Sondheim On Sondheim (The SOB Review) - Studio 54, Roundabout Theatre Company, New York City, New York
**1/2 (out of ****)Veritably playing into the hands of the would-be gift-giver in search of the perfect present for the ultimate
Stephen Sondheim fan,
Sondheim On Sondheim works as a mixed blessing for everyone else.
Now, let me be absolutely clear.
I've long since become a Sondheim-phile. I adore Sondheim. I cherish his music. I've actively sought out his works, including many of the lesser performed ones. Shortly before his 80th birthday, I even had an opportunity to meet him and then listen to him answer countless questions to further illuminate his creative process. In short, I revere him as one of the most intelligent, thoughtful and witty composers in the history of musical theatre. This genius we know as Stephen Sondheim is certainly nothing short of a living treasure.
And there's much to love and admire about this often hagiographic tribute revue, which was conceived and directed by one of Sondheim's frequent collaborators,
James Lapine. For starters, compliments of
Peter Flaherty's continuously unfolding projection design, Sondheim himself lords over the festivities with a banquet of anecodotes, along with a plethora of individuals trying to sing "Send In The Clowns" with varying success captured on YouTube. Yet I learned more about Sondheim during that aforementioned live Q&A than I did via the video snippets.
This revue does offer tremendous insights into how some of his songs made it into the final works, and how many -- shared here for the first time on Broadway -- did not. One of my favorite moments came as the precursors to
Company's "Being Alive" demonstrated a captivating progression of creative thought from "Multitude of Amys" to "Happily Ever After" to that ultimate song to perfectly underscore Bobby's journey throughout the show. And to hear "Being Alive" delivered so gloriously by
Norm Lewis was icing on the cake.
All in all,
Sondheim On Sondheim carries eight tunes that never made it into the shows for which they were originally written. While it's lovely to hear anything Sondheim has composed (and I ate it up), it becomes resoundingly evident why many of them weren't used.
Then there are the great -- and, alas, not so great performances -- themselves spanning nineteen of his shows.
In addition to Lewis, it was thrilling to finally see the great
Barbara Cook perform live (even if the teleprompter hanging off the mezzannine turned on each time she took to the stage); she's still in remarkable voice.
Euan Morton and
Leslie Kritzer's vignettes from
Merrily We Roll Along not only made the best case for a full Broadway revival, but their very public audition should also serve to significantly increase their chances to be cast in it. And a ceremoniously frockless Vanessa Williams added radiance and the most sass since she was defrocked unceremoniously a quarter century ago.
Unfortunately, missteps include the usually reliable
Tom Wopat being assigned "Epiphany" from
Sweeney Todd; whether it was the song choice or his performance, it just didn't work. The same goes for
Erin Mackey and
Matthew Scott; they're fine singers, but both seemed out of their element throughout the show and detracted more than they added.
Still,
Sondheim On Sondheim ranks as one of those shows I would not -- make that
could not -- have missed. Overall, it's a nice tribute, but it pales in comparison to actually seeing one of his exceptional works.
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: Barbara Cook, Broadway, Euan Morton, James Lapine, Leslie Kritzer, Musical, Norm Lewis, Revue, Sondheim On Sonheim, Stephen Sondheim, The SOB Review, Tom Wopat
Catered Affair Issues Final RSVP DatesAs I learned last Sunday at the wonderful Tony soirées, all good parties must come to an end. And so it goes with
A Catered Affair, which posted its closing notices last evening.
The final performance at Broadway's
Walter Kerr Theatre will come on July 27. The show will have played a total of 116 regular performances.
Leave it to the tuner's librettist and star to sum it all up
via Michael Riedel this morning.
Harvey Fierstein says:
We set out to do something different, and we did it. We wrote a show that is for the real theater audience, not for the audience that watches "You're The One That I Want" -- not that there's anything wrong with that! But we're not a summer show for the tourists. After July, we go off the cliff.
Riedel quotes Fierstein further on what might have been...
...had we gotten one of those f***ing breaks. Like a Tony. Or a critic who had a social life and an emotional life. That would have helped.
But instead we have those critics who have never had a boyfriend. Or a date since 1912. They don't know what love is. They go to the theater every night. How do they get laid?
Ouch! Of course, in reality, several critics offered
positive notices, including
New York Post's Clive Barnes with his four star review,
USA Today's
Elysa Gardner and
Variety's
David Rooney. And
I loved it, ranking it as
my second favorite new musical of the last theatrical season.
Based on
Paddy Chayefsky's kitchen sink film "
The Catered Affair" starring
Bette Davis,
Ernest Borgnine,
Debbie Reynolds and
Rod Taylor,
A Catered Affair features a score by
John Bucchino.
John Doyle directed the musical, which stars Fierstein along with
Faith Prince,
Tom Wopat,
Matt Cavenaugh and
Leslie Kritzer.
As luck would have it, I ran into a very stunning Leslie Kritzer the other night at the
August: Osage County affair and had an opportunity to talk with her about how absolutely moved I was by
A Catered Affair. Mark my words, this is one gracious, gifted actress whose star will shine brightly in the Broadway spotlight.
Alas, the time of Prince, Wopat and Fierstein in
A Catered Affair's won't be much longer. Catch it while you can.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Click here for tickets.Related Stories:SOB's Best Of 2007-08: Top Ten Of The Year (June 2, 2008)
SOB's Best Of 2007-08: Best New Musicals (May 29, 2008)
A Catered Affair (The SOB Review) (May 16, 2008)
A Snubbed Affair (May 14, 2008)
And The Tony Nominees Go To... (May 13, 2008)
Whoopi! Tony Eligibility And More Handicapping (May 9, 2008)
Did Affair Positively Cater To Critics? (April 18, 2008)
A Catered Opening Night (April 17, 2008)
Early Tony Handicapping (March 25, 2008)
Wildfires Force Closure Of La Jolla And Old Globe Theatres (October 23, 2007)
Harvey Fiersback (October 5, 2007)
Were Left Coast Critics Feting A Catered Affair? (October 3, 2007)
San Diego Opening Is Catered Affair (September 30, 2007)
Which Upcoming Broadway Musicals Will You See? (June 15, 2007)
Fierstein To Musicalize Bette Davis' Fave Flick (March 21, 2007)
Labels: A Catered Affair, Broadway, Closing Notices, Faith Prince, Harvey Fierstein, John Bucchino, John Doyle, Leslie Kritzer, Michael Riedel, Musical, Tom Wopat
A Catered Affair (The SOB Review) - Walter Kerr Theatre, New York, NY
**** (out of ****)Like a rare vintage wine that deserves to be sipped and savored, the seriously sublime
A Catered Affair opens up across the tastebuds into a glorious bouquet. That is, if only you open up your mind and your heart and let it permeate all your senses.
This tender tale of a mother's revelatory determination to use her fallen son's military
death gratuity toward her daughter's wedding will never be confused with fizzy champagne delights served up as a musical comedy.
Nor does it have the tasteless buzz of flat day-old beer like some of this year's lesser efforts. Yet, when all is said and done, this beautifully-acted, earnest chamber musical is intoxicating nevertheless.
Granted, as many an oenophile can attest, not everyone can fully appreciate a dry tannin as it's absorbed by the tongue's epithelium. It's an acquired taste.
The same is most certainly true of taking in a tuner, rich with integrity, daring to wear its dry dignity on its sleeve, right alongside its huge beating heart. But those who have the palette for the introspection of 1950s humanity will love
A Catered Affair almost as much as I did. In fact, while the show itself may be dry, it left me in tears.
That's in part because of the incredible compassion with which
Harvey Fierstein has vividly crafted his genuinely touching book (and he certainly has a knack for imbuing his carefully drawn characters with appropriate, almost poetic language evocative of its time). Fierstein's libretto has been wondrously blended with
John Bucchino's stirring score.
John Doyle's understated direction strikes the right balance between the many trials and inner demons the musical's principal characters face and the often hidden gentility each possesses.
Chief among them is Aggie Hurley (
Faith Prince in the performance of her career), the aforementioned grieving mother who has recently lost her beloved son in the Korean Conflict. Having invested all her hopes and dreams in him, only to have them dashed by his death, she's had a late-breaking epiphany in realizing she's largely ignored her daughter Jane (
Leslie Kritzer, a pure revelation). That's in spite of the fact that the self-effacing Jane has placed her own dreams on the backburner so she could pitch in to help her financially struggling parents, including her complex cabbie father Tom (an impressive
Tom Wopat), make ends meet.
That is, until she's met the well-bred Ralph Halloran (
Matt Cavenaugh). The two announce that they plan to be wed in a civil ceremony to keep things simple with only immediate family invited to attend. No matter that Jane's Uncle Winston (a fantastic Fierstein) sleeps on the Hurley's living room couch, although the fact that he is a "confirmed bachelor" may have something to do with the slight as a way of appeasing Ralph's uppercrust family.
Dejected by the slight, Winston drowns his sorrows with alcohol and shows up soused at the dinner meeting between Hurleys and Hallorans, becoming unassailably uncorked. If it's true that people speak the truth when they drink, Uncle Winston's pronouncements, however crude, have reached the pinnacle of honesty that would make
Paddy Chayefsky -- known for his workmanlike realism -- very proud. And to think that even today, some fifty plus years later, there are still some superciliously selfish families, who would turn their backs on their own loving and giving brothers and uncles simply because they were born gay.
Completely devastated by the thought that she's betrayed her own brother, Aggie has a second epiphany when she receives a check from the military for her son's demise. She decides that she's going to put on a lavish affair with all the trappings she never enjoyed herself (her own wedding was of the shotgun variety), and Aggie enlists Winston to provide his expertise in making the wedding an event Jane will never forget. This despite Tom coveting the dollars to finally own his share of the cab company.
In telling the story, Doyle excels in creating an awe-inspiring authenticity -- from the breathtaking, nuanced portrayals offered by his impeccable cast right down to subtle flourishes like Aggie making real scrambled eggs for Tom on a working oven (thanks to
David Gallo's simple, yet serviceable set design) -- steadily building to a splendid finish.
This slice of fifties Bronx is brought to life further by
Ann Hould-Ward's spectacularly unspectacular costumes and
Zachary Borovay's inspired projection designs. And while some may think
Brian MacDevitt's lighting is a tad heavy-handed, particularly when the Hurley son's casket flag is highlighted, I found its use highly effective and respectful, particularly given the ongoing sacrifices American troops continue to make in wars far from home.
If even half of Broadway had as humungous and unpretentious a heart as Harvey Fierstein, the theatre world would never be viewed quite as cynically by those looking at it from the outside as irreflective of society. For that and more, I proudly raise a glass to toast Harvey & Co. on one of the best shows I've seen on Broadway or anywhere else over the past year.
For anyone who has a palate worthy of the best reserve,
A Catered Affair is a must-see.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Click here for tickets.Related Stories:A Snubbed Affair (May 14, 2008)
And The Tony Nominees Go To... (May 13, 2008)
Whoopi! Tony Eligibility And More Handicapping (May 9, 2008)
Did Affair Positively Cater To Critics? (April 18, 2008)
A Catered Opening Night (April 17, 2008)
Early Tony Handicapping (March 25, 2008)
Wildfires Force Closure Of La Jolla And Old Globe Theatres (October 23, 2007)
Harvey Fiersback (October 5, 2007)
Were Left Coast Critics Feting A Catered Affair? (October 3, 2007)
San Diego Opening Is Catered Affair (September 30, 2007)
Which Upcoming Broadway Musicals Will You See? (June 15, 2007)
Fierstein To Musicalize Bette Davis' Fave Flick (March 21, 2007)
Labels: A Catered Affair, Broadway, Faith Prince, Harvey Fierstein, John Bucchino, John Doyle, Leslie Kritzer, Matt Cavenaugh, Musical, The SOB Review, Tom Wopat
Did Affair Positively Cater To Critics?Last evening,
A Catered Affair -- the latest
film turned stage musical -- opened at Broadway's
Walter Kerr Theatre under
John Doyle's direction.
Written by
Harvey Fierstein and
John Bucchino, the tuner stars
Faith Prince,
Tom Wopat,
Matt Cavenaugh and
Leslie Kritzer, as well as Fierstein himself.
Even though this show was set very simply in the Bronx, the critic's reviews were practically all over the map.
Advising his readers to "hug it to your heart,"
Clive Barnes of
New York Post offer a four-star review: "Under John Doyle's expert, discreet direction, it emerges less like a musical and more like a play with music: lovely, urban chamber music.... But it's
(Paddy) Chayefsky's spirit that dominates the scene, and Fierstein has captured his 1950s, working-class milieu to perfection. This Bronx tale, with its interlocking, underlining and quietly beautiful music and lyrics by John Bucchino, skims along the edge of sentimentality to find honest sentiment in this story of a young soldier's death, a wedding and a taxi.... It's simply a musical with an honest heart, and that's enough."
Calling it a "small but satisfying drama,"
Variety's
David Rooney is largely positive: " The odds that
A Catered Affair will find mainstream acceptance may be slim, but the show commands respect by further challenging standard preconceptions of how the Broadway musical should sound, function and feel.... There are deep psychological nuances to be mined here, and Fierstein and Bucchino meticulously excavate the feelings of characters for whom suppressed emotion and sacrifice are an ineluctable part of life.... But the show resonates due to its modesty, grace, gentleness and emotional integrity -- qualities not often front and center in musicals."
Lauding the show she says is "ultimately a celebration of life,"
Elysa Gardner of
USA Today offers a glowing three-star review saying
A Catered Affair has "an emphasis on characters drawn with passion and compassion, and handled with that most quaint of virtues: dignity.... Harvey Fierstein, who co-stars as Winston, Aggie's big-hearted brother, has fashioned a witty, wise, moving script. John Bucchino's score is similarly thoughtful and heartfelt, though less accessible.... Doyle, Bucchino and Fierstein have a fine interpreter in Faith Prince, whose Aggie emerges as a sort of antithesis to
Gypsy's Mama Rose.... Prince makes Aggie's conflicting emotions palpable and haunting. And her relationships with Fierstein's wisecracking Winston, Tom Wopat's worn Tom and Leslie Kritzer's touching Janey are completely believable."
Labeling the show "a disappointment -- one so intelligently staged and performed, however, that at times you can almost believe the show is as good as its production,"
The Wall Street Journal's
Terry Teachout neatly tallies what he sees as the production's shortcomings: "Mr. Fierstein was right to think that Mr. Vidal's screenplay had the stuff of a musical in it, but he made three big mistakes in adapting it for the stage. The first was to put an anachronistically contemporary spin on his book by turning Aggie's brother, played in the film by Barry Fitzgerald, into a more or less openly gay florist, and the second was to play the part himself.... Mistake No. 3 was to invite Mr. Bucchino to write the score.... The problem is that his songs, with their pastel harmonies and introspective lyrics, have nothing in common with the working-class setting of
A Catered Affair."
Dismissing "the undramatic new musical drama of disappointed lives,"
Ben Brantley of
The New York Times is flat-out negative: "A short (90 minutes) but slow depiction of the family-fracturing pressures of planning an expensive wedding,
A Catered Affair is so low key that it often seems to sink below stage level. From Mr. Bucchino’s trickling, self-effacing score to the tight-lipped stoicism of its leading performances, from
David Gallo’s tidy tenement-scape set to
Zachary Borovay’s tentative photographic projections, this show is all pale, tasteful understatement that seems to be apologizing for asking for your attention. (Well, except for Mr. Fierstein’s character, but you could have guessed that.)... No one is given to extreme reactions in
A Catered Affair, except Uncle Winston and the gossiping chorus of tenement housewives (Ms.
(Lori) Wilner,
Heather MacRae and
Kristine Zbornik) who lean out their windows in a conceit that was stale even in the mid-1950s."
Concluding that he had dashed hopes "this would have been an
Affair to remember," Joe Dziemianowicz of New York's
Daily News -- who now gives out stars on a five-point scale -- provides just two: "The show, which opened last night, seems well-intentioned but doesn't deliver enough story, substance or satisfaction. It's about poor people, yes, but that doesn't mean it shouldn't have meat on the bone and icing on the cake.... Fierstein stays close to the sources, but still manages to veer in places. Chiefly, he's made the uncle who lives with the family openly gay -- and put himself in the role. Unfortunately, the character and performance are distracting.
The music by
John Bucchino, a popular cabaret composer, fails to add much dimension, or fire many emotions."
Lamenting "How sad that the results are so glum,"
Newsday's
Linda Winer tries to be kind, but offers a critical assessment: "[T]his is a colorless little piece of '50s social realism about a Bronx family that isn't so much emotionally repressed as emotionally deficient.... Composer John Bucchino, better known for cabaret songs, has written meandering, conversational melodies baked by innocuous accompaniments.... Fierstein, the quadruple Tony Award winner and perpetual force of nature, both gives and takes away in his adaptation and his performance."
Citing how "this admirably spartan staging ultimately feels like as much of a contrivance as the standard bells-and-whistles approach,"
Eric Grode of
The New York Sun wonders aloud what he think went wrong: "It wears its virtues on its threadbare sleeve, and the vaguely medicinal taste goes a long way toward negating Mr. Fierstein's terse, insightful libretto and a pair of emotionally stripped-down performances by, as the pressured daughter and regret-steeped mother, Leslie Kritzer and an atypically somber Faith Prince. The show's missteps are understandable and often heartening in their own right, but they are missteps nonetheless.
Did these critics really all see the same show? I'll be taking in a performance of this musical in a couple weeks and will provide my SOB Review shortly thereafter.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Click here for tickets.Related Stories:A Catered Opening Night (April 17, 2008)
Early Tony Handicapping (March 25, 2008)
Wildfires Force Closure Of La Jolla And Old Globe Theatres (October 23, 2007)
Harvey Fiersback (October 5, 2007)
Were Left Coast Critics Feting A Catered Affair? (October 3, 2007)
San Diego Opening Is Catered Affair (September 30, 2007)
Which Upcoming Broadway Musicals Will You See? (June 15, 2007)
Fierstein To Musicalize Bette Davis' Fave Flick (March 21, 2007)
Labels: A Catered Affair, Broadway, Critics' Capsule, Faith Prince, Harvey Fierstein, John Bucchino, John Doyle, Leslie Kritzer, Matt Cavenaugh, Musical, Tom Wopat
San Diego Opening Is Catered AffairWhile significant media coverage has centered on the two Broadway-bound musicals due to open this fall (
Young Frankenstein and
The Little Mermaid)
, A Catered Affair has been quietly unfolding in San Diego. Tonight, the world premiere of this other film-based tuner opens at the city's
Old Globe Theatre.
A Catered Affair finds its roots in the
Paddy Chayefsky teleplay for the 1955 broadcast of "
The Philco Television Playhouse" (starring
Pat Henning,
Thelma Ritter and
J. Pat O'Malley) and subsequent
1956 feature film written by Chayefsky and
Gore Vidal (starring
Bette Davis,
Ernest Borgnine,
Debbie Reynolds,
Rod Taylor and
Barry Fitzgerald).
The new musical version is helmed by
John Doyle -- minus his earlier conceit of having actors double as musicians -- and includes a book by
Harvey Fierstein and music by
John Bucchino. The only double duty on display comes from Fierstein via his starring role as Uncle Winston. Other cast members include
Faith Prince,
Tom Wopat,
Matt Cavenaugh and
Leslie Kritzer.
Set in the 1950s,
A Catered Affair centers on how "Bronx family ties are strained when a couple decides to give their daughter the grand wedding they never had." Self-described as "stunning...funny, heartwarming and uplifting for audiences of all ages," the musical is already accomplishing the kind of positive buzz via
New York Post's Michael Riedel that all other comers could only hope for: "Possible sleeper here for the Tony Awards, especially if the industry sours on Brooks' $450 tickets for
Young Frankenstein."
While I won't be able to travel to San Diego to catch the world premiere running through October 28, I'm looking forward to feasting on Fierstein's latest feat on Broadway, due at the
Walter Kerr Theatre on March 25.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Click here for tickets.
Related Stories:Which Upcoming Broadway Musicals Will You See? (June 15, 2007)
Fierstein To Musicalize Bette Davis' Fave Flick (March 21, 2007)
Labels: A Catered Affair, Bette Davis, Broadway, Buzz, Faith Prince, Film, Harvey Fierstein, John Doyle, Leslie Kritzer, Matt Cavenaugh, Michael Riedel, Musical, San Diego, Television, Tom Wopat
Sondheim On Sondheim (The SOB Review) - Studio 54, Roundabout Theatre Company, New York City, New York
