Broadway Week, September 4 – 16, with 99% of plays and musicals offered in a 2-4-1 bonanza, is always eagerly anticipated. The Fall discounts include nearly 20 shows, including some hard-to-get-tickets-to blockbusters.  In addition, 25 Theatre District restaurants are offering a free dessert when a ticket stub from participating shows is presented.

“The only thing better than seeing a Broadway show is the opportunity to get two tickets for the price of one,” said Charlotte St. Martin, executive director, the Broadway League. “Thanks to NYC & Company, we’re thrilled to offer this exciting opportunity again to  theatergoers.”
Productions participating in Fall’s Broadway Week are Bring It On, Chaplin, Chicago, An Enemy of the People, Evita, 2012 Tony-winning Best Revival [in its last weeks on Broadway] Porgy and Bess, Tony-winning  Jersey Boys, Tony-winning The Lion King, Mamma Mia!, Mary Poppins, Newsies, Nice Work If You Can Get It, 2012 Tony winning Best Musical Once, Peter and the Starcatcher, Tony-winning long-run champion The Phantom of the Opera, Rock of Ages, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, Tony-winning War Horse, and Tony-winning Wicked.  All are subject to availability and blackout dates may apply. Use the code BWAYWEEK at theatre box offices to save a bundle in service charges.

Participating restaurants are B. Smith’s, Ca Va Brasserie, FireBird, the Russian Tea Room, Shun Lee West, and Sky Room Times Square. To book tickets for a Broadway Week show and for the complete list of participating restaurants, visit nycgo.com/broadwayweek.
Amtrak Guest Rewards members earn 100 points or more for tickets purchased to participating shows by registering their account with Audience Rewards before purchase.
Broadway Week is produced by NYC & Company, the Broadway League, AARP, Amtrak, NBC-4, and The New York Times. For more information, to make online purchases, and a full list of restaurants, visit nycgo.com/broadwayweek.

Happy 100^th!

World dance impresario, Hungarian-born Paul Szilard is 100 (August 24). Many of the world’s ballet companies owe their current renaissance or, in fact, wouldn’t exist today without his amazing largesse. In June, at Paris’ Theatre du Chatelet, on the opening night of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater season, he was was decorated by the French Ministry of Culture for his years of bringing great dance to France and for his contributions to French culture.

Mr. Szilard has presented not only Alvin Ailey, but also New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theater, Martha Graham Dance Company, Madrid’s Ballet Víctor Ullate, and, among others, Universal Ballet and such artists as Mikhail Baryshnikov and Judith Jamison here and throughout the world. The first English-language Broadway show presented in Japan, West Side Story, was presented by Mr. Szilard.

As a leading dancer, Mr. Szilard performed throughout the world. Under My Wings: My Life as an Impresario, his autobiography, was published in 2002.

Kipling’s Jungle Book Onstage

Theatre East presents a new adaptation of Kipling’s classic The Jungle Book by Megan O’Brien, Off Broadway beginning September 1 for a limited engagement at the Peter Jay Sharp Theatre [416 West 42^nd Street, between Ninth and Ten Avenues].  Dina Epshteyn directs. This tale of a lost boy being adopted by the animals of the jungle is told through the eyes of young Alex, who through the pages of the story uses his imagination to bring the book to life. Through shadow puppetry, and new staging this is a show the entire family will enjoy. For more information, visit www.junglebooktheplay.org.

Tickets are $25; $20, for groups of 10 or more. They’re on sale at the box office and through Ticket Central, (212) 279-4200 or www.ticketcentral.com, where you can find the performance schedule.

Celebrating Brazil

Millions will throng Sixth Avenue, in the vicinity of Little Brazil, West 46^th Street, between Sixth and Fifth Avenues for the 28^th annual Brazil Day festivities. They lead off with a parade and music festival on Sixth Avenue on Saturday, September 1. Then, the next day, 25 streets of the surrounding area become New York’s largest street fair. The stage at 42^nd Street and Sixth will showcase some of Brazil’s hottest musicians and entertainers will be in a Samba-madness mode, along with visiting soccer stars. Since Brazil will host the 2016 Olympic Summer Games, you can expect even more enthusiasm this year. For more information, visit www.brazilianday.com.

Sponsors include Brazil’s TV Globo and the newspaper The Brasilians and BACC Travel, owned by Honorary Little Brazil Mayor  João de Matos.
For authentic Brazilian delicacies and famed all-you-can-eat meats from dozens of skewers, visit the classic steakhouses Churrascaria Plataforma on West 49^th Street, between Eighth and Ninth Avenues, and the Churrascaria Plataforma in Tribecca; and Brazil Grill, Eighth Avenue and 48^th Street.

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It’s that time of year loyal lovers of theater dread. Shows that have been struggling to make it, will be closing. The light at the end of the tunnel, as is always the case with Broadway, is that new, and some are quite exciting, shows will be taking their place.

The musical Ghost, based on the 1990 smash film, gave up the ghost Saturday [August 17]. The End of the Rainbow, with [whether you believe the arc of the play to be factual or fiction] a commanding performance by Tracie Bennett, heads out to tour soon [and will be adapted for the screen] and, as of Sunday, there’s no Judy, Judy, Judy on Broadway. On August 29, the curtain rings down on glitzy Sister Act.

Closing it’s limited engagement on September 1 is the New York Shakespeare Festival’s revival of Sondheim’s Into the Woods, playing Central Park’s Delacorte Theatre [free admission], and starring Oscar winner Amy Adams and Tony winner Donna Murphy.

September 2 we must say cheerio to one of this season best entertainments, One Man, Two Guvnors, starring 2012 Best Actor, the incomparable James Corden. It’s a laugh riot and should be at the top of your Must See list. Also closing the same day is this year’s Best Play, Bruce Norris’s Clybourne Park, also a Pulitzer Prize honoree and Olivier Award winner.
The acclaimed 2012 Tony-winning revival of George and Ira Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess,starring Audra McDonald

Porgy and Bess (Audra McDonald and Norm Lewis | Photo by Michael J. Lutch)

[except August 21-23], Norm Lewis, and David Alan Grier, has posted September 23 for its final performance. Rumor has it heading to the big screen, directed by Spike Lee.

Off Broadway, you can catch the last performances of the popular farce, Potted Potter, which presents all seven Harry Potter books in 70 minutes.

Still holding strong Off Broadway is Nina Raine’s must-see family drama Tribes, one of the best plays of this or any recent season.

In previews or soon to open are the play Grace, co-starring Paul Rudd and Ed Asner; the musical Chaplin, based on the life of filmdom’s silent era king, the Tramp; one of Broadway’s biggest blockbusters, the Tony-winning Annie; Roundabout Theater Company’s revival of Rostand’s Cyrano de Bergerac and Rupert Holmes’ Tony-winning The Mystery of Edwin Drood, based on Dickens’ incomplete last novel and co-starring legendary Broadway favorite Chita Rivera; and Chicago’s Steppenwolf’s revival of Edward Albee’s landmark play, the scorching Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf? 

Also in the good news department, a brand new edition of Gerard Alessandrini’s wickedly funny send-up Forbidden Broadway, Alive and Kicking! has arrived.

PBS Specials

PBS regularly airs performances of the Metropolitan Opera and a variety of the best in classical and pop concerts. Coming up is a superb example of the former.

Verdi’s La Traviata gets a contemporary design that’s both off-putting and provocative on August 23 at 9 P.M. and August 26 at Noon in Willy Decker’s production that might not satisfy loyalists but breathes new breath into a classic. Celebrated French soprano Natalie Dessay delivers a staggering portrayal of Violetta. Matthew Polenzani is Alfredo, with acclaimed Russian bass Dmitri Hvorostovsky’s magnificent portrayal of Giorgio. The Met’s Fabio Luisi conducts.

Upcoming: Vienna Philharmonic Summer Night Concert, Great Performances, August 31, 9 P.M.; Paul McCartney, Live Kisses, September 7, 9 P.M.

On the Record

Tony winner and two-time Grammy nominee Betty Buckley’s new solo album, Ah, Men! The Boys of Broadway [Palmetto Records] features tunes from her acclaimed 2011 concert, “songs,” she says, “we gals never got to sing. It’s my take on some of the soaring melodies the men got to sing.” The 14 tracks include Irving Berlin’s “My Defenses Are Down,” Annie Get Your Gun; Bernstein/Sondheim’s “Maria,” West Side Story; Frank Loesser’s “Luck Be a Lady,” Guys and Dolls; and a suite from Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd.

Raissa Katon Bennett, cabaret award winner and a later Christine in Andrew Lloyd Webber and Charles Hart’s Phantom of the Opera, has released Another Kind of Light [LML Records]. The 15 tracks include Broadway, pop, and jazz. Among the highlights is “Ordinary Miracles” by Marvin Hamlisch and Alan and Marilyn Bergman, Cole Porter’s “I Concentrate on You,” and the rarely-recorded “How Could I Not?” by Alan Menken and David Spencer from the musical adaptation of The
Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz. Bennett  performs songs from the album August 21-25 at Feinstein’s at Loews Regency. To book, click here.

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Gone much too soon! Shockwaves permeated throughout the industry on news of the death of one of the business’ most beloved people: Pulitzer Prize, Oscar [nine nominations; two wins], Tony, Drama Desk, Emmy [six nominations; two wins], Grammy [four nominations; one win], and Golden Globe-winning composer Marvin Hamlisch, 68. He was one of a handful of “four handicappers” who Oscars, Tony, Emmy, and Grammy. Hamlisch was also an in-demand arranger, orchestrator, and was soon to take up new conducting duties

Hamlisch was born into a musical family, and began playing piano at five. At seven, he was the youngest accepted at Juiliard. He began as a rehearsal pianist for Broadway shows; and, in the mid-60s, was writing for film and TV. Not exactly well known was the fact he composed scores for the original Batman and Brady Bunch series; and, for six seasons in the 90s, Mystery Science Theater.  In the early 70s, his first major job was playing for Groucho Marx at Carnegie Hall in An Evening with Groucho.

He made history in 1974 when he became the first to win three Oscars for Song ["The Way We Were," co-written with Marilyn and Alan Bergman], Score [The Way We Were],   and Adapted Score [Scott Joplin's ragtime for The Sting.]
Marvin Hamlisch won the 1976 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Tony, and Drama Desk for the landmark musical A Chorus Line, collaborating with Nicholas Dante, Michael Bennett, James Kirkwood Jr., and Ed Kleban.

The Fringe Marathon 

The flood gates have opened. The 16^th New York International Fringe Festival, North America’s largest theater and dance festival, is off and running through August 26.  There’ll be 1,000 performances by 187 emerging theater and dance troupes from 10 countries and 20 U.S. states in 20 Lower Manhattan venues – at least a dozen are dance shows ranging from flamenco to hip hop to a Persian folk tale [Oasis] and an opera based on the Tarot.

At $15 per ticket, FringeNYC is one of the world’s remaining bargains. Shows are selling out faster than you can say 16^th New York International Fringe Festival. Attendance is expected to top 75,000, so get tickets now.

Early buzz is on Tail! Spin! [already sold out] starring The Daily Show’s Mo Rocca, Saturday Night Live’s Rachel Dratch, and TV and film actor Sean Duggan); Naked & Crazy, the folk-rock musical Independents;  5 Lesbians Eating a Quiche; Standby – the Musical; I <3 Revolution, with Chris Lowell [The Help; TV’s Private Practice, Veronica Mars]; MisSpelled; Have I Got a Girl for You; the musical Grimm; I Married a Nun; the one-woman Iranian comedy, Mahmoud [winner, Best of Fringe, Toronto]; two one-act comedies, An Evening with Kirk Douglas [he won’t be onstage]; and Pieces, a who/why-done-it about the brutal murder of a gay Hollywood power player.

FringeNYC shows are: $15 in advance at www.FringeNYC.org or (866) 468-7619; $18 at the door, subject to availability. Multiple show discounts include the $70 Fiver, $120 Flex Pass [10 shows], and the $500 all-you-can-see Lunatic. Information, schedules, and venues available at the website.  A Fringe guide is included in this week’s Onion newspaper.

Cheerleaders on Broadway

How about some exhilarating entertainment to relieve the Dog Days of Summer? Sit back, relax, and enjoy the incredible company of acrobatic dancers in Bring It On: The Musical who’re giving the ensemble of Disney’s hit Newies a bit of competition in the over-the-top explosive dance and aerial stunts.

Inspired by the Universal Studios film, it’s the story of bonds formed through the thrill of extreme competition. The show features quite a pedigree of creators: book by Avenue Q’s Tony-winning Jeff Whitty; and a score by In the Heights Tony-winning composer Lin-Manuel Miranda and Pulitzer Prize and Tony-winning Tom Kitt (Next to Normal) and Amanda Green
(High Fidelity). Director/choreographer is Tony-winning Andy Blankenbuehler (In the Heights).
A limited number of $35 rush tickets [cash only; limit of two] are available for performance, purchased at the St. James Theatre box office beginning at 10 A.M. day of performance. For more information, visit: bringitonmusical.com.

Ballet That’s Not Ballet

August 13 – 18, the acclaimed Smuin Ballet returns to the Joyce Theatre with an exhilarating program of its signature bold, sexy, and innovative dance. Three programs include founder Michael Smuin’s Medea, created during his tenure as artistic director of San Francisco Ballet; and New York premieres by Trey McIntryre, music by indie-rockers The Shins and Amy Seiwert, music from the Grammy-winning Kronos Quartet’s Pieces of Africa.
Performances are Monday-Wednesday at 7:30 P.M.; Thursday-Saturday at 8; and matinees at 2 on Wednesday and Saturday. Tickets are $10-$49 and available at  the box office, JoyceCharge (212) 242-0800, and www.joyce.org.

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Three heavy hitters have teamed up on Broadway to give audiences an evening of kinship wrapped in contention with Relatively Speaking: three one-act comedies which cover various forms of familial remedy, rivalry and racket.  Four-time Oscar winner Ethan Coen, two-time Oscar nominee Elaine May and multiple award winner Woody Allen each offer up their views on the subject, resulting in short plays which each bear the distinct mark of their unique brand of writing; all delivered under the deft direction of John Turturro.

Danny Hoch and Jason Kravits in Talking Cure by Ethan Coen (Photo: Joan Marcus)

Ethan Coen handles the “remedy” side of things and is first up with Talking Cure.  Coen’s distinctive, brooding style is in evidence throughout this snappy first act which finds Jerry, a post office worker (Danny Hoch – delivering his performance like a shaken soda can about to explode) having recently gone … well … postal.  Now committed to a mental hospital, Jerry receives routine visits from his therapist (Jason Kravits) who tries to reach him in earnest.  Set during a series of fast paced discussions — punctuated by abrupt blackouts — Jerry battles the doctor at every turn.  Their verbal sparring brings frustration to both as “everybody has problems” becomes a constant refrain.

Even as the doctor tries in vain to promote his “talking cure”, he is needled by his patient: “What if I start talking too much?  Is there a ‘shut-the-fuck-up’ cure?”

In a quick set change, we’re suddenly transitioned from the world of Jerry (who has gotten more belligerent) and his doctor (who has become increasingly frustrated) to a quiet dinner scene which rolls forward complete with demure solid wooden fixtures, elegant table setting and grand picture windows.

However, what first appears to be a quiet evening at home for this couple (Allen Lewis Rickman and Katherine Borowitz) quickly devolves into a shrill argument that, like any fight, shows there’s no topic too random or irrelevant to use as ammunition when you’re angry — so of course it makes perfect sense when a phantom couple called “the Hitlers” are conjured up  purely to be used to underscore a point.  The woman is pregnant and it doesn’t take much after that to find that the unborn baby is destined to become Larry the postal worker.  Talking Cure is a perfect bite-sized play that archly illustrates the notion, “With parents like these, no wonder he turned out like that”.

Marlo Thomas and Lisa Emery in George is Dead by Elaine May (Photo: Joan Marcus)

Next up is Elaine May providing the rivalry with her beautiful gem George Is Dead.  Artfully interweaving laughter and blunt observation, she serves up two very different women who had the opportunity to be reared by the same woman – though each was given a far different allotment of time and attention and stands now in a very different world.   Carla (a no-nonsense Lisa Emery) is anxiously awaiting her husband’s return after a delay at her mother’s house has caused her to miss his acceptance speech at an awards ceremony.  Ridden by guilt, she paces and leaves messages in the hopes of convincing him to return home.   A middle-of-the-night knock on her door proves to be Doreen (Marlo Thomas) who tumbles into Carla’s apartment on the brink of hysteria screeching, “George is dead!” and then proceeds to turn Carla’s night upside down.

Not close friends, not even somewhat related, the wealthy Doreen was raised by Carla’s mother who was her nanny.  Now grown the woman admits to not having seen her nanny in 40 years but somehow manages to stagger to Carla’s place since everyone else she knows is unavailable, and in the wake of this upsetting news of her husband’s tragic accidental death, she’s helpless.  And rich.  Surely she’s not expected to do anything is she?

What follows is an utterly priceless night of watching as Doreen simply pouts and tantrums her way out of taking any action.  “What will I do?” she wails at one point, “I don’t have the depth to feel this bad!“  As she reels off the things that usually constitute a bad day in her protected world (all the while instructing Carla to scrape the salt off her saltines), she comes off not so much malicious as simply vapid and unaware of anything but herself.  In fact, when Carla asks “Have you been listening to me?” she replies, “Not really.  I’m always stunned that people listen to each other’s stories.”

And so, throughout the night, we find more and more how Carla was left alone as her mother tended to Doreen, and how Doreen was utterly dependent upon her Nanny while being completely oblivious of the woman’s personal life.

When Carla’s husband (Grant Shaud) comes home a long-brewing tension erupts and he leaves her.  Oblivious, Doreen hunkers down and continues to expect Carla to arrange for George’s body to be transported back to New York, to call the lawyers, even to give her a nightgown, and tend to her throughout the night.

Ultimately there is a heartbreaking moment when Carla’s mother arrives on the scene the next morning to coax the petulant Doreen into her (borrowed) black dress.  Taking charge, Nanny  does for Doreen what she never did for her own daughter: command the situation.  It is an ironic move for an old woman who, helpless and baffled by her remote only the night before, caused Carla to miss her husband’s speech and unwittingly set that tragedy in motion.  Now, however, there is no time to inquire about her daughter’s broken marriage … her Doreen needs her.  As the two close ranks, as if no time had passed, it is absolutely devastating.  Not only does the scene unfold brilliantly, but the pain leaves a surprisingly raw scratch after such strong comedic performance.

Ari Graynor and Steve Guttenberg in Honeymoon Motel by Woody Allen Photos (Photo: Joan Marcus)

Woody Allen caps of the evening’s fare with the typical racket in Honeymoon Motel.  This one-act finds Allen at his best and hearkening back to breezier days of fast one-liners and quippy zingers.  This play is all about what happens when, as one of the characters notes, “a mid-life crisis turns into an end-life crisis.”  And once again, parallels to Allen’s life are in evidence — though don’t distract from the broad humor of the piece.

When we come upon the happy couple – a May/December pair who seem as excited to get down to the business at hand as they are about the sheer tackiness of the decor of the honeymoon suite – they are breathless with joy and exhilaration.  Soon enough, we find that the bride Nina (Ari Graynor) and her tuxedo’d romeo Jerry (Steve Guttenberg) aren’t actually what they seem.

Shortly, the love-nest becomes a hub of activity as every in-law and even the rabbi and the shrink comes crashing through the door, each brandishing their own shtick and often times simply unleashing jokes into the room to no one in particular.  It’s chaos done right, however, in a Marx Brothers “Is my Aunt Minnie in here?” kind of way, and all the fabulous actors are given their moment to shine, despite the pandemonium.  Ultimately it is not the Rabbi or even the Therapist who manages to calm the roiling storm, but the pizza delivery guy – who arrives in the nick of time – with a pie that’s half sausage, half pepperoni and all wisdom.

Relatively Speaking covers a lot of ground in its three short acts; while not all of it hits the same mark in terms of symmetry, there is still a certain rhythm created through the entire piece thanks to Turturro’s strong direction.  He takes care to build up some of the weaker spots and reign in the areas that could have gone careening off … this keeps a common element flowing throughout three very different plays making them more of a cohesive whole.

While there are no real deep insights to take away from this night of theatre, there is certainly an abundance of fine acting and wonderful laughs — with May’s middle piece fastening the two bookend plays in place.

If fighting with your own family no longer holds the same kicks it used to, come down to the Brooks Atkinson Theater and listen in as these great writers put the fun back in dysfunctional.

~~~

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My parents spent a great deal of money on my education. First they chose a strict parochial grammar school for 8 years, then I was sent off to an exclusive prep school for 4 years, and finally my education was capped off with a fancy private college. All this was done to ensure that I had a good working knowledge of the world. Yet my European-born mother still sadly shakes her head when I make such public blunders as exclaiming to a roomful of people that I have no idea where Holland is in relation to Norway. “I always thought they were the same place!” I remark, blithely, with not even a hint of embarrassment. “Aren’t they, though?” I go on – digging the hole deeper. Oh – American Education – how you failed me.  Surely someone could have made politics, history, and geography stick in my brain in a way that made sense so that I don’t continually shame my family?

After spending a night with Colin Quinn as he delivered his one-man show Long Story Short (directed by Jerry Seinfeld)  it’s obvious that he was that someone.   Colin Quinn is like that teacher who comes into the urban school and makes all the tough kids love learning.  But he already knows that.  In fact, at some point during Long Story Short, he even does a spot on send-up of every To Sir With Love / Stand and Deliver / Dangerous Minds movie ever spit out by Hollywood — though his version ends with the teacher taking a job at the cushy prep school at the end of it all.  The very prep school where I would have benefited so much!  So you see how we’ve come full circle here.  But wait!  That’s only the introduction . . .

By anthropomorphizing (see, there’s your fancy private college education!) countries into spurned jealous lovers, hedonistic stoners, single-minded over achievers, disinterested, sarcastic fashionistas, brooding, depressed fatalists and cocky barroom brawlers, Quinn was finally able to make sense of history for me. And all in 75 minutes, no less.

Backed only by a rear screen projection and some huge steps that at any given moment can act as a Greek Theatre, a Roman Colosseum or a Mayan Temple (scenic and projection design by David Gallo) Quinn delivers sharp observations and gives a copious lesson of the world by way of a steady stream of dead-on interpretations that illustrate where we came from and where we are now.

“An unexamined life is not worth living”, said the Greeks – and yet, Quinn continues, for all this examination we’re doing these days, are we any richer for it? Glance at any Twitter stream or Facebook news feed – truly: do we need to be examining ourselves this much in order to know who we are?

So, the lesson begins in Greece as we start in the cradle of civilization. The Greeks – who invented the Gods so that people could blame their problems on something and who also invented Theatre so they could gossip about their neighbors. (Oedipus: Hey – that show last night? Was that about me? Sophocles: No! What? No! Oedipus: Cause, you know, I killed my father and then slept with my mother. Just saying.   Sounded like you were talking about me. Sophocles: Yeah? Really?  No – no. It’s based on a lot of people I know. It’s a compilation.).

Quinn goes into Magellan mode, circumnavigating the globe and no culture, civilization, or stereotype is left unexamined.  Quinn’s talent for boiling down the essence of entire countries, equally highlighting their failings as well as their fortunes makes for a hilarious world tour.   From the Holy Roman Empire (who were covered in more jewels than the attendees at a Death Row Records release party), to The British Empire  (the small country who controlled the world not with Might but with Contempt), to the French who were portrayed as England’s emotionally distant, but somewhat interested lover  (whose Facebook Relationship Status would have been “It’s Complicated“) – this all crystallized years of history for me.  Oh – NOW I get it.

There’s more of course: The Mayans, hanging out and smoking pot on the biggest stoop in the world, The Russians who (unlike the Americans, who are continually in the pursuit of happiness) perfected the art of being depressed, The Chinese (One Country, One Leader, One Haircut). No one escapes as Quinn does spot on accents yet teaches a lesson that would put any history teacher to shame.

By then end, when Quinn turns the entire world into a bar at 3am – with the United States as a cocky redneck who had a few too many and is itching for a fight, insisting that Iraq was hiding a gun, and taking the fight out into the parking lot where the world’s countries are hanging out  in assorted stages of inebriation and various levels of booze-inspired loyalty, well – the moment is inspired brilliance. From Quinn’s ability to transition effortlessly from one culture to another, to just the way he shows that, when boiled down, it really all amounts to the same thing – well, that bit alone required a standing ovation.

Which Quinn got – deservedly – at the end of his 75 minutes.

Simply put – this is a smart show that delivers big laughs. A must-see for anyone who really wants to understand the George Santayana quote “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”. If you’ve only had a passing acquaintance with Colin Quinn all these years, you’ll leave The Helen Hayes theatre a huge fan. If you already start out as a fan, you’ll have renewed appreciation for Quinn’s deft comic timing and his spot-on observations.  No matter how you walked in, you’ll walk out with a little more understanding of your fellow man.  You know – That Guy.

~~~

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For those of us who were there last night, either as fans of Green Day, Broadway, or their rock opera American Idiot- it was a legendary moment.  Billie Joe Armstrong- lead singer of Green Day, main lyricist, and guitarist of the band for the past 20 years made his Broadway debut appropriately as the character  ‘St. Jimmy’ last night, September 28th at the St. James Theater. (Where he runs through a limited 7 day engagement).

When he first came out onto the stage, mid way through the play, the crowd roared with applause and screams, as if we were at an arena Green Day concert. It didn’t stop through the fiery and fierce 1st song also titled ‘St Jimmy’ where he plays a character who is the fictitious alter ego and personal demon to the main character of Johnny (played by John Gallagher Jr.).

As a huge fan, I’ve seen this musical several times, and it only gets better, and better. The cast stays strong, and continues to grow together as an incredible ensemble. The music gets louder, the passion of the performances from the band and cast, stronger.

Even if not a Green Day fan, you will walk away one. Even if not a Broadway fan, you will walk away one. This is a show for everyone, where I’ve seen 60 year olds and 10 year olds singing along.  But, there is NO better way to witness it than to see Billie Joe Armstrong-the incredible performance he gives, through the songs he wrote- up on stage with these guys.

You will never forget it.

The playing schedule for American Idiot is Tuesday at 7 PM, Wednesday 8 PM, Thursday at 8 PM, Friday at 8 PM, Saturday at 2 PM & 8 PM and Sunday at 3 PM and 7:30 PM. Tickets range from $127-$49 and can be purchased at The St. James Box Office or via telecharge.com (212) 239-6200. Visit www.AmericanIdiotonBroadway.com.

Billie Joe Armstrong runs on a limited engagement through Oct. 3rd.

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Curtain Call - Cast Finale

So this evening, I had the pleasure of finally seeing American Idiot The Musical on Broadway at the gorgeous St. John’s Theater, and I am without words on where to begin.

This musical truly is a brilliant, creative masterpiece, and stands alone in a genre of its own originality and style. Certainly a ROCK OPERA, the play is based on Green Day‘s multi-platinum and Grammy Award winning 2004 CD of the same name.

Additionally, several songs are from their musical sequel album 21st Century Breakdown, released in 2009. Singer and lead lyricist of Green Day, Billie Joe Armstrong, and Director Michael Mayer (Spring Awakening) co wrote the book for this play together, based on the stories told from the musical CD.

It tells the story of 3 young rock and roll men from typical suburbia, Johnny (an AWESOME and oh-so-talented John Gallagher Jr.), Tunny (Stark Sands), and Will (Michael Esper). It centers around rebellious youth, in a post 9/11 world, filled with political undertones and some very important messages. Green Day has something to say, and their album is meant to be told through these incredibly talented young actors.  As their lives each take a different path, the songs take them through personal heartache, politics, war, drug abuse, and sex. American Idiot has a message to deliver, and it certainly makes sure the audience receives what it is trying to say.

Everything from the breathtaking set design (Christine Jones) to the large cast of immensely talented musicians and dancers is on POINT.  The experience you will get coming from seeing this play is indescribable and will leave you wishing it had never ended. Yes, this musical is THAT good.

I highly recommend it, and if you are a long time fan of Green Day-as I am- you will walk away very, very proud.  Also congrats to the three TONY nominations “American Idiot” received today!

~~~

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In Memorium

This was supposed to be a review for reasons to be pretty (written by Neil LaBute, directed by Terry Kinney, starring  Thomas Sadoski,  Marin Ireland, Steven Pasquale and Piper Perabo).  A very late review, no doubt, but not every reviewer has the luxury of seeing a Broadway show while it’s still in previews.  Sometimes a reviewer needs to wait until someone wins an extra pair of tickets and graciously passes them along to her … which is how I came by my tickets.  So, if you’re looking for a review I’m going to direct you to a terrific review of reasons to be pretty by David Stallings of The Fab Marquee. If you’re looking for my reasons why good shows can’t survive on The Great White Way these days, then please keep reading …

It all started last week when I got this call:

Man: Is this Karen Tortora-Lee? Me: Yes.
Man: Did you win tickets to reasons to be pretty?
Me: (nervously) … Um … yes … <Oh my God!  They got me!  They know Glamorous Miss X  entered the contest twice and passed her second set of tickets on to me!  They’re taking them away!>
Man: Well, your tickets are for the 15th …
Me: Yes …
Man: …  and the show is actually closing on the 14th …
Me: OH NO!
Man: Yes … it’s true …
Me: How unexpected!
Man: So we’d like to offer you tickets on a day before the 14th … can you make it before then?
Me: Sure <checking calendar> … oh, this is so sad!  Why are you closing?
Man: Well, we were up for a Tony …
Me: RIGHT!
Man: … and we didn’t win.  So, you know … we just don’t have the ticket sales now …
Me: Can I come Friday the 12th?
Man:  Sure … I’ll put you down for 2 …
Me: I’m so sorry … and I’m sorry that you’re going to have to make calls like this all day.  That’s awful. Man: <chuckle> Oh, well, that’s how it goes.  But thanks.

That’s how it goes.

Ahhh, boy.  This is very, very sad.  Very sad.  Just goes to show you that The Tonys are nothing like American Idol where Season Two runner up Clay Aiken can have a better career than Season Two “winner”, That Guy With The 205 On His Shirt.  (Yeah, I had to think a while before Ruben Studdard came to mind).  Heck, even a 3rd Runner Up like Season Five’s Chris Daughtry was able to have a career that made actual winner Taylor Hicks look like an accountant doing karaoke in a dive bar on his lunch hour for tips.  Broadway, however, is not American Idol and it seems like the “honor of just being nominated” is not enough to get butts in seats these days … not at $100 bucks a butt.  Seems like these days the only way to get people to your show is to give tickets away in a contest (Glamorous Miss X had already entered and won the contest once before.  To me this smacked of desperation on the part of the show. Perennial crowd-pleaser Wicked isn’t out there giving away tickets to anyone who enters their “contest”).  Oh, and for what it’s worth?  I saw God of Carnage — the winning play — a few months ago.  I liked it, but aside from the fact that I got to watch famous people for an hour it really didn’t move me all that much.  Notice I didn’t submit a review for it …

Of course, after Friday night’s performance of reasons to be pretty it was obvious to me why this show wasn’t succeeding.  Not because it was badly acted … quite the contrary.  And director Terry Kinney (Okay, okay, I admit it … I’m an OZ fan, even all these years later, and to me he will always be Tim McManus) hits the mark every time.   This was a high octane show with layers and layers of emotion, with no clear heroes but rather four realistic characters who uttered comments filled with such truth that they actually drew gasps from the audience.

So … why did it close?  Simple:  It’s not a tourist show.  It’s not a kid’s show.  It’s not a show based on a Mel Brooks movie or a Disney movie.  And it’s not a bunch of random songs from one particular group or time period strung together around a loose “plot”.  In other words … it was a real and intelligent piece of theatre, and it was meant for a real and intelligent audience.  Without a famous-name celebrity in the cast (sorry, Beverly Hills Chihuahua star Piper Perabo, Coyote Ugly was a looooooooooong time ago), a familiar plot, or a toe tapping song to jolt the audience into paying attention this play was coasting on fumes.

A taste of ... home?

Having lived in NYC my whole life, and being a Broadway fan from the time I could crawl, I have endless stories about tourists coming to New York City with high expectations and the inability to tell a good restaurant from a bad one (it is for these very people that there is an Olive Garden smack in the middle of Times Square).  These tourists have made the long, expensive trip.  They’ve put on their fancy duds … some gals are even in their highest heels and shiniest clothes trying to “blend in” as  –what TV and their imagination tells them is–  a Typical New Yorker.  They’ve got their show ticket and they want to be IMPRESSED.  Here’s what they do NOT want to be:  Challenged (by world views that don’t match their own) or Confused (by plots that are too thoughtful).  They don’t want to leave the theatre after plunking down $100 bucks saying “well, I just didn’t get that at all“.  This is why CATS was the longest running show on Broadway and why the Disney Cartel is eating up the theatre district one playhouse at time.  Someone from Montesoda (the fictional place that includes every none-coastal American State) can go to see any one of these shows with a Japanese grandma one seat to the left and a home-schooled 6 year old one seat to the right, and sit in the darkened theatre knowing that they won’t be shocked by anything they’re about to see … or offended … or forced to learn.

A while back my husband and I had traveled to a bed and breakfast in Mystic and met a European couple making their way down the coast with NYC being their last stop.  They asked us which shows we’d recommend, after they named some shows they wanted to see, or had already seen (Mary Poppins, Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid …).  We said that Hairspray (which was still open at the time) was a lot of fun.  The woman looked at me quizzically “It won’t make any sense to me” she said, in her completely fluent English.  ”Why not?” I asked.  ”Because I haven’t seen the movie” she replied, and promptly opened up her “I HEART NY” Travel Guide and left me to my Eggs Benedict.  So much information in so short a sentence.

I loved reasons to be pretty.  I loved the rapid-fire dialogue, the layers of emotions, the way it illustrated how an entire relationship can hinge on one mis-spoken phrase.  I loved how the show examined our own images of ourselves versus what those close to us see.  I viscerally felt the drain a friendship can have on you when it’s run its course but neither friend bothers to let go.  I had flashes of my life, of old relationships, where ex-boyfriends said the wrong thing at the wrong time and our wrong relationship fell like a house of cards.  I understood how some times a waste of time can feel like a good thing because the opposite is just too scary.  I also understood how bitter a pill that waste of time is to swallow when you actually do leave it and glance back at it from a different perspective.

Having said that … I agree.  This was not a show for a six year old.  This was not a show for a grandmother from Montesoda.  The language was too quick for a high-school English As A Second Language visitor from another country.  And the themes were far far too dark for a person who is only in New York for five days and has to get up early every morning in order to get the best seat on the Big Apple Bus.  If you can’t knock it out of the park for all those people every night, every time … you’re not going to have them go back to their home town and recommend your show to their friends who are making the big Broadway trip themselves next summer.  You’re not going to have the six year old go back to her class and bring her program (or mug, or t-shirt) to show-and-tell and make all the other kids so jealous that by the time the three o’clock bell rings they’ve all got their Can we go too?  Please?  Please?  Please?  Please …. mantra all ready to spill out of their baby-toothed mouths.  You’re not going to have that busload of Japanese tourists waxing rhapsodical about that beautiful play about … four hard to understand people who scream a lot.

It’s true, a Tony win might have secured reasons to be pretty a few more months.  But eventually they were going to run out of New Yorkers, and visiting people from LA, and Neil LaBute fans.  And then reasons to be pretty, as good as it was, as close to perfect as a show can get, would have closed their doors just the same.

These days, that’s just how it goes.

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I’m here to set the record straight. I’ve spent years thinking that Phylicia Rashad‘s career was based on giving life to characters that sprung forth from Bill Cosby‘s head, the straight (wo)man standing patiently by as William Henry Cosby, Jr. Ed.D. gave in to one of his patented Cosby-eque tirades.  After all, she played his wife, lawyer Claire Huxtable, for eight seasons on The Cosby Show, then signed on for the gig again, playing Ruth Lucas on Cosby. She took Claire Huxtable on the road and over to  A Different World to visit her “daughter” when ratings required her to do so, and she had no issue with voicing the mother of Little Bill, Cosby’s saccharine animation for the 3-and-under set.  She’d even appeared in an episode of The Cosby Mysteries.  (Ever hear of it?  Me neither).  Almost more stereotyped than Henry (who?) “The Fonz” (oh …) Winkler, she even Claire Huxtable’d her way through those Jenny Craig commercials.  I know she’s had other roles, but her main body of work remained so uninteresting to me that I never bothered to catch her in A Raisin In The Sun or anything else, quite frankly.   So it wasn’t really on my radar that she won a Tony … or even that she was up for one.

August: Osage County (written by Tracy Letts and directed by Anna D. Shapiro) starts out slowly and a bit sadly, as Patriarch Beverly Weston (John Cullum, brilliantly thoughtful and strong-voiced as ever) tells young perspective housekeeper Johnna Monevata (this performance unfortunately featured the underwhelming understudy Kristina Valada-Viars) about his peculiar setup: a house kept in darkness so day can’t be distinguished from night; a habit of drinking that has long since moved from “socially” to “till passed out”, a wife so chock full of pills that every word past a certain point in the day is unintelligible, and a family that doesn’t come around very much … though is it any wonder?  Beverly is asking the young girl to be a live-in, to just help them keep their status quo.  She takes the job; she needs the money.

Soon enough Violet Weston (Phylicia Rashad) comes on the scene blathering a hello through a drug haze, demanding things rudely and clumsily knocking things over.  Beverly seems unfazed, this is just how things are now.  He allows her this wreckage of self because oh, hadn’t he mentioned?  She’s got The Cancer.  So maybe it’s better this way.

All too soon (because I LOVE John Cullum) Bev disappears which brings his family out of the woodwork and back to the family home.  Violet’s sister, Mattie Fae (big, beautiful, boozy-voiced Elizabeth Ashley who shimmers through every scene and brings layers of grit and pathos to her role) Maddie’s husband Charlie (Guy Boyd), and Violet’s middle daughter Ivy (Sally Murphy) are first on the scene.  Soon to follow is eldest daughter Barbara (Amy Morton) with her own fractured family in tow: estranged husband Bill (Frank Wood) and precocious 14 year old daughter Jean (Anne Berkowitz).  Thrown into the mix a little later on is youngest daughter Karen (Mariann Mayberry) who’s dragged along her inappropriately creepy fiance Steve (Brian Kerwin) who immediately is unlikable, and finally helpless cousin “Little” Charles (Michael Milligan) who is called a loser so often that it’s impossible to believe that he can really succeed at anything, what with all those negative tapes playing in his head day and night.

The Weston clan puts the diss in dysfunctional; their home explodes in rage and insult so often that when there’s a lull in the fighting you literally lean back, readying yourself for the next outburst which comes soon enough, and only proves that family fighting can always get bigger, uglier, and more violent.  Problems abound so much that they’re doubling up … not one but several kinds of drug use/abuse, several kinds of deviant sexual behavior, several kinds of unhappy marriages (in fact, they’re all on the unhappy scale somewhere, even the marriages that haven’t happened yet). Which isn’t to say that this isn’t a comedy of sorts.

Moments of laughter are peppered into the drama as liberally as makes sense; and the story gets SO dark that at times all you can do is laugh at it.  Father’s missing, Mother’s hooked on pills, Daughter Ivy is dating Mystery Guy (who, when his identity is revealed, is all the less advisable), Daughter Barbara is trying to handle her own failing marriage and control her wild child daughter Jean whose pot-smoking habit is encouraged by her father … a father who has left his marriage in order to date a girl closer to his daughter’s age than his wife’s.  Their sister Karen is a motor mouth, too self-referential and self-observant but also completely self-doubting and at times self-hating. Karen’s fiance, Steve, whom she adores couldn’t be less worthy of adoring … he’s lacking any sort of depth or color except for the fact that he’s a cheat and a pervert.  So with all this built-in angst the audience finds itself laughing uproariously at lines that, anywhere else, would seem mean or harsh.  Lines such as “Eat your fucking fish, Mom!” and “I hate you too, you little freak!”

There’s a point where August: Osage County felt like it was really June: New York City, because while I was pretty certain I’d entered the theatre in June … I was almost sure it would be July by the time I got out.  This play is loooooooooooooooooooong, coming in at 3.5 hours (with two very necessary 10-minute intermissions).  Not to say that it’s long and dull, more like it is long and invasive; entering into your body through your senses and spreading throughout until you’re pulled into the family whether you like it or not.  While that may sound harsh, it’s not altogether untrue.  That doesn’t mean this play isn’t brilliantly done, it’s just quite simply emotionally draining and for anyone with an empathetic bone in their body, it’s almost obliterating.  Sounds dark?  It is.

However the entire cast sinks their teeth into this family and performs this play with gusto; and the simple truth of the matter is that nothing is more satisfying than watching Phylicia Rashad curse a blue streak, throw her dinner on the floor, and incite a family fight that’s only millimeters shy of bloodshed.  Winner of the 2008 Tony Award for Best Play and Pulitzer Prize for Drama, August: Osage County has been around for a while but, come summer, the show will be heading out to cities across the country as it sets out on a National Tour.  See it before it’s gone and while Phylicia Rashad is still at the helm and in town.

August: Osage County is currently playing at the Music Box Theatre, 239 West 45th Street (Between Broadway and 8th Avenue).  Click here for ticket information.  To find out more, visit the official website.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Running Time is 3 hours and 20 minutes, including 2 intermissions.
All evening performances start at 7:30PM except for Tuesday evenings which are 7:00PM and Saturday evenings which are at 8:00PM.

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