SOB's Best Of 2006-07: Best Special Theatrical EventsIn addition to all the great (and not so great) musicals and plays I've seen throughout the 2006-07 Theatrical Season, there are a number of concerts, readings and individual performances that defied neatly fitting into categories. Since the Tony Awards define those types of shows as "special theatrical events," I'll do the same.
In my personal "5 Best" list of the greatest special theatrical events of the past year, you'll notice a vast and eclectic array of acclaimed talent. Here's the list:
1 - Barry Humphries & Friends: Back With A Vengeance! (Arts Centre, State Theatre, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia)
Barry Humphries made a triumphant return to his hometown of Melbourne, soundly disproving the theory that you can't go home again. His new production that stretched a quick three hours not only solidly engaged Dame Edna Everage devotees, but provided first-timers with an outstanding introduction to his most beloved character along with two who are primarily known only to Aussies: Les Patterson and Sandy Stone.
Rather than allowing his "gigastar" housewife to call the shots, Humphries was clearly in charge with plenty of biting humor involving the audience. Yet this production also featured the ribald, spitting satire of Humphries' Les Patterson skewering Aussie politicians, along with the poignant subtlety of the "deceased" Sandy Stone, whose watchful eye on his wife from above provided an insight into today's Australian psyche one never quite learns from the Great Dame -- but then, there she was in all of her glory.
Despite the nearly three hours running time, this was one must-see show that I didn't want to end thanks to the ingenious wit and wisdom from one of Australia's true treasures, Barry Humphries. And fortunately, Humphries himself took the final curtain call bow.
Click here for The SOB Review of Barry Humphries: Back With A Vengeance!2 - Come Be My Love...Love Spoken Here (Westport Country Playhouse, Westport, CT)
Just before Valentine's Day, I was thrilled to be among the relative few fortunate enough to enjoy one of the loveliest, tastiest confections to come along in a long, long time. Bigger than the largest chocolate kiss, this mega-bite Valentine was served up at Connecticut's venerable
Westport Country Playhouse in the form of romantic poetry written by such giants as Maya Angelou, Noël Coward, Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, Langston Hughes, Dorothy Parker and William Shakespeare, among others.
The romantic in me wondered what could have been any tastier than
Come Be My Love...Love Spoken Here, which came in a luscious seven course benefit at and for the Westport Country Playhouse. Indeed, the evening’s generous, heaping helpings of amore would have sated practically every kind of lover thanks in large part to its seven stellar cast members, who made each work come alive with humor, humility, lots of humanity and most of all, heart.
Miraculously amassed for this one-time-only event,
Joanna Gleason,
Charles Grodin,
Philip Seymour Hoffman,
Eartha Kitt,
Paul Newman,
Chris Sarandon and
Joanne Woodward offered their own unique, individual voices on the ecstasy and agony that arguably make love life’s ultimate affection. Wow! To call this breathtaking would be a major understatement. With the megawatt cast’s refrains reverberating throughout the theatre, this audience member was left reeling as though Cupid had shot another arrow through his heart.
Click here for The SOB Overview of Come Be My Love...Love Spoken Here.
3 - An American Icon: Kitty Carlisle Hart (El Portal Theatre, North Hollywood, CA)
Eight months prior to her April death, I had one of those truly unique opportunities to see
the doyenne of Broadway society for most of the 20th Century:
Kitty Carlisle Hart, an astonishing film, stage and television figure whom I’d admired from the days of her long stint as a panelist on TV’s “
To Tell the Truth” during my childhood.
In the sold-out
An American Icon, Mrs.
Moss Hart (then nearly 96 years of age) remained sharp as tack, graceful as American theatrical royalty and the epitome of class and sophistication. There she stood, poised on the stage of North Hollywood’s El Portal Theatre for more than one hour, regaling the enthusiastic audience with an erudite cross-section of her illustrious, captivating life including vivid recollections of her friendship with a veritable “Who’s Who” of the Great White Way’s Golden Age:
Jerome Kern,
George Gershwin,
Cole Porter,
Kurt Weill,
Richard Rodgers and
Oscar Hammerstein II,
Alan Jay Lerner and
Frederick Lowe, and of course, the great playwright and director whom she’d marry in 1946 until his death in 1961, Moss Hart -- and each fascinating vignette included a song or two.
Perhaps most touching, especially considering that this was one of her final performances, was Mrs. Hart’s rendition of the
Kurt Weill/
Maxwell Anderson classic “September Song.” Kitty Carlisle Hart's descriptions of her personal relationships with the legends who made Broadway such a powerful medium proved a testament to the amazing life she herself led with such style and dignity. I was honored to have one infinitely memorable opportunity to bask in her glow (and even meet her in person when I took the above photo) -- I continue to feel all the richer for the experience.
Click here for The SOB Review of An American Icon: Kitty Carlisle Hart.
4 - Pet Shop Boys (Orpheum Theatre, Minneapolis, MN)
Given the unusually high theatrical quotient in last October's amazing, entertaining concert by electronica-pop duo
Pet Shop Boys -- right down to elaborate set, lighting and projection design to choreography, as well as to an intermission during a performance on a stage typically reserved for Broadway productions -- it seems entirely apropos to include their show here.
In this case, through the assistance of three outstanding back-up singers and two breathtaking dancers, their music of the last twenty years came to life. While there's more cheekiness than bite to their lyrics, the Pet Shop Boys delved into fertile political satire with fare like “I’m With Stupid,” which lampooned the unflinchingly blind support of British Prime Minister Tony Blair for the policies of U.S. President George W. Bush through an engaging video backdrop of whirling imagery including the Union Jack, Stars and Stripes and close-up shots of both leaders’ eyes and mouths.
The second act of the Pet Shops Boys’ dazzling concert included a steady stream of some of their biggest hits, including “West End Girls” and “It’s A Sin,” along with anthemic turns on such borrowed hits as “Always On My Mind,” “Where The Streets Have No Name/Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You,” and their rousing finale, “Go West.” Each number was brilliantly staged with eye-popping choreography against a versatile backlit series of white boxes that framed movement with a visually arresting projection design. Because the set, lighting and projection design, as well as choreography, were so innovative, about my only regret with this oh-so theatrical presentation was that there was no Playbill to tell us who was responsible for each component.
Click here for The SOB Review of Pet Shop Boys.
5 - Sandra Bernhard IS Plan B From Outer Space (Rossi's Blue Star Room, Minneapolis, MN)
In
Sandra Bernhard IS Plan B From Outer Space, it wasn't so much not knowing where the Flint, Michigan native was coming from, but it was wondering where she was taking you. Just when you thought she'd whirled you out of orbit, she suddenly came back to the original point with style and finesse. It was quite a ride.
Her voice has certainly come a long, long way from its rather raw beginnings. Most of her music, accompanied by a tight three piece band, served to bookend her nearly non-stop two hour performance, starting with playful R&B takes on a memorable
Jennifer Holliday tune -- along with
Monica and Brandy's "The Boy Is Mine" and a poignant tribute to
Nina Simone -- and concluding with her rocking out to
Guns N' Roses ("Welcome To The Jungle"),
Led Zeppelin ("Whole Lotta Love") and
Prince ("Little Red Corvette").
Along the way, Bernhard easily swayed from the irreverent to the reverential. With riffs on everyone -- from
Madonna and Malawi babies to
Angelina Jolie's adoption addiction to the
Britney Spears/
Paris Hilton/
Lindsay Lohan/
Nicole Richie capers to designer
Tom Ford's new ad campaign to, of course, President George W. Bush -- and everything, including her own study of kabbalah, her
Manolo Blahnik shoes and
Larry King's 50th anniversary party, Bernhard packed it all in with her biting trademark humor. While the title of her act may suggest she's from another planet, Ms. Bernhard thankfully came back down to earth to entertain us once again.
Click here for The SOB Review of Sandra Bernhard: Plan B From Outer Space.What were the best special theatrical events you saw over the past year? I invite you to join the conversation by sharing your theatre experiences with me.
Also, don't forget to vote for the shows you believe will win in each of the four major Tony Award categories: Best Musical, Best Play, Best Revival of a Musical and Best Revival of a Play. You'll find all four polls on the right-hand side of Steve On Broadway.
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Related Stories:
Labels: An American Icon, Barry Humphries, Come Be My Love...Love Spoken Here, Kitty Carlisle Hart, Pet Shop Boys, Sandra Bernhard IS Plan B From Outer Space, SOB's Best of 2006-07
Kitty Carlisle Hart - RIPSadly, I'm sorry to report that the lovely, legendary
Kitty Carlisle Hart passed away yesterday. Mrs. Hart had been ill with pneumonia.
With her passing, the theatre world has lost a true treasure and one of its last remaining links to the Golden Age of Broadway. Last summer,
I provided the following brief overview of her amazingly vital career:
Carlisle Hart may best be remembered by the vast majority of Americans for her expert quizzing of contestants on television's various versions of "To Tell the Truth." But the 95 year old entertainer is still regaling audiences with her tales of her marriage to renowned playwright Moss Hart of You Can't Take It With You and Once In A Lifetime fame, as well as
her accounts of long-since departed friends like Irving Berlin and George Gershwin.
A native of New Orleans, Kitty Carlisle Hart began her Broadway career an astonishing 73 years ago this fall in Champagne, Sec (based on the operetta Die Fledermaus) and went on to perform in six more Great White Way productions through 1983's On Your Toes.
Additionally, Carlisle Hart's movie career spans 59 years beginning with 1934's "Murder At The Vanities," and includes such notable films as "A Night At The Opera" (1935) with the Marx Brothers, Woody Allen's "Radio Days" (1987) and "Six Degrees of Separation" (1993).
A 1991 recipient of the National Endowment of the Arts' American National Medal of the Arts, Carlisle Hart is perhaps one of our last surviving treasures from Broadway's Golden Age. It's no wonder her acclaimed show has become so iconic for anyone who wants a moment to bask in the glory of a bygone era.
Not long after posting that story, I journeyed to Los Angeles to take in her sold-out one-woman show,
An American Icon: Kitty Carlisle Hart. I was thrilled to be able to sit in the presence of the woman, who for most of the 20th Century, was considered the doyenne of Broadway society. Even at 96 years of age -- a milestone she observed last September 3 -- Mrs. Hart remained sharp as a tack, graceful as American theatrical royalty and the epitome of class and sophistication. There she stood, poised on the stage of North Hollywood’s El Portal Theatre for more than one hour, regaling the enthusiastic audience with an erudite cross-section of her illustrious, captivating life.
As I said then, Kitty Carlisle Hart's descriptions of her personal relationships with the legends who made Broadway such a powerful medium were testament to the amazing life she herself had led. I was honored to have the opportunity to bask in her continued glow and even meet her in person (she posed for a picture with me right after I took the one above) -- it was not only
one of the best evenings I spent last year, but it made me all the richer for the unforgettable experience.
Appropriately, the Great White Way will honor her this evening by dimming the lights of its theatres for one minute at 8 pm.
Rest in peace, Kitty Carlisle Hart. You will be missed tremendously.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Related Stories:SOB's 6 Singular Sensations Of '06 - #5: Kitty Carlisle Hart (December 28, 2006)
Walking With Music: Kitty Carlisle Hart to Perform at Feinstein's (September 7, 2006)
An American Icon: Kitty Carlisle Hart (The SOB Review) - El Portal Theatre, North Hollywood, CA (August 7, 2006)
Will It Play in Peoria? How About Iowa? (July 24, 2006)
American Theatre Icon Kitty Carlisle Hart to Perform in North Hollywood (June 26, 2006)
Labels: George Gershwin, In Memoriam, Irving Berlin, Kitty Carlisle Hart, Moss Hart, SOB's 6 Singular Sensations Of '06
SOB's 6 Singular Sensations Of '06 - #5: Kitty Carlisle Hart
Introduction: Throughout the course of 2006, I've had many incredible opportunities to see some of the best actors, singers and dancers of our time perform live on the stage. Rather than recap the best shows of the year (which I'll do at the close of the 2006-07 Theatrical Season), I'm devoting the last six days of the calendar year to those live performances that have stayed with me throughout the year.One of my favorite evenings spent this year was the one spent in August in the presence of
Kitty Carlisle Hart -- American theatre royalty if there ever was. And such a class act, too! As hard as it was to believe, there she
stood on the stage telling personal anecdotes and remembrances about some of the greatest luminaries in 20th Century American theatre including George Gershwin, Cole Porter and Irving Berlin, among others.
Here is
what I had to say about Kitty Carlisle Hart's performance last August:
I was thrilled to be able to sit in the presence of the doyenne of Broadway society for most of the 20th Century: Kitty Carlisle Hart, an astonishing film, stage and television figure whom I’ve admired from the days of her long stint as a panelist on TV’s “To Tell the Truth” during my childhood. In the sold-out An American Icon, the nearly 96 years young Mrs. Moss Hart remains sharp as tack, graceful as American theatrical royalty and the epitome of class and sophistication. There she stood, poised on the stage of North Hollywood’s El Portal Theatre for more than one hour, regaling the enthusiastic audience with an erudite cross-section of her illustrious, captivating life.
Here's a toast to you, Kitty Carlisle Hart -- and here's to many more years!
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Related Stories:An American Icon: Kitty Carlisle Hart (The SOB Review) - El Portal Theatre, North Hollywood, CA (August 7, 2006)
Labels: California, Kitty Carlisle Hart, Play, SOB's 6 Singular Sensations Of '06
Walking With Music: Kitty Carlisle Hart to Perform at Feinstein'sThis past Sunday marked the 96th birthday of theatre and society maven
Kitty Carlisle Hart. Not one to let any
moss grow under her feet (sorry, pun intended) the legendary actress and singer will celebrate her birthday with five performances of
Walking With Music at Feinstein's at the Regency in New York from September 26-30.
Last month,
I was thrilled to take in her performance in North Hollywood, CA where I also had the honor and privilege of meeting her after the performance (that's where I snapped the photo of her that appears above). She's a gorgeous gem who glistens with brilliant stories and captivates with song.
As one of the last remaining links to the Golden Age of Broadway Musicals, as well as such greats as
Irving Berlin,
George Gershwin and
Cole Porter, I strongly recommend that anyone with love for musical theatre should make every effort to catch her at Feinstein's later this month.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
For information on tickets, please call 212.339.4095.Related Stories:An American Icon: Kitty Carlisle Hart (The SOB Review) - El Portal Theatre, North Hollywood, CA (August 7, 2006)
Will It Play in Peoria? How About Iowa? (July 24, 2006)
American Theatre Icon Kitty Carlisle Hart to Perform in North Hollywood (June 26, 2006)
Labels: Feinstein's At The Regency, First Word On New Show, Kitty Carlisle Hart, Off-Broadway, Revue
An American Icon: Kitty Carlisle Hart (The SOB Review) - El Portal Theatre, North Hollywood, CA***1/2 (out of ****)As a student of history, I’ve cherished unique opportunities over the last several years to see living theatrical legends take to the stage to tell the story of Broadway from their distinct vantage points. I was struck with emotion by the naked honesty as told through the Tony-winning
Elaine Stritch At Liberty. I laughed at the bawdy, yet disjointed recollections shared by
Carol Channing. And I was mesmerized by the historic dancing and timeless beauty provided by
Chita Rivera: The Dancer’s Life.
But Saturday, I was thrilled to be able to sit in the presence of
the doyenne of Broadway society for most of the 20th Century:
Kitty Carlisle Hart, an astonishing film, stage and television figure whom I’ve admired from the days of her long stint as a panelist on TV’s “
To Tell the Truth” during my childhood. In the sold-out
An American Icon, the nearly 96 years young Mrs.
Moss Hart remains sharp as tack, graceful as American theatrical royalty and the epitome of class and sophistication. There she stood, poised on the stage of North Hollywood’s El Portal Theatre for more than one hour, regaling the enthusiastic audience with an erudite cross-section of her illustrious, captivating life.
While she was introduced with a montage of video clips primarily culled from “To Tell the Truth,” she thankfully devoted her performance to vivid recollections of her friendship with a veritable “Who’s Who” of the Great White Way’s Golden Age:
Jerome Kern,
George Gershwin,
Cole Porter,
Kurt Weill,
Richard Rodgers and
Oscar Hammerstein II,
Alan Jay Lerner and
Frederick Lowe, and of course, the great playwright and director whom she’d marry in 1946 until his death in 1961, Moss Hart -- and each fascinating vignette included a song or two.
Her personal anecdotes also covered her time in Hollywood, including with the
Marx Brothers (she had a starring role as opera star Rosa Castaldi in their classic movie from 1935 “
A Night at the Opera”). She elicited one her biggest laughs when she referred to legendary Broadway director
George Abbott who lived to be 107 -- “I no longer think that’s very old,” she said.
Although the passage of time can make it difficult for those of advanced age to sing, she wowed the audience with her determination to reach for the high notes. Perhaps most touching was Mrs. Hart’s rendition of the Kurt Weill/
Maxwell Anderson classic “September Song.” One couldn’t help but wish she was merely in the September of her life. But true to her classy form, she’s not going to let the years rob her of further opportunities to entertain -- this incredible national treasure announced that she's already slated to be back at
Feinstein’s at the Regency next month to officially mark her 96th birthday, which falls on September 3.
Kitty Carlisle Hart's descriptions of her personal relationships with the legends who made Broadway such a powerful medium are testament to the amazing life she herself has led. I was honored to have the opportunity to bask in her continued glow -- I feel all the richer for the experience.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Related Stories:Will It Play in Peoria? How About Iowa? (July 24, 2006)
American Theatre Icon Kitty Carlisle Hart to Perform in North Hollywood (June 26, 2006)
Labels: California, Chita Rivera, Elaine Stritch, Kitty Carlisle Hart, Los Angeles, The SOB Review
Will It Play in Peoria? How About Iowa?Going all the way back to the days of vaudeville circuits, a common refrain to measure broad-based success -- particularly among podunk* towns -- was to ask, "
Will it play in Peoria?" With today's broad communications ranging from television to Internet to, yes, the touring companies of Broadway shows, our world is smaller than ever. Yet, I profess to being surprised whenever I learn just how broad-based the appeal of Broadway actually is.
Fast forward to this past Saturday and a mere 209 miles north-northwest of Peoria, Illinois to the quaint small town Decorah, Iowa, where I attended a good old-fashioned farm-family wedding. Much to my pleasant surprise, my dinner table discussion drifted to which Broadway shows were worth seeing -- and no, I did
not initiate the topic!
Now, it should be noted that there is an interesting pedigree on the young groom's side of the family.
First, his great-great uncle was writer Philip Stong, who penned the best-selling, Iowa-based "State Fair" novel from 1932.
"State Fair" was such a proven success that it became the basis for a top movie in 1933 with
Janet Gaynor,
Will Rogers and
Lew Ayres; the film earned two Academy Award nominations including for Best Picture.
Then in 1945, to capitalize on the unparalleled success that Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II enjoyed through
Oklahoma!, "State Fair" was translated into a movie musical in 1945, starring
Jeanne Crain,
Dana Andrews,
Dick Haymes and
Vivian Blaine; that silver screen version won Rodgers and Hammerstein their first Academy Award for Best Original Song, "It Might as Well Be Spring." (My mother, who's
completely unrelated to the aforementioned farm family, once told me that this was the very first movie she ever saw, and she remembers it fondly.)
In 1962, a remake of
"State Fair" landed at cinemas across the country with
Pat Boone,
Bobby Darin and
Ann-Margret. And finally, in 1996, a Broadway incarnation of
State Fair finally blossomed with John Davidson, Kathryn Crosby (wife of the late Bing Crosby), Andrea McArdle and Donna McKechnie. While the tuner received two Tony nominations -- including, incredibly enough, for Rodgers and Hammerstein in the Best Original Score category despite the fact that the music was not specifically written for the stage -- the show was no match for the season's light-years-ahead contemporary
Rent.
State Fair closed after a mere 110 performances at the Music Box Theatre.
Another part of the groom's interesting pedigree is his grandmother. She's the modern-day folk hero Norma "Duffy" Lyon, who's perhaps better known as
The Butter Cow Lady for making life-sized sculptures out of butter for nearly 50 years at the very same Iowa State Fair mentioned above. Not only has she been featured on NBC's
"Today" show and
David Letterman, but she was also on
"To Tell The Truth." It was during that appearance some 40 years ago that regular guest panelist
Kitty Carlisle Hart correctly guessed who she was after asking, "Which type of cow is the only one to have brown eyes?" Duffy Lyon answered, "Jerseys."
So with a "six degrees of separation" scenario dancing in my head, I shouldn't have been taken aback that there would be such genuine interest in theatre
even in Iowa, despite the crowd and locale. We talked at length about
Cats (with the exception of one lone
Cats lover, the show was universally panned by this unlikedly group of critics),
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (my seat mate told me how she had gone to Broadway to see
Mamma Mia! only to find it sold-out, so she took the recommendation of a friend and saw the show with
Norbert Leo Butz and
John Lithgow instead and
loved it), and invariably
Wicked and
Rent.
Most telling was when my seat mate told me how addictive she found live theatre and how each performance she takes in makes her want to go see yet another show. If there's this much enthusiasm for the art of theatrical performances in small town, "fly-over" country, Broadway producers should be able to sleep a little easier knowing that there is a such vast market for what they do that movies and television can never take away.
As for the old line, "Will it play in Peoria?" The answer appears to be a resounding, "Yes!"
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
* The etymology of Podunk actually comes from the name of a small village in Massachusetts as well as a locality in Connecticut.Labels: Broadway, Cats, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Kitty Carlisle Hart, Mamma Mia, Musical, Oklahoma, Rent, Special Messages, State Fair
American Theatre Icon Kitty Carlisle Hart to Perform in North HollywoodVery few living theatrical legends can even come close to mirroring the sophisticated class imbued by Kitty Carlisle Hart throughout 20th Century theatre, movies and television. Now, Los Angeles audiences will have their opportunity to be entertained by this American entertainment icon August 4-6 at the El Portal Theatre in North Hollywood.
Carlisle Hart may best be remembered by the vast majority of Americans for her expert quizzing of contestants on television's various versions of "To Tell the Truth." But the 95 year old entertainer is still regaling audiences with her tales of her marriage to renowned playwright Moss Hart of
You Can't Take It With You and
Once In A Lifetime fame, as well as her accounts of long-since departed friends like Irving Berlin and George Gershwin.
A native of New Orleans, Kitty Carlisle Hart began her Broadway career an astonishing 73 years ago this fall in
Champagne, Sec (based on the operetta
Die Fledermaus) and went on to perform in six more Great White Way productions through 1983's
On Your Toes. Additionally, Carlisle Hart's movie career spans 59 years beginning with 1934's "Murder At The Vanities," and includes such notable films as "A Night At The Opera" (1935) with the Marx Brothers, Woody Allen's "Radio Days" (1987) and "Six Degrees of Separation" (1993).
A 1991 recipient of the National Endowment of the Arts' American National Medal of the Arts, Carlisle Hart is perhaps one of our last surviving treasures from Broadway's Golden Age. It's no wonder her acclaimed show has become so iconic for anyone who wants a moment to bask in the glory of a bygone era. You can bet I'll be making the trip to North Hollywood so I can stand up and cheer this priceless American Icon.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Click here for tickets (note that the premium seats also admit ticketholders to a post-performance reception with Kitty Carlisle Hart).Labels: Broadway, First Word On New Show, Kitty Carlisle Hart, Los Angeles
