That Championship Season Leaves Schreiber Behind
Early reports yesterday emanating from the usually reliable
Deadline.com simply got it wrong. As part of its announcement that Sutherland would be making his Great White Way debut in the play, it said Schreiber would be part of the revival.
Within a relatively short period of time,
The New York Times' Patrick Healy singlehandedly debunked that by noting:
The revival was also rumored to be reuniting Mr. Mosher with Liev Schreiber, his View From The Bridge star. Mr. Mosher said in an interview that he talked about the play briefly with Mr. Schreiber last spring, but they never discussed him joining the cast.
Healy broke the news that
Jason Patric -- son of
Championship Season playwright
Jason Miller (who knew?) and friend of Sutherland -- would be starring in the revival, along with
Chris Noth and comedian
Jim Gaffigan.
The original production of
That Championship Season was quite a winner itself starting with a cast that included
Richard Dysart,
Charles Durning,
Paul Sorvino,
Walter McGinn and
Michael McGuire under
A.J. Antoon's direction. After first opening at Broadway's
Booth Theatre on September 14, 1972, the production would earn five Tony nominations. In addition to winning the 1973 Tony Award for Best Play along with the Pulitzer Prize, Antoon and Sorvino were honored with Tonys.
Will the 2011 staging, which is expected at a Shubert Theatre sometime in March, prove to be a champion as well? Or will it be viewed as too dated, as
Michael Riedel suggests near the end of his column today in discussing why Schreiber passed on the project? Stay tuned.
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: Brian Cox, Broadway, First Word On New Show, Gregory Mosher, Jason Miller, Jason Patric, Jim Gaffigan, Kiefer Sutherland, Liev Schreiber, Play, Revival, That Championship Season
A View From The Bridge (The SOB Review) – Cort Theatre, New York City, New York
**1/2 (out of ****)A view from a bridge can deceive the eyes. It can be akin to admiring a
Monet from afar.
The elements for a masterpiece may all be there. But when examining them up close, the effect can be downright confounding as they are not necessarily what they seem. What had seemed like flowing images can suddenly become jarring and disparate.
Such is the case, on more than one count, with the respectable, yet oddly distant new Broadway revival of
Arthur Miller’s classic
A View From The Bridge, which opened Sunday evening at the
Cort Theatre. From a distance, all the elements are there that make it abound with promise.
For starters, estimable director
Gregory Mosher is at the helm. Rather than resort to the histrionics employed by
Simon McBurney in last year’s overwrought Miller revival of
All My Sons, Mosher wisely opts for a more authentic and natural approach.
John Lee Beatty's scenic design effectively evokes the Brooklyn neighborhood filled with Italian immigrants, and
Peter Kaczorowski’s moody lighting appropriately haunts the play, serving as a harbinger of the portentous tragedy.
Additionally, this revival boasts an unusually competent cast.
As Italian-American Eddie Carbone, the ever-formidable
Liev Schreiber portrays a tough 50s-era longshoreman, who demands respect first and foremost. As Eddie’s wife Beatrice, the impressive
Jessica Hecht once again loses herself in yet another New York City neighborhood role (she’s fresh off the closed-too-soon revival of
Brighton Beach Memoirs and this production is fortunate to have her).
A View From The Bridge also marks the impressive Broadway debut for film actress
Scarlett Johannson as Catherine, the demure, yet blossoming teenage daughter of Eddie’s deceased sister. And
Michael Cristofer effectively portrays the play’s one-man Greek chorus, albeit as Italian immigtant attorney Alfieri, with whom Eddie seeks counsel.
Then there’s the story itself, which on the surface appears to center on Eddie, a seemingly gracious man who had not only promised his dying sister he’d look after her only daughter, but also has clandestinely arranged to have his wife Bea’s Italian cousins smuggled into the country, providing them sanctuary and security.
But as with other Miller plays, upon closer examination -- and it's important to note that the playwright initially called this work "An Italian Tragedy" -- it soon becomes clear that an ominous undercurrent is threatening. (During my performance, it seemed as though a musical underscore had begun to swell right from the start, spelling impending doom. As the strange buzzing sound never abated, it became apparent that there was either something amiss with
Scott Lehrer’s sound design or there was some other annoyance backstage detracting from the play.)
The abstract Miller has painted in
A View From The Bridge is further hued with none too subtle shades of incest, as Eddie’s protection of Catherine becomes untenable, and homosexuality, as Eddie suggests that Bea’s cousins “ain’t right,” even as one of them -- Rodolpho (
Morgan Spector) is threatening his grasp on Catherine. Heady themes to be sure, particularly considering they were much too controversial to be vividly painted by name at the time the play was originally produced.
Yet, somehow, even with all these essential elements present on the canvas,
A View From The Bridge fails to coalesce into a deeply satisfying motif. It never really came completely together, leaving me to wonder if Miller had really intended this work to be viewed from afar all along.
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 View From The Bridge, Arthur Miller, Gregory Mosher, Jessica Hecht, Liev Schreiber, Michael Cristofer, Morgan Spector, Play, Revival, Scarlett Johansson
Liev And Let Scarlett: Live On BroadwayIn perhaps the most exciting Broadway casting news since last summer when
it was announced that
Daniel Craig would be opposite
Hugh Jackman in
A Steady Rain, came word yesterday that movie starlet
Scarlett Johansson would make her long-awaited Great White Way debut alongside
Liev Schreiber in the third Rialto revival of
Arthur Miller's
A View From the Bridge.
Directed by
Gregory Mosher,
A View From The Bridge will begin previews at the
Cort Theatre on December 28, 2009 and open January 24, 2010.
Internet Broadway Database (IBDB) offers this succinct description of Miller's play: "In the apartment and environment of Eddie Carbone, all in Red Hook, on the Bay seaward from Brooklyn Bridge."
A View From The Bridge was first produced on Broadway at the
Coronet Theatre in 1955. But it was a combination of two of Miller's one act plays,
A Memory Of Two Mondays and
A View From The Bridge. Helmed by
Martin Ritt, both plays starred such headliners as
Eileen Heckart,
Van Heflin and
Jack Warden. Earning two Tony nominations, the production would enjoy a 149 performance run until February 1956.
The
first revival (of the second play only) wouldn't come for nearly 30 years, but it would also run for 149 performances, this time at the
Ambassador Theatre where it opened February 3, 1983. Directed by
Arvin Brown, this
View From The Bridge would also earn two 1983 Tony Award nominations, including one for Best Reproduction (a precursor to the Revival honors now bestowed) and the other for
Tony Lo Bianco's portrayal of Eddie. The cast also included
Rose Gregorio as Beatrice and
Alan Feinstein as Marco.
The
last and arguably most successful mountingl to date came just 12 years ago. The 1998 Tony-winning Best Revival of a Play first opened at the non-profit
Criterion Center Stage Right where it ran from December 14, 1997 through February 22, 1998, before transferring to a commercial run at the
Neil Simon Theatre, where it reopened April 3, 1998 and ran through August 30 of the same year.
Michael Mayer directed a cast that included
Allison Janney as Beatrice,
Anthony LaPaglia as Eddie and
Adam Trese as Marco. While Mayer, Janney and LaPaglia would each receive Tony nominations for their efforts, only LaPaglia would win.
So is it too soon for yet another revival of Miller's classic? Well, in my humble opinion, any work that can bring Schreiber back to Broadway's boards is fine with me. He's only been absent since earning a Tony nod for
Talk Radio two years ago, but there are few finer living American stage actors.
And as for Miss Scarlett? Who wouldn't want to see her make her Broadway debut?
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Labels: A View From The Bridge, Arthur Miller, Broadway, First Word On New Show, Liev Schreiber, Play, Revival, Scarlett Johansson
Did Critics Find Talk Radio Worth Tuning Into?
Last evening,
Eric Bogosian's twenty year old play about
Talk Radio opened on Broadway. With heavy duty talent like
Robert Falls at the helm and
Liev Schreiber at the mike, critics were roundly enthusiastic about the latter's performance, even if they were mixed on the overall result.
Proclaiming
Talk Radio "gut-grabbing,"
The New York Times'
Ben Brantley waxes rhapsodic on Schreiber: "Directed by Robert Falls, who provides a solid frame for his incandescent leading man, this revival may not make a case for Mr. Bogosian’s 1987 drama as a play for the ages....But like the original production...it allows its star to grab an audience by the lapels and shake it into submission. Anyone familiar with Mr. Schreiber’s stage work...will regard this opportunity as a privilege. With
Talk Radio Mr. Schreiber, who won a Tony two years ago for his performance in
Glengarry Glen Ross, confirms his status as the finest American theater actor of his generation, a man capable of presenting clouded, complicated minds with searing clarity....Mr. Schreiber offers a balance between intelligence and instinct, both invigorating and reassuring, that is made for the theater. You know you’re in the hands of the ultimate professional."
Calling the production "more timely today than it was 20 years ago," New York's
Daily News critic
Joe Dziemianowicz is largely positive: "The play is built around Barry's bilious on-air jabs at callers and offair arguments with staff at the studio, realistically designed by
Mark Wendland. Whenever Schreiber is talking,
Radio crackles with intensity....I was...disappointed by some of Barry's callers, who include an array of bigots, pregnant teens and a woman fixated on her garbage disposal. After a few exchanges, the misfits sounded cartoony and contrived. It's a misstep in Robert Falls' otherwise solid production."
Eric Grode of the
New York Sun appears mostly impressed: "Mr. Falls does a fine job enlivening the necessarily static act of sitting at a microphone, but he stumbles with the arrival of Chet (
Sebastian Stan), a hopped-up youth who comes to the station for a live chat. His arrival is meant to signify a turning point, as Barry soon loses control of both his callers and his own emotions. But Mr. Stan's performance, while diverting, lacks the unpredictable menace that this pivotal segue requires. Even without it, though, Mr. Schreiber twists Barry's arrogance, helplessness, and self-loathing into a memorable freefall."
In his mostly favorable review,
David Rooney of
Variety writes: "The bleak cynicism behind the play now seems prescient in its observation of a media in which news has been co-opted by entertainment and personal crises are fodder for public consumption. The mesmerizing hold of the central character -- and Schreiber's performance -- is all the more remarkable given that the play is dramaturgically less than rock-solid....[A]s both an actor's tour-de-force and a stinging cultural analysis,
Talk Radio offers plenty to chew on."
Taking note of the "verbal overkill" in his two-and-a-half-stars review,
New York Post's
Clive Barnes separates the great performance from the piece: "I could have done with less of
Talk Radio itself -- or simply more of a real play than this nowadays obvious and repetitive character study in self-hating, control-freak absorption. For despite the energized, valiant efforts of director Robert Falls and the whole cast, quite apart from Schreiber's own deeply controlled virtuosity, the play, opening last night at the
Longacre Theatre, today has the weary air of a one-trick pony, bristling with bells and whistles, stuck on a treadmill."
Noting that listening to
Talk Radio is "not particularly satisfying work," the Associated Press'
Michael Kuchwara offers this mixed assessment: "Time has taken a toll on the play, particularly its phone conversations, which seem less edgy and more predictable than they did when
Talk Radio first was presented off-Broadway two decades ago. Fortunately, in this revival, which opened Sunday at Broadway's Longacre Theatre, Barry is portrayed by Liev Schreiber, an intense, idiosyncratic actor who is fun to watch."
Since each critic provides ample fodder for upcoming ads to tout Talk Radio (irrespective of what they've said about the show itself), will this be enough to attract more audience members to a show that has been struggling in the 40 to 50% range of capacity during previews? Guess we'll have to keep tuning into the box office figures during this show's limited run, which is scheduled to end on June 24.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
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Labels: Broadway, Critics' Capsule, Eric Bogosian, Liev Schreiber, Play, Revival, Talk Radio
Talk Radio: Opens To Callers Tonight
Twenty years ago, playwright
Eric Bogosian crafted a new play that would go on to be nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. That work,
Talk Radio, will finally open on Broadway this evening.
In the
Robert Falls-helmed production, Tony-winning actor
Liev Schreiber portrays a radio talk show host who's given to verbally assaulting his audience. The limited run of
Talk Radio is scheduled for the
Longacre Theatre through June 24.
Will receptive critics be tuning in to this first Bogosian play to hit the Great White Way? Find out tomorrow as I round up the reviews.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Rekated Stories:
Labels: Broadway, Eric Bogosian, Liev Schreiber, Opening Night, Play, Revival, Talk Radio
The Public Theater at 50Last Thursday, The Public Theater in New York announced exciting details of its 2006-07 season that includes its original touchstone -- Shakespeare -- along with new works by some of the most exciting playwrights of our time, including Neil LaBute, Suzan-Lori Parks and my personal favorite, Craig Lucas. With superb acting talent featuring Kevin Kline, Brian Dennehy, Ed Harris and the previously announced Philip Seymour Hoffman (LABrynth's
Jack Goes Boating), it's clear that The Public is kicking off its 51st year in style.
Currently home to the acclaimed production
Stuff Happens, The Public Theater was founded 50 years ago as the Shakespeare Workshop by Joseph Papp, who also started the renowned New York Shakespeare Festival in 1954. Thanks to his magnificent vision, New Yorkers from all walks of life have been able to enjoy free stagings of Shakespeare in Central Park -- a tradition that continues to this day. As a lasting legacy to Papp, today's The Public Theater "continues to be dedicated to achieving artistic excellence and developing an American theatre that is accessible and relevant to all people."
Productions from The Public Theater have collectively won 38 Tony Awards, 135 Obies, 37 Drama Desk Awards, 18 Lucille Lortel Awards and 4 Pulitzer Prizes. The Public was the launching pad for 49 Broadway shows including such critically-acclaimed hits as
That Championship Season,
A Chorus Line,
The Pirates of Penzance,
Bring in 'Da Noise, Bring in 'Da Funk,
Topdog/Underdog,
Elaine Stritch at Liberty,
Take Me Out and
Caroline, Or Change.
First up this fall will be Kevin Kline in a yet-to-be-announced Shakepeare play directed by the venerable James Lapine. There is already much speculation over which of The Bard's classics will be mined by Kline and Lapine (Kline has previously appeared at The Public in such productions as
Richard III,
Much Ado About Nothing,
Henry V, and two version of
Hamlet).
Liev Schreiber and Meryl Streep each will perform this summer as part of The Public's Shakespeare in the Park productions, while Brian Dennehy will make his debut next summer in the revered program.
Among the other offerings:
- Wrecks by Neil LaBute with Ed Harris (U.S. premiere) in October, 2006
- Durango by Julia Cho (World premiere) in November, 2006
- Emergence-SEE! by Daniel Beaty (New York premiere) in November, 2006
- Passing Strange by Stew in collaboration with Heidi Rodewald (World premiere) in January, 2007
- The Singing Forest by Craig Lucas (New York premiere) in Spring, 2007
- 365 Days / 365 Plays by Suzan-Lori Parks (New York premiere)
This would be an exceptional year to venture Off-Broadway and downtown -- or to Central Park -- for The Public Theater's offerings.
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Casting Call (Week Ending May 21, 2006) (May 21, 2006)
Labels: Anniversary, Craig Lucas, Liev Schreiber, Meryl Streep, Off-Broadway, Public Theater, Stuff Happens
