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WEDNESDAY, MAY 02, 2018
THEATER: "TRAVESTIES" IS NOT
TRAVESTIES *** 1/2 out of ****
ROUNDABOUT THEATRE COMPANY AT AMERICAN
AIRLINES
Is Tom Stoppard a show-off? His plays are brainy and oh-so-clever
and you feel you need to brush up on the topic at hand before thecurtain rises or you'll be at sea. Indeed, the program handed out at hismasterpiece Arcadia usually includes a helpful summary on the
history of British gardens and the philosophical underpinnings of
same. Some artists wear their hearts on their sleeve, but Stoppard
brandishes his brains , they say!
Stuff and nonsense, I say. Go to the Roundabout's delightful, fizzy
revival of Travesties , as you should. I promise, anyone with even a
passing understanding of dialectical materialism, pre-Surrealistic art
movements and amateur theatricals in Zurich during the war to end allwars will gobble it up.
Now you got that (modest) joke because it's crafted to allow you to
enjoy it even if you don't know the topics at hand. Stoppard -- perhapsour greatest living playwright -- is quite a bit better than that.Travesties does indeed involve author James Joyce, Dadaist Tristan
Tzara and the revolutionary Lenin along with the many ideas
exploding in Europe during World War I. What of it? James Joyce is a
towering figure in literature and Ulysses -- the book he is working on
while trapped in Zurich -- is a modernist landmark. Does an awarenessof Ulysses or Moby-dick now count as hopelessly sophisticated? Lenin
for Pete's sake led a revolution that established a totalitarian state in
Russia which dominated global politics for a century. Dada-ism is as
close to obscure the show gets and even there the mere word Dadapractically explains itself. Even 60 Minutes knows modern art can
poke fun at the very idea of art, even if 60 Minutes never quiteMICHAEL GILTZ AT WORK
Michael Giltz is a freelance writer
based in NYC and can be reached atmgiltz@pipeline.com
FAVORITE LINKS
Americablog
Five O'Clock Lightning baseball blogDeep Pop -- Lori Lakin's Blog
The Back Page -- Jason Page on ESPN
Radio
Cine-Blog -- George Robinson's Blog
Documents On Art & Cinema - Daryl
Chin's Blog
Brucie G's Wondrous Blog Of
Adventure and Mystery -- Bruce
Greenspan's Blog
BLOG ARCHIVE
► 2019 (7)
▼ 2018 (34)
► December (7)
understood it wasn't in on the joke.
Beware of plays that pat you on the back and make you feel a little
smarter or smugger for having attended them, the Yasmina Rezaboulevard comedies of the world with their knowing middle class
archness. They're the theatrical equivalent of James Michener novels
or Tom Clancy thrillers, books you can consume and walk away fromclutching a few stray details about the conquest of Alaska or nuclearsubmarines and consider them enlightening.
Go to Travesties knowing nothing about nothing (the way those of us
not up on England's dynasties might have first approached a
Shakespearean history play) and you'll have great fun. You'll see an oldman grapple with his memory, proud intellectuals brought down a
notch by their hubris, a strip tease, a romantic comedy of errors in
which a passage from Ulysses is unintentionally switched with a
diatribe from Lenin that causes quite a bit of confusion, a little songand dance, a lot of limericks, not nearly enough nudity and while youmight not always know precisely what is going on you'll be mightily
tickled. The true genius of Stoppard is that the play works for everyonebut the more you know about any of the historical figures or themovements they inspired in writing and art and politics, the moredazzled you will be. Oh and it all riffs on the classic comedy TheImportance of Being Earnest to side-splitting effect and if you don't
know what that is, well bugger off.
How good is this revival? Stoppard is one of my favorite playwrightsand I've waited more than 40 years to see this Tony winning comedyand it met my expectations. To be honest, I read the play just before
seeing it and as with Shakespeare, I recommend that for newcomers.
Knowing the broad outlines of the story and the dialogue and thevarious references will allow you to relax and enjoy the shenanigansoverseen by director Patrick Marber and his excellent cast.
The marvelous Tom Hollander stars as Henry Carr, who in real life did
indeed star in an amateur theatrical production of The Importance Of► November (4)
► October (6)
► September (1)
▼ May (5)
THEATER: BROADWAY BY
THE YEAR -- 1956 AND 1975
THEATER: "MY FAIR LADY"
SAYS #METOO!
THEATER: TENNESSEE
WILLIAMS ON SIMMER
WITH "SUMMER...
THEATER: "TRAVESTIES" IS
NOT
THEATER: 'SAINT JOAN"
LACKS FIRE
► April (6)
► March (4)
► February (1)
► 2017 (6)
► 2016 (2)
► 2015 (14)
► 2014 (2)
► 2013 (5)
► 2012 (18)
► 2011 (15)
► 2010 (10)
► 2009 (43)
► 2008 (86)
► 2007 (781)
► 2006 (2412)
► 2005 (5)
Being Earnest in Zurich during the war, an event overseen by James
Joyce of all people. They had a spat after the play's apparent success
and Carr's triumph in the lead role (not Earnest, the other one). Carr
sued Joyce, Joyce sued Carr and mostly won and then to rub salt inthe wounds mocked Carr by making him a minor character in Ulysses ,
namely a drunken and obscene soldier. Of course Carr got the last
laugh since Joyce's revenge made Carr immortal. And now Stoppard
has done it again, making Carr the lead of another great work of artand in the process doubling down on the cleverness of Rosencrantzand Guildenstern Are Dead. Instead of making use of one masterpiece
(Hamlet ), here Stoppard makes hay of Ulysses, Earnest , Dadaism and
some of Lenin's choicer phrases to boot.
The richly atmospheric set by Tim Hatley is a shambling, book-stuffed
library/home with a rostrum or pulpit of sorts that allows variouscharacters to intone with high drama when necessary, when they'renot popping out of it to make a dramatic entrance. Out shambles
Hollander, who merely stoops over to indicate the elderly Carr, a man
aggrandizing his brush with fame whenever he can recall what he'stalking about. Revolution is thick in the air in Zurich but much of theaction takes place at the library, where Joyce dictates his masterpieceand Lenin refines his economic and political theories.
Tristan has already launched the nonsense revolution of Dadaism but
he counts as a relatively minor character in the presence of those twogiants. Carr loves the librarian who is helping Lenin. Tristan lovesCarr's sister, who is helping Joyce. And they all butt heads as romantic
and financial entanglements multiply. It's possible Carr might have
prevented the Russian Revolution if he'd followed orders instead offollowing his heart. Or perhaps he has the dates all wrong.
Did I mention the limericks? Some scenes are written entirely in
limericks; others turn dialogue into song and still others call for full-onchaos worthy of a musical. The director Marber has the entire castfocused on the hugely essential stakes because nothing is funnier thanpeople who are deeply committed to a cause -- Tristan may swim
across the floor, brandishing his hands like gills and zooming in on
Carr while shouting out "Dada dada dada!" and it may be very, veryfunny but it's certainly not funny to him.
The entire creative team and cast is working at their peak here. Hatley
also did the costumes and they're great, but everything is essential for
this clockwork mechanism of a play to run smoothly, from the lighting
of Neil Austin to the terrific sound design and original music of AdamCork, which does the work of ten.
I didn't even recognize Dan Butler of Frasier for a while, who plays
Lenin and he's fiercely funny here. Opal Alladin has very little to do as
his wife but Scarlett Strallen as Gwendolen (the sister of Carr) andSara Topham as Cecily the librarian have bigger parts and score nicely,especially in their duel over tea. Peter McDonald is good as Joyce but
Patrick Kerr has the droll butler with revolutionary tendencies named
Bennett to dig into and if I were McDonald I'd be a little jealous.
Yet the triumphs of the evening belong to Hollander and his co-star
Seth Numrich. Hollander is one of those actors about which theater-goers automatically say "Oh, he's always good" for the veryunderstandable reason that he's always good. But he's never beenbetter than here in a role that demands razor wit and charm and
bluster and fragility and strength. It's not a revelation because, you
know, he's always good. Hollander deservedly earned a Tonynomination and if I were voting, he'd win (as would this revival).
And when you go to see Travesties you'll discover that the real travesty
is that Seth Numrich was not nominated as well, for Best Supporting
Actor. The star of War Horse on Broadway, Numrich has appeared in
all sorts of theater and TV and film but never to such dazzling effect.Oh it's a pinwheel of a performance but that's exactly what this farcicalplay demands. Whether backing onto the stage with a slightly
confused look on his face, speaking with an outrageous Hungarian
accent (or is it Bulgarian?), cawing out "dada dada dada" like a bird,effortlessly switching from positively indignant to "hale fellow wellmet" in the blink of an eye or diving into song and dance, he is an idealpartner for Hollander, returning every shot with elan.
How easy it is to take Hollander for granted. How easy not to realize
Numrich could do so much more than he's been asked up to now. Andhow easy to take for granted Roundabout. It's been more than 40years since anyone revived the Tony winning play, despite a name
brand author like Stoppard to sell it and yet who else would bother?
And Travesties is hardly proving a commercial slam dunk even with
the rave reviews it has earned. So thank goodness they did it right andhow lucky for theatergoers: you can still get great tickets to the
smartest, silliest show in town.
THEATER OF 2018
Homelife/The Zoo Story (at Signature) *** out of ****
Escape To Margaritaville **
Broadway By The Year: 1947 and 1966 ***
Lobby Hero ***
Frozen **
Rocktopia *
Angels in America ** 1/2
Mean Girls ** 1/2
The Sting **
Mlima's Tale ** 1/2
Children Of A Lesser God ** 1/2
Sancho: An Act Of Remembrance ** 1/2
The Metromaniacs ***
Summer: The Donna Summer Musical *
The Seafarer **
Henry V (Public Mobile Unit w Zenzi Williams) * 1/2
Saint Joan **
Travesties *** 1/2
POSTED BY MICHAEL GILTZ AT 12:45 AM
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Post a Comment
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Create Blog Sign In
WEDNESDAY, MAY 02, 2018
THEATER: "TRAVESTIES" IS NOT
TRAVESTIES *** 1/2 out of ****
ROUNDABOUT THEATRE COMPANY AT AMERICAN
AIRLINES
Is Tom Stoppard a show-off? His plays are brainy and oh-so-clever
and you feel you need to brush up on the topic at hand before thecurtain rises or you'll be at sea. Indeed, the program handed out at hismasterpiece Arcadia usually includes a helpful summary on the
history of British gardens and the philosophical underpinnings of
same. Some artists wear their hearts on their sleeve, but Stoppard
brandishes his brains , they say!
Stuff and nonsense, I say. Go to the Roundabout's delightful, fizzy
revival of Travesties , as you should. I promise, anyone with even a
passing understanding of dialectical materialism, pre-Surrealistic art
movements and amateur theatricals in Zurich during the war to end allwars will gobble it up.
Now you got that (modest) joke because it's crafted to allow you to
enjoy it even if you don't know the topics at hand. Stoppard -- perhapsour greatest living playwright -- is quite a bit better than that.Travesties does indeed involve author James Joyce, Dadaist Tristan
Tzara and the revolutionary Lenin along with the many ideas
exploding in Europe during World War I. What of it? James Joyce is a
towering figure in literature and Ulysses -- the book he is working on
while trapped in Zurich -- is a modernist landmark. Does an awarenessof Ulysses or Moby-dick now count as hopelessly sophisticated? Lenin
for Pete's sake led a revolution that established a totalitarian state in
Russia which dominated global politics for a century. Dada-ism is as
close to obscure the show gets and even there the mere word Dadapractically explains itself. Even 60 Minutes knows modern art can
poke fun at the very idea of art, even if 60 Minutes never quiteMICHAEL GILTZ AT WORK
Michael Giltz is a freelance writer
based in NYC and can be reached atmgiltz@pipeline.com
FAVORITE LINKS
Americablog
Five O'Clock Lightning baseball blogDeep Pop -- Lori Lakin's Blog
The Back Page -- Jason Page on ESPN
Radio
Cine-Blog -- George Robinson's Blog
Documents On Art & Cinema - Daryl
Chin's Blog
Brucie G's Wondrous Blog Of
Adventure and Mystery -- Bruce
Greenspan's Blog
BLOG ARCHIVE
► 2019 (7)
▼ 2018 (34)
► December (7)
understood it wasn't in on the joke.
Beware of plays that pat you on the back and make you feel a little
smarter or smugger for having attended them, the Yasmina Rezaboulevard comedies of the world with their knowing middle class
archness. They're the theatrical equivalent of James Michener novels
or Tom Clancy thrillers, books you can consume and walk away fromclutching a few stray details about the conquest of Alaska or nuclearsubmarines and consider them enlightening.
Go to Travesties knowing nothing about nothing (the way those of us
not up on England's dynasties might have first approached a
Shakespearean history play) and you'll have great fun. You'll see an oldman grapple with his memory, proud intellectuals brought down a
notch by their hubris, a strip tease, a romantic comedy of errors in
which a passage from Ulysses is unintentionally switched with a
diatribe from Lenin that causes quite a bit of confusion, a little songand dance, a lot of limericks, not nearly enough nudity and while youmight not always know precisely what is going on you'll be mightily
tickled. The true genius of Stoppard is that the play works for everyonebut the more you know about any of the historical figures or themovements they inspired in writing and art and politics, the moredazzled you will be. Oh and it all riffs on the classic comedy TheImportance of Being Earnest to side-splitting effect and if you don't
know what that is, well bugger off.
How good is this revival? Stoppard is one of my favorite playwrightsand I've waited more than 40 years to see this Tony winning comedyand it met my expectations. To be honest, I read the play just before
seeing it and as with Shakespeare, I recommend that for newcomers.
Knowing the broad outlines of the story and the dialogue and thevarious references will allow you to relax and enjoy the shenanigansoverseen by director Patrick Marber and his excellent cast.
The marvelous Tom Hollander stars as Henry Carr, who in real life did
indeed star in an amateur theatrical production of The Importance Of► November (4)
► October (6)
► September (1)
▼ May (5)
THEATER: BROADWAY BY
THE YEAR -- 1956 AND 1975
THEATER: "MY FAIR LADY"
SAYS #METOO!
THEATER: TENNESSEE
WILLIAMS ON SIMMER
WITH "SUMMER...
THEATER: "TRAVESTIES" IS
NOT
THEATER: 'SAINT JOAN"
LACKS FIRE
► April (6)
► March (4)
► February (1)
► 2017 (6)
► 2016 (2)
► 2015 (14)
► 2014 (2)
► 2013 (5)
► 2012 (18)
► 2011 (15)
► 2010 (10)
► 2009 (43)
► 2008 (86)
► 2007 (781)
► 2006 (2412)
► 2005 (5)
Being Earnest in Zurich during the war, an event overseen by James
Joyce of all people. They had a spat after the play's apparent success
and Carr's triumph in the lead role (not Earnest, the other one). Carr
sued Joyce, Joyce sued Carr and mostly won and then to rub salt inthe wounds mocked Carr by making him a minor character in Ulysses ,
namely a drunken and obscene soldier. Of course Carr got the last
laugh since Joyce's revenge made Carr immortal. And now Stoppard
has done it again, making Carr the lead of another great work of artand in the process doubling down on the cleverness of Rosencrantzand Guildenstern Are Dead. Instead of making use of one masterpiece
(Hamlet ), here Stoppard makes hay of Ulysses, Earnest , Dadaism and
some of Lenin's choicer phrases to boot.
The richly atmospheric set by Tim Hatley is a shambling, book-stuffed
library/home with a rostrum or pulpit of sorts that allows variouscharacters to intone with high drama when necessary, when they'renot popping out of it to make a dramatic entrance. Out shambles
Hollander, who merely stoops over to indicate the elderly Carr, a man
aggrandizing his brush with fame whenever he can recall what he'stalking about. Revolution is thick in the air in Zurich but much of theaction takes place at the library, where Joyce dictates his masterpieceand Lenin refines his economic and political theories.
Tristan has already launched the nonsense revolution of Dadaism but
he counts as a relatively minor character in the presence of those twogiants. Carr loves the librarian who is helping Lenin. Tristan lovesCarr's sister, who is helping Joyce. And they all butt heads as romantic
and financial entanglements multiply. It's possible Carr might have
prevented the Russian Revolution if he'd followed orders instead offollowing his heart. Or perhaps he has the dates all wrong.
Did I mention the limericks? Some scenes are written entirely in
limericks; others turn dialogue into song and still others call for full-onchaos worthy of a musical. The director Marber has the entire castfocused on the hugely essential stakes because nothing is funnier thanpeople who are deeply committed to a cause -- Tristan may swim
across the floor, brandishing his hands like gills and zooming in on
Carr while shouting out "Dada dada dada!" and it may be very, veryfunny but it's certainly not funny to him.
The entire creative team and cast is working at their peak here. Hatley
also did the costumes and they're great, but everything is essential for
this clockwork mechanism of a play to run smoothly, from the lighting
of Neil Austin to the terrific sound design and original music of AdamCork, which does the work of ten.
I didn't even recognize Dan Butler of Frasier for a while, who plays
Lenin and he's fiercely funny here. Opal Alladin has very little to do as
his wife but Scarlett Strallen as Gwendolen (the sister of Carr) andSara Topham as Cecily the librarian have bigger parts and score nicely,especially in their duel over tea. Peter McDonald is good as Joyce but
Patrick Kerr has the droll butler with revolutionary tendencies named
Bennett to dig into and if I were McDonald I'd be a little jealous.
Yet the triumphs of the evening belong to Hollander and his co-star
Seth Numrich. Hollander is one of those actors about which theater-goers automatically say "Oh, he's always good" for the veryunderstandable reason that he's always good. But he's never beenbetter than here in a role that demands razor wit and charm and
bluster and fragility and strength. It's not a revelation because, you
know, he's always good. Hollander deservedly earned a Tonynomination and if I were voting, he'd win (as would this revival).
And when you go to see Travesties you'll discover that the real travesty
is that Seth Numrich was not nominated as well, for Best Supporting
Actor. The star of War Horse on Broadway, Numrich has appeared in
all sorts of theater and TV and film but never to such dazzling effect.Oh it's a pinwheel of a performance but that's exactly what this farcicalplay demands. Whether backing onto the stage with a slightly
confused look on his face, speaking with an outrageous Hungarian
accent (or is it Bulgarian?), cawing out "dada dada dada" like a bird,effortlessly switching from positively indignant to "hale fellow wellmet" in the blink of an eye or diving into song and dance, he is an idealpartner for Hollander, returning every shot with elan.
How easy it is to take Hollander for granted. How easy not to realize
Numrich could do so much more than he's been asked up to now. Andhow easy to take for granted Roundabout. It's been more than 40years since anyone revived the Tony winning play, despite a name
brand author like Stoppard to sell it and yet who else would bother?
And Travesties is hardly proving a commercial slam dunk even with
the rave reviews it has earned. So thank goodness they did it right andhow lucky for theatergoers: you can still get great tickets to the
smartest, silliest show in town.
THEATER OF 2018
Homelife/The Zoo Story (at Signature) *** out of ****
Escape To Margaritaville **
Broadway By The Year: 1947 and 1966 ***
Lobby Hero ***
Frozen **
Rocktopia *
Angels in America ** 1/2
Mean Girls ** 1/2
The Sting **
Mlima's Tale ** 1/2
Children Of A Lesser God ** 1/2
Sancho: An Act Of Remembrance ** 1/2
The Metromaniacs ***
Summer: The Donna Summer Musical *
The Seafarer **
Henry V (Public Mobile Unit w Zenzi Williams) * 1/2
Saint Joan **
Travesties *** 1/2
POSTED BY MICHAEL GILTZ AT 12:45 AM
NO COMMENTS:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)Newer Post Older Post Home