Everything I Know I Learned from Musicals

Chris Sees Plays: Film at Eleven

This past weekend represented a bit of a milestone for me. As the title of my blog implies, I'm all about the musicals. I do see the occasional "straight" play (although I hate that term: so musicals are bent?), I have always gravitated toward musical theater, and likely always will.

But this last weekend, I caught four shows in New York, and they were all plays. Not a single musical in the bunch. This was partly because I had already seen all the musicals in New York that are worth seeing (and some that frankly aren't), but it also was because there were a bunch of dramas that I was genuinely interested in seeing. I won't be posting full reviews of these shows, partly because I've been feeling overwhelmed by this blog lately, and I don't want it to start feeling like an obligation, or worse, a job. But I did want to pass along to you, dear reader, my impressions of three high-profile revivals, as well as one "new" play based on a classic movie. Here they are, in decreasing order of enjoyment (mine):

The Seagull: This was my first time seeing this Anton Chekhov work on stage, and overall I found it thrilling. It's a fascinating study of a wide array of characters, but the most compelling in this production were the female roles. Kristen Scott Thomas was just delicious as the vain and parsimonious diva Arkadina. But the real star of the show for me was English actress Carey Mulligan as Nina. Mulligan gives an incandescent, nuanced, and ultimately heartbreaking performance. The men were disappointing: Mackenzie Crook as Konstantin was one-note miserable and unappealing in a role that should be somewhat sympathetic. And Peter Sarsgard as Trigorin was laconic and indistinct. Also, his beard and costume were very unflattering, making it a wonder as to why everyone else in the play was so enamored. But the women alone make this the dramatic production to see on Broadway this fall. 

Equus: You may not have heard about this one, but apparently there's this Broadway revival of Peter Shaffer's award-winning play with a couple of British actors... But seriously folks, they don't get much higher profile than this one. I remember being transfixed when I saw the movie version of "Equus" as a teenager, and I was greatly looking forward to this production. The play hasn't aged entirely well: the whole notion of the doctor who envies his patient's "passion" when in fact the kid is frickin' miserable is outmoded, to be sure. But Richard Griffiths gives a nicely understated performance as the doctor, and Daniel Radcliffe acquits himself quite well as the troubled boy. He's got some growing to do as a stage actor, and his performance could use a level or two beyond on-and-off. But the play embodies a sheer theatricality that we don't see all that much of anymore on Broadway, and overall the production lives up to the hype.

All My Sons: Speaking of hype, you may also have heard that Mrs. Tom Cruise is making her Broadway debut this season in Arthur Miller's secondary tragedy, All My Sons. I frankly didn't care a whit about the presence of Katie Holmes; I was a lot more interested in seeing John Lithgow, Dianne Wiest, and Patrick Wilson. I saw the show early in previews, and let's just say it wasn't soup yet. Director Simon McBurney hadn't yet achieved the emotional balance necessary to turn Miller's somewhat overwrought potboiler into compelling emotional drama. Ms. Holmes does a lot of screaming, and the rest of the cast seems to be taking her cue and screaming right back. Plus, the set is hideous, comprising a square of Astroturf and some often inscrutable projections.

To Be or Not to Be: The Manhattan Theater Club's pointless stage version of the 1942 movie "To Be or Not to Be" was easily the least distinguished production of my play-ful weekend. There's a handful of decent performances in the production, including Jan Maxwell as theater diva Maria Tura, but the play doesn't do anything that the movie doesn't. It's not as though they've added song and dance to make it into a musical. And unlike The 39 Steps, this isn't an imaginative reconception but rather a somewhat literal translation. Over the weekend, I kept toying with notion of blowing TBONTB off and catching the last performance of the recently closed Xanadu. I should have gone with my instinct.

Equus Preview: Tea With Peter Shaffer

I'm not one for hero worship or celebrity gawking. When I see someone famous on the street, as frequently occurs in New York City, sure I gape, but I never bother him or her or introduce myself. (And I certainly don't ask for autographs.) I'm also not one for name dropping, mostly because I have very few names to drop: I don't really travel in lofty society or literary circles.

But this morning I had the opportunity to meet someone whom I consider legendary, playwright Peter Shaffer (Equus, Amadeus), and I couldn't let the occasion pass without relating it to you, dear reader. Shaffer was visiting a mutual friend in Boston before traveling to New York for Equus rehearsals, and I was fortunate to meet with Sir Peter for tea while he awaited his train.

As expected, Shaffer was charming and erudite, and very graciously fielded my starstruck queries amid the hubbub of Boston's South Station. Shaffer spoke fondly of the late John Gielgud, whom Shaffer credits with inspiring him to write for the theater. Shaffer spoke in particular of Gielgud's portrayal of the title role in Richard II, which he found both honest and mesmerizing.

Gielgud also directed Shaffer's first play, Five Finger Exercise. When asked how Gielgud fared as a directed, Shaffer replied, "Oh, he was ghastly!" Shaffer went on to describe the first day of rehearsals. Apparently, they were working on the opening scene, and Gielgud was giving the cast business and movement for every single line of the play, which Shaffer felt was wrong, but being the neophyte playwright, he didn't feel it was his place to speak up. As the cast, which included a youthful Brian Bedford, was running the scene, Gielgud spoke up.

"What on earth are you doing?" he shouted.

"We're doing what you told us to do," said Bedford, through clenched teeth.

"For heavens sake, why?" replied Gielgud. "Everyone knows I can't direct."

The production went on to win the Evening Standard Drama Award in London and the Drama Critics Circle Award in New York, and established Shaffer as a playwright of note.

Shaffer also spoke in glowing terms of Equus star Daniel Radcliffe, who's taking a 22-week hiatus from filming the Harry Potter movies to bring the acclaimed London production to Broadway. Shaffer said that audiences in London were very respectful of the play, although many of them had come simply to see Harry Potter naked.

"Not to blow my own trumpet, but 15 minutes into the show, they were riveted," he said, with a grin of satisfaction.

I asked whether there was any entrance applause, and Shaffer replied that he and director Thea Sharrock had found a way to stage Radcliffe's entrance to circumvent any annoying, moment-killing, fourth-wall-breaking entrance applause. I'm intrigued to see how they've accomplished this when I see the Broadway production of Equus in September.

Many thanks to my friend Kevin Shancady for setting up my little brush with fame.

for colored girls...signs of life?

Something funny seems to be up with the recently announced Broadway revival of Ntozake Shange's for colored girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow is enuf. The show's Web site, which used to have actual links and information on it, now consists solely of a jpeg of the show's logo.

What's more, tickets to the show were supposed to go on sale to Amex cardholders July 5th. They didn't. Tickets were then to have gone on sale to the general public July 19th. They didn't. The show, which will reportedly star pop singer India.Arie, is scheduled to begin previews at the Circle in the Square August 19 and open September 8th.

Will it?

Boeing-Boeing: Return Trip Even Better

One of the best times that I had in the theater this season was taking in the revival of Boeing-Boeing, a middling excuse for a sex farce given a first-rate production by director Matthew Warchus. I somehow found myself convulsed with laughter, even as my logical mind was telling me that the play shouldn't have been as funny as it was. Since I saw the show, I've been reading the script, and although there's some clever wordplay, there's really not much on paper that would lead you to think it would be so hilarious on stage. 

So I decided to see the show again to see if it would hold up to repeat visits, and I'll be damned if it wasn't even funnier the second time. The expert cast of comic actors have settled comfortably into their roles, crafting even finer farcical performances. Christine Baranski was out for this performance, but her understudy Pippa Pearthree was just as good, although admittedly Baranski hadn't exactly blown me away.

Bradley Whitford and Tony winner Mark Rylance also gave performances that were satisfyingly on par with the ones they gave when I first saw the show. Rylance seemed to be adding business to his performance, probably to keep it fresh for him and to keep his fellow cast members on their toes. That spontaneity created an atmosphere in which everyone on stage seemed to be having a ball, which was terribly infectious.

But what really made this performance a treat were Mary McCormack and Kathryn Hahn, who have taken their already broad performances and made them even broader. Yet somehow it works, and deliciously so. This isn't the sort of play you can't really take seriously, on either side of the footlights, and McCormack and Hahn have embraced that notion and pulled out all the stops. Hahn seemed to sense the audience's approval of her exaggerated style and responded with more of the same. And McCormack was a nonstop riot from her very entrance.

The show is doing rather well at the box-office, grossing around $400,000 a week, which is pretty strong for a play. The average ticket price has been around $60, which means there are a lot of TKTS-ers in the mix, a fact I could tell by witnessing the cross-section of humanity in my immediate vicinity. A number of them talked a blue streak during the performance, and at least four of the people around me were chewing gum WITH THEIR MOUTHS OPEN throughout the entire show. Talkers I can deal with: You just politely ask them to cork their pie holes, and if they don't you get the house manager. But how do you delicately tell people to close their mouths when they chew? It's just such a fundamental element of manners that it's sort of like telling them they need to wear shoes.

But then at intermission, I overheard one of the cud-chewers talking about how Bradley Whitford was also in A Few Good Men on Broadway. "Wasn't that by that guy who did the TV show?" he asked his masticating wife. "You know, Aaron Spelling." Sometimes, if you wait, the universe provides you with its own satisfying version of revenge: blissful stupidity.

for colored girls...to Play Circle in the Square

So I made it through jury duty relatively unscathed. The trial upon which I was impaneled was relatively straightforward, and our deliberations only took as long as they did (about 45 minutes) because the court had brought in lunch for us, and we weren't about to let a bunch of terrific deli sandwiches go to waste.

And now back to the stuff that really matters in life: musical theater. Only today, I find myself intrigued by an upcoming production that isn't really a musical, although it's not quite a straight play either. But there aren't a lot of plays that spawn cast albums, nor many that list choreographers among their production staffs.

I refer, of course, to the first Broadway revival of Ntozake Shange's "choreo-poem" for colored girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow is enough. The show ran for 742 performances at the Booth Theater in the '70s, and the Broadway Theater Archive issued a video recording, which is now available on DVD.

Now comes the announcement that the upcoming revival of for colored girls... will play the Circle in the Square, most recently the home of the short-lived Glory Days. The Circle in the Square has a thrust stage and three-quarter wrap-around seating, which seems a much more appropriate setting for such a work than the traditional-proscenium Booth. I'm not overly familiar with the piece, but from what I know of it, it would seem to lend itself quite well to a black-box-like performance space.

Two names caught my eye in the published pieces about the for colored girls... revival. One was Hinton Battle, the three-time Tony Award winner, who will provide the choreography. (Two caveats: his three Tonys are all for acting, and his most recent New York choreography credit was for the unimpressive Evil Dead: The Musical.) The other notable name is Whoopi Goldberg, who's listed as the executive producer. You might say that Whoopi's taking a page from Oprah's book (cf. The Color Purple), but Whoopi has already produced two shows on Broadway: the 2003 revival of Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, and -- believe it or not -- Thoroughly Modern Millie.

One name that didn't initially catch my eye was that of India.Arie, who will appear in for colored girls.... I don't pay any attention to popular music, but apparently she's an up-and-coming, Grammy-winning singer. Does this constitute star casting, dear reader? Because I'm genuinely clueless as to whether India.Arie is going to be a box-office draw.

Tickets to see for colored girls... go on sale to American Express card holders on July 9th, and to the general public on July 19th. I'm hoping to catch it the same weekend I see A Tale of Two Cities. Should make for quite a contrast.