November's January Opening
November's January OpeningDavid Mamet's latest work November, which opens tonight at Broadway's Ethel Barrymore Theatre, delves smack dab into the middle of presidential election year politics.
But I have to tell you, if the jokes at the top of the show's Web site are any indication, the play could be as lame as the fake duck in the White House portrayed by Nathan Lane. There's one turkey after another. Who wrote that?
Directed by Joe Mantello, November also includes Dylan Baker (fresh from his stint in Mauritius), Laurie Metcalf, Ethan Phillips and Michael Nichols.
Having spent my first four years out of college working on Capitol Hill, I have an interest in just about any depiction of politics in popular culture. In all too many cases, I'm amused by the complete naïveté demonstrated by most writers.
But since I have enjoyed other Mamet works, I'll be reserving judgment until I see it in the weeks to come. However, I'll be sharing my critics' capsule tomorrow.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Click here for tickets.
Related Stories:
Metcalf Elects To Join November (August 9, 2007)
Will Mamet Offer Hail To Nathan Lane? (May 10, 2007)
Labels: Broadway, David Mamet, Joe Mantello, Laurie Metcalf, Nathan Lane, November, Opening Night, Play
posted by Steve On Broadway (SOB) @ Thursday, January 17, 2008
2 Comments:
The only thing that made me glad I'd bought tickets to this overstuffed undercooked lame turkey of a play was that I didn't have to wait for a press embargo to write about it. It stinks. Not really because it's bad, but because it's so slight. The same language Mamet used to shock us in "American Buffalo" is now thrown out for cheap laughs, and it's not even the Mamet show, so much as it is a soapbox for Lane's increasingly narrow theatrics. I'm looking forward to seeing if the critics in your capsule will bother floating Mamet any support.
Aaron, I read the premise for the show and thought, "It couldn't be any more preposterous than this."
I guess the notion that a right-wing president would have a lesbian speechwriter could happen, although highly unlikely. But only she would be able to provide him with the appropriate language for a do or die speech? I don't think so.
While I have tickets, I already have a sense of impending disaster. Your note and review would seem to confirm that.
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