Steve On Broadway (SOB)

Despite drawing mostly positive reviews, the current West End revival of Evita is not long for this world. The Andrew Lloyd Webber/Tim Rice musical will close May 26.

After Evita opened at London's Adelphi Theatre last June 21, most U.K. critics heaped praise upon the show's native Argentine star Elena Roger. The actress even earned an Olivier Award nomination for her turn as Eva Peron. However, like the other three nominations the show received, she failed to win the award.

Barely a week after Evita opened last summer, word began to spread that plans were in the works to bring the revival to Broadway. But with the revival not even lasting an entire year, perhaps those pronouncements were premature, if not pure hype.

This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).

Sunday At The Grosvenor House With Laurence (February 19, 2007)

Which British Hits Will Be Broadway-Bound? (September 20, 2006)

Evita to New York: I'd Be Surprisingly Good for You (June 28, 2006)

High Flying Adored: Evita Conquers the West End Critics (June 23, 2006)

Hello, Buenos Aires! New London Revival of Evita Opens Tonight (June 21, 2006)

Undeniably, Kristin Chenoweth is one of Broadway's top musical actresses these days.

But with a potential starring gig on an ABC television series called "Pushing Daisies," what will happen to the looming Young Frankenstein scheduled to replace The Producers at the St. James Theatre later this year? The Tony-winning actress had earlier assumed the coveted Madeline Kahn role of Elizabeth in last year's vaunted reading of the new Mel Brooks tuner.

Chenoweth, of course, is performing her last couple weeks in the Great White Way revival of The Apple Tree. In addition to her leading role in that show, she recently made her acclaimed operatic debut with New York's Metropolitan Opera.

Needless to say, the ABC pilot has yet to be picked up, and much can happen between now and the time Young Frankenstein comes to fruition. But if she's now going West, who might replace her?

According to one of my favorite personal sources, Megan Mullally is rumored to be ready to take Chenoweth's place. Mullally has not been on Broadway since 1995's celebrated revival of How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying. Her only other stint there was in the 1994 revival of Grease. Ironically, I just spotted Mullally in the audience at a recent performance of the new Company revival (stay tuned for a review of that show to come shortly).

While I have to admit that I'd be sad to see the promising new Brooks musical move forward sans Chenoweth, Mullally is one of the few other comedic actresses with the apropos chops to make Kahn's former role her own. Stay tuned!

This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).

Grey Gardens can hardly be called a “feel good” show. So why did I find myself feeling better than "good" after (finally) taking in a performance of this sublime show?

Two words: Christine Ebersole.

The incredibly talented Ebersole has proven she's at the height of her career. Her virtuoso performance in Grey Gardens is one that I'll never forget.

Mind you, I’m not one to voluntarily stand up and cheer reflexively. Personally, I find that the standing O is grossly overused and should be strictly reserved for only the best of the best. Not only did I leap to my feet upon Ebersole’s curtain call, but I found the extremely rare “bravo” freely coming from my heart and passing through my lips.

In Grey Gardens, Ebersole more than masterfully channels both Edith and Little Edie Bouvier Beales of the funny-if-it-weren’t-so-tragic seventies documentary of the same name. She luminously inhabits mother Edith in act one and then incredibly suspends any disbelief that you are watching anyone but the real Little Edie in the second act. Right before your eyes, a radiant and breathtaking Ebersole becomes Little Edie.

It probably goes without saying, but to really appreciate the production’s excellence, as well as to be truly informed about the real-life train wreck, you must see the documentary.

The film, of course, documents the depths of eccentric squalor and neglect to which Edith and her daughter Little Edie -- relatives of the former First Lady Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis -- succumbed. And they did so in the rarefied Hamptons, no less.

Thanks to a potent mix of intriguing fact and supposition by Doug Wright, the musical telling of their story provides plausible answers to the question of how the once mighty could have fallen so far.

In the first act, Wright’s book transports us back to pre-World War II 1941. Little Edie (a pitch perfect Erin Davie) is practically engaged to Joseph Kennedy (a winning Matt Cavenaugh as the scion seemingly destined for the White House before dying a war hero). However, her flirtatious mother Edith (Ebersole) -- a frustrated, would-be singer forced by her recalcitrant, cheating husband to give up her dream -- schemes as saboteur. Whether it’s a selfish fear of being alone or an innate jealousy of her own daughter, Edith single-handedly destroys Little Edie’s last best hope at marrying well.

For her part, Little Edie always harbors an ill-fated hope to someday escape Grey Gardens, yet the second act underscores the taut grasp of her mother. Now bedridden in 1973, the aging Edith (Mary Louise Wilson) remains in an irrational tussle of envy with Little Edie. Yet in these twilight years, they ridiculously vie for the attentions of the young handyman Jerry (Cavenaugh), one of the few remaining people still invited into their once glorious home.

What makes this theatre of the absurd so intoxicating is not just the flawless execution of replicating key passages of the original film, but also the way Little Edie is continually haunted by the specter of the life she could have had. While the second act begins as a downright silly caricature of the mother and daughter straight from the documentary, it transforms into a modern, poignant tragedy, where pathetic dismissal gives way to empathy. Credit Michael Greif's brilliant direction, Wilson’s powerful Edith and Ebersole’s heartwrenching Little Edie.

While I have absolutely no doubt that Ebersole and Wilson will be justly rewarded with Tony nominations -- and let’s be clear here…the Tony for Best Actress in a Musical will go to Ebersole -- the entire cast of Grey Gardens is as solid as can be. Truly exceptional among them are John McMartin in wonderful dual roles as both Major Bouvier and Norman Vincent Peale, Bob Stillman as Goold -- the keyboard tinkling, booze-drinking hanger-on of Edith’s, and the terrific
Kelsey Fowler and Sarah Hyland, who portrayed Lee Radziwill and Jackie O, respectively, as children.

Allen Moyer’s stunning and transformational set design not only luxuriates in the Grey Gardens estate’s previous glory, but mixed with Wendall K. Harrington's stunning projection design in act two, he succeeds in evoking its future filthy disrepair. Similarly, William Ivey Long’s costume design expertly mines the evolution of the real Little Edie’s confounding fashion sense.

Finally, as if that weren’t enough, there’s the alternately gorgeous and disturbing score by Michael Korie and Scott Frankel that crescendos in each act with courageous show-stopping numbers sung with surprising lucidity -- if only for the moment -- by Ebersole’s Edith and Little Edie. In the end, it’s a triumph of the first order.

So do yourself a favor. Go rent the DVD of the original cult documentary (if you're still unfamiliar with the story of the Beales) and then make tracks to the Walter Kerr Theatre to take in this highly unconventional, but completely satisfying musical. You'll thank me!

This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).

Grey Gardens Proves Fertile For Most Critics (November 3, 2006)

Time To Meet The Reaper: Grey Gardens Opens On Broadway (November 2, 2006)

Mary Poppins, Grey Gardens Tops Among SOB Readers (October 27, 2006)

Survey Says.... (October 23, 2006)

Which Broadway Musical Will Depart Next? (August 21, 2006)

Grey Gardens Moving to Broadway, Lest There Was Any Doubt (May 15, 2006)

Fresh from its five Olivier Award wins last weekend, the Sunday In The Park With George revival is now confirmed for an early 2008 transfer to Studio 54. The Menier Chocolate Factory received spectacular critical acclaim for its production, which will now be mounted by Broadway's Roundabout Theatre Company beginning January 18, 2008. Opening night is set for February 14.

Casting is yet to be announced, although as I stated on Monday, one would hope that every consideration be given to allowing Olivier Award-winning actors Daniel Evans and Jenna Russell to reprise their West End performances on this side of the pond.

While a special concert version of Sunday In The Park With George was staged on Broadway in 1994, this marks the first time that a fully-produced revival of the musical by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine will appear on the Great White Way. The original Broadway production enjoyed 604 regular performances from May 2, 1984 through October 13, 1985. Although it famously lost the Best Musical Tony to La Cage Aux Folles, it did earn a Pulitzer Prize for Best Drama in 1985.

This will clearly be an eagerly anticipated musical for anyone serious about Broadway theatre. I'll keep you posted on the casting choices.

This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).

It's official. After months of sluggish ticket sales and stunt casting, the producers of The Producers are finally ready to show it the door without one final return from Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick. The last, 2052nd regular performance at the St. James Theatre of Tony's most celebrated show ever will take place on April 22 -- six years after opening.

But don't cry for Mel Brooks. His next Broadway musical to be culled from his hilarious movie catalogue is Young Frankenstein. No dates have yet been set.

The Producers, to be honest, was just never the same without Lane and Broderick. When I took in the production not long after the two had originally departed, I left wondering, "Is this really what I had thought was so funny?" When the two did an encore gig just a couple months later, I realized that they had created a unique magic, a chemistry of musical comedy that was simply impossible to replicate -- they were breathtaking as Bialystock and Bloom. And again, I laughed...hard...from the gut.

With the movie "Young Frankenstein" being my personal favorite from the Mel Brooks film archive, I was thrilled when I first learned of the casting choices for the stage, especially the thought that Cloris Leachman might actually recreate her role as Frau Blücher. Whether or not all of them will be part of the actual production remains to be seen, but I'm very hopeful. You can bet I'll be reporting on all of its details once they're announced.

This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).

Click here for tickets.

Is Broadway Buzz Pure Follies? (February 14, 2007)

Beauty Out On Broadway (January 17, 2007)

Musicals Versus Plays: You Decide (January 5, 2007)

M-G-M: Movies-Going-Musical (January 3, 2007)

SOB Readers Produce Results For Pulling Plug (November 7, 2006)

Did Butley Capture Critical Buzz? (October 26, 2006)

Calling It Quits: The Wedding Singer Set To Close At Year’s End (October 26, 2006)

The Curse Of The Understudy (October 2, 2006)

Frank(el)ly Talking About The Producers (September 27, 2006)

Rent: 5,492,160 Minutes And Counting (September 25, 2006)

Broadway Box Office Rebounds (September 19, 2006)

Broadway's Biggest Box Office (September 13, 2006)

Fall At Broadway's Box Office (September 12, 2006)

Does Holiday Bounce Provide Second Honeymoon for Wedding Singer? (September 5, 2006)

Is It Close-to-Curtains for The Producers? (August 29, 2006)

Which Broadway Musical Will Depart Next? (August 21, 2006)

Gone With The Wind The Musical?

According to Fox News, Gone With The Wind is now destined to become a Broadway musical by way of London. According to the story, Hugh Jackman is being eyed for Rhett Butler. The story will more closely follow the novel by Margaret Mitchell meaning it will be darker than the 1939 flick.

Before I say "Frankly my dears I don't give a damn," I'll have to learn more before casting aspersions on the move. More to come later!

This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).

It's been 68 years since R.C. Sheriff's World War I play, Journey's End, was last revived on Broadway. Back then, World War I was still referred to as the "Great War" or "The War to End All Wars."

But now, many wars and conflicts later, the hopes of achieving lasting global peace seem as elusive as ever. It's against that backdrop that David Grindley is helming a new revival of this wartime play that opens this evening at the Belasco Theatre.

Grindley also directed the celebrated 2004 revival of Journey's End in London. That production received an Olivier nomination for Best Revival in 2005.

The fine Broadway cast includes Kieran Campion and Hugh Dancy, along with Tony-winning actors Boyd Gaines and Jefferson Mays, among others.

We'll learn tomorrow whether critics think we can still learn a lesson or two about war from this nearly eighty year old play.

This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).

Yesterday marked the final Broadway performance for The Little Dog Laughed. After slogging through middling reviews and less than 50% capacity crowds through most of its run, the comedy by Douglas Carter Beane has finally been put to rest after just 112 regular performances.

What's particularly stunning is that there are no other new plays by American playwrights currently running on the Great White Way, unless you happen to count Eric Bogosian's Talk Radio, which was written in the 1987, but never produced on Broadway until now. Undoubtedly, Tony voters will label Talk Radio a revival.

Even though I didn't find The Little Dog Laughed nearly as satisfying as I had hoped it'd be, I trust that come Tony time, the exhilarating tour de force performance by Julie White will still be remembered. And that's no laughing matter.

This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).

This evening, Salvage finally opens at the Lincoln Center Theater at the Vivian Beaumont.

The two-and-a-half hour play is actually the third and final installment of Tom Stoppard's mammoth The Coast Of Utopia. Helmed by Jack O'Brien, the trilogy also includes Voyage and Shipwreck, each clocking in at over three hours.

Given the overwhelming critical acclaim for the first two portions, tonight's opening has become very eagerly anticipated. We'll learn tomorrow whether New York critics believe this Salvage operation measures up to the rest of the journey.

This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).

Did Critics See Ship Wreck Or Hit? (December 22, 2006)

Unstoppable: Stoppard's Shipwreck Coasts Into Opening Night (December 21, 2006)

Did Critics Enjoy Voyage's Ride? (November 28, 2006)

Coast Of Utopia Begins Broadway Voyage This Evening (November 27, 2006)

A London revival of one of the West End's longest running comedies from the sixties opened two nights ago. Boeing-Boeing will no doubt get an extra bounce at the box office thanks to its rhapsodic reviews, as well as from its star power, including Frances de la Tour and Mark Rylance.

Deeming the show "refreshingly hilarious," The Times' Benedict Nightingale offers up four out of five stars: "Certainly, it’s funny enough for us to overlook implausibilities that seem even more preposterous than in 1962....No, the revival is at its best when comedy as opposed to farce is required. All three main performers score strongly here, starting with de la Tour’s doughfaced Bertha...But in many ways it’s Rylance’s evening. Tell me: is there a subtler comic actor in London?"

Nicholas de Jongh of the Evening Standard also bestows four out of five stars on the production: "I cannot remember experiencing a West End evening of such sheer, silly, comic pleasure.
To think that what reduced me to make such a giggling, smiling, delighted spectacle of myself was this traditional French farce by Marc Camoletti, neatly translated by Beverley Cross....Rylance's Robert teeters grave, passive and delightful through the action until he reaches his goal of an S and M union with Gretchen....It's the comic performance of a lifetime."

Susannah Clapp of The Observer is practically giddy: "Boeing Boeing, first seen in London more than 40 years ago...has become comic glory in Matthew Warchus's perpetual motion, perpetually funny production....What's transcendent is the cast....Mark Rylance -- one of the greatest actors of the last 50 years -- moves to a separate rhythm, while hitting the beat of the farce."

Sounds like a winner to me. Oh, how I wish I could squeeze in a trip to London right about now.

This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).

London's Boeing-Boeing Flies Into Opening Night (February 15, 2007)

No doubt, purists will lament that director Joe Dowling has taken too many liberties with Tennessee Williams' classic play The Glass Menagerie, which is currently playing a Guthrie stage. Given the play's semi-autobiographical depiction of Williams' own emancipation from the clutches of his mother, protestations over Dowling's artistic freedom may be a bit ironic.

For those who hold the original stagings of Williams' works sacrosanct, the most egregious element of this production may be found in Dowling's decision to split the Williamsesque Tom Wingfield in two. Randy Harrison portrays the younger Tom, while Bill McCallum takes on the older one. The latter not only serves as narrator, but essentially becomes a specter looking upon the proceedings much like the portrait of his long-deserted father hanging on the Wingfields' living room wall.

But if there's an actual force that lingers, even when she's not on the stage, it is Harriet Harris as Tom's manic mother Amanda. Given that Williams once sardonically referred to his mother as "a little Prussian officer in drag,” it takes a volcanic performance to make every seismic shift one to be feared. Harris erupts with a volatile mix of authentic neurosis and delusional charm to make you believe she understands the archetype Williams intended perfectly. An actor's actor if ever there was one, Harris masters this role with clarity and precision, even when she's not speaking a word. Hers is one of the best performances of the year.

There are other winning performances. Tracey Maloney imbues "crippled" daughter Laura with a haunting luminescence that shines as brilliantly as the light through one of her beloved glass figurines, particularly when she's caught up in the possibility that her love for Jim O'Connor might actually be reciprocated.

As the tender Jim, stunningly bereft of self-awareness, Jonas Goslow is a revelation. Once the ever-popular high school boy who could do no wrong, Jim now struggles to rebuild his sense of affable confidence after losing his way for reasons never enunciated. I've previously seen Goslow in Guthrie productions of The Real Thing and Hamlet, but this is the first time I've seen him so genuine and vulnerable.

For his part, McCallum offers a poignant take as the elder Tom that hints at the air of sophistication to come for this erstwhile "Shakespeare." Then there's Harrison's portrayal of the younger Tom. Often trying to find the appropriate voice for Tom, Harrison is all over the map -- literally. While Williams places this drama in St. Louis, Harrison's forced accent alternately sounds like it's from the Deep South or New England, with hints of New Orleans thrown in for good measure. Still, Harrison ably handles this pivotal role reasonably well, particularly in going toe-to-toe with Amanda.

There is much to recommend in Dowling's insightful, respectful and surprisingly entertaining production, and near as I can figure, none of Williams' beautifully poetic language has been altered. Certainly, sticklers may not approve of Dowling's dramatic tinkerings, but they've made for a very chilling evening that actually illuminate the darkest parts of Williams' soul. To me, that's the mark of a great production.

This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).

Harriet Harris To Headline Guthrie's Glass Menagerie (December 21, 2006)

Two evenings ago, Jessica Lange brought her interpretation of Tennessee Williams' Amanda Wingfield (read: his mother) back to the stage, this time in the London mounting of The Glass Menagerie. Critics were primarily positive about the Rupert Goold-helmed production.

Noting how "everything works gloriously" and that "a great play has been magnificently revived," Charles Spencer of the Telegraph provides his stamp of approval: "I take my hat off to the sheer stubborn persistence of the impresario Bill Kenwright and the actress Jessica Lange....The hotshot young director Rupert Goold stages a superbly judged production that captures both the haunting atmosphere of this memory play and its harrowing awareness of the unbearable pain that life can inflict on the innocent....Jessica Lange captures all the grotesque absurdity of Amanda Wingfield, flirting gushingly and girlishly with the man she wants to marry her daughter, but also leaving no doubt about the character's genuine pain and neurosis."

"Entering Edwina’s little world is like clambering down into a hideously cosy version of Hades," is how The Times' Benedict Nightingale describes The Glass Menagerie in his four-out-of-five star review: "As Lange makes clear, the dividing line between concern and control, devotion and oppression, love and destruction, is awfully thin. That’s not all there is to Lange’s performance. She extracts the most from the burbling and babbling with which, dressed in a frock that would have looked dated in 'Gone with the Wind,' she soft-soaps Mark Umbers as the Gentleman Caller she hopes will fall for Laura. She also gives us a glimpse, and sometimes more than a glimpse, at the desperation behind her endless, maddening manipulations."

The Independent's Alice Jones is generally laudatory: "Lange is suitably striking in the role, flitting, with little bird-like movements of her hand, from mollycoddling mother to self-obsessed old crone and, most memorably, a girlish coquette in the company of the gentleman caller. She is not, though, the standout performance in a uniformly excellent cast. Ed Stoppard is convincing as the narrator through whose tortured memory the action is filtered. Amanda Hale's nervy performance as Laura is as delicate as the glass animals she treasures, and beautifully contrasts with Mark Umbers's robust, strong-jawed, good-natured charm as the long-awaited gentleman caller."

Offering up four out of five stars, the Evening Standard's Nicholas de Jongh is mostly positive, except for its major star: "Rupert Goold's dream-struck production of Tennessee Williams's The Glass Menagerie finally convinces me this is one of the great, unhappy family-life plays in the modern American repertoire....The character of Tom, powerfully brought to dissatisfied life by Ed Stoppard and without that familiar belligerent glare of his, is Williams's alter ego and the play's narrator....Jessica Lange, The Glass Menagerie's prime misfit, makes a far less forceful impression....But Lange, never a dynamic figure on stage, makes garrulous Amanda a shrill, artificial, unfunny babbler rather than the complex figure of comic absurdity and frightened self-deception she ought be."

Michael Billington of The Guardian seems to agree. In providing three out of five stars, Billington states: "[E]ven though Jessica Lange had already played the role on Broadway, her Amanda seemed underpowered....Far more significant was the fact that Lange never persuaded me she inhabited a world of fantasy....Lange has good touches, such as her reflex attempts to smooth down her son's hair, but her Amanda never fully inhabits her own private world. But where the evening takes off is in the celebrated scene where Laura is confronted by a gentleman-caller in the shape of a colleague Tom has brought home to dinner. This is not only Williams at his best: it also brings forth a transcendent piece of acting from Amanda Hale as Laura."

Whether U.K. audiences will similarly warm to the tragic tale or are simply flocking to it to see two-time Oscar winner Jessica Lange remains to be seen. I can't help but wondering what Sir Alan Ayckbourn will think of that.

This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).

Lange's Return To Glass Menagerie Opens In London (February 13, 2007)

Directed by Matthew Warchus, this 1961 farce from Marc Camoletti and Beverley Cross (late husband of Dame Maggie Smith) ranked as London's longest running comedy of its day (although it bombed when it hit Broadway in 1965 as it only mustered 23 regular performances).

De la Tour will be joined in the cast by Mark Rylance (one of the best Shakespearean actors I've ever seen), Roger Alam, Daisy Beaumont, Michelle Gomez and Tamzin Outhwaite.

Will reviews make this Boeing-Boeing soar or crash and burn? I'll provide a recap in a critics' capsule over the next few days.

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Click here for tickets.

Need an example that "the good old days" were not always what they were cracked up to be? Well, The Rat Pack: Live At The Sands import from the U.K. currently touring the United States makes for an excellent case study.

Not content to let them rest in peace, the revue-style show from director/choreographer Mitch Sebastian "teams up" Frank Sinatra with Rat Pack alums Sammy Davis, Jr. and Dean Martin one more time, I suppose, for posterity's sake.

On the positive side (and it's not just an incidental positive, either) is Sinatra doppelgänger Stephen Triffitt who not only sounds just like Ol' Blue Eyes, but looks so much like him that you believe you're actually watching the Real McCoy. David Hayes evokes Davis fairly well both in song and dance. And although Nigel Casey looks and sounds little like Dino, he sure has enough charm and charisma to win the crowd over. All three provide terrific voices to their characters' array of top hits and standards.

But when it comes to the bantering among the three, we're stuck in a real time warp -- especially in the joke department. While Ku Klux Klan jokes were never, ever funny, unless the jokes were on the KKK themselves, we're fed more than one aimed squarely at the Davis character.

On top of that, misguided humor seriously backfires when the objects of derision are Jews, alcoholics and gays, to name a few. Was this really the shtick that our parents found so hilarious? Apparently so, given the standing O this show received from the decidedly older, but hardly mature audience.

As much as I enjoyed the timeless music and great impersonations, this was one offensive trip down memory lane that served as a reminder that the good old days weren't necessarily so.

This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).

I wouldn't normally do this kind of thing, but since I've been tagged by one of my Daily Blog Reads, Isn't It Rich...? I feel compelled to comply on the question of what I read for work.

Instructions were to "find the nearest book, turn to page 123, post the fifth, sixth and seventh sentences"; "tag three folks."

You'll see my "reading" is far from anything resembling theatre:

"Go back to promoting rum and Coke. Serendipity is a useful attribute for a PR person. As it happens, Cuba Libre is the name for the drink make with rum and Coca-Cola and lime juice."

- The Fall of Advertising & The Rise of PR, by Al Ries and Laura Ries

I'm tagging:

City Slicker - The best UK blogger, bar none

The Stephen Mosher Blog - Great ex-Texan, excellent photographer and creator of The Sweater Book

The Lunar Gemini - Another great ex-Texan worth reading.

This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).