I had the good fortune of being invited to tonight’s dress rehearsal of the new Roundabout Theatre Company’s production of “Twentieth Century.” Because it was an invited dress, I did not know the names of the actors I was seeing. Except of course, for the two stars, Alec Baldwin and Anne Heche. The play follows a group of Hollywood actors and producers on a train. Heche, a Hollywood starlet, and her ex (Baldwin) become intertwined again after years apart. Chaos ensues when the religious zealot who promises to fund their new production is actually an escaped mental patient, who writes large phony checks. There wasn’t much to the plot than this.

I wondered a few things.
1) Why did Heche and Baldwin, two very talented actors, choose do do this play?
2) Why did the director/Roundabout choose to ressurect this particular piece? Its certainly not the funniest play I’ve ever seen written about the golden age of film. Its not the funniest mistaken identity/door-slamming farce I’ve seen either. It seems that lately, theatre falls into one of two categories. Relevant/intelligent theatre and fun/entertaining theatre. They can coincide on occasion. “Twentieth Century” was not relevant, but it wasn’t that entertaining, either. When Ms. Heche was on stage, I was very entertained. Her portrail of the over-the-top spoiled actress was faultless, charming, and her comic timing was unexpectedly perfect. Baldwin, in a much more subdued role, was also excellent. However, I think they would have been better showcased (as would the rest of the cast) with better writing. When they weren’t on stage, the actors did their best, but the play dragged on. Perhaps that was the problem. The average door-slamming farce is intended to be performed at a brisk pace. This was directed to flow more like naturalism. Poor directorial choice.

The end of the play was one of the worst directorial decisions I’ve seen lately. 95% of the play takes place while the train is in motion. The train reaches its destination, and there is a set change that lasts an eternity, during which we wonder, “is the play over? What is going on?” Then the curtain rises again and they are exiting the train into Grand Central Station and the lovers get back together. This scene takes half as long to execute as the set change does. They could have been more minimal with the final scenery and it would have flowed a lot better.
I did enjoy the show. I just would have felt cheated, had I actually paid money.
02.26.04 @ 11:01 PM EDT

A night of firsts. The first time I’ve redeemed comp tickets from my new membership with Audience Extras. And the first time I’ve walked out of a show at intermission.
Golf! The Musical sounded like something campy and funny and silly. However. It was a show intended for golfers. And apparently golfers know nothing about musical theatre or comedy. The writers took themselves far too seriously to ever be funny. The poor actors are all legitimately talented pros (with the exception of the female cast member, who I seriously wanted to punch her perky little face in). You could see the pain in their feigned enthusiasm and their sadness that their careers had sank to such a low. There were a few funny jokes, and their singing was top-notch. A particularly catchy number concludes act 1, “Let’s bring Golf to the Gulf” in which the sport is brought to Iraq and 2 Americans sing and dance with two Iraqis. Is it a golf towel or a turban? Who can tell? It was one of the more racially insensitive things I’ve ever seen. I’m all for pushing the envelope with political risque material, but it was apparent that the writers had no clue that they were being racist.

These things confuse me. 1) Tickets to this waste-of-time are $40. And 2) It has been running for 5 months.

Every time the actors delivered one of their campy, totally unfunny punchlines, you could see it in their pained, painted on expressions that they know the writing is piss-poor. This leads me to one conclusion.

Sports and theatre do not mix. They never have, and they never will. Let’s keep them separate from now on, please?

On Sunday, Feb. 22nd, in a tiny little studio in Midtown, some of Broadway’s greatest voices got together to celebrate the work of Broadway’s most underrated composer. LaChiusa, who wrote “Hello Again,” “Marie Christine,” and “The Wild Party” to name a few, writes some of the most complex intense, and beautiful music for today’s theatre. The show was a benefit for his upcoming production, “First Lady Suite.” The evening consisted of a question and answer session, focusing on his various compositions. After the segment of discussion for that show, an original cast member from that show got up and sang a piece from the show. The actors present included Carolee Carmello, John Dossett, Marc Kudisch, Maureen Moore, Michelle Pawk, Alice Playten, Mary Testa, and Barbara Walsh. It made me wish I had seen all these actors in their roles in the production itself, they were fabulous. However, the most interesting part of the show was listening to LaChiusa speak about his work and about the state of the American theatre. He is a funny, intelligent man who speaks effortlessly about his compositions. Turns out, he’s just a regular guy with self-doubt, just like every other artist out there.

My friend Andy played the title role in the famous Steven Schwartz musical, “Pippin.” It was a Columbia University student’s senior directing thesis. Visually, the production reeked of low-budget student theatre. The show is known for its fun, beautiful, and powerful score. I found the pit wasn’t loud enough to bring justice to the music. This was due to the fact that the actors weren’t amplified in any way. The theatre was just big enough that I wished they had microphones. The lack of sound was a big issue for me. As was the pace. The show was performed without intermission. When that decision is made, the show needs to clip along at a vigorous pace in order to keep things interesting. In general, the tempo of the spoken scenes needed to be faster.

However, I truly enjoyed the show. It was a lot of fun. The cast was very solid. Andy Meyers was funny, charming, and naive as the soul-searching Prince. I wished he had gotten meaner in act 2, when he’s acting like a jerk to Catherine. He was never truly unlikable. I assume Andy made the decision to keep him on the audience’s good side, however, it makes her complaints about him to be less justified. Fri Forjindam as the Leading Player was great fun. She has a beautifully expressive face and body. Its hard for a woman to play that role, as the vocal line is written for a man. I wonder why the musical director (my buddy Joey Clarke) chose not to transpose any of the music.

Other notably excellent performances were Margot Bercy as Berthe, John Bogar as Charlemagne, and Marty Keiser as Lewis.

I still love the show. My companion thinks the music is dated. That may be true, but the overall themes of the show are as relevant now as they have always been. The desire to be “extraordinary” and inevitability of failure. It has such a complex, bittersweet ending, I find it to be a very unorthodox musical. I hope it gets revived on Broadway sometime soon.
02.21.04 @ 12:42 AM EDT

Friday the thirteenth of February at the Beacon Theatre. Rufus played a sold out show to his hometown crowd who clearly adores him. A member of his band, a female singer songwriter who looked like Barbie, was the first opener. Second was the dynamic drag-cabaret duo, Kiki and Herb. Kiki being a huge drag queen songstress and Herb being the piano player. They were fabulous. She did a painfully beautiful yet also funny version of Radiohead’s “Exit music for a film.” And of course they closed with “Total Eclipse of the Heart.” Again, touching and funny. Then Rufus came to the stage in all his fur-clad glory. He is a classically trained pianist with a soothing, beautiful pop-rock voice. Throughout the show, he switched from piano to guitar but his smooth melodies never wavered. I found myself not even always listening to the lyrics, just getting lost in the melow mood the music created. Not to say his lyrics aren’t interesting too, they are. He takes silly thoughts (”My phone’s on vibrate for you”) and mixes them with true poetry and his amazing voice, and there you have it. And it was beautiful. His banter largely dealt with his song content, which seems to mostly be about boys he has either slept with or not slept with. He also made a comment about how we “must get rid of Bush.” And of course the audience went nuts. At the last encore, he and the band (and Kiki) came out in black witches’ hats and capes and sang the last song like that, claiming that he is more of a Halloween guy than a Valentine’s guy. All in all, his live performance definitely made me want to steal all his music from the internet and listen to it while I fall asleep each night.

HUGH JACKMAN! What a show. I left feeling peppy and invigorated. A truly fun musical. Not to say that it didn’t have its problems. The transitions from dialogue to song were sloppy and rushed. The book itself was somewhere between weak and mediocre. Some songs were good. Some were not.

However.

Hugh Jackman is so engaging that you can’t take your eyes off him. His charm and charisma is intoxicating. No, this is not a love letter; everyone in the crowd felt the same way. At times I felt like I was at a rock concert. Women (and men) were screaming their heads off. I expected them to throw roses and undergarments. They didn’t. His improv stills are strong. The top of act two he picks two audience members, learns their names (which he references a few times later in the show), talks to them, and gets them to dance with him. He looks like he is having a ton of fun (he was having so much fun that he skipped a line, which was a cue line, and the set for the next scene came in and he got confused, told us what happened, and lauged his head off!). His perfomance looked truly effortless. His singing voice, albeit nasal, was powerful and smooth. His dancing was great. Don’t get me started on his upper body….

I digress.

The score definitely had its high points and low points. The mother’s power ballad, “Don’t cry out loud” has forever been ruined for me by the film “Drop Dead Gorgeous,” in which a former beauty queen (now anorexic) lipscincs that song from her wheelchair in a wig. A hilarous moment in film ruined the powerful dramatic climax of the show.

Stephanie J. Block as Liza Minelli was fabulous. I didn’t like her acting at first, I found it to be over the top. Then, I realized that she was playing Liza Minelli, who IS over the top. Her singing and dancing was amazing, specifically in her big LIZA number, “She loves to hear the music.” One of the best Bway song and dance numbers I’ve ever seen, actually. Coupled with her dead-on impersonation of Liza, I felt like we were back in her heyday.

Similarly, Isabel Keating as Judy Garland was as close to the real thing as you could get. She seemed a little young for the role. However, since I couldn’t imagine anyone sounding more like Judy, I forgive Isabel for being a bit young.

The other star of the show was Mitchel David Federan, who played young Peter (Jackman). No more than ten, this boy could tap and flip and sing and act with all the skill of a Bway veteran, and with the energy of a ten year old! Similar to Jackman, the audience was mesmerized whenever he was on stage.

The show has gotten a lot of criticism. It might tank were it not for the talents of its leading man. I know that it will secure a place for him in the history of Broadway’s handsome and talented leading men. What is it about the aussies…..

King Lear at Lincoln Center. The epitome of old-folk-intellectual-theatre. But it didn’t have to be, which is why I was disappointed. Lear is a tough piece. This is my second time seeing a full-scale production (the first being at the RSC in Stratford-upon-Avon) and both productions left me saying, “Eh.” Yet I consider it to be one of my favorite of Shakespeare’s plays. The characters are complex (particularly Lear) and the two villianous sisters are fabulous evil character roles for women, which is so rare. The actresses who played Regan and Goneril were fantastic, as was the evil Edmund. Perhaps I am drawn to evil characters. Or perhaps they are just more interesting.
The set was minimalist and set the tone for the entire show. Bare, almost naked, with sparse lighting. The only true color was in Cordelia’s blue dress. There was no music. And as good, polished, and perfect the performances were, I felt the show as a whole to be uninspired. I found myself asking, “Why are they chosing to do this show?”

The answer to this question lies in the perfomance of the King, star of stage and screen, Christopher Plummer. There was no Captain Von Trapp present. He was so wholly dedicated to his perfomance. I felt nothing but pity for the poor old foolish king throughout the show. He was fantastic and deserves all the acolades that he surely will get. However, when he was offstage, I found myself less engaged. Even the most talented actors can’t keep my attention when all they’re doing is talking for 3.5 hours.

The beauty of King Lear is its utter desparity and hopeless tone. This predominates from the beginning, but they didn’t play it up like they could. The play’s most gruesome moment (The eyeball removal of Gloucester) was done with the character’s back to the audience. It is not that I wanted to see gore and blood (ok, I did) but in doing that, it showed me that they weren’t taking any risks. Playing it safe. Shakespeare wasn’t about safety.

Anyway, if you want to see a brilliant performance by a living legend of the theatre, by all means. Just expect that to be all.

Friday, Feb. 6th, 10pm. Bowery Poetry Club. All I knew was that it involved puppets and pirates. Great combination. Also, cheap tix ($7). One of the more interesting things I’ve seen lately. Very much a group of NYU art students that want to be on stage, so they combined all their musical and comedy talents and put together a silly little show. There was a full rock band, and honestly they were pretty good. Next, we see a silly underwater coral reef set for the sea-creature puppet comedy improv segment. There were three silly puppets talking about graduating from school, and for extra inspiration, William Shakespeare appeared (in womens pantyhose) to encourage the sea creatures to study. None of their conversation was scripted. Then the band played another rockin song. Then an escape artist came out, and with volunteers from the audience, escaped from a straight jacket wrapped in 40 feet of chains. That was impressive. Then there was a short film, which involved human pirates and puppet pirates out on the sea, culminating in the “No no no song,” a catchy sea shanty. The troupe’s comedy is stronger in their scripted pieces, especially this film. Then there was an intermission. Then more music, I think it was “Cabin Boy Fever.” Great song. Then my favorite part of the night, the Randy Brothers. The guy who played Shakespeare and the escape artist came out and did a two-man comedy duo routine. They were great. Their improv banter was sharp and funny. The characters were dorky losers that had no girlfriends. So then they sang a choreographed number about how they would like to be “Ladies for a Day,” so they can learn the ways of the fairer sex. Then, another choreographed number, “Meat Shirt,” about how their dad the butcher made them clothes out of food, but then when the get hungry, they have to eat their clothes. So silly and cute and freakishly weird. Then another rock song, ending the night. “Pirate Love.” The catchy chorus consisted of the lyrics “Dirty dirty dirty scurvy scurvy scurvy dirty dirty scurvy pirate love!” while one side of the audience shouted out “AR” and the other side, “GGHHH” in beat to the music. Gotta love audience participation. All in all, I had a ton of silly fun. I walked down the street at midnight singing “Pirate Love.”

I saw Valhalla, the new Paul Rudnick play, at the NY Theatre Workshop. This was their last preview performance before opening their official run. Rudnick is best known for his play “Jefferey,” which was also made into a major film (by the same name). I think he is a gifted playwright and comedy writer. It seemed that most lines, if not an overt joke, had some semblence of comedy in them. The genius in his writing is the ability to keep the jokes rolling while developing characters and their relationships. This was done exceptionally well. The directing of Christopher Ashley is clearly a great contribution to the text. Rudnick and Ashley work together often and have clear chemistry.

The performances were all solid. Each actor (4 men, 2 women) played numerous characters, all were funny but not over the top. Despite the grandly comic scale they were working with, reality of character was always present.

My two concerns with the show are 1) the play was SUPER GAY. I have no issues with gay themes, characters, or content, in fact, I enjoy subject matter that pushes the envelope a bit. However, he never gives the audience a break from all this gaity. I felt at times that his gay agenda was taking over the plot. 2) The female characters were totally irrelevant. Girlfriends, wives, mothers. That was it. It is disheartening to see such a boy’s club-style show, no matter how great the performances of the male actors, due to the massive lack of strong or interesting female characters in the theatre. The two women did fantastic jobs with the characters they were handed, however, they had very little to do with the plot.

In all, it was a very enjoyable night of theatre, great acting and comedy. It was touching and painful at times, and I find that I was indeed invested in these characters and their respective fates. To me, that says the play has been a success.

Makeup experiment with iridescent eyes.