I land just after 4p. By 8p, I've been through a rain storm, argued with a desk clerk, scheduled an interview with a movie legend, had a snack at a favorite dive, found a last minute ticket for one of the hottest shows in town, made a reservation for an 11p dinner at a favorite non-dive, wrote two blog entries, set another interview with another movie legend, walked blocks in the rain to find a place where there wasn't a crowd desperate for a cab, settled into a seat in a theater, and prepared not only to be entertained and moved, but to remove the ugly ghosts of Legally Blonde from the Palace Theater.
Only in New York, kids... only in... gag... ack... gurgle...
I've had a pretty great run of theater and theater to come on these last few stopovers.
As I Twittered last week, God of Carnage is a great evening of theater, with James Gandolfini and Jeff Daniels doing excellent work, but Marcia Gay Harden and Hope Davis stealing the show.
This is the kind of knockabout farce loaded with dark truths that every sophisticated high school drama teacher will be dying to do, but will be stopped by the principal. Two couples, trying to be polite and to work out some bad business that happened between their kids at school, slowly start to unravel in front of each other.
Part of me wanted to see Gandolfini and Daniels switch roles, since both are a little too perfect in the roles they play. You couldn't really ask for better... just for less familiar. But Marcia Gay Harden swings back into the mode of hers that I love best... cool, sexy, and funny... the Marcia Gay Harden that I discovered (for myself) in Late For Dinner.
And Hope Davis... well... I have always liked watching Hope Davis' work, but I haven't always understood how directors saw her in some of the roles she's played. Something like American Splendor is character work... terrific. But there has always been a kind of angry, sexy blond thing that I could see that directors saw in her, but I never really got it. To see her throw herself around the stage here... fearless... and showing herself to have a body that you would expect to see gracing the pages of Maxim. After years of watching her work, a serious actress, I must admit that it came as a real surprise to me.
The show, directed by Matthew Warchus, echoes his success last year with Boeing-Boeing. But it is not Boeing-Boeing. It isn't as light and quick and delightfully silly. There is no jaw-dropper of a performance like that of Mark Rylance. It's farce, but of a much gentler tone.
Still... a really good time at the theater. You will see truth and you will laugh hard. What more could you ask?
Impressionism is a little less compelling, though again, a good evening of theater, if not something for the very top of your list. The show marks Joan Allen's return to the Broadway stage after 20something years. And she is very good, very blond, and not terribly challenged by this character from my perspective. Doing a much more complicated job is the great Jeremy Irons, who has to be the straight man to the whims of Allen, throw off many of the best lines, and build a story for his character slowly, leading to a place where what happens at the end of the show feels believable.
The show is, basically, a one-act with flashbacks, telling the story of a woman who owns a gallery... how she came to this moment... and why she clings to her paintings, which she displays for sale every day, but never really seems to want to sell. There is also the tale of her "assistant," a character with no clear job, but as played by Irons, expands from coffee boy to a full, rich character as the tale unfolds. There is a great turn by Andre De Shields, who, like all the actors, plays multiple characters, making his greatest impression as an elderly baker.
Watching the show, there are five other actors, including a pretty young woman... and it kept bugging me... I knew who she was... but... arrrr... and then a look in the Playbill... it was Margarita Levieva. Still nothing. Credits... Adventureland! Ah. Lisa P! Amazing. This is that girl? She plays the amusement park's house bombshell, who, eventually - as Greg Mottola tends to deliver - turns out to be more interesting than she first seems. But there was more... Spread. This young actress, doing not-too-demanding-but-the-kind-of-thing-you-do-to-get-really-good work, treading the boards with some great, long-established actors, is the third lead of that film, behind star Ashton Kutcher and a light-it-up turn by Anne Heche. But it's the kind of role that launches a serious movie career if you can keep from just becoming a target for directors who just want you to do that shower scene. She steals scenes from Kutcher, who as goofy as his movie persona is, is usually stealing scenes from others. But your attention often goes to her and her mysterious ways in this role. Interesting.
Discovery is a joy in the movie theater, but on stage, I find it even more compelling. There is something about the actor standing on that stage, even when silent, that really allows you to see when the spark is there... not as manipulated by movie directors, cinematographers, and editors.
One actor who was a stand out in a relatively small role on Broadway was Matt Cavenaugh in Grey Gardens. His roles were overshadowed by the two Tony-winning performances by Christine Ebersole and Mary Louise Wilson as Little Edie and Big Edie, but still, he made an impression by being unexpected. He got through the non-started of A Catered Affair. But tonight, he was unexpected again... and truly special.
Cavenaugh is Tony in the new/old revival of West Side Story. And from the very first time he starts singing, you know that he, as they say on American Idol, owns the songs, even though they are amongst the greatest and most familiars tunes ever to grace Broadway. And he's not trying really hard to come up with something new, as some people do. He's just doing the work. And he is easily the best Tony I have ever seen in any version of this show. He reminded me of what a young Mandy Patinkin might have been like in this role. Patinkin has recorded versions of some of these songs in concert or for CD and is a different kind of different. But I can see this young man doing all of the great roles... being The Next Guy... a role that Raul Esparza may or may no be ready to fill.
And Karen Olivo, who got a lot of love for her turn in In The Heights, is a strong contender to win a Tony for her turn her as Anita... the role that won an Oscar for Rita Moreno. She eats the stage every time she appears.
That was the best news of the show. It is fascinating to watch a show that has been recreated from a now-legendary choreographer's original work. Jerome Robbins. How must have theatergoers at previews, before the critics told them how brilliant this show was, felt when they saw gang members dancing a ballet in 1957... even a decade after Agnes de Mille?
Interesting touches include two of the very familiar songs sung entire in Spanish when the Spanish-speaking characters are on their own. This both works and doesn't, as we are so familiar with the songs that we know exactly what is going on, lyric for lyric. On the other hand, people like to hear the new version of what they love. The gimmick works better on "America" than on "A Boy Like That," where I really, really wanted to hear Olivo turn the phrase, "A boy like that... will kill your brother" and "A boy like that cannot love... a boy like that has no heart... stick to your own kind... stick to your own kind."
Maria and Bernardo are both Broadway first-timers, both South Americans... both a bit disappointing... though Josefina Scaglione as Maria acquits herself pretty well. She just happens to be up against two of the strongest performances that we will see on Broadway this year.
But what drove me a little nuts was how weak some of the rest of the cast was. I don't want to call actors out, but so many times, the speaking roles seemed like they were lost in translation.
On the other hand, the chorus - some of whom had speaking or individual singing roles - was spectacular... especially the women. It was another gimmick of the show... a much more successful one.. that this West Side Story was young and sexy. The costumes, by David C. Wollard, managed to be completely appropriate, and dead sexy. The Jets girls wore skimpy skirts and dresses, just cut high enough so you could appreciate every sinew of the dancers' legs, but not gross. The Sharks mamacitas were either in longer skirts that twirled mercilessly or period shorts, cut high on the thigh. And oh, how they all moved. The guys... not really sexy. Basic. But effective. Again, Tony is the standard. He always looked like a real guy wearing real clothes... and they never kept him from dashing from corner to corner of the stage.
Maybe it's just too hard to take a classic, with an indelible movie version, and to fill every role with someone who will pop the way characters pop in the film. When your cast is this big, it gets tough for everyone to be a star. But man, as someone who knows the show, you really want it. Chorus standouts were all girls... and the folks doing the show seemed to indulge in yet another gimmick that worked... casting for women who looked real and not just like actors. All kinds of body types... some unexpected... are out there, knocking it out of the park. (Anybodys, played by Tro Shaw, also stood out.)
Anyway... a mixed bag.
Still to come this week are two shows that got raved by the NY Times this last week... Geoffrey Rush and Susan Sarandon in Exit The King.. and the revival of Hair, another show whose Broadway cast album is as familiar as any Beatles album, since my older sister played the grooves out of both, but which I have never seen on stage.
Plus, New Directors is on right now... and museums call...
I do love New York. No place like it.
Read the complete post at http://www.mcnblogs.com/thehotblog/archives/2009/04/nyc.html