A Little Less Night Music Come January
Sure, the sophisticated
Stephen Sondheim tuner had only been selling tickets through January 9, 2011, anyway. But with the
celebrated replacements
Bernadette Peters and
Elaine Stritch originally scheduled only through November 7, coupled with the revival's
previous plans to close last June 20, I couldn't help but hope the producers could pull a fifth and sixth rabbit out of their stylish hat in terms of its headlining cast.
Instead, the producers
announced today a hat trick of another kind. While confirming the show's closure for the second time (and presumably final) time, they simultaneously announced that Peters and Stritch have extended their contracts through the closing date of January 9.
A Little Night Music will have enjoyed a remarkable Rialto run of 425 regular performances, after first wowing the critics across the pond.
Trevor Nunn's production
captured my heart when I first saw it nearly two years ago in London where his vision worked exceedingly well in the
Menier Chocolate Factory's thimble-sized theatre.
Having seen that incarnation and knowing what to expect with Nunn's spare staging,
I wasn't at all let down in quite the way many of my colleagues were by the time the show turned up on Broadway. However, I was every bit as genuinely disappointed by
Catherine Zeta-Jones's brassy performance as I was genuinely moved by
Angela Lansbury. Yet when Peters and Stritch took over as replacements, I couldn't help but believe
I had just witnessed the definitive portrayal of Desiree as manifested in "Send In The Clowns."
Was this a perfect revival? Certainly not. But it surely has provided audiences with a wonderfully rare opportunity to hear some of Sondheim's very best music back on the Broadway stage. And you know what? It sure
was rich.
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: A Little Night Music, Angela Lansbury, Bernadette Peters, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Closing Notices, Elaine Stritch, Stephen Sondheim, The House Of Blue Leaves, Trevor Nunn
Second Verse, Better Than The FirstTwo nights ago, I had a fabulously ridiculous dream.
In it, I was seeing a Broadway show alongside
The New York Times' critics
Ben Brantley and
Charles Isherwood, two men I've never met in person, but have certainly observed. It was a bizarre dream to be sure, especially since much like the rest of last season, I found myself disagreeing with Isherwood's assessment of the show, but agreeing with Brantley's (fortunately in this phantasm, the Gray Lady's
senior critic was responsible for writing the review).
Imagine my delight upon waking to find myself
agreeing with Isherwood regarding his
excellent assessment of replacement casts.
In particular, I could not agree with him more that
A Little Night Music constitutes the "must-see" production this summer. It's been positively transformed, largely on the heartstopping performance of
Bernadette Peters. So transformative was her rendition of "Send In The Clowns" that you could hear a pin drop as she delivered it.
Having also seen Peters and her replacement
Reba McEntire in the most recent Broadway revival of
Annie Get Your Gun, I have to admit to concurring with his assessment that McEntire's performance eclipsed that of the tried-and-true Broadway Baby she replaced. I enjoyed Bernadette Peters in the title role, but the scrappy McEntire was born to play Annie Oakley. It is rather ironic that until I saw Peters as Desiree Armfeldt, Reba McEntire was my favorite Broadway replacement I ever had the thrill of seeing.
Additional props to Isherwood not only for discussing how truly disappointing the successors to
Nathan Lane and
Matthew Broderick were in
The Producers, but also for mentioning the fine replacements
Jonathan Pryce and
Estelle Parsons made for
John Lithgow (
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels) and
Deanna Dunagan (
August: Osage County), respectively. While I thought Pryce's sophisticated delivery of the con artist Lawrence was an improvement over Lithgow, I'm convinced after
beholding Dunagan perform as Violet Weston yet again last week that no one can ever quite match her bravura Tony Award-winning performance.
That goes double, by the way, for Dunagan's co-star
Rondi Reed as Mattie Fae Aiken. I've witnessed two other actresses attempt making that delicious role their own. Try as they might, neither could erase my fond memory of
the quintessential Mattie Fae. Coincidentally, Reed has also succeeded in winning my heart as the absolute best of the dozen or more Madame Morribles I've ever seen in
Wicked.
So, dear readers, who are
your favorite replacements? Or if your fabulously ridiculous dreams could come true, whom would you want to see as replacements in a current Broadway show?
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: A Little Night Music, Annie Get Your Gun, August Osage County, Bernadette Peters, Broadway, Charles Isherwood, Deanna Dunagan, Jonathan Pryce, Reba McEntire, Replacements, Rondi Reed, Wicked
A Little Night Music (The SOB Revisit)
***1/2 (out of ****)Talk about the difference between night and, well,
Night.
What was once a rare champagne in London when I first caught
Trevor Nunn's effervescent little revival of
A Little Night Music at the cozy
Menier Chocolate Factory had merely become just an amiable sparkling wine when it finally transferred to Broadway late last year.
Fizzy and fun, to be sure, but mass market nonetheless.
All the striations of intimacy I experienced at the Menier had seemingly been dispensed with in attempts to broaden its box office appeal as widely as possible. But given last season will best be remembered as the one in which the Great White Way was overrun with Hollywood stars, it seemed to be the price we had to pay for seeing
A Little Night Music back on Broadway's boards after a 35 year absence.
The revival succeeded primarily on the backbone of the indefatigable Menier holdover
Alexander Hanson (who continues to astound as Frederik Egerman) and the enormous strengths of
Angela Lansbury (who miraculously made fig newtons out of figs). Say what you will about
Jason Carr's spare orchestrations,
David Farley's simple scenic design and
Hartley T. A. Kemp's dim lighting, but I believe if you have a transcendant Desiree, any issues with them fade away. But because this revival first opened with one who was not, the problematic elements seemed to take center stage.
After a brief hiatus for the show after the departure of its two previous leads, I'm happy to report that what once was figs, is now a sumptuous feast on Broadway (and yet again for those of us fortunate enough to see the Menier production).
A Little Night Music's holdover cast seems immensely more assured as they've grown tremendously into their roles since the show first opened in 2009. They exude enormous confidence even if their characters do not. And that's half the battle.
But more significantly (and blessedly), the entirely intoxicating
Bernadette Peters demonstrates how richly textured and sparkling Desiree Armfeldt can ... no,
should .... be.
Peters offers a spellbinding master class in highly stylized nuance that is at once completely winning, enchanting and altogether shattering. As a valiant trouper and schemer who thoroughly understands that her weekend in the country may very well prove to be her last true opportunity in finding peace within herself and love in the man she's always loved, Peters' Armfeldt has every subtle shading necessary to effectively balance Desiree's lust for life with her darkest fears. After witnessing her heartwrenching rendition of "Send In The Clowns," you can't help but contemplate, "So
this is how it's done."
Assuming the mantle as Desiree's mother, Madame Armfeldt,
Elaine Stritch cackles a cacophany of delight and crackles with charm, even as she sometimes cracks from the untold pressure of hastily learning her lines. While her "Liaisons" could easily be dubbed liaisons and on and on, Stritch recovers well and soldiers valiantly on, managing to effectively offer her own unique and endearing interpretation of the lady who's been with kings and seen some things that a lady ought not to see. Still, you can't help but wonder if this Madame Armfeldt had considered herself a Bohemian in her own youth.
It's impossible to walk away from this newly fermented
A Little Night Music without marveling at how definitively rich and absolutely ingenious
Stephen Sondheim's glorious musical truly is. Finally, with a Desiree for the ages,
A Little Night Music has aged into the first-rate vintage bubbly we've been thirsting for.
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: A Little Night Music, Bernadette Peters, Elaine Stritch, Stephen Sondheim, The SOB Revisit, Trevor Nunn
Send In The ReplacementsThe week immediately following the
Tony Awards often tends to be one of transitions. Often, nominated shows and/or original cast members take their final bows.
This year is no different as the just crowned Tony-winning Best Actress in a Musical
Catherine Zeta-Jones and her Tony-nominated co-star
Angela Lansbury offer their final performances in
A Little Night Music this Sunday. (Leave it to my dear friend
SarahB for snaring coveted house tickets to be a part of it all.)
While
A Little Night Music had previously
posted its closing notice when its producers seemed to have long given up on finding suitable replacements, along came a new buzz of rumors that the ultimate dream pairing in Great White Way replacements were actually in negotiations: Broadway legends
Bernadette Peters and
Elaine Stritch.
Some (including me) were even swooning at the idea that they could be lured into taking over the juicy roles of Desiree and Madame Armfeldt. In particular, many were thinking Ms. Peters could finally provide the nuanced performance we'd been waiting for (click
here for my SOB Review to see what I thought of the Tony winner she's replacing).
Then on June 7, theatre lovers rejoiced at
the news. While the show would remain dark for three weeks commencing immediately after this Sunday's final performances by Catherine Zeta-Jones and Angela Lansbury, the musical would resume on July 13 with Bernadette Peters and Elaine Stritch. The dynamic duo are contracted through this November; however, tickets are now on sale through the first full week of 2011.
In addition to
A Little Night Music, what other major shows are bringing in replacements?
Here are a few of them:
Race - Ethel Barrymore Theatre
(
SOB Review: *1/2 out of ****)
On Tuesday,
Eddie Izzard,
Dennis Haysbert and
Afton C. Williamson joined the cast of this
David Mamet play as replacements for
James Spader,
David Alan Grier and
Kerry Washington, respectively.
Even though I wasn't a very big fan of this work, I thought Spader and Grier acquitted themselves very well, thus I find the casting of Izzard and Haysbert (in his Broadway debut) rather intriguing. But the one problemetic original cast member,
Richard Thomas, somehow remains in the cast.
Race is now scheduled to close August 21, 2010.
next to normal - Booth Theatre
(
SOB Review: ***1/2 out of ****)
The big news over the last couple weeks for
next to normal should have been that
Alice Ripley was
leaving the show for which she earned her 2009 Tony Award to tour with the production nationally
and that real husband-and-wife actors
Jason Danieley and
Marin Mazzie will take over the roles of this show's couple beginning July 19.
Instead, a flipplant
Facebook remark by Ripley rippled like an electroshock wave through the gay community. Ripley has since apologized.
When Mazzie and Danieley succeed Ripley and
Brian d'Arcy James, it will be first time this married duo will ever have been in a Broadway show together. As for the once "
criminally underused" d'Arcy James, he not only created
next to normal's Dan Goodman Off-Broadway and came "
full circle" in returning to the role as a Broadway replacement himself for
J. Robert Spencer, but now he is departing to perform once again in the next show on my list.
next to normal remains an open-ended run (meaning no closing date has been posted).
Time Stands Still - Cort Theatre
(
SOB Review: ***1/2 out of ****)
On May 12, one of those rarest of
rare announcements was made about a Broadway show that's already closed.
Time Stands Still, which had enjoyed an acclaimed
run at the non-profit
Manhattan Theatre Club's
Samuel J. Friedman Theatre earlier this year, will enjoy a return engagement at the Great White Way's
Cort Theatre, the mid-sized commercial house currently home to
Fences.
Because time doesn't stand still, only three of the four original Broadway principals --
Laura Linney, Brian d'Arcy James and
Eric Begosian -- will return to the production. But the fourth,
Alicia Silverstone (who had also been in the
world premiere mounting of the play on the West Coast) will not be joining them. She will be replaced by film actress
Christina Ricci in her Broadway debut.
Time Stands Still resumes performances at the Cort on September 23 with a second opening night slated for October 7. The limited engagement is currently scheduled through January 23, 2011.
Currently, of those four shows, I already have tickets to see
A Little Night Music and am contemplating a revisit to
Time Stands Still. How about you? Will any of these new names lure you back to see what these replacements can do?
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: A Little Night Music, Bernadette Peters, Broadway, Christina Ricci, Dennis Haysbert, Eddie Izzard, Elaine Stritch, Jason Danieley, Marin Mazzie, Next To Normal, Race, Replacements, Time Stands Still
SOB's Theatrical Firsts Of The Noughties: My First Show-Stoppers Over the course of the last decade, I’ve been truly fortunate to enjoy a number of enlightening firsts in my personal theatergoing that have only served to increase my deep and abiding love for the art form known as live theatre. What follows is one of my ten favorite experiences of the last ten years.While the term “stopping the show” was nothing new to me, actually seeing it occur live on stage most certainly was. It never really dawned on me what it meant until I saw it for myself.
My first experience in seeing a truly show-stopping number came via Broadway’s 2003 revival of
Nine. The incomparable
Chita Rivera was performing the rousing "Folies Bergère" as Liliane La Fleur. Not only did she manage to hold the audience in the palm of her hand, but she managed to gently stroke it into complete submission. By the end of her exquisite number, the audience was immediately on its feet with unrelenting cheers. So I'll forever remember Ms. Rivera for performing and her show-stopping number.
I’ve witnessed precious few other show-stoppers -- so few I can count the performers on one hand. The glorious
Jennifer Holliday stopped
Dreamgirls both in
2003 and again in
2007 as she reprised her role as Effie Melody White, performing her signature hit “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going.” A breathtaking
Bernadette Peters delivered her show-stopper as Mama Rose in the 2004 revival of
Gypsy, a feat that would be replicated by another Mama Rose, the brilliant
Patti LuPone. I first saw LuPone portray the woman who was born too early and started too late at Chicagoland’s
Ravinia in 2006, followed by her
Tony-winning turn on Broadway in 2008. In each of the three performance total I saw, the crowds enthusiastically rushed to their feet to cheer each bravura “Rose’s Turn.”
Earlier this year, I saw an altogether different kind of show-stopper. It was also in
Gypsy and also involved Patti LuPone singing “Rose’s Turn.” When a photographer in the back of the theatre began snapping away during this pivotal number,
LuPone stopped mid-song. Since I’ve already
written extensively about that event, I won’t go into detail here.
But suffice to say, just as I’ll never forget the show-stopping numbers offered by Chita Rivera, Jennifer Holliday, Bernadette Peters or Patti LuPone, I’ll also never forget the first time a show was stopped to reprimand an audience member. It served as an excellent reminder that we should treat the theatre, its actors and our fellow audience members with respect, lest we spoil their theatergoing experience.
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 all of these performances.Labels: Bernadette Peters, Chita Rivera, Dreamgirls, Gypsy, Jennifer Holliday, Nine, Patti LuPone, Stopping the Show
