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1Theater: Breakfast At Tiffany's
Leaves You Hungry; Vanya, Sonia...
Leaves You Laughing
BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S * 1/2 out of ****
VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE
*** 1/2 out of ****CIRQUE DU SOLEIL'S TOTEM *** out of ****
THE LYING LESSON * 1/2 out of ****
BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S * 1/2 out of ****
CORT THEATRE
Some people cherish the glossy Blake Edwards film
Breakfast At Tiffany's and Audrey Hepburn's enduring
portrayal of Holly Golightly. (Presumably they just
ignore Mickey Rooney's horribly dated yellow-face portrayal of an Asian-American neighbor.) Othersprefer the darker, more complex novella by Truman Capote. Neither group, sadly, will enjoy theBroadway staging of a play that hopes to combine the glamor of the movie and the richness of the novellabut falls short of both.
I can't tell you how many people have asked me or assumed this was a musical, but it's a straight drama.
Like the novella, it focuses on Fred (Cory Michael Smith), a struggling writer who is pulled into the orbitof Holly Golightly (Emilia Clarke), a backwoods teenager who has reinvented herself as an intriguing,glamorous figure of high society. Holly is dazzling and fun and irresponsible and determined to keepreinventing herself until she finds someone or somewhere that she likes. Fred is the downstairs neighborwho knows exactly what he wants -- to write and be read -- but he enjoys the transformative friendship
Holly offers. It's the eternal story of New York City: people following their dreams and lost souls who
follow any dream they can, each one more glittering and improbable than the next.
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March 27, 2013
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The adaptation by Richard Greenberg hews closely to the plot of the novella. But essentially this work
doesn't lend itself to the theater. Greenberg uses some of the best lines, but words that workedbeautifully on the page feel forced onstage. At one point, he quotes almost verbatim this speech Hollymakes to a friend (in the play it's directed to another character).
"Never love a wild thing, Mr. Bell. That was Doc's mistake. He was always lugging home wild things. A
hawk with a hurt wing. One time it was a full-grown bobcat with a broken leg. But you can't give yourheart to a wild thing: the more you do, the stronger they get. Until they're strong enough to run into thewoods. Or fly into a tree. Then a taller tree. Then the sky. That's how you'll end up, Mr. Bell. If you letyourself love a wild thing. You'll end up looking at the sky."
It's a key passage in the 75-page work by Capote, the moment when Holly Golightly shows a rare bit of
insight into herself and others that isn't calculating. But as dialogue onstage, it's too flatly revealing.Similarly, the major elements of this production -- the scenic design by Derek McLane, the costumes byColleen Atwood, the lighting by Peter Kaczorowski -- are functional but never inspired.
Of course it's the film that looms over this production since most people haven't read the novella.
Cory Michael Smith has the George Peppard role, though that's misleading since the George Peppard role
doesn't exist here. Fred is not a gigolo for women mirroring Holly's kept girl status with men. He's awriter and gay and Holly is his best friend, not his romantic ideal. Smith was very good in the OffBroadway play Cock and holds the stage ably here, quite a good accomplishment since the play is not
terribly riveting.
Greenberg has taken the merest suggestion that Fred is gay in the novella and made it a fitful subplot.
This would be fine if Greenberg made something of it; perhaps Holly would help Fred accept being gaywith her free-spirited nature? Instead, it's just an obvious fact that isn't explored interestingly, eventhough Fred seems clueless about his own sexuality and later embarrassed by it until it's obvious to all. Atthe climax, the nude bathtub scene they share is essentially platonic; the journey to that moment is not
memorable.
George Wendt brings his avuncular presence and a great deal of goodwill to the smallish role of the
bartender Joe Bell. Lee Wilkof as Holly's Hollywood contact shines as much as one can under thecircumstances, making a convincing agent and bringing the stage to life whenever he's on it.
But it's Audrey Hepburn above all that one thinks of the moment the words Breakfast At Tiffany's are
uttered. She was an effortlessly elegant character, a creature of pure whimsy. You could easily imagine
the wealthy and powerful men of New York wanting to protect her and care for her and call her theirown.
Clarke (very good in HBO's Game Of Thrones ) has the unenviable task of putting her own stamp on the
role in her Broadway debut. Perhaps to avoid comparisons, she and director Sean Mathias seem to have
made the wrong-headed choice to emphasize the artifice in Holly Golightly. Hepburn's Holly hadreinvented herself but was so charming and elegant, you could almost imagine she was a princesschoosing to slum it. Clarke's Holly is far more transparent a make-over, with a voice that strains forelegance but lets the effort show. They want us to be constantly reminded that Holly is not quite whatshe wants to seem. The result is that we wonder why anyone sophisticated or savvy wouldn't see throughthis kid in five minutes. She's dining with captains of industry? This Holly is more likely to be servingthem, all the while studying the clothes and manner of their mistresses with a desperate hunger.
One of the few moments when Clarke gets to shine and we glimpse a fully rounded character is when she
sits on her fire escape and strums a guitar. In the movie, of course, Hepburn sang "Moon River." But hereas in the novella Holly sings a folk-country tune, a startling hint that we're about to discover where thiskid came from. Clarke delivers it with ease and the song is transporting. For a brief scene, we are in thepresence of a real person, one with a past and perhaps a future. Maybe Breakfast At Tiffany's was meant
to sing after all.
VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE *** 1/2 out of ****
GOLDEN THEATRE
Christopher Durang's new play is the funniest comedy on Broadway. That's not saying much since it's the
only comedy on Broadway. But even if there were a lot more comedies on Broadway, it would still
probably be the funniest. Pound for pound it's just as funny as the musical The Book Of Mormon ... and
tickets are probably a lot easier to get to Vanya And Sonia And Masha And Spike.
Nominally a tribute to Anton Chekhov, you don't need to know a thing about the Russian playwright in
order to enjoy the show, though it does help to laugh knowingly at any reference to a cherry orchard, justto let your neighbors in the audience think you're sophisticated. In truth, anyone can identify with thisstory of two siblings who share a home in spinsterhood after years of caring for their aging parents.Vanya (David Hyde Pierce) is gay and lonely. Sonia (Kristine Nielsen) is frumpy and sad. Theirglamorous movie star sister Masha (Sigourney Weaver) pays all the bills and swans in every once in a
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while to make sure they still feel appropriately inadequate over their lives and grateful for hers.
This time Masha is bringing along a boy toy named Spike (Billy Magnussen) amidst warnings from their
truth-telling housekeeper Cassandra (Shalita Grant) that they better beware. Indeed! Masha doesn't justwant to lord it over her siblings and attend a costume party at the former home of Dorothy Parker. Shealso wants to inform them that she's selling the house and they better start fending for themselves.
It's all stuff and nonsense brought to a boil by director Nicholas Martin, thanks to a cast that is good togreat from top to bottom. Emily Rebholz has great fun with the costumes and it's hard to underestimatehow important the work of lighting designer Justin Townsend and the music and sound design by MarkBennett are in punctuating jokes and scenes while taking us nimbly from light comedy to quiet momentsof genuine pathos. If I weren't laughing so much, I might have paid better attention and be able to givespecific examples. The set by David Korins is frankly a mess, with an ungainly attempt to show both theoutside of the house and the inside of what I assume is a screened-in porch. It hardly matters.
Vanya And Sonia And Masha And Spike boasts the strongest ensemble on Broadway right now.
Genevieve Angelson is just right in the small role of Nina, a would-be actress and passionate fan of
Masha. Durang might easily have written a more obvious role, an Anne Baxter-like conniver or dippyfool. But instead he did the far more difficult task of writing a funny, young actress, naive and foolish butsincere without being silly.
Spike is all attention-grabbing and needy for admiration. He flirts with everyone in sight without
compunction or shame. Subtlety is not called for and Magnussen wouldn't dream of it. Bounding aroundthe stage like a puppy, taking off his clothes at the slightest excuse, his Spike is an amusing bit of eyecandy. Here too Durang might have easily gone for a sleazier or stupider vibe but he and Magnussen
create an endearing fool who doesn't mean harm even when he's breaking hearts.
Cassandra is surely the trickiest role, a voodoo-spouting housekeeper who keeps getting convulsed by
spirits and intoning doom when she's not sticking needles in a doll. Grant has a blast with her, somehowmaking this yet another full-bodied character rather than the stereotype Cassandra might so easilybecome in lesser hands. Maybe it's her kewpie doll voice or offhandedly sexy nature, but Grant'sCassandra steals the show whenever she's onstage.
David Hyde Pierce has a show-stopping monologue in the second act but it's his subtle work throughout
that keeps this engine running smoothly. His dry wit and perfect straight-man demeanor are great foilsfor the madness swirling around him. But it's Nielsen as Sonia who has the juiciest part of all. She does itall here: spouting off one-liners that are desperately funny, playing frumpy, glamming it up for the
costume party where she sports a wickedly funny Maggie Smith impersonation and then quieting the
house to hushed attention when this lonely sweetheart has a conversation with a man asking her out on adate. She's fated for at least a Tony nomination, as is the show itself.
Durang's real tribute to Chekhov is not a lot of sly references to Chekhov plays but the fact that he's
tempered his usual lunacy. Here we get a genuine heartfelt story with real characters that ache and feeland become real to us. It easily ranks among his best. That's why my small caveat is for SigourneyWeaver. She's very funny as Masha and is as much a muse for Durang as anyone. You'll enjoy her
performance as I did. But Weaver is all arch and knowing in her delivery, never digging below the surface
of this silliness when all around her others are mining gold. She should be even better. This comedydeserves it.
CIRQUE DU SOLEIL'S TOTEM *** out of ****
SHEA STADIUM AKA CITI FIELD
By now, audiences know you can be a fan of Cirque Du Soleil but still need the skinny on each show.
They have so many productions around the globe that invariably some are lacking in imagination or too
sexy perhaps for kids or simply in the wrong venue to make it wholly worth your while.
Happily, I can say that Totems is a return to the simple pleasures Cirque Du Soleil made their name with,
that it's sexy but in a family-friendly manner and that the current venue is their best location in New
York in many years. I saw their last show at Radio City Music Hall. That venue just doesn't suit them (orany circus) and Zarkana was a dark and confusing mess in terms of atmosphere. Madison Square Garden
holds traditional circuses nicely (you can squeeze in a dozen elephants with room to spare) but it's toocavernous to enjoy the gentle pleasures of Cirque at its best. But in the parking lot of Shea Stadium (Imean, Citi Field), you get an intimate production of Cirque Du Soleil with the audience up close on three
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sides and the emphasis on juggling and clowning and acrobatics that delight.
This production is written and directed by Robert LePage and a Canadian and European sensibility
dominates. Surely no American circus company would base a show around the evolution of man fromamphibious creatures to humans, complete with appearances by a Charles Darwin studying and takingnotes in nature and an amusing visual gag about man and apes evolving from a common ancestor.Creationists need not despair: Humans and creatures from all eras coexist and the emphasis is onentertainment, not science!
The Amerindian (their term) couple that romanced each other on roller skates somehow was kitsch I
couldn't handle. The entire show is a mishmash (or should I say celebration?) of various cultures butroller skating Indians was a bridge too far. It didn't help that their would-be romance was moreHarlequin than genuinely steamy. And the very challenging act of young women riding on unicycles andkicking bowls through the air and catching them on their heads was notable for its mistakes the night Isaw it. Mistakes are good: They remind you how challenging their skills are and let the audience root forsuccess. Still, I couldn't help thinking there was probably more drama when they got backstage.
But overall, the quality was high and the lags few. The clowning on a speedboat was a little rote but the
clowning around fishing was an early delight. I loved the romantic flirting of a young couple on a trapezeand as with many acts, the eye candy was notably appealing for everyone in the audience both women
and men.
The amphibious creatures came and went, cavorting about on a wooden structure that lent itself to
simple but pleasing to look at gymnastics. Troupes came out and delivered acts like a team that featuredmen leaping from one springy board held aloft across the stage and landing on another narrow board.Invariably acts tried to build and build to a spectacular finish. But often it was the simplest, quietestmoments that delighted the most, such as Darwin's bowl spinning where he sat on stage and sent bowlsswirling off in all directions, each one charting an elliptical course before returning back to him, only tobe shunted off in another direction until Darwin and his team had a constellation of bowls criss-crossingthe stage. Elegant and simple and captivating, just like Cirque Du Soleil at its best.
THE LYING LESSON * 1/2 out of ****
LINDA GROSS THEATER FOR ATLANTIC THEATER COMPANY
Craig Lucas has delivered an oddly flat and un-involving play about movie stars and fandom. Carol Kane
is Bette Davis, trying to be incognito in a small coastal town in Maine in 1981. Minnie (Mickey Sumner)
is the caretaker of the home Davis is about to close on. Minnie doesn't seem to have a clue who BetteDavis actually is (kids these days!) but it amuses the star, as long as Minnie can come to appreciateexactly how important Davis is and prove a suitable audience. That, truly, is about it.
Kane does not spring to mind when thinking of Davis but here she bears a strong physical resemblance Buy a link here
fat...
www.iconsumerDigest.com
and certainly captures the spirit of an aging movie star. All credit to the costumes of Ilona Somogyi, the
lighting of Russell H. Champa and the hair and wigs of Charles LaPointe to make this so. The onlyproblem is her voice, which retains the distinctive accent and mannerisms we associate with Kane. It's aconstant reminder of the actress in the role. But once we accept Bette Davis as a character separate fromrather than an imitation of the actual screen icon, it doesn't really matter.
The only real problem is the play, which has nothing to say. The most vivid lines in The Lying Lesson are
little zingers about Joan Crawford that Lucas could deliver in his sleep. (Still, they're quite welcome.)
Sumner has very little to do as the mildly duplicitous Minnie, an ardent fan who actually feigns ignoranceof Davis to win her trust and then secretly starts taping their conversations. This goes precisely nowhere.
Whatever Lucas had in mind about stardom and fans and the essential skill of lying whether you're an
actress or a fan or simply a human, it isn't developed to any degree here. Director Pam MacKinnon is leftto simply guide the actors through their paces, let Kane have a little fun and get us out the door withouttoo much fuss. For more inventive lying, we'll have to wait til next time.
THE THEATER SEASON 2012-2013 (on a four star scale)
As You Like it (Shakespeare in the Park withLily Rabe) ****
Chimichangas And Zoloft *
Closer Than Ever ***
Cock ** 1/2
Harvey with Jim Parsons *
My Children! My Africa! ***
Once On This Island ***
Potted Potter *
Storefront Church ** 1/2
Title And Deed ***
Picture Incomplete (NYMF) **
Flambe Dreams (NYMF) **
Rio (NYMF) **
The Two Month Rule (NYMF) *
Trouble (NYMF) ** 1/2
Stealing Time (NYMF) **
Requiem For A Lost Girl (NYMF) ** 1/2
Re-Animator The Musical (NYMF) ***
Baby Case (NYMF) ** 1/2
How Deep Is The Ocean (NYMF) ** 1/2
Central Avenue Breakdown (NYMF) ***
Foreverman (NYMF) * 1/2
Swing State (NYMF) * 1/2
Stand Tall: A Rock Musical (NYMF) * 1/2
Living With Henry (NYMF) *
A Letter To Harvey Milk (NYMF) ** 1/2
The Last Smoker In America **
Gore Vidal's The Best Man (w new cast) ***
Into The Woods at Delacorte ** 1/2
Bring It On: The Musical **
Bullet For Adolf *
Summer Shorts Series B: Paul Rudnick, Neil LaBute, etc. **
Harrison, TX ***
Dark Hollow: An Appalachian "Woyzeck" (FringeNYC) * 1/2
Pink Milk (FringeNYC)* 1/2
Who Murdered Love (FringeNYC) no stars
Storytime With Mr. Buttermen (FringeNYC) **
#MormonInChief (FringeNYC) **
An Interrogation Primer (FringeNYC) ***
An Evening With Kirk Douglas (FringeNYC) *
Sheherizade (FringeNYC) **
The Great Pie Robbery (FringeNYC) ** 1/2
Independents (FringeNYC) *** 1/2
The Dick and The Rose (FringeNYC) **
Magdalen (FringeNYC) ***
Bombsheltered (FringeNYC) ** 1/2
Paper Plane (FringeNYC) ** 1/2
Rated M For Murder (FringeNYC) ** 1/2
Mallory/Valerie (FringeNYC) *
Non-Equity: The Musical! (FringeNYC) *
Blanche: The Bittersweet Life Of A Prairie Dame (FringeNYC) *** 1/2
City Of Shadows (FringeNYC) ***
Forbidden Broadway: Alive & Kicking ***
Salamander Starts Over (FringeNYC) ***
Pieces (FringeNYC) *
The Train Driver ***
Chaplin The Musical * 1/2
Detroit ** 1/2
Heartless at Signature **
Einstein On The Beach at BAM ****
Red-Handed Otter ** 1/2
Marry Me A Little **
FOLLOW ARTSAn Enemy Of The People ** 1/2
The Old Man And The Old Moon *** 1/2
A Chorus Line at Papermill ***
Helen & Edgar ***
Grace * 1/2
Cyrano de Bergerac **
Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? ***
Disgraced **
Annie ** 1/2
The Heiress **
Checkers ** 1/2
Ivanov ***
Golden Child at Signature ** 1/2
Giant at the Public *** 1/2
Scandalous * 1/2
Forever Dusty **
The Performers **
The Piano Lesson at Signature *** 1/2
Un Ballo In Maschera at the Met *** 1/2 (singing) * (production) so call it ** 1/2
A Christmas Story: The Musical **
The Sound Of Music at Papermill ***
My Name Is Asher Lev *** 1/2
Golden Boy **
A Civil War Christmas ** 1/2
Dead Accounts **
The Anarchist *
Glengarry Glen Ross **
Bare **
The Mystery Of Edwin Drood ** 1/2
The Great God Pan ** 1/2
The Other Place ** 1/2
Picnic * 1/2
Opus No. 7 ** 1/2
Deceit * 1/2
Life And Times Episodes 1-4 **
Cat On A Hot Tin Roof (w Scarlett Johansson) * 1/2
The Jamme r ***
Blood Play ** 1/2
Manilow On Broadway ** 1/2
Women Of Will ** 1/2
All In The Timing ***
Isaac's Eye ***
Bunnicula: A Rabbit Tale Of Musical Mystery ** 1/2
The Mnemonist Of Dutchess County * 1/2
Much Ado About Nothing ***
Really Really *
Parsifal at the Met *** 1/2
The Madrid * 1/2
The Wild Bride at St. Ann's ** 1/2
Passion at CSC *** 1/2
Carousel at Lincoln Center ***
The Revisionist **
Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella ***
Rock Of Ages * 1/2
Ann ** 1/2
Old Hats ***
The Flick ***
Detroit '67 ** 1/2
Howling Hilda reading * (Mary Testa ***)
Hit The Wall *
Breakfast At Tiffany's * 1/2
Vanya And Sonia And Masha And Spike *** 1/2
Cirque Du Soleil's Totem ***
The Lying Lesson * 1/2
Thanks for reading. Michael Giltz is the cohost of Showbiz Sandbox , a weekly pop culture podcast that
reveals the industry take on entertainment news of the day and features top journalists and opinionmakers as guests. It's available for free on iTunes. Visit Michael Giltz at his website and his daily blog.
Download his podcast of celebrity interviews and his radio show, also called Popsurfing and alsoavailable for free on iTunes. Link to him on Netflix and gain access to thousands of ratings and reviews.
Note : Michael Giltz is provided with free tickets to shows with the understanding that he will be
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Michael Giltz
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In an era when many musicals are based on world-
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stories and fairy tales, Hands On A Hardbody is
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Comments
Michael Giltz
Freelance writer
Greenberg has taken the merest suggestion that
Fred is gay in the novella and made it a fitful
subplot. This would be fine if Greenberg made
something of it; perhaps Holly would help Fred
accept being gay with her free-spirited nature?
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Maybe you've been there as a playwright, as I have.
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The Pinks: A Lesson in
Civil War History andPhysical Theater
Berkeley Rep's FallaciOffers Taut But ThinSketch of Famed
Journalist
Theater: The Flick and
Detroit '67 Promise; Hitthe Wall Lets DownStonewall
Express(ionist) Yourself:Target Margin Theater'sThe (*) Inn
'The Lying Lesson': CarolKane as Bette DavisBuying a House in Maine
Walking the Tightrope at24th Street TheatreNYC-ARTS
The dialogue targets empathy for these nuanced
female characters. "Me? The villain of this story?"says Greenhow to Pinkerton. "It's all a matter of
perspective."
Comments
Leo Stutzin
Retired arts editor and theater critic, Modesto Bee
Oriana Fallaci was a larger-than-life personality --
outspoken, idealistic, pugnacious, passionate,
contradictory -- whose work often revealed as much
about herself as it did about her subjects.
Comments
Michael Giltz
Freelance writer
Like The Flick, the new drama Detroit '67 is by a
talented playwright. Both pieces have their flaws.
But both artists have created vivid characters we
want to spend time with.
Comments
Bess Rowen
Ph.D Student, Department of Theatre, CUNY, the Graduate
Center
The (*) Inn explores Target Margin Theater's stated
foundational principle: "that works of art return us
to real truths more powerfully by their divergence
from a strict illustration of reality."
Comments
Wilborn Hampton
Author, theater critic
If you ever wondered what really happened to Baby
Jane, Craig Lucas offers one theory in his new play
The Lying Lesson, a suspense thriller that holds...
Comments
Hoyt Hilsman
Journalist, screenwriter, critic, former candidate for
Congress
British playwright Mark Kenny's ode to love and
loss gets a marvelous, magical west coast premiere
at the 24th Street Theatre under the inspireddirection of Debbie Devine and with an
extraordinary cast.
CommentsNew Star-Crossed Lovers For
Broadway's 'Once'
Quick Read | Comments | 03.18.2013
Tony Awards Head Back To RadioCity
Quick Read | Comments | 03.18.2013
Girls Just Want To Have Fun!
Quick Read | Comments | 03.15.2013
New Edward Albee Play 'LayingAn Egg' Debuts With A SplashThis Season
Quick Read | Comments | 03.13.2013
From Bullied Gay Teen, ToBroadway Chorus Boy, To YoungAdult Author
Quick Read | Comments (11) | 03.12.2013'Much Ado About Nothing' Is AMust-See
Quick Read | Comments | 02.19.2013
'Les Mis' Is Back!
Quick Read | Comments | 02.19.2013
Stars Of Stage And Screen To HitNYC For A Great Gay Cause
Quick Read | Comments | 02.15.2013
More Minority Actors OnBroadway
Quick Read | Comments | 02.12.2013
Goodman's Robert Falls
Talks Shakespeare, BrianDennehy ... and Ron
Jeremy on The Interview
Show
A Veteran Returns to
Domestic Strife inHilarious Dead Metaphor
at ACT
Neva Say Neva: Guillermo
Calderon's Neva at ThePublic TheaterMark Bazer
Host, 'The Interview Show'; Syndicated humor columnist
Robert Falls, the Artistic Director for the Goodman
Theatre in Chicago, stopped by The Interview
Show to talk with me about his new production of
Measure for Measure , why Shakespeare is usually
boring, how to direct Brian Dennehy, and lots
more.
Comments
Leo Stutzin
Retired arts editor and theater critic, Modesto Bee
Comedy rarely takes blacker form than it does in
George F. Walker's Dead Metaphor. At the same
time, the pursuit of laughs rarely takes more timely,
absurd and hilarious form than it does in this world
premiere being staged by American Conservatory
Theater.
Comments
Bess Rowen
Ph.D Student, Department of Theatre, CUNY, the Graduate
Center
A single light, a chair, and three actors are on a
raised stage. This minimalism belongs to Chilean
director and playwright Guillermo Calderón's Neva ,
currently playing at The Public Theater.
CommentsLocals Protest High School
'Sweeney Todd' Production
Quick Read | Comments (13) | 03.14.2013
Happy Anniversary, LesMiserables!
Quick Read | Comments | 03.12.2013Jesse Tyler Ferguson In 'ComedyOf Errors'
Quick Read | Comments | 02.12.2013
Tyler Clementi's Story Comes ToChicago Stage
Quick Read | Comments (23) | 02.07.2013
From Actor To Playwright
Quick Read | Comments | 01.31.2013
How A Cult Musical Helped OneNYC Actor Come Out As Gay
Quick Read | Comments (54) | 01.23.2013
Veteran Actors To Take The Stage
Quick Read | Comments (24) | 03.09.2013
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1 7 0
1Theater: Breakfast At Tiffany's
Leaves You Hungry; Vanya, Sonia...
Leaves You Laughing
BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S * 1/2 out of ****
VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE
*** 1/2 out of ****CIRQUE DU SOLEIL'S TOTEM *** out of ****
THE LYING LESSON * 1/2 out of ****
BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S * 1/2 out of ****
CORT THEATRE
Some people cherish the glossy Blake Edwards film
Breakfast At Tiffany's and Audrey Hepburn's enduring
portrayal of Holly Golightly. (Presumably they just
ignore Mickey Rooney's horribly dated yellow-face portrayal of an Asian-American neighbor.) Othersprefer the darker, more complex novella by Truman Capote. Neither group, sadly, will enjoy theBroadway staging of a play that hopes to combine the glamor of the movie and the richness of the novellabut falls short of both.
I can't tell you how many people have asked me or assumed this was a musical, but it's a straight drama.
Like the novella, it focuses on Fred (Cory Michael Smith), a struggling writer who is pulled into the orbitof Holly Golightly (Emilia Clarke), a backwoods teenager who has reinvented herself as an intriguing,glamorous figure of high society. Holly is dazzling and fun and irresponsible and determined to keepreinventing herself until she finds someone or somewhere that she likes. Fred is the downstairs neighborwho knows exactly what he wants -- to write and be read -- but he enjoys the transformative friendship
Holly offers. It's the eternal story of New York City: people following their dreams and lost souls who
follow any dream they can, each one more glittering and improbable than the next.
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March 27, 2013
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The adaptation by Richard Greenberg hews closely to the plot of the novella. But essentially this work
doesn't lend itself to the theater. Greenberg uses some of the best lines, but words that workedbeautifully on the page feel forced onstage. At one point, he quotes almost verbatim this speech Hollymakes to a friend (in the play it's directed to another character).
"Never love a wild thing, Mr. Bell. That was Doc's mistake. He was always lugging home wild things. A
hawk with a hurt wing. One time it was a full-grown bobcat with a broken leg. But you can't give yourheart to a wild thing: the more you do, the stronger they get. Until they're strong enough to run into thewoods. Or fly into a tree. Then a taller tree. Then the sky. That's how you'll end up, Mr. Bell. If you letyourself love a wild thing. You'll end up looking at the sky."
It's a key passage in the 75-page work by Capote, the moment when Holly Golightly shows a rare bit of
insight into herself and others that isn't calculating. But as dialogue onstage, it's too flatly revealing.Similarly, the major elements of this production -- the scenic design by Derek McLane, the costumes byColleen Atwood, the lighting by Peter Kaczorowski -- are functional but never inspired.
Of course it's the film that looms over this production since most people haven't read the novella.
Cory Michael Smith has the George Peppard role, though that's misleading since the George Peppard role
doesn't exist here. Fred is not a gigolo for women mirroring Holly's kept girl status with men. He's awriter and gay and Holly is his best friend, not his romantic ideal. Smith was very good in the OffBroadway play Cock and holds the stage ably here, quite a good accomplishment since the play is not
terribly riveting.
Greenberg has taken the merest suggestion that Fred is gay in the novella and made it a fitful subplot.
This would be fine if Greenberg made something of it; perhaps Holly would help Fred accept being gaywith her free-spirited nature? Instead, it's just an obvious fact that isn't explored interestingly, eventhough Fred seems clueless about his own sexuality and later embarrassed by it until it's obvious to all. Atthe climax, the nude bathtub scene they share is essentially platonic; the journey to that moment is not
memorable.
George Wendt brings his avuncular presence and a great deal of goodwill to the smallish role of the
bartender Joe Bell. Lee Wilkof as Holly's Hollywood contact shines as much as one can under thecircumstances, making a convincing agent and bringing the stage to life whenever he's on it.
But it's Audrey Hepburn above all that one thinks of the moment the words Breakfast At Tiffany's are
uttered. She was an effortlessly elegant character, a creature of pure whimsy. You could easily imagine
the wealthy and powerful men of New York wanting to protect her and care for her and call her theirown.
Clarke (very good in HBO's Game Of Thrones ) has the unenviable task of putting her own stamp on the
role in her Broadway debut. Perhaps to avoid comparisons, she and director Sean Mathias seem to have
made the wrong-headed choice to emphasize the artifice in Holly Golightly. Hepburn's Holly hadreinvented herself but was so charming and elegant, you could almost imagine she was a princesschoosing to slum it. Clarke's Holly is far more transparent a make-over, with a voice that strains forelegance but lets the effort show. They want us to be constantly reminded that Holly is not quite whatshe wants to seem. The result is that we wonder why anyone sophisticated or savvy wouldn't see throughthis kid in five minutes. She's dining with captains of industry? This Holly is more likely to be servingthem, all the while studying the clothes and manner of their mistresses with a desperate hunger.
One of the few moments when Clarke gets to shine and we glimpse a fully rounded character is when she
sits on her fire escape and strums a guitar. In the movie, of course, Hepburn sang "Moon River." But hereas in the novella Holly sings a folk-country tune, a startling hint that we're about to discover where thiskid came from. Clarke delivers it with ease and the song is transporting. For a brief scene, we are in thepresence of a real person, one with a past and perhaps a future. Maybe Breakfast At Tiffany's was meant
to sing after all.
VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE *** 1/2 out of ****
GOLDEN THEATRE
Christopher Durang's new play is the funniest comedy on Broadway. That's not saying much since it's the
only comedy on Broadway. But even if there were a lot more comedies on Broadway, it would still
probably be the funniest. Pound for pound it's just as funny as the musical The Book Of Mormon ... and
tickets are probably a lot easier to get to Vanya And Sonia And Masha And Spike.
Nominally a tribute to Anton Chekhov, you don't need to know a thing about the Russian playwright in
order to enjoy the show, though it does help to laugh knowingly at any reference to a cherry orchard, justto let your neighbors in the audience think you're sophisticated. In truth, anyone can identify with thisstory of two siblings who share a home in spinsterhood after years of caring for their aging parents.Vanya (David Hyde Pierce) is gay and lonely. Sonia (Kristine Nielsen) is frumpy and sad. Theirglamorous movie star sister Masha (Sigourney Weaver) pays all the bills and swans in every once in a
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while to make sure they still feel appropriately inadequate over their lives and grateful for hers.
This time Masha is bringing along a boy toy named Spike (Billy Magnussen) amidst warnings from their
truth-telling housekeeper Cassandra (Shalita Grant) that they better beware. Indeed! Masha doesn't justwant to lord it over her siblings and attend a costume party at the former home of Dorothy Parker. Shealso wants to inform them that she's selling the house and they better start fending for themselves.
It's all stuff and nonsense brought to a boil by director Nicholas Martin, thanks to a cast that is good togreat from top to bottom. Emily Rebholz has great fun with the costumes and it's hard to underestimatehow important the work of lighting designer Justin Townsend and the music and sound design by MarkBennett are in punctuating jokes and scenes while taking us nimbly from light comedy to quiet momentsof genuine pathos. If I weren't laughing so much, I might have paid better attention and be able to givespecific examples. The set by David Korins is frankly a mess, with an ungainly attempt to show both theoutside of the house and the inside of what I assume is a screened-in porch. It hardly matters.
Vanya And Sonia And Masha And Spike boasts the strongest ensemble on Broadway right now.
Genevieve Angelson is just right in the small role of Nina, a would-be actress and passionate fan of
Masha. Durang might easily have written a more obvious role, an Anne Baxter-like conniver or dippyfool. But instead he did the far more difficult task of writing a funny, young actress, naive and foolish butsincere without being silly.
Spike is all attention-grabbing and needy for admiration. He flirts with everyone in sight without
compunction or shame. Subtlety is not called for and Magnussen wouldn't dream of it. Bounding aroundthe stage like a puppy, taking off his clothes at the slightest excuse, his Spike is an amusing bit of eyecandy. Here too Durang might have easily gone for a sleazier or stupider vibe but he and Magnussen
create an endearing fool who doesn't mean harm even when he's breaking hearts.
Cassandra is surely the trickiest role, a voodoo-spouting housekeeper who keeps getting convulsed by
spirits and intoning doom when she's not sticking needles in a doll. Grant has a blast with her, somehowmaking this yet another full-bodied character rather than the stereotype Cassandra might so easilybecome in lesser hands. Maybe it's her kewpie doll voice or offhandedly sexy nature, but Grant'sCassandra steals the show whenever she's onstage.
David Hyde Pierce has a show-stopping monologue in the second act but it's his subtle work throughout
that keeps this engine running smoothly. His dry wit and perfect straight-man demeanor are great foilsfor the madness swirling around him. But it's Nielsen as Sonia who has the juiciest part of all. She does itall here: spouting off one-liners that are desperately funny, playing frumpy, glamming it up for the
costume party where she sports a wickedly funny Maggie Smith impersonation and then quieting the
house to hushed attention when this lonely sweetheart has a conversation with a man asking her out on adate. She's fated for at least a Tony nomination, as is the show itself.
Durang's real tribute to Chekhov is not a lot of sly references to Chekhov plays but the fact that he's
tempered his usual lunacy. Here we get a genuine heartfelt story with real characters that ache and feeland become real to us. It easily ranks among his best. That's why my small caveat is for SigourneyWeaver. She's very funny as Masha and is as much a muse for Durang as anyone. You'll enjoy her
performance as I did. But Weaver is all arch and knowing in her delivery, never digging below the surface
of this silliness when all around her others are mining gold. She should be even better. This comedydeserves it.
CIRQUE DU SOLEIL'S TOTEM *** out of ****
SHEA STADIUM AKA CITI FIELD
By now, audiences know you can be a fan of Cirque Du Soleil but still need the skinny on each show.
They have so many productions around the globe that invariably some are lacking in imagination or too
sexy perhaps for kids or simply in the wrong venue to make it wholly worth your while.
Happily, I can say that Totems is a return to the simple pleasures Cirque Du Soleil made their name with,
that it's sexy but in a family-friendly manner and that the current venue is their best location in New
York in many years. I saw their last show at Radio City Music Hall. That venue just doesn't suit them (orany circus) and Zarkana was a dark and confusing mess in terms of atmosphere. Madison Square Garden
holds traditional circuses nicely (you can squeeze in a dozen elephants with room to spare) but it's toocavernous to enjoy the gentle pleasures of Cirque at its best. But in the parking lot of Shea Stadium (Imean, Citi Field), you get an intimate production of Cirque Du Soleil with the audience up close on three
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sides and the emphasis on juggling and clowning and acrobatics that delight.
This production is written and directed by Robert LePage and a Canadian and European sensibility
dominates. Surely no American circus company would base a show around the evolution of man fromamphibious creatures to humans, complete with appearances by a Charles Darwin studying and takingnotes in nature and an amusing visual gag about man and apes evolving from a common ancestor.Creationists need not despair: Humans and creatures from all eras coexist and the emphasis is onentertainment, not science!
The Amerindian (their term) couple that romanced each other on roller skates somehow was kitsch I
couldn't handle. The entire show is a mishmash (or should I say celebration?) of various cultures butroller skating Indians was a bridge too far. It didn't help that their would-be romance was moreHarlequin than genuinely steamy. And the very challenging act of young women riding on unicycles andkicking bowls through the air and catching them on their heads was notable for its mistakes the night Isaw it. Mistakes are good: They remind you how challenging their skills are and let the audience root forsuccess. Still, I couldn't help thinking there was probably more drama when they got backstage.
But overall, the quality was high and the lags few. The clowning on a speedboat was a little rote but the
clowning around fishing was an early delight. I loved the romantic flirting of a young couple on a trapezeand as with many acts, the eye candy was notably appealing for everyone in the audience both women
and men.
The amphibious creatures came and went, cavorting about on a wooden structure that lent itself to
simple but pleasing to look at gymnastics. Troupes came out and delivered acts like a team that featuredmen leaping from one springy board held aloft across the stage and landing on another narrow board.Invariably acts tried to build and build to a spectacular finish. But often it was the simplest, quietestmoments that delighted the most, such as Darwin's bowl spinning where he sat on stage and sent bowlsswirling off in all directions, each one charting an elliptical course before returning back to him, only tobe shunted off in another direction until Darwin and his team had a constellation of bowls criss-crossingthe stage. Elegant and simple and captivating, just like Cirque Du Soleil at its best.
THE LYING LESSON * 1/2 out of ****
LINDA GROSS THEATER FOR ATLANTIC THEATER COMPANY
Craig Lucas has delivered an oddly flat and un-involving play about movie stars and fandom. Carol Kane
is Bette Davis, trying to be incognito in a small coastal town in Maine in 1981. Minnie (Mickey Sumner)
is the caretaker of the home Davis is about to close on. Minnie doesn't seem to have a clue who BetteDavis actually is (kids these days!) but it amuses the star, as long as Minnie can come to appreciateexactly how important Davis is and prove a suitable audience. That, truly, is about it.
Kane does not spring to mind when thinking of Davis but here she bears a strong physical resemblance Buy a link here
fat...
www.iconsumerDigest.com
and certainly captures the spirit of an aging movie star. All credit to the costumes of Ilona Somogyi, the
lighting of Russell H. Champa and the hair and wigs of Charles LaPointe to make this so. The onlyproblem is her voice, which retains the distinctive accent and mannerisms we associate with Kane. It's aconstant reminder of the actress in the role. But once we accept Bette Davis as a character separate fromrather than an imitation of the actual screen icon, it doesn't really matter.
The only real problem is the play, which has nothing to say. The most vivid lines in The Lying Lesson are
little zingers about Joan Crawford that Lucas could deliver in his sleep. (Still, they're quite welcome.)
Sumner has very little to do as the mildly duplicitous Minnie, an ardent fan who actually feigns ignoranceof Davis to win her trust and then secretly starts taping their conversations. This goes precisely nowhere.
Whatever Lucas had in mind about stardom and fans and the essential skill of lying whether you're an
actress or a fan or simply a human, it isn't developed to any degree here. Director Pam MacKinnon is leftto simply guide the actors through their paces, let Kane have a little fun and get us out the door withouttoo much fuss. For more inventive lying, we'll have to wait til next time.
THE THEATER SEASON 2012-2013 (on a four star scale)
As You Like it (Shakespeare in the Park withLily Rabe) ****
Chimichangas And Zoloft *
Closer Than Ever ***
Cock ** 1/2
Harvey with Jim Parsons *
My Children! My Africa! ***
Once On This Island ***
Potted Potter *
Storefront Church ** 1/2
Title And Deed ***
Picture Incomplete (NYMF) **
Flambe Dreams (NYMF) **
Rio (NYMF) **
The Two Month Rule (NYMF) *
Trouble (NYMF) ** 1/2
Stealing Time (NYMF) **
Requiem For A Lost Girl (NYMF) ** 1/2
Re-Animator The Musical (NYMF) ***
Baby Case (NYMF) ** 1/2
How Deep Is The Ocean (NYMF) ** 1/2
Central Avenue Breakdown (NYMF) ***
Foreverman (NYMF) * 1/2
Swing State (NYMF) * 1/2
Stand Tall: A Rock Musical (NYMF) * 1/2
Living With Henry (NYMF) *
A Letter To Harvey Milk (NYMF) ** 1/2
The Last Smoker In America **
Gore Vidal's The Best Man (w new cast) ***
Into The Woods at Delacorte ** 1/2
Bring It On: The Musical **
Bullet For Adolf *
Summer Shorts Series B: Paul Rudnick, Neil LaBute, etc. **
Harrison, TX ***
Dark Hollow: An Appalachian "Woyzeck" (FringeNYC) * 1/2
Pink Milk (FringeNYC)* 1/2
Who Murdered Love (FringeNYC) no stars
Storytime With Mr. Buttermen (FringeNYC) **
#MormonInChief (FringeNYC) **
An Interrogation Primer (FringeNYC) ***
An Evening With Kirk Douglas (FringeNYC) *
Sheherizade (FringeNYC) **
The Great Pie Robbery (FringeNYC) ** 1/2
Independents (FringeNYC) *** 1/2
The Dick and The Rose (FringeNYC) **
Magdalen (FringeNYC) ***
Bombsheltered (FringeNYC) ** 1/2
Paper Plane (FringeNYC) ** 1/2
Rated M For Murder (FringeNYC) ** 1/2
Mallory/Valerie (FringeNYC) *
Non-Equity: The Musical! (FringeNYC) *
Blanche: The Bittersweet Life Of A Prairie Dame (FringeNYC) *** 1/2
City Of Shadows (FringeNYC) ***
Forbidden Broadway: Alive & Kicking ***
Salamander Starts Over (FringeNYC) ***
Pieces (FringeNYC) *
The Train Driver ***
Chaplin The Musical * 1/2
Detroit ** 1/2
Heartless at Signature **
Einstein On The Beach at BAM ****
Red-Handed Otter ** 1/2
Marry Me A Little **
FOLLOW ARTSAn Enemy Of The People ** 1/2
The Old Man And The Old Moon *** 1/2
A Chorus Line at Papermill ***
Helen & Edgar ***
Grace * 1/2
Cyrano de Bergerac **
Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? ***
Disgraced **
Annie ** 1/2
The Heiress **
Checkers ** 1/2
Ivanov ***
Golden Child at Signature ** 1/2
Giant at the Public *** 1/2
Scandalous * 1/2
Forever Dusty **
The Performers **
The Piano Lesson at Signature *** 1/2
Un Ballo In Maschera at the Met *** 1/2 (singing) * (production) so call it ** 1/2
A Christmas Story: The Musical **
The Sound Of Music at Papermill ***
My Name Is Asher Lev *** 1/2
Golden Boy **
A Civil War Christmas ** 1/2
Dead Accounts **
The Anarchist *
Glengarry Glen Ross **
Bare **
The Mystery Of Edwin Drood ** 1/2
The Great God Pan ** 1/2
The Other Place ** 1/2
Picnic * 1/2
Opus No. 7 ** 1/2
Deceit * 1/2
Life And Times Episodes 1-4 **
Cat On A Hot Tin Roof (w Scarlett Johansson) * 1/2
The Jamme r ***
Blood Play ** 1/2
Manilow On Broadway ** 1/2
Women Of Will ** 1/2
All In The Timing ***
Isaac's Eye ***
Bunnicula: A Rabbit Tale Of Musical Mystery ** 1/2
The Mnemonist Of Dutchess County * 1/2
Much Ado About Nothing ***
Really Really *
Parsifal at the Met *** 1/2
The Madrid * 1/2
The Wild Bride at St. Ann's ** 1/2
Passion at CSC *** 1/2
Carousel at Lincoln Center ***
The Revisionist **
Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella ***
Rock Of Ages * 1/2
Ann ** 1/2
Old Hats ***
The Flick ***
Detroit '67 ** 1/2
Howling Hilda reading * (Mary Testa ***)
Hit The Wall *
Breakfast At Tiffany's * 1/2
Vanya And Sonia And Masha And Spike *** 1/2
Cirque Du Soleil's Totem ***
The Lying Lesson * 1/2
Thanks for reading. Michael Giltz is the cohost of Showbiz Sandbox , a weekly pop culture podcast that
reveals the industry take on entertainment news of the day and features top journalists and opinionmakers as guests. It's available for free on iTunes. Visit Michael Giltz at his website and his daily blog.
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Michael Giltz
Freelance writer
In an era when many musicals are based on world-
famous comic books are best-selling children's
stories and fairy tales, Hands On A Hardbody is
based on a documentary most people have never
heard about.
Comments
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Lew Whittington
Arts writer
This play, is indeed cinematic in scope. 450 years
later, the modestly equipped Lantern Theater and
director Charles McMahon solve any issues of scale,with kinetic and fully engaged stagecraft. Theirs is
nothing less than an intimate epic.
CommentsHappy Birthday, Tennessee
Williams!
Quick Read | Comments | 03.26.2013
Hipsters Find Love In A RockComedy Musical
Quick Read | Comments | 03.26.2013
MOST POPULAR THEATRE STORIES 1 of 3
Pink Floyd Play, 'Dark Side,'
By Tom Stoppard To BeBroadcast Over BBC Radio
107 Comments
Tennessee WilliamsBirthday: 10 Quotes ToCelebrate The GreatAmerican Playwright
9 CommentsStocks soar--but some
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Theater Review: A
Masterful Master Class
Stage Door: Hands on aHardbody, Totem
Theater: Breakfast AtTiffany's Leaves YouHungry; Vanya, Sonia...Leaves You Laughing
New Play Development:Death By Talkback
Fusebox 2013Hoyt Hilsman
Journalist, screenwriter, critic, former candidate for
Congress
Maria Callas was a complex character,
bootstrapping her way up from poverty tointernational stardom, largely through grit and the
force of her personality. Her onstage magnetismand passionate approach to acting brought freshlife to the opera scene.
Comments
Fern Siegel
Deputy Editor, MediaPost
It may sound like an improbable topic for a
Broadway musical, but Hands on a Hardbody , now
at the Brooks Atkinson, takes as its premise, a
group of people hoping to win a $22,000 Ford
truck.
Comments
Michael Giltz
Freelance writer
Greenberg has taken the merest suggestion that
Fred is gay in the novella and made it a fitful
subplot. This would be fine if Greenberg made
something of it; perhaps Holly would help Fred
accept being gay with her free-spirited nature?
Comments
Buy a link here Sponsored Links
New Diet Pill Controversy
Causes 10% Reduction in Bodyweight -
But Should It Be Banned?
Hconfidential.com
Better Than A Facelift?
Long Island City Doctor Has Lazy Way To
Look Years Younger in 17 Seconds
www.consumerproducts.com
Advance your career
Earn your IT degree at Capella University.
Learn more.
learning.capella.edu
Monica Bauer
Playwright and Political Science Professor; Writing Fellow
at Quinnipiac University
Maybe you've been there as a playwright, as I have.
Maybe you've been there as an audience member.
Maybe you've been there as part of a system of
"new play development." Maybe it's been working
against the creation of vibrant and exciting newtheater. I am speaking of the Talkback.
Comments
Timothy Braun
Writer
The Fusebox Festival has become Austin's cool,
quiet kid in the corner, offering a blend of theater,
dance, music, "free range" art, film, and the uniqueDigestible Feats program where artists and chefs
collaborate to create multifaceted and tasty,
experiences.
CommentsWorld Scrabble Champion And
Comedian Takes His Dark Tale ToThe Stage
Quick Read | Comments | 03.26.2013
Not Everyone Loves 'The Book OfMormon'
Quick Read | Comments (14) | 03.22.2013
'A Lackluster Story And OverlyFancy Direction'
Quick Read | Comments | 03.21.2013
What's It Like To Play HollyGolightly?
Quick Read | Comments | 03.19.2013
No Tiaras For Broadway's'Breakfast At Tiffany's'
Quick Read | Comments | 03.19.2013
'The Book Of Mormon' In
London: The Broadway HitReceives Mixed ReviewsAcross The Pond
14 Comments
Comedian Matt GrahamTalks SNL, ScrabbleChampionships And His
One-Man Show, 'This Too
Shall Suck' (PHOTO)
0 Comments
A New 'Old Boy' Off-Broadway
Quick Read | Comments | 03.06.2013
Jackie O. Explored In One-Woman
Play
Quick Read | Comments | 03.06.2013
Theater Fires Founder WithoutWarning After 17 Years On TheJob
Quick Read | Comments | 02.27.2013
The Rascals Are Back
Quick Read | Comments (70) | 02.21.2013
The Pinks: A Lesson in
Civil War History andPhysical Theater
Berkeley Rep's FallaciOffers Taut But ThinSketch of Famed
Journalist
Theater: The Flick and
Detroit '67 Promise; Hitthe Wall Lets DownStonewall
Express(ionist) Yourself:Target Margin Theater'sThe (*) Inn
'The Lying Lesson': CarolKane as Bette DavisBuying a House in Maine
Walking the Tightrope at24th Street TheatreNYC-ARTS
The dialogue targets empathy for these nuanced
female characters. "Me? The villain of this story?"says Greenhow to Pinkerton. "It's all a matter of
perspective."
Comments
Leo Stutzin
Retired arts editor and theater critic, Modesto Bee
Oriana Fallaci was a larger-than-life personality --
outspoken, idealistic, pugnacious, passionate,
contradictory -- whose work often revealed as much
about herself as it did about her subjects.
Comments
Michael Giltz
Freelance writer
Like The Flick, the new drama Detroit '67 is by a
talented playwright. Both pieces have their flaws.
But both artists have created vivid characters we
want to spend time with.
Comments
Bess Rowen
Ph.D Student, Department of Theatre, CUNY, the Graduate
Center
The (*) Inn explores Target Margin Theater's stated
foundational principle: "that works of art return us
to real truths more powerfully by their divergence
from a strict illustration of reality."
Comments
Wilborn Hampton
Author, theater critic
If you ever wondered what really happened to Baby
Jane, Craig Lucas offers one theory in his new play
The Lying Lesson, a suspense thriller that holds...
Comments
Hoyt Hilsman
Journalist, screenwriter, critic, former candidate for
Congress
British playwright Mark Kenny's ode to love and
loss gets a marvelous, magical west coast premiere
at the 24th Street Theatre under the inspireddirection of Debbie Devine and with an
extraordinary cast.
CommentsNew Star-Crossed Lovers For
Broadway's 'Once'
Quick Read | Comments | 03.18.2013
Tony Awards Head Back To RadioCity
Quick Read | Comments | 03.18.2013
Girls Just Want To Have Fun!
Quick Read | Comments | 03.15.2013
New Edward Albee Play 'LayingAn Egg' Debuts With A SplashThis Season
Quick Read | Comments | 03.13.2013
From Bullied Gay Teen, ToBroadway Chorus Boy, To YoungAdult Author
Quick Read | Comments (11) | 03.12.2013'Much Ado About Nothing' Is AMust-See
Quick Read | Comments | 02.19.2013
'Les Mis' Is Back!
Quick Read | Comments | 02.19.2013
Stars Of Stage And Screen To HitNYC For A Great Gay Cause
Quick Read | Comments | 02.15.2013
More Minority Actors OnBroadway
Quick Read | Comments | 02.12.2013
Goodman's Robert Falls
Talks Shakespeare, BrianDennehy ... and Ron
Jeremy on The Interview
Show
A Veteran Returns to
Domestic Strife inHilarious Dead Metaphor
at ACT
Neva Say Neva: Guillermo
Calderon's Neva at ThePublic TheaterMark Bazer
Host, 'The Interview Show'; Syndicated humor columnist
Robert Falls, the Artistic Director for the Goodman
Theatre in Chicago, stopped by The Interview
Show to talk with me about his new production of
Measure for Measure , why Shakespeare is usually
boring, how to direct Brian Dennehy, and lots
more.
Comments
Leo Stutzin
Retired arts editor and theater critic, Modesto Bee
Comedy rarely takes blacker form than it does in
George F. Walker's Dead Metaphor. At the same
time, the pursuit of laughs rarely takes more timely,
absurd and hilarious form than it does in this world
premiere being staged by American Conservatory
Theater.
Comments
Bess Rowen
Ph.D Student, Department of Theatre, CUNY, the Graduate
Center
A single light, a chair, and three actors are on a
raised stage. This minimalism belongs to Chilean
director and playwright Guillermo Calderón's Neva ,
currently playing at The Public Theater.
CommentsLocals Protest High School
'Sweeney Todd' Production
Quick Read | Comments (13) | 03.14.2013
Happy Anniversary, LesMiserables!
Quick Read | Comments | 03.12.2013Jesse Tyler Ferguson In 'ComedyOf Errors'
Quick Read | Comments | 02.12.2013
Tyler Clementi's Story Comes ToChicago Stage
Quick Read | Comments (23) | 02.07.2013
From Actor To Playwright
Quick Read | Comments | 01.31.2013
How A Cult Musical Helped OneNYC Actor Come Out As Gay
Quick Read | Comments (54) | 01.23.2013
Veteran Actors To Take The Stage
Quick Read | Comments (24) | 03.09.2013
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