Theater Reviews

Susan Granger’s review of “A Little Night Music” (Walter Kerr Theater)

 

    Catherine Zeta-Jones is the latest cinema star to captivate Broadway audiences, but she’s not exactly new to the stage. In London, she performed in numerous musicals before moving on to British television and then fame and fortune in Hollywood, where she won an Oscar for her supporting role in the screen adaptation of “Chicago.” Now she’s poised to nab a Tony to add to her rapidly growing awards collection.

    As alluring Desiree Armfeldt in Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler’s “A Little Night Music,” she’s simply glorious, putting her own bewitching spin on the comedic “You Must Meet My Wife” and wistfully interpreting the ballad “Send In the Clowns,” supported every step of the way by five-time Tony-winner, 84 year-old Angela Lansbury as Desiree’s courtesan mother who delivers a world-weary version of “Liaisons.”

    Loosely based on the Ingmar Bergman film “Smiles of a Summer Night” and directed by Trevor Nunn, the sophisticated “A Little Night Music” follows the farcical romantic escapades of several duplicitous Swedish couples around the turn of the last century. While it’s elegant in its waltzing simplicity, there are a few glaring missteps, like the maid Petra’s (Leigh Ann Larkin) vulgar rendition of the earthy “The Miller’s Son.” Except for Alexander Hanson, as the lawyer Fredrik Egerman, and Aaron Lazar, as philandering Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm, the rest of the ensemble loses its luster alongside pros like Zeta-Jones and Lansbury.  In particular, Ramona Mallory grows tiresome as Egerman’s shrill, virginal wife, as does Hunter Ryan Herdlicka as Egerman’s frustrated, cello-playing son.

    For a full-fledged, high-priced Broadway musical, it’s also a shame that there are only eight musicians, resulting in a thin orchestral sound, and that David Farley’s minimalist sets and monochromatic costumes are serviceable, at best. So for this show, what you can count on is the stardust spread by Catherine Zeta-Jones and Angela Lansbury. And for me, that was enough.

Susan Granger’s review of “A Streetcar Named Desire” (Harvey Theater at the Brooklyn Academy of Music: ’09-’10 season)

 

    Cate Blanchett dazzles as emotionally desperate Blanche DuBois in the Sydney Theater Company’s superb production of the Tennessee Williams’ 1947 classic, directed by Norwegian actress Liv Ullmann.

    The Ink Spots croon “If I Didn’t Care” when we first glimpse pale, frail Blanche sitting on her small suitcase at the edge of the stage, ready to find the dingy, drab apartment at 632 Elysian Fields in New Orleans’ French Quarter, where her younger sister, Stella (Robin McLeavy), lives with her hunky, ill-tempered Polish husband, Stanley Kowalski (Joel Edgerton). Burdened with a lifetime of heartache, grief and guilt, yet fluttering with Southern flightiness, pungent perfume and faux frivolity, Blanche, an obvious intruder, moves in with them, as she muses, “I’ve got to keep hold of myself.”

    Eventually, Blanchett reveals the crux of trembling Blanche’s deep psychological damage to “a gentleman caller,” Stanley’s friend, Mitch (Tim Richards), sipping whiskey, as she reflects, “Southern Comfort! What is that, I wonder?” before revealing her many “intimacies with strangers.”

    Oscar-winner Blanchett is one of a long line of actresses who have distinguished themselves as Blanche DuBois, including Jessica Lange, Natasha Richardson, Vivien Leigh, Tallulah Bankhead, Rosemary Harris, Blythe Danner, Jessica Tandy and Ann-Margret. And the play pivots on Blanchett’s brilliant interpretation of the role. While Robin McLeavy, Joe Edgerton and Tim Richards offer stalwart support, it’s just that – support. The devastating drama rests on Blanchett’s thin shoulders and she acquits it admirably. While Blanche may be defeated at the conclusion, Cate Blanchett is not. That’s why this imported production is worth seeing. Indeed, it was Blanchett’s husband, Anrew Upton, who lured Liv Ullman (who built her reputation as Ingmar Bergman’s muse) to Australia, where he and Blanchett are co-artistic directors and CEOs of the Sydney Theater Company.

 

 

 

 

Susan Granger’s review of “Race” (Ethel Barrymore Theater: ’09-’10 season)

 

    David Mamet has explored many four-letter words but none as incendiary as “race.”

    The drama unfolds in an imposingManhattan law office, where the two partners, Jack Lawson (James Spader) and Henry Brown (David Alan Grier) – with their young associate, Susan (Kerry Washington), hovering uneasily in the background – are deciding whether to take the case of an affluent, middle-aged man, Charles Strickland (Richard Thomas), who is accused of raping a younger woman in a hotel room after ripping a red sequin dress off her. While Strickland admits he was in the hotel room, he insists what happened between them was consensual because they were lovers.

    But “This isn’t about sex; it’s about race.” Because one of the attorneys is white, the other black; their ambitious intern is black; and the alleged victim is black. And almost all the contentious verbal banter is open to misunderstanding and interpretation as it relates to color, gender, ethnicity and class.

    Accessing his well-honed “Boston Legal” stance, James Spader exemplifies the authoritative, world-weary cynic, while wary David Alan Grier is more cautious of the ramifications of the justice system and clueless Richard Thomas is obviously conflicted. Kerry Washington is – and must be – enigmatic for the plot to work but her furtive demeanor, coupled with her contrived model’s stance, is distracting, somewhat telegraphing her part in the conclusion in a way that diffuses some of the tension.

    Pulitzer Prize-winning writer/director David Mamet (“Oleanna,” “Speed-the-Plow”) radiates persuasive intelligence in this compelling legal procedural as he rails against political correctness, amplifying our culture’s concepts of shame and guilt while peppering the dialogue with profanity. Santo Loquasto’s book-lined set is splendid, as are Tom Broecker’s costumes.

AUDIENCES WANT GRINS NOT GRIM by Susan Granger

 

 

    Audiences want to laugh. While Connecticut theaters offer a wide variety of entertainment, comedy sells, particularly to a middle-class, middle-aged audience. With the country’s current economic troubles, not to mention the fear of a swine-flu pandemic, more people are looking to lighten up. And even in tough times, a stand-up comedian will almost always draw a crowd.

 

    In the case of Bill Cosby, it was a sitting-down comedian. When Cosby booked the Oct. 4^th date at the Klein Memorial Auditorium in Bridgeport, he was recovering from recent cataract surgery. As he told the audience, he was assured that  common ophthalmologic procedure was ‘a cinch,’ ‘no problem,’ but, as it turned out, he could barely see and needed to be led to a chair, center-stage. After explaining his predicament, he proceeded to regale the audience with so many hilarious stories that they were, literally, falling off their seats.

 

    The recent recipient of the 12^th annual Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, Cosby is known for his astute observations on human behavior, often revolving around marriage and family. Which is not surprising. Popular on TV from 1984 to 1992 and still running in syndication, “The Cosby Show” followed the day-to-day travails of the Huxtables, an upper middle-class black family living in Brooklyn.

 

    So why does Cosby make such a direct connection with the funnybone?  Because he makes us laugh at ourselves, our foibles, our relationships. And he does it gently, kindly, utilizing an avuncular style that evades abrasion and offense.

 

    Perhaps at the diametric opposite end of the spectrum is Jackie Mason, who played a gig on Oct. 22nd at the Palace Theater, Stamford Center for the Arts. At least, that’s where the audience sat. Mason seemed to think he was in Camden, New Jersey, making several off-hand comments about the commute. Traveling on the road to one-night stands can be confusing so patrons laughed indulgently, hesitating to correct his misplaced geography. Even those in the front row whom he chided, “This show is not for you; it’s for intelligent people.”

 

    One of the lone survivors of the Borscht Belt circuit, Mason’s aggressive humor is topical, timely and politically incorrect. His new show, “No Holds Barred,” delivers as advertised with Mason shooting most of his barbs at President Barack Obama, particularly his lack of qualifications for the White House job, his “It’s time for a change” slogan and his proposed Health Care reforms.

 

    Mason’s controversial targets also include former President Bill Clinton, whom he characterizes as “a degenerate sex maniac,” and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, whom he imitates with an uncanny ear. One of his best-received anecdotes revolves around Alaska, not a spin on its former Governor Sarah Palin but the frustration in building its oil pipeline because of disturbing the tranquility of the roaming caribou. Admittedly, those who don’t share his particular political convictions grow a bit testy at times but he soon moves along, skewering other targets.

 

    Hailing from a long line of rabbis, Mason became one of the hottest comics in America in the 1960s as a regular performer on “The Ed Sullivan Show.” His first one-man show, “The World According to Me,” began an unprecedented two-and-a-half year run on Broadway in 1986 and was followed by several additional critical and commercially successful one-man shows.

 

    Mason characteristically peppers his one-liners with Yiddish phrases (referring to Obama as a “schvartzer”) and an occasional Jewish chant.  His ‘solution’ to protecting the U.S. border with Mexico involves utilizing retired Jews on lawn chairs stationed along a fence in Arizona, and his comments on Jews vacationing on African safaris brought down the house. Such “chutzpah”!

 

    As an equal-opportunity cynic, Mason’s stereotypical, inflammatory humor also includes jibes at doctors and taxi drivers from India, along with undocumented Mexican restaurant workers and violent rappers…”Do you think Tony Bennett ever tried to kill Bing Crosby?”

 

    Watching both Bill Cosby and Jackie Mason is like taking a Master Comedy Class in timing and delivery. Both septuagenarian comedians obviously revel in being on-stage and the patter of their longer set pieces so totally disarms you that convulsive laughter is inevitable.

 

Susan Granger’s review of “Breath of Life” (Westport Country Playhouse)

 

    Hamlet said, “The play’s the thing…” but at David Hare’s “Breath of Life” at the Westport Country Playhouse, the performances far outshine the play, which even artistic director Mark Lamos describes as “a sketch” whose revelations, discoveries and conflicts are all seeded in past events in two sadly disillusioned, sixtysomething women’s lives.

    In 2002 on the Isle of Wright off the southern coast of England, pulp novelist Frances Beale (Stockard Channing) nervously arrives at the seaside flat of Madeleine Palmer (Jane Alexander), a scholarly museum curator and lifelong political activist. Frances’ emotional state is so pathetically tentative that she refuses to remove her coat for the first few minutes. As it turns out, she’s the ex-wife of Martin, a radical lawyer who, previously, had an affair with Madeline and has now relocated to Seattle, Washington, with a young American woman, leaving Frances and their grown children. Under the pretext of writing a memoir, Frances quizzes Madeleine about her 25-year relationship with Martin, but it soon becomes obvious that she’s trying to achieve some kind of prickly closure on her own obsessive relationship with the adulterer who abandoned her.

    David Hare touches on many themes: anti-Americanism, the parasitical nature of writers, disillusionment and female independence with amusing one-liners like, “Americans – once the most powerful people on earth…now the most fearful.” Yet his inclusion of how these Brits participated in the American Civil Rights Movement in the ‘60s is confusing – and discordant. So it’s not the wordy/talky narrative that soars.

    Thanks to Mark Lamos, who has raised the regional theater bar, it’s the exquisite performances. Although neither character is well defined in this treacherous emotional minefield, Jane Alexander has the most brutal, cynical lines, conjuring them with a sardonic, comedic twist. In contrast, staid Stockard Channing is needier, more subdued and vulnerable. Credit Michael Yeargan for a magnificent scenic design, complemented by Martin Pakledinaz’ costumes and Robert Wierzel’s subtle lighting.

    In Westport, you can see “The Breath of Life” through October 17, 2009.

Susan Granger’s review of “tick, tick…BOOM!” (Westport Country Playhouse)

When the late Jonathan Larson turned 30 in 1990, he wrote a semi-autobiographical “rock monologue” originally known as “30/90,” a title derived from his age and the year. That became “tick, tick…BOOM!” which played briefly in showcase productions. Larson’s subsequent claim to fame was “Rent,” which won a Pulitzer Prize and Tony Awards. After his death in 1996 from a ruptured aortic aneurysm on the night “Rent” was to open, admiring collaborators collated Larson’s original sketches and fragments and director Stephen Shaw expanded the solo concept into a three-person musical.

The story is a familiar, albeit tedious one: an undiscovered, unappreciated, insecure composer/lyricist, Jon (Colin Hanlon) is struggling for recognition in the musical theater in Manhattan. Resisting his best friend’s (Wilson Cruz) offer of a high-paying marketing job and his dancer girl-friend’s (Pearl Sun) plea to move to Massachusetts (either Cape Cod or Northampton), settle down and raise a family, he persists in pursuing his dream which, in this case, is a workshop production of an opus titled “Superbia.”

While Colin Hanlon succeeds in radiating intense angst, the music he wails is a repetitive, unremarkable mix of pop and rock – with various parodies of previous hit musicals, like Stephen Sondheim’s “Sunday in the Park with George.” Playing a variety of superficially defined roles, Pearl Sun and Wilson Cruz demonstrate their versatility and Scott Schwartz deserves credit for his inventive direction with a band perched behind and above the proceedings on David Farley’s two-tiered set. Finally, a comparison, both in themes (sacrifice for art/consumerism vs. creativity) and in music, between this minor effort with the far-better “Rent” is inevitable and, not surprisingly, in their program bios, both Hanlon and Cruz have appeared in various productions of “Rent” – with Hanlon’s testifying that he’s played every white guy in the show over the years.
“Tick, Tick…Boom!” is at the Westport Country Playhouse through July 18.

Susan Granger’s review of “Children” (Westport Country Playhouse)

Artistic Director Mark Lamos has the Westport Country Playhouse back on track with his second presentation of this transitional season, a revival of A.R. Gurney’s first play, “Children,” which was chosen by Lamos’ predecessors, Joanne Woodward and Anne Keefe. A perceptive family drama, suggested by John Cheever’s story, “Goodbye, My Brother,” it’s a harbinger of many subsequent Gurney satires centered on the contemporary angst and traditional repression of White Anglo-Saxon Protestant families in the Northeast.
Set on Fourth of July weekend in the 1970s on the terrace of a large, old summer home on a resort island off the Massachusetts coast, it revolves around a wealthy 60ish widow (Judith Light) whose husband drowned five years ago. Her dysfunctional family dynamics are set in gear when she reveals she’s planning to marry a longtime family friend and to turn the house over to her three grown children. Recently divorced, caustic Barbara (Katie Finneran) has secretly taken up with a local’ and has visions of becoming a full-time islander. Prep-school coach Randy (James Waterston) is primarily concerned with maintaining the status quo, focusing on the tennis court, while his uptight wife Jane (Mary Bacon) is thrown into confusion when she finds she has developed affection and admiration for Miriam, the progressive-thinking Jewish wife of Pokey, the third and most troublesome of the lot. Pokey is pivotal, the rebellious, younger son who, like Godot, never really surfaces but influences everyone else’s behavior.
Deftly directed by John Tillinger, the acting ensemble hits all the right notes of their respective, if stereotypical forms of desperation, particularly elegant Judith Light (familiar as the Meade family matriarch on TV’s “Ugly Betty”), ultimately determined to maintain familial solidarity, and Katie Finneran, who reaches below the surface to access Barbara’s vulnerability. James Noone’s scenic design, Jane Greenwood’s costumes, Rui Tita’s lighting and Scott Killian’s music evoke the time, the place and the ambiance.
A must-see, “Children” plays at Westport Country Playhouse through June 13th.

Susan Granger’s review of “Around the World in 80 Days” (Westport Country Playhouse)

While Mike Todd’s screen version of “Around the World in 80 Days,” starring David Niven, Cantinflas and Shirley MacLaine, was an Oscar-winning, star-studded spectacular back in 1956, the classic Jules Verne story has lost much of its charm over the years – until the current revival.
Set in 1872 in Victorian England, this amusing, high-spirited romp begins with wealthy Phileas Fogg (Mark Shanahan) and other members of his men’s club discussing a news story about ‘modern travel’ that appears in “The Daily Telegraph.” Impulsively, Fogg wagers that he can make a trip around the globe in 80 days. With his resourceful French valet Passepartout (Evan Zest), he embarks on his journey, unaware that a British detective suspects him of bank robbery and is following close behind, awaiting delivery of a warrant for his arrest. As they circumnavigate the world by steamship, railway and elephant, the intrepid travelers are joined by Aouda, a beautiful Indian widow whom they save from her rajah husband’s funeral pyre.
Cleverly adapted by Mark Brown and imaginatively directed by Michael Evan Haney, it’s an eyeful and an earful – with minimalist music and sound effects created by Elizabeth Helitzer and Mark Parenti. Propelling the show, Mark Shanahan is a fastidious and proper Fogg, a perfect foil for the physical comedy of scene-stealing Evan Zes, whose zany antics recall Charlie Chaplin. Versatile, vivacious Andrew Grusetskie, Jeff Biehl and Lauren Elise McCord portray all the supporting characters, donning and discarding David Kay Mickelson’s costumes in the blink of an eye.
“Around the World in 80 Days” at the Westport Country Playhouse (http://www.westportplayhouse.org) is jolly good fun for the whole family. Run, run, run to see it!

Tutorial: How to get the best seats on Broadway

Part 1: Buying tickets on Telecharge.com and Broadwayoffers.com

Telecharge.com is the largest Broadway ticketing company, owned by the Shubert Organization, which owns about half the theaters on Broadway.

Their regular ticketing site is www.telecharge.com, while all discounted tickets are sold on www.broadwayoffers.com. Both sites use the same software, so everything we will learn today will be applicable for both sites. BroadwayOffers has excellent tools to help you find the best seats.

Our mission: Getting the best seats in the house!

The BroadwayBox purchase link, provided on each discount on our site, will get you directly into the BroadwayOffers.com site. Make sure your pop-up blocker allows pop-ups from BroadwayOffers.com. All you need to do is enter the number of tickets you wish to buy and start the reservation process.

Tip #1: Select from a range of dates, not just one

Your best chance to get better tickets is to search for tickets on several performances at once. BroadwayOffers has two unknown features to allow you to search more than one performance at a time:

Pick a range of dates: Specify the START date and the END date. A third field allows you to be more specific within that range: you can select Any Time or only Evening/Matinee/Weekday/Weekend. Alternatively you can select just one day of the week. It is a great feature if you live in NY, and can see a show only on Thursdays, for example.

Pick from the show calendar: When you select this option, the performance calendar opens up, and you can mark each date that you can see the show. This is the most flexible option. Very useful for visitors who have a limited time to to see a show, or locals with a very busy schedule

Continue the purchase process until you get the first ticket offer.

Tip #2: Never pick the first ticket you are offered

You have probably selected to get the best seat available and this is what you will get according to the computers determination. It is easy to get additional choices to see if you may like them better. At the bottom of the Tickets page under I don’t want these tickets! you have the option to get more ticket choices for the same performance or for other performances in your selected range.

BroadwayOffers will warn you that you may lose the tickets once you go for another set, but the (very small) risk often pays off (unless it is the first few minutes after a best seller show goes into public sale). The good news is that BroadwayOffers provides you a HISTORY of all the tickets that were offered to you, so you can always regret and go back to any of the sets of tickets offered. You click on the History link on the right hand side and see the complete list. More choice means better seats. This requires quick reaction, since following a break of over 3 minutes, Broadwayoffers stops your session and you will lose your History list (but not the tickets).

Always keep the seating chart open on your screen to compare the tickets offered.

Tip #3: Select from several sections of the theater

The default option during your purchase session is: I want the best seat available. Since you and the computer may have different opinions on what is the best seat available why not try the choose by section of the venue option. You can select the orchestra, or mezzanine, and see which seats are available in each section, and for which price. Combining this strategy with the History (tip#2) can yield some great seating options.

Once you decided on your best ticket, go ahead and select I want these tickets. You have 7 minutes to complete the transaction.

Susan Granger’s review of “Blithe Spirit” (Shubert Theater: ’08 -’09 season)

Mame Dennis is treading the boards again, this time in the guise of Madame Arcati in the current Broadway revival of Noel Coward’s starched farce “Blithe Spirit.” Of course, it’s really 83 year-old Angela Lansbury but the daffy, mischievous British medium she embodies channels the vibrations of a cousin living on Beekman Place.
It’s 1941 when she gamely pedals her bicycle onto the genteel estate of one of England’s landed gentry. Writer Charles Condomine (the ever-so-suave Rupert Everett) and his staid wife Ruth (Jayne Atkinson) have invited her for dinner, along with a local physician (Simon Jones) and his wife (Deborah Rush). Later in the evening, Mme. Arcati conducts a séance, as promised, and wafting in, seemingly from the garden, Mr. Condomine’s feckless first wife, Elvira (Christine Ebersole) suddenly appears. The thing is, only Charles can see her. Since the ectoplasm of ethereal Elvira is in no hurry to leave, Charles quickly loses his cool, becoming, as Ruth disdainfully puts it, “a sort of astral bigamist,” trying to cope with both wives under the same roof – at least until the mystified conjurer Mme. Arcati can figure out how to send Elvira back to the netherworld. As she says: “Let’s really put our backs into it.”
While director Michael Blakemore (“Copenhagen,” “Noises Off”) relishes Noel Coward’s sophisticated repartee, his primary contribution is the adroit pacing and physical comedy inherent in the ménage a trois. As an ensemble, the actors are superb, particularly the four leads: Lansbury, Everett, Atkinson and Ebersole – and Susan Louise O’Connor as the crucially inept maid Edith. And an appreciative goes to nod to set designer Peter J. Davidson and costumer Martin Pakledinaz.
“Blithe Spirit” soars.