Theatre's Biggest News Of The Day Comes From Other Desert Cities
Perhaps the biggest theatrical news from yesterday didn't come from Broadway. But it was pretty darn close. And it was for a play that was originally planned for a Broadway berth.
Yesterday, The New York Times' Patrick Healy broke the news that Lincoln Center Theater's upcoming production of Jon Robin Baitz's Other Desert Cities would star one of this Theatre Season's most impressive casts since, well, that other Lincoln Center Theatre production: Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown.
According to Lincoln Center's news release:
Stockard Channing, Stacy Keach, Linda Lavin (and) Elizabeth Marvel will be featured in the cast of its upcoming production of Other Desert Cities, a new play by Jon Robin Baitz, directed by Joe Mantello, beginning performances Thursday, December 16 at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater (150 W. 65 Street.). Opening night is Thursday, January 13 at 6:45pm.
In Other Desert Cities, Brooke Wyeth (to be played by Elizabeth Marvel), a once promising novelist, returns home after a six year absence to celebrate Christmas in Palm Springs with her parents (Stockard Channing and Stacy Keach), former members of the Reagan inner-circle, her brother, and her aunt (Linda Lavin). When Brooke announces that she is about to publish a memoir focusing on an explosive chapter in the family’s history, the holiday reunion is thrown into turmoil and the Wyeths are both bound together and torn apart as they struggle to come to terms with their past.
Sounds pretty intriguing to me.
Expect this to be a much sought after ticket, especially given its opening date set amidst so many Broadway and Off-Broadway show closures about the same time.
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: Casting, Elizabeth Marvel, First Word On New Show, Jon Robin Baitz, Linda Lavin, Off-Broadway, Other Desert Cities, Stacy Keach, Stockard Channing
Off-Broadway Preview In 50 WordsWant to catch one of Broadway’s best current actors?
How about a true marvel?
A premiere helmed by a celebrated
Steppenwolf ensemble member?
Then go to Off-Broadway’s
MCC Theatre this September.
Austin Pendleton directs
Michael Weller's
Fifty Words starring
Norbert Leo Butz and
Elizabeth Marvel.
Enough said
in 50 words.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Click here for tickets.Labels: 50 Words, Austin Pendleton, Elizabeth Marvel, Fifty Words, MCC Theatre, Michael Weller, Norbert Leo Butz, Off-Broadway
Top Girls (The SOB Review) - Biltmore Theatre, Manhattan Theatre Club, New York, NY**1/2 (out of ****)With apologies to
Annie Lennox, sisters may be doing it for themselves, but as
Caryl Churchill's
Top Girls ultimately concludes, they're just as likely to do
in themselves in their struggle to break through the glass ceiling.
Just as this year's political season only elucidates and confirms, the fairer gender is completely capable of throwing one of their own under the bus. In Churchill's 1982 play, which takes major issue with the United Kingdom's first (and to date only) female Prime Minister
Margaret Thatcher, rising star Marlene (
Elizabeth Marvel in a performance that more than lives up to her name) is all too willing to hop in the driver's seat and run over just about anyone who stands or even lies in her way.
Marlene's an equal opportunity offender, whether the offendee is her former (male) boss, her very own sister Joyce (
Marisa Tomei in one of her three outstanding portrayals), or even worse, her teenage niece Angie (a mindblowing
Martha Plimpton, who also more than ably doubles as Pope Joan). In Marlene's world, power is not so much the ultimate aphrodisiac as it is the end-all.
And therein lies the conundrum in
Top Girls as meticulously directed by
James Macdonald. Is true equality in society a double-edged sword, something that should be handled with only the utmost care? And are women who serve as trailblazers helping or hurting other females left in their wake?
There are no clear answers, but the play begins with an amazingly surreal dream sequence in a restaurant to celebrate Marlene's exciting promotion. Only thing is the navel gazing guest list includes women from throughout history who have triumphed over male domination -- or have they? Ironically, as they swill wine and pontificate -- quite literally in the case of Plimpton's pompous pope -- they remain oblivious to the hard-working attentiveness their waitress (a marvelous
Mary Beth Hurt) delivers in silence.
I can appreciate why this first act might drive some theatregoers to depart when the house lights go up. With a bit of sensory overload, the act can be a bit confounding as Pope Joan, Griselda (
Mary Catherine Garrison in one of four sly turns), Isabella Bird (Tomei) and Lady Nijo (a crackling
Jennifer Ikeda) talk over one another. Personally, I found the entire episode amusing, if not intriguing, akin to the way your ears dance, caught between two simultaneous, yet equally riveting dinner conversations. Taking it all in with us are Marlene -- who on reflection must realize that while she's the reason they're all there, they have scant interest in her achievements -- and the anything but Dull Gret (an understated, yet funny
Ana Reeder).
The first act only crystalized for me once the play was over. To leave after the initial act would be to miss the story behind the celebration banquet -- how Marlene and her employment agency colleagues not so much help their female clients find gainful work, but stop at nothing to get to the top themselves. Even more harrowing is the storyline on how Marlene has eschewed her family and obligations at her roots.
In one of the most poignant scenes and true to her name, Hurt portrays a dejected Louise, who comes to the agency after 20 years at her current job. Far from a backstabber, she notes how underappreciated she's been and how her efforts have largely gone unnoticed. Others she has trained have gone on to bigger and better things, but because she has little of the moxie to steamroller over her co-workers, she's stuck in a rut.
In
Top Girls, Churchill has essentially created a modern-day womanifestation of Darwin's social theory. Survival of the fittest indeed.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Click here for tickets.Related Stories:Did Critics Place Top Girls At Top Of Their Lists? (May 8, 2008)
Opening: Top Girls Tops Off Broadway Season (May 7, 2008)
Labels: Broadway, Caryl Churchill, Elizabeth Marvel, James Macdonald, Marisa Tomei, Martha Plimpton, Mary Beth Hurt, Play, Revival, The SOB Review, Top Girls
