Born Yesterday - A Review

Posted by David

Certain plays, no matter when they were written, if properly presented can withstand the test of time.  While written of and for a certain time, they contain basic themes that continue to resonate.  Remount these works with a cast and crew of talented and focused individuals and the end result will transcend the period trappings that surround the piece.

How fortunate, then, that the classic comedy Born Yesterday by Garson Kanin, originally produced on Broadway in 1946, has been given such a stellar treatment at the Cort Theatre on West 48th Street.   Directed by Dough Hughes and starring Robert Sean Leonard, Jim Belushi and rising star Nina Arianda, the work shakes off any dust and shines like a family heirloom proudly passed down to the next generation.

Broadway's Next H!t Musical: A Review

On the heels of the Academy Awards, one might ask oneself "what truly makes for a memorable awards ceremony?"  The answer is quite simply: improvisation.

By improvisation I don't mean a nimble host who can navigate past an ungainly acceptance speech or an awkward award presentation.  I am referring to the kind of improvisation where you pretty much make up the whole thing on the spot.

This challenging and rare skill is on full display at Broadway's Next H!t Musical, performing at The Triad on West 72nd Street.  Broadway's Next H!t Musical has as its subtitle "New York City's Improvised Musical," but that doesn't fully encompass the marvelous shenanigans that go on here.

Cabfare for the Common Man

"Cabfare for the Common Man" at The Crowne Theatre at The Producer Club, September 16-18, 2010

I'll be appearing in the last act of the first half, a piece called "Passed Hordes" with the lovely and talented Sandy Trullinger, directed by the lovely and talented Brad Caswell, courtesy of Sweet & Tart Productions.  Tickets available at www.theatermania.com.


Bring your friends and neighbors!

Leslie Jordan's: My Life Down the Pink Carpet

Leslie Jordan, of "Will & Grace" and "Sordid Lives" fame (among so much else), opened a 12-week run in NYC of his autobiographical, "My Trip Down the Pink Carpet" last week.  You can get more information and available showtimes from the show's site.
He and Lily Tomlin, who is producing his show with Jane Wagner, were on "The View" this morning and have been making the press-junket rounds.  Even on The View he was hilarious which doesn't surprise me in the least.  I think he's one of those rare actors that has so much comedic talent just oozing from his pores that he must leave a trail of sloppy, laughing, people in his wake.  Thursday night I'm hoping to be one of them.

A QNY Theater Review: The Addams Family

By Brooklyn Bill

On Tuesday, Joyce and I caught a preview performance of The Addams Family, and it was more fun than a barrel of dead monkeys.

The show wasn't 100 percent awesome. As Joyce pointed out, Morticia's plot line about becoming dissatisfied with her life and her marriage to Gomez seemed totally out of character. Indeed, almost all of the plot threads were about love problems, which I know are a staple of musicals but don't seem like a great match for a musical about a creepy family that adores the macabre and despises anything sappy. And not that many of the songs were big winners, at least at first listen.

But TAF provided a ton of laughs. The sets were breathtaking. (Though I have a nit to pick about the visible bar holding up the giant, dazzlingly gorgeous Moon in some scenes.) And let's face it, Bebe Neuwirth was born to play Morticia.

Free Improv Tonight

By Father Tony

QNY's Justin Elzie on stage:

Time:	6:00pm - 7:00pm
Location:	The People's Improv Theater (The PIT)
Street:	154 W. 29th St.
City/Town:	New York, NY

Another Dude's Slingbacks - A Review

Posted by David

I recently attended a performance of Another Dude's Slingbacks, which opened at the 13th Street Repertory Theatre on Friday, March 5.  My initial impression was that this would be one of those god-awful "gay plays" chock full of stale jokes, bad acting and telegraphed plot points.  Thankfully I was completely wrong.

Theater Review: The Pride

Posted by David

This past Saturday I attended a performance of The Pride, a new play by Alexi Kaye Campbell directed by Joe Mantello, and part of the Manhattan Class Company's (MCC) current season. The production features Ben Wishaw, Hugh Dancy, Andrea Riseborough and Adam James.

Update: This play has been extended through March 28th.

24 Hour Party People

Posted by David

Monday night I had the great fortune to attend the Third(?) Annual 24 Hour Musicals, hosted by the eXchange (yes, that is how they write it) to benefit The Orchard Project. This yearly event pulls together writers, composers, lyricists, directors and actors and gives them 24 hours to create and perform a completely original musical set-piece.

the picture of Dorian Gray

Posted by Mondschein


"The Picture of Dorian Gray" at the Kirk Theatre at Theatre Row, February 1, 2010

The source material is a compelling tale of "be careful what you wish for" a la Oscar Wilde.  It's a cautionary tale, much like attending the evening of theatre it presents.

This anachronistic interpretation of Wilde's only novel, with a beautiful cast and an overly aspirational concept, drones for over 90 minutes with no intermission and no hope of entertainment.  It opens with a pretentious tableau in silhouette.  I have no issue with an opening tableau, but the pose was neither revealing nor indicative of the story, other than to put all actors on stage.  The lights rose to reveal a very attractive assembly of actors.  Alas, beauty is only skin deep after all.


Daniel Mitura's adaptation sets the action in 1890s Britain, then seems to dash directly for his latest edition of Bartleby's to snatch every quip ever attributed to Mr. Wilde.  95% of these are given to the role of Henry Wotton (Vayu O'Donnell).  If only Mr. Mitura had spread the love around a bit. (Also, I'm pretty sure that the concept of hip replacement hadn't occurred at the time as mentioned by Henry in one scene, um...dramaturg?)  I fully expected Dorian's (Wil Petre) final words to be "Either that wallpaper goes, or I do!"

As You Like It

Posted by Mondschein 

"As You Like It" presented by the Bridge Project at Brooklyn Academy of Music, January 26, 2010

(photo: Joan Marcus)


This is my first opportunity to see a production by the Bridge Project, a three-year partnership between the Old Vic Theatre in London, the Brooklyn Academy of Music and Neal Street (Sam Mendes' film and theater production company).  Last season's offerings were Chekov's The Cherry Orchard in a new adaptation by Tom Stoppard and Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale, both of which were pretty well-received (well enough received that I couldn't get a ticket!).  For their second season, it's a Shakespeare double-bill of As You Like It and The Tempest.

Tickets have been much more readily available for the first of this year's productions.  Telling the story of Orlando, searching for a reason to be in the world, coached by his love, Rosalind, hiding in front of him wearing trousers, Mr. Shakespeare asks for a substantial suspension of disbelief from his audience.  Certainly the writing is romantic and the story, at times, compelling.  Still, never having seen or read this play, I couldn't help but feel that this production, while pleasant, is unremarkable.  The actors are generally skilled in the language, with an exception here and there, and the staging is functional.  It was all very pretty.

Venus in Fur

Posted by Mondschein

"Venus in Fur" at Classic Stage Company, January 23, 2010

A tale of lust, domination and submission, based on a German novel from the late 1800s, David Ives has adapted Leopold von Sacher Masoch's Venus in Furs into a contemporary, clever, 90 minute two-hander.  The theatricality is heightened as he juxtaposes the tale into the setting of a playwright conducting auditions for his own stage adaptation of the original text.

Frustrated by poor productions of earlier work, Thomas (Wes Bentley) is directing his new play himself.  His "perfect" Wanda and she hasn't turned up yet at his auditions.  He is about to give up for the day when Vanda (Nina Arianda) bursts into the room.  She's late for her appointment (weather, trains, blah, blah) but wants to read even though Thomas didn't have her name on the list.  She quizzes him on the finer points of the story, "It's really just porn, isn't it? I mean...really?"  Exposition ensues and the games begin.  Power flips back and forth as they read each character, and as director and actress work through the story.

The Myopia, an epic burlesque of tragic proportions

posted by Mondschein


"The Myopia, an epic burlesque of tragic proportions" Atlantic Theatre Stage 2, January 19, 2010

What is the dividing line between self-indulgence and masturbation?

David Greenspan's two-act monologue walks that line with occasional steps in either direction, weaving an existential web around a tale of his father's attempt to write a show based on the life of Warren Harding, tying in an allegory of his mother as a giant Rapunzel. His approach is reminiscent of Wallace Shawn, but doesn't approach the detailed imagery found in Mr. Shawn's work.  Mr. Greenspan doesn't seem to dig quite that deeply.  He is never less than theatrical.

A QNY Theater Review: Chekhov Lizardbrain

Posted by Brooklyn Bill

On Monday evening, my buddy Jack and I went to see Chekhov Lizardbrain, an entertaining and unusual play inspired by Anton Chekhov's Three Sisters and the life and work of autistic livestock-behavior expert Temple Grandin. It was created and presented by Philadelphia's Pig Iron Theatre Co. and is back in New York as part of the Under the Radar Festival after a critically acclaimed run here in fall 2008.

The play is about a socially awkward botanist named Dmitri who has a more-confident alter ego named Chekhov Lizardbrain. Dmitri has bought a house in his hometown of Oswego, New York, after having gotten a Ph.D. in Portland, Oregon. The house belonged to childhood friends of Dmitri's, three brothers named Peter, Nicholas, and Sascha. Dmitri is trying to remember as much as he can about what led up to his purchase of the house, whose heater has failed in the dead of winter. In the majority of scenes, the brothers wear long underwear, top hats, and fake mustaches and act out fantastical versions of events; in Dmitri's more-realistic recollections, the guys wear regular clothes and work out their real-life family conflict: The two older brothers, who have moved away from Oswego, have to convince Sascha to sell his third of the house he's lived in his whole life, including while caring for their ailing parents.

The actors were all great, but extra praise must go to James Sugg, who earned an Obie for his performance as Dmitri/Chekhov Lizardbrain. He passes seamlessly between his two oddball characters.

Review: The Understudy

I attended a performance of the new Theresa Rebeck play The Understudy.  Rebeck is responsible for such other works as Omnium Gatherum, Bad Dates and The Water's Edge.  The play stars Julie White (Tony Award for The Little Dog Laughed), Justin Kirk (Showtimes's Weeds, HBO's Angels in America) and Mark-Paul Gosselaar (Raising the Bar, NYPD Blue, and yes, Saved By The Bell).  The production is directed by Scott Ellis.

In short - I loved it.

The Jew of Malta

Posted by Mondschein


"The Jew of Malta" presented by The York Shakespeare Company at the Jewish Community Center in Manhattan, December 17, 2009.

(Photo by Michelle Sims)

Christopher Marlowe's sixteenth century tragedy is presented as a farce in this barebones production by The York Shakespeare Company, running in repertory with Shakespeare's later "Merchant of Venice."

It's an interesting concept, but questionably executed by the large and attractive, yet minimally skilled cast in this production directed by artistic director Seth Duerr.  The plot, almost Byzantine in its twists, turns and reversalsis summarized here. More interesting is the premise and attitude towards Jews afforded by Mr. Marlowe.  The titular Jew, Barabas (Paul Rubin) is presented as a scheming, godless villain, quick to deception and murder in the name of greed and revenge.  His only daughter Abigail (Emily Rose Prats) only gets sympathy for her repentant conversion to Christianity as she learns of her father's evil deeds.  In what was apparently the style at the time, bodies litter the stage both on and off in ever-increasing numbers as the villain-Jew is vanquished.

Mr. Rubin's Barabas suffers under the burden of the period language leaving us with a stiff and stilted performance.  Faring far better is Matthew Foster as the Maltese Governor, Ferneze.  His command of the character and the language are commendable in an energetic performance.  One or two other exceptions raise themselves from the rest of the cast, including Brian Morvant's Don Mathias and Nate Washburn's Don Lodowick, in excellent swordplay as they murder each other over the hand of the fair Abigail.  My old friend David Dewitt, returning to the NY stage after an extended absence shows his own core skills as Father Barnardine.

As I mentioned above, the concept of tragedy as farce is an interesting approach, but only occasionally successful.  Playing upon a bare stage, Mr. Duerr does little to differentiate scene locations other than the filing in of the various characters and their supporting entourages.  The traffic is directed pretty well, but it feels that a little more time might have been spent on character development.

A Christmas Carol: Scrooge & Marley

Posted by Mondschein

"A Christmas Carol: Scrooge & Marley" Barefoot Theatre Company presented by Horse Trade Theater Group at The Kraine Theater, December 16, 2009

As part of their 70/70 Horovits Project, celebrating playwright Israel Horovitz' 70th birthday with 70 of his plays presented around the world, Barefoot Theatre company presents his adaptation of the Dicken's short story.

The 85 minute piece, performed without intermission is a faithful retelling of the greed and redemption of Ebenezer Scrooge (John Gazzale).  Here, the story is narrated by the ghost of Jacob Marley (Ken Glickfield) and directed in an eclectic mixture of styles by Robert Bruce McIntosh.  I'm sure many of his choices, such as mixing in a bit of kabuki,  were directed by budget (or lack thereof), with some more successful than others, but resulting in a uneven performance with sometimes jarring transitions.  Also uneven were the performances among the cast.

Carrying the majority of the burden, and successfully so to our fortune is Mr. Gazzale.  Whether written or directed as such, his Scrooge is quite the teary and regretful soul, with the waterworks beginning during the visit from the Ghost of Christmas Past (Caitlin Davies), and flowing freely until the final curtain.  Still, he commands the stage and delivers with conviction, head and shoulders above his castmates.  Almost as successful is Mr. Glickfield's Jacob Marley. While his makeup looked more canine than rotted, his delivery stumbled and stammered from time to time.  Sadly, the rest of the cast, for the most part, were rather amateurish despite their energy and intent.  Despite that, the play's excellent writing does manage to shine through.

Altar Boyz

Posted by Mondschein


"Altar Boyz" at New World Stages, December 10, 2010

After an almost 5 year run, "Altar Boyz" is closing January 10, 2010, having played over 2,000 performances.  I've seen the show on two other occasions during its run, as it evolved from a full two-act production, to a 90 minute one-act.  Hatched from a successful premiere at the New York Musical Theater Festival in September, 2004, it moved quickly to its current home in February of 2005.

The first two visits were to a tightly-run performance, with some nuance and detail in the story of the Christian boy band of Matthew, Mark, Luke, Juan and Abraham.  In this last visit, the age is showing with character performances reduced to mere stereotypes.  Guiltiest of this was Travis Nesbitt's Mark, played more like a 15 year old girl, rather than the twink of questionable sexual orientation that Mr. Nesbitt's predecessor's accomplished more credibly.  Michael Kadin Craig's Matthew is also missing some of the pretty boy glamour of those who came before him.

Still it's a high energy evening, with plenty of heavy-handed laughs.

Justin Bond's Christmas Spells - Quick Review

Photograph by Michael Hart

Posted by riot:

Justin Bond's Christmas Spells
December 9 through 12, 8:00pm
Abrons Arts Center, 466 Grand Street, 212-598-0400
Buy Tickets

I must admit to my bias right off the bat.  I love Justin Bond.  I learned about him at the end of the Kiki & Herb run, so I'm making up for my tardiness with enthusiasm.  And it isn't difficult--he stole my heart with his cover of Radiohead's "Weird Fishes" at Le Poisson Rouge.  I'm a fan.

NYC Upcoming Events - And where did Autumn go?

Last weekend I felt the first shift out of the mild NYC Fall we've had, and into the colder Winter months.  The radiators are hissing half time.  Wet snow-ish stuff came down with the rain on Saturday.  Forgetting to bring a hat, scarf, or gloves is moving from unfashionable to uncomfortable.  I'm a bit wistful for Autumn.  It is such a transitional time, always gone before I feel I've fully taken it in.

When I tell friends back in the Midwest that my calendar is booked solid through January, they think I'm being hyperbolic or snobby.  New Yorkers know that it's just simple truth.  Parties, shows, art exhibits, fine dining...whatever your fascination, there's more than ever of it out there to distract you from the cold, gray city.

Here's a quick list of upcoming events I recommend, with more details after the jump.

OUTmusic Awards - Tuesday, Dec. 8
Justin Bond's Christmas Spells - Dec. 9 through 12
Raandesk Gallery of Art (ART2Gift) - Dec. 9, 10, 13, 15
The Meeting - Dec. 14
SWEAT - Dec. 18