work, but I tried hard and failed to find "The Clean House" satisfying (as I recall, it began with what seemed like a 10 minute monologue - in Portuguese), and "Euridice" which took place in the underworld, left me feeling diminished on leaving the theatre, and that is not a good thing. Now, with "Dead Man's Cell Phone", we were off to a very good start. Dead Man's Cell Phone In a bleak and deserted coffee shop, the beautiful, fey, original Jean, (Mary Louise Parker) is discovered writing copious notes into a notebook. Diagonally across from her, with his back partly turned  away from us, a man sits, a cell phone by his side on the table. Both have clearly just completed some sort of meal. His cell phone rings. And rings. And rings again. In rising to investigate why he doesn't answer it, Ms. Parker discovers the poor guy is dead. As his phone rings on, she answers it, dazed, and tells the caller that Gordon, the dead man, is not presently available. Some chuckles were heard here, and it all looked promising.  For reasons never explained, there are no other diners in the coffee shop, and there is no staff. Already I'm suspecting metaphor and that always makes me nervous. But I'm ready to go along on this journey. As Ms. Parker continues to answer the cell phone whenever it rings (which is a lot) we meet Gordon's Mother (Kathleen Chalfont, looking very sexy and chic  in a red cocktail dress that features her remarkable long legs), his wife Hermia, his mistress and his misfit brother Dwight, in whom Jean finds a soul mate. Jean, instead of calling for an ambulance when she discovers the dead Gordon, opts instead to insinuate herself into his past life, and manages to do so as those she meets assume she was very close to him, else why would she have possession of his cell phone? I don't know what all this means, but I just didn't find it funny. There were odd pockets of laughter throughout the theatre, but when one of them came as "You'll Never Walk Alone" was played when Gordon's mother asked for a hymn at his funeral, I withdrew. Again, kind critics, but for me, Ms. Ruhl's had three strikes and she's out. I'd suggest she try a novella next time, for she does have a way with words, but to my mind, she has not yet mastered plays as an outlet for her creative juices. Mary Louise Parker is a gem and a joy. She reminds one of the late Sandy Dennis, another fine actress who succumbed to mannerism as her career advanced. This Jean is second cousin to the character Ms. Parker  plays on the tv series "Weeds", and my word of advice to this lovely actress with the beautiful face and form: "Beware. Try something less fey and other-worldly next time. Find yourself a play in which you can stay closer to "Proof", in which you triumphed, and further from "Reckless", which was too close to your current vehicle. Hunting and Gathering A week or so later, I arrived at the lovely complex called 59 East 59th Street, home to Primary Stages. DC Theatre Scene no http://dctheatrescene.com/2008/02/03/minority-report-on-stoppard-and-shaw/ http://dctheatrescene.com/2008/02/03/minority-report-on-stoppard-and-shaw/#comments Sun, 03 Feb 2008 16:59:12 +0000 Richard Seff http://dctheatrescene.com/2008/02/03/minority-report-on-stoppard-and-shaw/ http://dctheatrescene.com/2008/02/03/minority-report-on-stoppard-and-shaw/feed/ 1 new york By Richard Seff, DCTS columnist: NY Theatre Buzz Stoppard's Rock ‘N' Roll and Shaw's Geneva Though I am fast approaching my dotage, I feel like an outsider when I read the reviews of many of my aging almost-contemporaries, By Richard Seff, DCTS columnist: NY Theatre Buzz Stoppard's Rock ‘N' Roll and Shaw's Geneva Though I am fast approaching my dotage, I feel like an outsider when I read the reviews of many of my aging almost-contemporaries, the current run of so many NY theatre critics. Many of them revel in the wildness, energy and ear shattering sound of rock and roll, claiming it brings them joy, release, connection to the now. To me it merely brings a need for ear plugs and a long walk in the woods. I know full well that there is surprise and insight in many of the lyrics, if only one could hear the lyrics. But the decibel level makes mud of all choral numbers, and turns very pleasant sopranos and high female altos into shrieking harpies. There, I know that dooms me as a relic from the middle of  the past century, but until someone pulls the plug, my joy in the form Americans created, Musical Comedy (or Musical Theatre) is over. Ask any girl under 18 what show she can't wait to see (boys don't want to see anything), you can bet your booty it won't be anything on Broadway, except perhaps "Legally Blonde" or "Wicked", and even "Legally Blonde" is beginning to run out of tweenies and teens with rich parents, so I don't think it'll be around come Labor Day. Of course this column isn't about musicals at all.  But even with straight plays, I seem to be playing in a different ballpark than the critics.  In a recent week, I saw two Important Plays in New York, one on Broadway, the other in a staged reading at the Players Club with an all-star cast. The former, TOM STOPPARD'S "ROCK ‘N' ROLL comes to us courtesy of the Royal Court Theatre in London, complete with most of its British cast and director, Trevor Nunn. No problem there. It has had hugely favorable New York reviews.   It's beautifully staged, and the actors are top notch. I'd not known Rufus Sewell could be so charming and funny.  Brian Cox was absent the night I was present, but his understudy, Joe Vincent, was just fine in the role, remarkably fine. A cast of 13 actors devoted themselves to telling us this very complicated story about a Czech's return from Cambridge, where he has been living, to his homeland on the eve of the Russian invasion and occupation of  Czechoslovakia in the late l960s, and carries us along until 1990.  You knew you were in Czechoslovakia because the scenery there was very dark and depressing, and you knew you were back in England, because the garden was in full flower, and the walls were painted pale yellow. But I had the feeling, all evening long, that I was in the middle of a soap opera with the vocabulary of a Rhodes scholar. Whenever a scene ended - well, you could hardly call them scenes, they were more like sketches - we were blasted out of our seats by a bit of the Rolling Stones, the Velvet Underground, a lot of Pink Floyd and a smattering of a Czech group called the Plastic People of the Universe. We heard as much of a number as it took to change the scenery, then abruptly the rockers were sent packing in mid phrase. Not that it mattered, as I had no idea what they were yelling about  (I mean ‘singing') for reasons mentioned in my first paragraph. The reviews on the Stoppard play were, as usual, favorable. Ben Brantley in the NY Times seemed to have a splendid time, called the play ‘triumphantly sentimental', and most of his colleagues were almost as excited. The public, in reviews I've seen on the internet, ranged from ‘a snoozefest' to ‘self important twaddle'. By evening's end, I felt I'd learned a little, but as Mary Poppins taught us, a spoonfool of sugar makes the medicine go down.  No sugar in this one; just a lot of speechifying. Which brings me to my other evening out. This time, I was  treated to a barely rehearsed reading of a little known play by George Bernard Shaw, who wrote it in l938 when he was in his 70s, about the age Mr. Stoppard is now. Shaw too was angry at the world, so he wrote a play called GENEVA, DC Theatre Scene no