Time Marches On BroadwayTalk about not standing still in efforts toward gaining a Broadway berth.
Not even a year after its
world premiere at Los Angeles'
Geffen Playhouse,
Donald Margulies'
Time Stands Still opens Thursday evening at
Manhattan Theatre Club's
Samuel J. Friedman Theatre.
As on the Left Coast, this
Time Stands Still is once again helmed by Tony Award-winning director
Daniel Sullivan and features
Alicia Silverstone. But this incarnation of Margulies' play replaces
Anna Gunn,
David Harbour and
Robin Thomas with
Laura Linney,
Brian d'Arcy James and
Eric Bogosian, respectively.
Manhattan Theatre Club describes
Time Stands Still as follows:
James and Sarah, a journalist and a photographer, have been together for nine years and share a passion for documenting the realities of war. But when injuries force them to return home to New York, the adventurous couple confronts the prospect of a more conventional life. This timely and intelligent play marks the fourth collaboration for Pulitzer Prize winner Donald Margulies and Tony Award-winning director Daniel Sullivan.
The play enjoyed some raves during its earlier California engagement. Will
Time Stands Still stand tall among Broadway critics? I'll be providing my own SOB Review shortly.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
In keeping with the new Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regulations that unfairly discriminate against bloggers, who are now required by law to disclose when they have received anything of value they might write about, please note that I have received nothing of value in exchange for this post.Labels: Alicia Silverstone, Brian d'Arcy James, Broadway, Donald Margulies, Eric Begosian, Laura Linney, Play, Time Stands Still
Coward's Laughter Presented For Fifth Time On BroadwayWhat do acting greats
Clifton Webb,
George C. Scott,
Frank Langella and now
Victor Garber all have in common with playwright
Noël Coward, whose
Present Laughter is opening for its fifth time on Broadway this evening?
The answer? Each has portrayed the play's suave, yet egocentric actor Garry Essendine on the Great White Way.
Nicholas Martin directs Garber on his return to Broadway after a 10 year absence. A four-time Tony nominee in his own right, Garber has become a household name over the last decade for his Emmy-nominated work on the
little screen, although he's also been in many
hit movies, too.
Garber is joined in this incarnation of
Present Laughter by
Brooks Ashmanskas as Roland Maule,
Lisa Banes as Liz Essendine,
Nancy E. Carroll as Miss Erikson,
Alice Duffy as Lady Saltburn,
Holley Fain as Daphne Stillington,
Pamela Jane Gray as Joanna Lyppiatt,
Harriet Harris as Monica Reed,
James Joseph O'Neil as Fred,
Richard Poe as Henry Lyppiatt and
Mark Vietor as Morris Dixon.
With frequent productions on both sides of the Atlantic since it was first staged in 1942,
Present Laughter remains a favorite from the Coward canon.
It was first produced on Broadway at the
Plymouth Theatre, where it ran for 158 after opening October 29, 1946. Webb was its star.
The
first Main Stem revival was mounted at the
Belasco Theatre in early 1958. Hard to believe it only lasted a scant 6 performances, given that Coward was not only at the helm, but also starring as Garry himself, a role meant to serve as his very own self-caricature. The revival also starred
Eva Gabor as Joanna Lyppiatt.
The
second Broadway revival, mounted at the
Circle in the Square Theatre in July 1982, was significantly more successful and featured a truly stellar cast that could earn its audience members some major bragging rights. Not only did
George C. Scott portray Garry, but he also directed this
Present Laughter that featured
Kate Burton as Daphne Stillington,
Dana Ivey as Monica Reed,
Christine Lahti as Joanna Lyppiatt and a young
Nathan Lane in his Broadway debut as Roland Maule. While the production that lasted 175 performances drew no Tony nominations, Scott, Ivey and Lane would each receive Drama Desk nods, while Burton received a Theatre World Award.
Scott Elliott directed the last Rialto revival of
Present Laughter at the
Walter Kerr Theatre, where it opened November 18, 1996. Like its predecessor, this revival enjoyed a run of 175 performances. Langella starred as Garry and
Allison Janney played his estranged wife Liz; both earned Drama Desk nominations and Janney took home a Theatre World Award. The show itself would be Tony nominated for Best Revival of a Play.
Which brings us back to the present
Laughter. Will Martin's latest revival
present lots of laughter and mirth? I'll let you know shortly after I see the show within the next few weeks.
The
Roundabout Theatre Company's limited run revival of
Present Laughter at the
American Airlines Theatre is currently slated to close on March 21, 2010.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
In keeping with the new that unfairly discriminate against bloggers, who are now required by law to disclose when they have received anything of value they might write about, please note that I have received nothing of value in exchange for this post. Labels: Broadway, Brooks Ashmanskas, Clifton Webb, Frank Langella, George C. Scott, Harriet Harris, Nathan Lane, Nicholas Martin, Noel Coward, Play, Present Laughter, Revival, Victor Garber
Staging Relief
In response to the destruction and devastation caused by the earthquake in Haiti, First Lady Michelle Obama has joined The Advertising Council and the American Red Cross to launch a series of national public service advertisements (PSAs).
The television and radio PSAs are designed to encourage all Americans to support relief efforts for the Haitian citizens impacted by the earthquake.
Please join me in giving, and please give as generously as you possibly can. Every little bit helps.
Thank you.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Labels: Charitable Organizations, Haiti, Michelle Obama, Relief Efforts, Special Messages
You've Got To Be Carefully Taught - Part 2Regular Steve On Broadway readers may recall that last summer, I offered a tribute to Sonia Simonsen, the excellent teacher who not only taught music in my high school, but also directed me in my one big stage outing.
Well, look what has surfaced after over 32 years. Photos from the way back machine!
Courtesy of classmate Cynthia James DeVore, these are the only three photographs I have of my one and only musical effort back in high school. I portrayed Lt. Joe Cable in a production of South Pacific in 1977 at Homestead High School, Mequon, Wisconsin.
In the first photo, my expressionless face is looking at Pam McNeil Elgin as Bloody Mary. She's no doubt telling me about what a "sexy lieutellen" I am and how she'd like to hook me up with her daughter Liat.
Now, Pam could act!
In the second picture, my expression-less face is "respond-ing" to Michael Silhol as Cmdr. William Harbison.
Michael clearly had great chops as an actor. Just look at his face. And that pointed arm movement!
But given I have about the same look and body position as I did in the first photo, I'm not so sure about me! Although I do remember one night when the three of us in this particular scene cracked up laughing by a stage mishap.
The more obscured third photo is from my love scene with Liat.
At least it doesn't show me just gazing.
The final photo is not of me. It's of classmates Darrell Smith (Stewpot) and John Shanahan (Luther Billis).
That snapshot helps me bring this post full circle to current times. A week from Saturday, I'll be back in Las Vegas. I'm going to be in one of the final audiences for Bette Midler's The Showgirl Must Go On at The Colosseum in Caesar's Palace. I'm a huge, huge Bette Midler fan, but the real reason I'm going? It's to see Darrell Smith perform his keyboard magic as part of the Divine Miss M's band.
Darrell was one of my best friends in high school. In addition to being a great friend, I'll always remember him as one of the most gifted classmates I ever had. He wrote some of the most amazing music I ever heard, even way back in the day. To be honest, I could listen to him tinkling the ivories for hours on end. He was, and is, that good. He certainly taught me a thing or two about performing and timing.
You may not know Darrell Smith's name, but given some of the biggest names in entertainment he's played keyboards for, you really should. Now, next weekend, I'll get to hear him play live once again for only the second time since leaving high school -- my first chance to see him perform was during one of Cher's early "Farewell" concerts back in 1999.
It'll be great to see this old friend up on stage with one of our greatest contemporary entertainers. See you next weekend, Darrell!
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).Labels: Bette Midler, Cher, Darrell Smith, Sonia Simonsen, South Pacific
Playing Daily: Real Live Drama On Streets Of Maputo, Mozam-biqueAs regular Steve On Broadway readers will know, I was in Africa during the last couple weeks of 2009 through the first three days of the New Year.
To say that my journey through South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia, Mozambique and Swaziland was unforgettable would be a huge understatement. In addition to many breathtaking opportunities to view animals, the aspect of my travels that I'll treasure the most was meeting wonderful and gracious people at almost every turn, with the emphasis on "almost."
You see, despite being beseiged in advance of my trip with one warning on top of another about my safety, I found that by taking sensible precautions, I ultimately had very little to really fear. In fact, the overwhelming majority of people were incredibly warm, hospitable and exceedingly gracious. I was appropriately wowed.
That is, with the exception of one fateful turn in Mozambique's capital city of Maputo on New Year's Day when I encountered a handful of corrupt “police” thugs on the city's streets as I was driving my rental car.
Two days earlier in Pretoria, Dollar Thrifty provided me with the necessary legal documents for driving from South Africa into both Mozambique and Swaziland. Driving into Swaziland later proved to be absolutely no problem, but the Mozambique border crossing, for starters, is riddled with chaos with its cloying denizens of shady characters trying to "help" you at every turn. Still, I got through it with my papers and after about an hour spent at the border as the Love Of My Life (LOML) and I waited for our visas to be processed, we made our way through the border crossing without any real incident.
I had already been made aware that dubious “police” in Mozambique tend to pull over cars with license tags from South Africa, so I was not only careful to observe all laws ranging from driving just under the speed limit to ensuring I had two hazard triangles tucked away in my trunk, but I also tried to drive as much as possible behind other vehicles. That way, by the time I passed any police roadblock, it was really too late for them to target my car. On New Year’s Eve, I made it all the way to my hotel without any issue and actually began to think all the horror stories I had read were a bit over the top.
But when I began driving in Maputo on New Year’s Day in clear daylight on my way out of town and toward Swaziland, an armed “policeman” was standing right in the middle of the street I was driving down and motioned for me to pull over. In fact, if you look at the top photo, taken moments before we were stopped, you can make out the "policeman" standing in the street. In all, there were probably about five of these uniformed "police," complete with guns. Even though I knew I didn’t do anything wrong, I complied and pulled over.
The lead “policeman” demanded to see my driver’s license. While I purposely had two wallets on me – a dummy one for thieves and my real one – I had to pull out my real wallet since it had my driver’s license in it. I also showed him my international driver’s license, which is required in Mozambique. So far, so good.
The “policeman” then demanded to see the vehicle registration, and the one I had from Dollar Thrifty was photocopied and included a letter from them stating express permission for me to drive into Mozambique.
He said I needed to show him the car’s actual certified registration, which Dollar Thrifty had only provided a copy of. I told the rogue cop that it
was official. He said it was not. He then said that they would need to “park my car for two days (presumably since it was a Saturday) and then they could move forward then.”
As fear that our entire vacation would be ruined was beginning to set in, I countered that this would be impossible since we needed to be in Johannesburg 2 days hence for our flight home. Since I essentially had a gun in my face, I remained polite, yet the "policeman" and I continued arguing about the official nature of my papers until he said that I could take care of the matter then and there.
I asked how much it would cost. He said $200 US.
A bribe.
I said I didn’t have that. He asked how much I had, and I opened my real wallet and had only about $23. He said again that he needed $200. I said I didn’t have anything more than that. He then turned to my LOML and said, “How much do you have?” My LOML had about $60. The “policeman” took that money and let us go.
In retrospect, I should have demanded we resolve the matter at the police station. If he was a legit police officer, then we could have called Dollar Thrifty from there. If he wasn’t a real police officer, then I’m not sure what would have happened. So shame on me for not thinking more clearly at the moment, but again, we had guns in our faces. But more so, shame on the government of Mozambique for allowing such disgraceful thuggery to play out on its streets.
I have to say that the sobering experience left us with a very bad feeling about Mozambique, which was only exacerbated when U.S. Embassy personnel we later met at a game reserve in Swaziland told us that incidents like ours happen all the time in Mozambique and that embassy personnel routinely have to expense the money they lose each day to corrupt police misdeeds.
It’s truly a shame because our experience with the actual people in Mozambique, notwithstanding the chaotic border crossing, had been excellent. But it also points to the desperation of people in places like Mozambique, which ranks among the poorest of African countries after suffering into the mid-90s from the ravages of civil war and a communist regime. If you look at the other photos, you'll see how some of the typical buildings currently appear in the heart of this city. Despite some amazing architecture, the heart of Maputo looks like a wasteland (the section of the city where my hotel stands is in much better shape).
While we felt extremely violated by the drama that unfolded on the streets of Maputo, we realized that it was really the luck of the draw. Had we been one street over, we may never have experienced any incident. But my advice for anyone traveling by car to Mozambique is to truly be on your guard.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
In keeping with the new that unfairly discriminate against bloggers, who are now required by law to disclose when they have received anything of value they might write about, please note that I obviously received nothing of value in exchange for this post. I paid a price for driving on the streets of Maputo.Labels: Corruption, Crime, Maputo, Mozambique, Special Messages
SOB's Fifty Favorite Shows Of The Noughties
SOB's Fifty Favorite Shows Of The Noughtiespleased to present my list of plays and musicals that wowed me the most during the just completed decade. Out of the hundreds and hundreds of shows I've seen over the last ten years, I give you my countdown of my 50 personal favorite shows of the Noughties. 50.
Barry Humphries & Friends: Back With A Vengeance! (Melbourne, Australia)
49.
The Breath Of Life (2002, London, United Kingdom)
48.
Dirty Blonde (2003, San Diego, CA)
47.
An Inspector Calls (2001, London, United Kingdom)
46.
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (2005, New York City, NY)
45.
Mary Poppins (2004, London, United Kingdom)
44.
The Unmentionables (2006, Chicago, IL)
43.
The Women (2001, New York, NY)
42.
Sonia Flew (2006, Chicago, IL)
41.
One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (2001, New York City, NY)
40.
Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2006, New York City, NY)
39.
Reeling (2006, Minneapolis, MN)
38.
Ivanov (2008, London, United Kingdom)
37
The Real Thing (2006, Minneapolis, MN)
36.
The Best Man (2000, New York City, NY)
35.
The Full Monty (2009, St. Paul, MN)
34.
The Well-Appointed Room (2006, Chicago, IL)
33.
A Catered Affair (2008, New York City, NY)
32.
A Blameless Life (2005, Chicago, IL)
31.
Brighton Beach Memoirs (2009, New York City, NY)
30.
Hairspray (2002, Seattle, WA/2008, New York City, NY)
29.
The Car Man (2001, St. Paul, MN)
28.
Purple Heart (2002, Chicago, IL)
27.
Into The Woods (2002, New York City, NY)
26.
Hedda Gabler (2006, New York City, NY)
25.
Nine (2003, New York City, NY)
24.
Superior Donuts (2008, Chicago, IL/2009, New York City, NY)
23.
Grey Gardens (2007, New York City, NY)
22.
Twelfth Night (2009, New York City, NY)
21.
My Fair Lady (2001, London, United Kingdom)
20.
Small Tragedy (2003, Minneapolis, MN)
19.
Guys And Dolls (2005, London, United Kingdom)
18.
Long Day's Journey Into Night (2003, New York City, NY)
17.
Ruined (2009, New York City, NY)
16.
The Producers (2002, New York City, NY)
15.
Evita (2007, London, United Kingdom)
14.
The Beatles Love (2007, Las Vegas, NV)
13.
Passing Strange (2008, New York City, NY)
12.
Dreamgirls (2007, Atlanta, GA)
11.
Theatre Of The New Ear (2005, Los Angeles, CA)
10.
A Little Night Music (2008, London, United Kingdom)
9.
Wicked (2003, New York City, NY)
8.
La Bohème (2002, New York City, NY)
7.
Gypsy (2008, New York City, NY)
6.
Our Town (2009, New York City, NY)
5.
The Last Five Years (2003, Philadelphia, PA)
4.
Doubt (2005, New York City, NY)
3.
Assassins (2004, New York City, NY)
2.
The Norman Conquests (2009, New York City, NY)
1.
August: Osage County (2007, Chicago, IL/2008, New York City, NY/2008, London, United Kingdom)
In the days to come, I'll be looking
forward to what's to come in this new decade. Happy New Year!
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
In keeping with the new that unfairly discriminate against bloggers, who are now required by law to disclose when they have received anything of value they might write about, please note that I have received nothing of value in exchange for this post. I paid my own way for each of these performances.Labels: August Osage County, Broadway, Musicals, Play, Revival, SOB's Favorite Shows Of The Noughties, The Norman Conquests
Happy New Year!From my perch in
Maputo, Mozam-bique, where the sun is already coming up on 2010 in this place where the Indian Ocean meets Africa's eastern shores (yes, I'm staying at the property in the picture), I wanted to take a moment to wish you and your family and friends a very happy and healthy 2010!
Here's also hoping you enjoy more great live theatre, not only through the New Year, but also throughout the new decade.
I'll be back in the United States on Monday and will likely be seeing yet another show shortly thereafter. In the meantime, enjoy your holiday!
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Even though I'm outside of the United States, in keeping with the new that unfairly discriminate against bloggers, who are now required by law to disclose when they have received anything of value they might write about, please note that I have received nothing of value in exchange for this post. I paid my own way for this trip.Labels: Maputo, Mozambique, New Year's, Special Messages
