Did Critics Welcome Ferrell's Final Night?Last evening,
Will Ferrell made his Broadway debut in his limited run show
You're Welcome America. A Final Night With George W Bush, which opened at the
Cort Theatre.
Directed by
Adam McKay, Ferrell's show spoofs the eponymous
43rd President. The comedy features
Michael Delaney,
Pia Glenn,
Adam Mucci and
Patrick Ferrell.
Most critics' reviews rolled out the welcome mat for Ferrell with one notable exception.
Praising the show as "a cathartic, almost cleansing farewell,"
David Rooney of
Variety claims that the show never descends into mean-spirited diatribe: "Ferrell delivers what's basically an extended '
SNL' political sketch grafted out of the easiest target in comedy.... [I]t's the kind of incisive 'SNL' sketch we haven't seen much of lately -- a fast-paced, well-sustained near-90 minutes that's consistently funny and invigoratingly rude.... [I]t's in the more fanciful satirical detours that Ferrell soars highest."
Proclaiming "mission accomplished,"
Joe Dziemianowicz of New York's
Daily News awards four out of five stars: "Getting to see this comic whiz in the flesh is a big treat, and the fact that Ferrell has been able to squeeze so many fresh yuks from the beleaguered Bush legacy speaks to his always off-kilter, sometimes raunchy, imagination.... If some sequences run out of steam, another laugh is looming just around the bend."
Calling Ferrell "terrific -- sly and subtle, even brave,"
Newsday's
Linda Winer offers a critical welcome: "(The show) has arrived right on time for both silly fun and smart summing-up of an epoch the country just voted overwhelmingly to change. Foolish comedy is deftly mixed with tough political satire in what is not, strictly speaking, a solo."
Surprised that "the ex-president turns out to be a hell of a lot of fun to hang with,"
Frank Scheck for
New York Post awards three out of four stars: "Granted, the generally lowbrow humor of
You're Welcome America. A Final Night with George W Bush is hardly cutting-edge political satire. Basically a (nearly) solo extended sketch, it's theatrical comfort food for Broadway audiences who want to see one of their favorite comic actors live."
Noting that "Sometimes it’s really funny, and sometimes it sort of sags. I laughed, I yawned,"
The New York Times'
Ben Brantley offers a mixed assessment comparing it to Ferrell's more middling movies: "[T]he actor provides a critic-proof demonstration of the art that has endeared him to millions of fans around the world: the art of acting stupid, shrewdly, for fun and profit. Some might say that this is a talent shared by the man Mr. Ferrell impersonates. But the George W. Bush of
You’re Welcome America ... is just stupid, without the shrewdness.... Mr. Ferrell’s Bush is less exact imitation than loopy extrapolation. And the show feels freshest when he goes off on surreal tangents that transport his blundering hero into the ether of pure absurdism."
Concluding that "Ferrell's mission ought to have been aborted,"
USA Today's
Elysa Gardner pans the show with one and a half stars out of four: "It's tough to say who should be more offended by
You're Welcome America. A Final Night With George W Bush: the 43rd president's most ardent admirers or his most rigorous critics.... No one familiar with Ferrell's work would expect in-depth political satire. He tries instead to provoke through tastelessness and goofy outrageousness, practices that certainly have long and distinguished traditions in comedy. But Ferrell's shots both overreach and fail to sting."
Perhaps to Brantley's point, this very limited run show is critic-proof from the get-go, so it appears that most of them just sat back, relaxed and let 'er roll. I'll be taking in a performance over the next couple of weeks and will let you know if I shared their general enthusiasm.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Labels: Adam McKay, Broadway, Comedy, Critics' Capsule, George W. Bush, Revue, Will Ferrell, You're Welcome America. One Final Night With George W Bush
You're Welcome: One Final Opening NightMining the recently departed
U.S. President and his seeming propensity for malapropisms for laughs one final time, film actor and former "
Saturday Night Live" alum
Will Ferrell (or John
W. Ferrell) is opening on Broadway this evening in his limited run show
You're Welcome America. A Final Night With George W Bush.
According to the official site, dubbed "
Will Ferrell on Broadway":
It's time for a change in America, but not without a few parting words from the 43rd President of the United States. Don’t miss your chance to discover the man behind the myth, the truth behind the lies, and the logic behind the illogical in the outrageous limited Broadway event.
Staged at Rialto's
Cort Theatre,
You're Welcome America is written by Ferrell, who stars as his most famous impersonation. Helmed by
Adam McKay and choreographed by
Matt Williams, the comedy features
Michael Delaney as Dr. Scott Blumeth,
Pia Glenn as Former Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice,
Adam Mucci as a Pilot, and the lead actor's own sibling
Patrick Ferrell as a Secret Service Operative. Perhaps most intriguing credit of all is the one for
Flying by Foy, which is supplying flying effects.
Ferrell is one of the few SNL actors to receive an Emmy nomination for his work on the late night comedy shows. Certainly, his extraordinary gift for mimicking the mighty no doubt contributed to that distinction.
The big question about tonight's show is whether critics will give 43 a go one more time, or will they wish Ferrell had simply given it a rest. Find out tomorrow as I provide my critics' capsule.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Labels: Adam McKay, Broadway, Comedy, George W. Bush, Opening Night, Revue, Saturday Night Live, Will Ferrell, You're Welcome America. One Final Night With George W Bush
Avenue Q: Apparently No Final Winner For NowGeorge W. Bush is no longer the U.S. President. But for now,
Avenue Q is simply replacing his name in the musical's final tune "For Now" with a test of four possible substitutes. They include:
Recession!
Prop 8!
This show!
Mother-in-law!
Yawn.
With the possible exception of the self-deprecating "This show!" none of the tryout lyrics have the brilliant snarkiness that the original lyric had.
As you may recall, the tuner's producers staged a little contest last month among fans to seek a replacement lyric. According to
Playbill, the production received over 2,000 entries. The judges --
Robert Lopez,
Jeff Marx and
Jeff Whitty, as well as the show's producers -- have settled on the four finalists. Those lyrics will be tested over several performances to "gauge the response and audience reaction."
Perhaps I'm quibbling here, but doesn't announcing what they are in advance undermine the potential hilarity of each? Part of the fun in seeing
Avenue Q for my first time back in 2002 was hearing that inspired, and at the time, somewhat subversive line without any indication it was even coming.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Labels: Avenue Q, Barack Obama, Contest, George W. Bush, Jeff Marx, Jeff Whitty, Robert Lopez
For NowIf you're anything like me, you've had a major concern since Election Day.
No, not on whom President-Elect
Barack Obama would appoint to his cabinet or just how soon he'd be able to heal the world.
No, it's been that pesky lyric from Broadway's
Avenue Q. You know the one in the closing number "For Now" in which
George W. Bush's name is among the many rejoinders on what's only for now. I've been wondering what they're going to do with it after the current occupant of
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue leaves office.
Now we know. Apparently the creative folks at
Avenue Q have also been contemplating the question. And instead of coming up with their own two syllable lyric, they've launched a contest to enable their fans to replace it.
According to the
Avenue Q site:
It's of the most-loved lyrics in AVENUE Q. But starting January 20th, "GEORGE BUSH IS ONLY FOR NOW" must be replaced, and WE NEED YOUR HELP!
Submit your idea for a 2-syllable replacement lyric for "GEORGE BUSH" -- and you could win a bunch of cool AVENUE Q stuff, including a revised script that includes YOUR LYRIC!
To enter, click
here. It's as easy as that.
According to
Playbill:
The winner will be announced Jan. 15, 2009, and the new lyric will be performed in Broadway's Avenue Q at the Golden Theatre beginning Jan. 20, 2009, the day Barack Obama is inaugurated as the 44th President of the United States.
Avenue Q producer Robyn Goodman said in a statement, "We thought it would be fun to find out what people today think is as expendable as George Bush. Audiences have cheered the line since the show opened and people are curious — what's next?"
Creator Robert Lopez added, "I've gotten so many unsolicited ideas from friends and strangers over the years that it seems only fitting that we solicit a few more."
The contest begins Dec. 22, 2009, and runs through Jan. 12, 2009. To enter visit http://www.avenueq.com/.
The winning entry will be selected by a panel that comprises Q creators Robert Lopez, Jeff Marx and Jeff Whitty and the show's producers. The winner will receive a prize package including an autographed program and poster from Avenue Q, a cast recording, a copy of the Avenue Q coffee table book and an autographed copy of the revised script with the contest winner's lyric included.
Good luck!
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Labels: Avenue Q, Barack Obama, Contest, George W. Bush, Jeff Marx, Jeff Whitty, Robert Lopez
The Crucible (The SOB Review) - Downstairs Theatre, Steppenwolf, Chicago, IL*** (out of ****)"Are you or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party?"
Those thirteen unfortunate words, first uttered sixty years ago in 1947 by Congressman
J. Parnell Thomas -- chair of the House Un-American Activities Committee (which got its start in 1938) -- helped stoke the fire for one of the 20th Century's worst witch hunts in the United States. A rabid ultra-right wing Republican from New Jersey, Thomas launched the intensive investigation into who in Hollywood had any ties to the Communist Party, ultimately resulting in widespread blacklisting. Speaking out was unthinkable.
Three years later, a junior senator from Wisconsin named
Joseph McCarthy announced that he had the names of 205 individuals within the U.S. Department of State who were "known" members of the American Communist Party. Of course, those numbers kept changing, but no matter. Aided by a young
Roy Cohn, he exhibited an uncanny knack for whipping the American people into hysteria that their government had been infiltrated by Communists sympathetic to the Soviet Union. Out of the burgeoning Cold War,
McCarthyism was born.
The reckless Tailgunner Joe was out to make a name for himself while vilifying others. His crusade culminated in the infamous 1954
Army-McCarthy Hearings, during which
Joseph Welch, chief counsel for the U.S. Army finally erupted during questioning, "Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?"
Since the Army-McCarthy Hearings were televised, Americans had one of their first unique opportunities to see their leaders exposed for what they were. Support for McCarthy rapidly dissipated, and by the end of the year,
he was censured by the Senate.
Before McCarthy's last act of desperation played out, three valiant acts made their
1953 debut on Broadway in
The Crucible --
Arthur Miller's classic, allegorical tale of how easily otherwise rational individuals in colonial Salem, Massachusetts would blindly accept a charlatan's testimony about practicing witchcraft. To characterize Miller's mid-century timing as brave would be an incredible understatement, but he certainly contributed to the national conversation in a profound and consequential way.
Now, as realized through
Anna D. Shapiro's fiery, "color-blind" casted production at Chicago's Steppenwolf, it's hard not to find the haunting recreation of the actual 1690s Salem witch hunts disturbing. Yet it's the discovery of layer after layer of allegories abounding that makes this morality play unusually fresh and modern.
Certainly first and foremost is the parallel that Miller intended with the hunt for Communists under every rock. But with the ruggedly righteous
James Vincent Meredith (above photo) portraying protagonist John Proctor, his subsequent lynching makes it hard not to wonder whether his casting wasn't really a deliberate decision on the part of Shapiro after all. And while the last week's headlines could not have been foreseen, the
hateful images out of Jena, Louisiana of hanging nooses made the parallels to today even more chilling.
As if that weren't all,
The Crucible's unelected official Deputy Governor John Danforth (a brilliantly subtle performance by
Francis Guinan) blithely states, "But you must understand, sir, that a person is either with this court or he must be counted against it, there is no road between." Suddenly, as if the other modern allegories weren't enough, Miller's words of moral absolutes effectively come back to bite a certain commander-in-chief, making this about as contemporary production as one could expect.
Overall, the cast is terrific. Special props must be given to
Alana Arenas (in the photo above) as the conflicted Susanna Wolcott,
Mary Seibel as stoic Rebecca Nurse and
Maury Cooper, who provides some of the performance's most welcome comic relief as Giles Corey.
If I have one quibble, and it's not insubstantial, it would be on how the supposed demons of the young would-be witches are manifested. With heartwrenching screams, essential dialogue is often obscured. To be quite frank, I strained to hear much of what was being said, a difficulty I had not previously experienced at this theatre.
Yet, Shapiro's fierce, take no prisoners mix in
The Crucible makes for a completely enthralling evening of live theatre.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Click here for tickets.Labels: Arthur Miller, Chicago, Freedom of Association, Freedom Of Speech, George W. Bush, J. Parnell Thomas, Jana 6, Joseph McCarthy, Play, Revival, Steppenwolf, The Crucible, The SOB Review
