No sooner do I post my SOB Review for the outrageously funny La Bête than the revival announces an early closing for January 9, 2011 -- five weeks earlier than originally planned.
By the time the comedy closes, it will have played 101 regular performances -- 76 more than the original production that bombed back in 1991. The current production wasn't even attracting 60% capacity at the box office last week. Unbelievable given all the talent involved.
Personally, I'm downright disappointed that this play didn't do better. It was incredibly well-crafted by director Matthew Warchus and brilliantly acted, particularly by Mark Rylance, who deserves a Tony nomination for his virtuoso work.
If there is a saving grace, it's that Rylance has indicated that he's set to begin rehearsals for a Broadway incarnation of Jerusalem, a play that blew away virtually everyone who had a chance to see it in London earlier this year. Rylance would reprise his Olivier Award-winning turn as Johnny "Rooster" Byron, and quite possibly do it at the very same theatre where he's currently treading the boards for La Bête.
To get a taste of what else to expect from Rylance, here's the trailer from the London production of Jerusalem:
After seeing Rylance in La Bête, I'm already salivating for his next star turn. If you haven't already seen La Bête, do yourself a favor and get to the Music Box Theatre before it closes in January. You can thank me later.
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Fortunately, today I get to write about just the opposite -- a revived comedy that could easily be sad if it just wasn’t so hysterically funny.
Rarely has the term “laugh riot” been more befitting than for the new Rialto revival of American playwright David Hirson’s previously underappreciated 1992 comedy, La Bête -- set in 18th Century France and written to ape the style of Molière. In fact, as if taking a cue from the title (French for “the beast”), I was howling with delight.
While the play is written in rhyming couplets, Hirson’s prose never sounds the least bit forced or unnatural. Enormous credit for that achievement goes to Matthew Warchus, who’s mercifully steering this extraordinary revival. Warchus’ ear for the appropriate cadence lifts the entire production to an astonishing loftiness, as in equaling Mark Thompson's impressive, towering book case, as opposed to being haughty.
Indeed, part of La Bête’s subversive charm is that it pretends to pander to the lowest common denominator, even as its subliminal moralizing is much more high-minded, intelligent and thought-provoking, and ultimately heartbreaking.
Centering on a troupe of serious French actors, led by Elomire (David Hyde Pierce), La Bête appeals to a populist voice as they’re called upon by an unlikely source to join forces with the dubious talents of the beast in question. The beast is actually an ass -- a street performer named Valere (Mark Rylance). That the insisting voice is none other than their primary patron, the Princess (Joanna Lumley), illustrates just how low that common denominator can go in a quest for popular entertainment over substance.
The remarkable Rylance is nothing short of an acting genius. Quite effortlessly, he once again demonstrates why he is -- hands-down -- one of our greatest living stage treasures. Rylance seems to chew just about everything except for the scenery, particularly via his hilarious, non-stop 30-plus minute monologue that must be seen to be believed. It’s the kind of singular, virtuoso performance that audiences will be talking about for years to come.
His delusional, American-accented Valere is so incredibly full of himself -- a true legend in his own mind, if you will -- that he serves as a perfect archetype for all the bloviating excess that much of the rest of the world seems to view in the United States. Valere is the type of narcissistic name-dropping dullard who simply remains clueless to the disdain others around him feel.
With great irony, Rylance is practically holding up a mirror to his American audiences, daring us to laugh at what we have collectively become. And the amazing thing is that we do. We’re in on the joke, even if we're doubled over with this kind of laughter can makes us a wee bit uncomfortable.
As Elomire, Hyde Pierce plays the perfect straight man to Rylance. While he rarely gets a word in edgewise, Hyde Pierce remains nothing if not a master in expressionism, reacting to each and every boast from Valere with requisite double-takes of a man thoroughly frustrated. He’s the yin to Rylance’s yang.
Which is what appeals to the Princess in trying to blend their polar-opposite talents together. In her Broadway debut, Lumley imbues her Princess with unpretentious grace. It’s as if there was a people’s princess long before Diana, even if there’s a brooding, petulant child lurking underneath the regal exterior. And after witnessing Lumley's performance, it's hard to even imagine that the role was written as a Prince.
What is most astonishing about La Bête is that while it easily plays to all audiences, its most deceptive allure is that at its very core is a beating heart, exposing the pandering for what it is and hoping beyond hope for something more stimulating and intelligent. And for those who can see past the play's façade of folly, they’ll find that and more. But laugh too hard, and is just might escape you.
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After a solid run in London that concluded earlier this month, the revival began previews at Broadway's Music Box Theatre just last week (September 23) and opens October 14 for a limited run through February 13, 2011.
Since I've already provided a snapshot of the play here, I'll simply leave you with the brand, spanking new trailer above, appropriately attached in part to a London taxi cab.
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.
In what appears to be a growing -- and in my opinion, welcome -- trend among London shows, the West End revival of La Bête is offering a promotional trailer (see below).
While La Bête (or "The Beast") is set to play its final performance at the West End's Comedy Theatre this coming Saturday, the entire production will cross the pond in time for Broadway previews to begin September 23. The transfer will open at the Music Box Theatre on October 14, 2010.
As the official ticket vendor for the production, Telecharge touts La Bête as follows:
Every Broadway season, there is one ticket that you simply have to get. This season, that ticket is La Bête. Coming direct from a sold-out run in London, La Bête is already being hailed as an absolute must-see, with a once-in-a-lifetime cast giving performances to die for. Don’t miss this comic tour de force that boldly sinks its teeth into the debate over high art versus popular entertainment, and asks the age-old question, "For a play to sell out, does it have to be 'a sell-out?'"
Can Warchus' magic strike twice in turning a less than successful play into a true must-see? With Rylance once again serving as Warchus' ace-in-the-hole, all bets suggests he can.
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.
Earlier today, formalized plans for Ghost The Musical were announced. The show will receive an out-of-town tryout in Manchester, England, before heading to London's West End in 2011.
Before you start groaning about yet another film getting the stage musical treatment, consider the first-rate talent involved.
Even better, is that Matthew Warchus is slated to direct the musical. Sure, he also helmed the ill-fated Lord Of The Rings Musical, which ranks among the biggest stage flops of the last decade. Yet over the last few years, virtually everyothershow he's overseen has been an unqualified critical hit.
The official Web site for Ghost The Musical is already up and running. The site describes the show as follows:
Ghost is a timeless fantasy about the power of love. Walking back to their apartment one night, Sam and Molly are mugged, leaving Sam murdered on a dark street. Sam is trapped as a ghost between this world and the next and unable to leave Molly who he learns is in grave danger. With the help of a phony storefront psychic, Oda Mae Brown, Sam tries to communicate with Molly in the hope of saving and protecting her.
One element from the silver screen incarnation that will remain in the musical is the use of the Righteous Brothers' classic tune, "Unchained Melody," which certainly provided one of the most enduring and arguably iconic sequences in cinematic history.
So, dear readers, do you think Ghost materialize into a must-see smash ultimately hitting Broadway, or will it vanish into thin air quickly? If I had to bet today, I'd bet on the former.
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.
Why don't more theatrical productions on both sides of the pond follow the lead of the Matthew Warchus-helmed upcoming London revival of Ira Levin's Deathtrap?
This first London revival of Deathtrap begins performances at the Noël Coward Theatre on August 21, with its first night (opening night) slated for September 7. With so much talent assembled for this production, along with tickets on sale through January 22, 2011, I'm mighty tempted to make the journey back to U.K. later this fall just to see this show.
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.
What a pity, especially now that the show is finally in about the best shape I've ever seen it, and that includes performances on both sides of the Atlantic.
With original London cast member Janet McTeer taking on the role of Vernonica, plus Jeff Daniels now portraying Michael -- which honestly is much better suited to his talent -- the riotous play is even funnier and more fierce than ever. Topping it off in losing her lunch is Lucy Liu alongside Dylan Baker as her smarmy attorney spouse.
My only quibble with the Broadway production is a seemingly tiny change en route from the West End to the Great White Way. I never had any real issue with the comedy's setting being altered from Paris to New York, which was the biggest change between the two productions, along with the characters' names being tweaked accordingly.
But when I first saw God Of Carnage in London two years ago, there was a line there that struck me to the point I even wrote about it in my initial SOB Review there. Janet McTeer's character essentially shouted at one key point, "We're all fundamentally uncouth." The line and its delivery gripped me. It brilliantly exposed the incivility of this and every other conflict in our modern world.
When I first saw the show on Broadway last year, I was waiting for, yet never heard, that remarkably transformative line. Neither did I hear it when I returned to see it with its current cast. I was left puzzled. Had I actually remembered the London incarnation incorrectly?
Since McTeer would certainly know, I decided to visit the stage door and pose the question to her directly to see if my recollection was just plain wrong. She told me that the line was replaced with "we're all f***ing neanderthals" for American audiences. Was I ever dismayed, particularly since the line had worked so well in London. Guess it just shows to go you what the director, the playwright and the translator must really think of their American audiences -- we're apparently so uncouth that we can't even understand the meaning of the word.
Oh well. Irrespective of that nit, my third time with the show was the charm. And Janet McTeer? Well, she's just plain charming.
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.
SOB's Favorite Shows Of The Noughties: #2 - The Norman Conquests (2004, Circle in the Square Theatre, New York City, NY)
Introduction: Hard as it is to comprehend that we're already 119 months into this "new" millennium, we are fast approaching the end of its first decade. While we have yet to agree on what exactly we should call the '00s, I'll take a cue from the fine folks at The Times of London and the BBC and henceforth refer to them at the Noughties. With that small introduction, I'm pleased to present my list of plays and musicals that wowed me the most during that time. Out of the hundreds and hundreds of shows I've seen over the last ten years, I give you my countdown of my 25 personal favorite shows of the Noughties.
Alan Ayckbourn's uproariously hilarious The Norman Conquests cut with remarkable, exacting precision, but it also sliced and diced its six fully-rounded characters in this jujitsu of love.
Just when you thought you had the first portion of this trilogy figured out, one intriguing layer after another was carefully stripped away to reveal more of Ayckbourn's intricately woven story. Each character's motives were eventually cut to the core. And they weren't necessarily what they seemed.
Matthew Warchus' brilliant direction of each installment -- Table Manners, Living Together and Round And Round The Garden -- made each story accessible and comprehensible in its own right. Yet it's only after seeing all three marathon-style that all the complex pieces truly came together as an unequivocal masterpiece.
Rising to the challenge of Ayckbourn's pure genius, Warchus helmed an excellent cast offering a breathtaking master class in nuanced ensemble acting. Each actor so fully inhabits his or her character that their exceptional use of body language was amplified just as effortlessly as their voices, which was critically important given that this show was in the round.
Not only did I find myself on the edge of my seat, but miraculously, I found myself never wanting it to end. Every bit bit as funny as it was sublime, The Norman Conquests was the best revival I've seen on Broadway or anywhere else over the last decade.
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. I paid my own way for the three performances that comprise The Norman Conquests.
Not only does it cut with remarkable, exacting precision, but it slices, it dices and it makes julian fries out of its six fully-rounded characters in this jujitsu of love. Just when you think you have the first portion of this trilogy figured out, it's as if the Ginsu announcer is ready to step in and proclaim, "But wait! There's more!"
There is so much more and getting there is half the fun.
Intriguing layer after intriguing layer is carefully stripped away to reveal more of Ayckbourn's intricately woven story (which, by the way, has nothing to do with theNorman Conquest of England, but has everything to do with a lothario named Norman and his lust for love from all comers). Each character's motives are eventually cut to the core. And they aren't necessarily what they seem.
Fortunately, Matthew Warchus' brilliant direction of each installment -- Table Manners, Living Togetherand Round And Round The Garden-- makes each story accessible and comprehensible in its own right. Yet it's only after seeing all three that all the complex pieces truly come together as an unequivocal masterpiece. That it's almost as if all a film's crucial deleted scenes have been fully restored is Ayckbourn's pure genius.
Warchus helms an excellent cast, all transferred from the original Old Vic production in London. They include Amelia Bullmore as the vain and nearsighted Ruth, Jessica Hynes as her sister Annie, Stephen Mangan as Ruth's straying husband Norman, Ben Miles as Annie's dim veterinarian neighbor Tom, Paul Ritter as Ruth and Ann's brother Reg, and Amanda Root as Reg's prudish wife Sarah. The Norman Conquests is a breathtaking master class in nuanced ensemble acting, almost in spite of being presented in the round. Each actor so fully inhabits his or her character that it matters little if they're facing away from you -- their exceptional use of body language is amplified just as effortlessly as their voices.
I couldn't help but marvel at Ayckbourn's amazing creation after sitting through the marathon of all three last Saturday. While I don't typically go in for long shows, not only did I find myself on the edge of my seat, but miraculously, I found myself not wanting it ever to end. It's every bit as funny as it is sublime.
The Norman Conquests is the best show on Broadway I've seen over the last year. Thanks to earlier reviews and great word-of-mouth, tickets are understandably getting harder to come by. Mark my words, when this ebullient work invariably wins the Tony for Best Revival of a Play, it will become even tougher.
So take my advice and do yourself the favor of booking all three. Today.
This afternoon, the producers of the 2008 Tony Award Best Revival of a Play Boeing-Boeing announced that the show that's been pressurized for laughter will close its cabin doors for good. The show will close at Broadway's Longacre Theatre on January 4, 2009.
Personally, I found this show to be one of those rare, laugh-out-loud absurdly funny shows. Making it a joy to see was British actor and onetime Wisconsin resident Mark Rylance, who earned a very well-deserved Tony Award for his hilarious portrayal of befuddled Wisconsinite Robert. But it was Rylance who ultimately befuddled Tony viewers with what was surely one of the most unusual acceptance speeches in years.
In recent weeks, Boeing-Boeing's box office has been in a holding pattern around the 60% capacity level. But with economy crashing and burning, and having recouped their initial investment, the producers are closing out the very successful revival on a high note, and plans are aloft for a 45-week national tour. When Boeing-Boeing finally closes, it will have played 280 performances.
Boeing-Boeing (The SOB Review) - Longacre Theatre, New York, NY
*** (out of ****)
Looking for the funniest, laugh-out-loud comedy currently on the Great White Runway?
Look no further than Broadway's Longacre Theatre where almost in spite of itself, Boeing-Boeinghas touched down for what looks to be a lengthy layover. It's a mostly fantastic, high-flying farce.
In a season already filled with plenty of this genre, from the frivolous (The Ritz) to the fraught (November) to the fanciful (Is He Dead?), one would be forgiven for thinking audiences would have had enough of the fare. And to be frank, I wondered how New Yorkers would respond to a revival of such a dated show, which originally closed on Broadway almost as quickly as it opened back in February 1965.
But with Claire van Kampen's groovy selection of sixties tunes setting the mood, supplemented by Rob Howell's ingenious red, yellow and blue set and costume designs that are artfully augmented by Hugh Vanstone's complementary lighting, it's clear from take-off that this is going to be a first-class flight.
Written by Marc Camoletti (translated by Beverley Cross and Francis Evans), Boeing-Boeing has a fairly simple, silly plot. Bernard (Bradley Whitford) is a swinging American bachelor living in Paris who's simultaneously balancing three stewardess, er, flight attendant fiancées -- Kathryn Hahn as TWA's Gloria, Gina Gershon as Alitalia's Gabriella and Mary McCormack as Lufthansa's Gretchen -- all with the help of a good old-fashioned OAG (yes, they still print them). Bernard relies on the OAG's schedules to help him keep track of when his ladies would be in and out of his love nest.
Fortunately for Bernard, he has a cunningly complicit French maid Berthe (Christine Baranski). In a delightful shellgame, whenever it's time for a shift change, Berthe wheels out a special cart with three color-coded boxes to ensure that there's no trace of the last female companion left for the next one to find.
Of course, as one would expect of any farce, all these best intentions come perilously close to crashlanding. Soon after Bernard's friend Robert (Mark Rylance) unexpectedly comes calling from Wisconsin, the women in Bernard's life, quite predictably, all end up back at the Paris apartment at the same time. Not even a schedule manifest can predict turned-around and canceled flights.
As absurd as the storyline is, Matthew Warchus portentously propels this Boeing-Boeing to a new altitude with a turbocharged cruising speed that left me breathless from laughing. Much of the marvelous mirth comes from watching Rylance do his best to create diversions for his buddy Bernard's girlfriends, finding himself mirroring his friend's lust for life just a little too closely. It's hard to believe that this Shakespearean actor could be so capable of slapstick comedy, but in his Broadway debut, he's proving to be a worthy master. This is truly his show.
Nearly as wonderful is Baranski's wickedly funny take as Berthe. In her first Broadway outing since 1991's short-lived Nick & Nora, this talented actress demonstrates a propensity for broad comic relief, whether it's with an exaggerated roll of her eyes or via her deadpan, droll response.
Regrettably, I can't say the same for Whitford. As a man wrestling to maintain his harem, he certainly gets all of the agitated nerves down pat. Yet they come along just a bit too soon, almost as if he's never flown before. And if you're going to have the testicular fortitude to balance three fiancées at once, you'd better have more than a bag full of nuts and nerves of steel before ever taxiing down the runway.
Among the array of assembled space waitresses, McCormack plays her Gretchen so over the top, I half expected oxygen masks to drop. As shockingly funny as she often is, I just wasn't buying her as a bona fide love interest for Bernard. Hahn's gumsmacking American is played much more credibly, but it's Gershon who wins the day with her glorious Gabriella -- this is the best I've ever seen her and it's hard not to fall for her.
Despite the wildly mixed performances, Boeing-Boeing is about the wildest ride on Broadway. Fasten your seatbelts!
Most critics were flying high in their praise of the show.
Offering that the revival "soars right out of its time zone and into some unpolluted stratosphere of classic physical comedy," The New York Times' Ben Brantley is first in line for take-off: "Boeing Boeing, it turns out, has great bones.... It allows the cast members to cut loose like preschoolers on the playground of their dreams. And like fond parents, we can enjoy their shenanigans while knowing that the slides and swing sets are too well-made for anyone to get seriously hurt. Their performances are among the most one-dimensional and stereotyped that have ever shown up on a Broadway stage -- and that’s a large part of their roaring success.... At the performance I saw, the ensemble began a tad shakily, and I wondered if I had been a fool to enjoy the play as much as I did when I saw it in London last year. But as the show progressed, everyone shed self-consciousness and found a shared rhythm. The second act was unconditional bliss."
Concluding that "nothing sullies the enjoyment of Warchus' sprightly production or of the play's unexpected ingenuity," Variety's David Rooney also soars in his review: "It could have been a tired dollop of '60s camp in the wrong hands, but director Matthew Warchus and his sparkling cast fine-tune this fluffy French farce with clockwork precision, and the result is a riot.... [W]hile it usually requires more verbal complexity than physical dexterity to sustain this kind of featherweight comedy, Warchus and the ensemble do a remarkable job of keeping things at cruise speed for 2½ hours with no discernable lags.... [W]hile none of the women are slouches, the master of physical comedy here is Rylance, the one holdover from the production's London cast.... With inexhaustible inventiveness, Rylance gives shape to Robert's sly blossoming from a meek, unsophisticated bystander into a man eager to remedy his romantic inexperience and not shy about partaking of his friend's female smorgasbord."
Lauding that "it's nothing but blue skies and mile-high hilarity," Joe Dziemianowicz of New York's Daily News gives this ticket four out of five stars: "At certain points, the comedy becomes very broad, almost ridiculous. But it's such a blast, you don't care. Credit goes to director Matthew Warchus, whose jet-propelled production is filled with fantastic performances. Chief among them is one by Mark Rylance, who played the frazzled and lovable Robert in London. In his Broadway debut, he creates one of the funniest characters in memory.... Bradley Whitford makes a dashing and dexterous playboy who seems to have taken the "American in Paris" thing to heart.... As the exasperated maid, seasoned joker Christine Baranski lays on the French accent thicker than a sauce Béarnaise -- and it works."
Gushing that "gold is gold, and if slogging through the likes of Boeing-Boeing" is what it takes to mine it, so be it," Eric Grode of The New York Sun offers a review that's positivey upright and in a locked position: "Matthew Warchus and his rubber-limbed sextet of actors have somehow wrenched Marc Camoletti's musty effort out from its own 747-size languors. And once again, the salvage operation is led by a superb comic performance. This time it's Mark Rylance, taking a decided step away from his renowned Shakespearean diet ... and creating a staggeringly funny portrait of lust-deranged masculinity.... The usually dependable Ms. Baranski trips up repeatedly on her impenetrable French accent but handles Berthe's silent passages neatly, with a deceptively casual face-off between her and Robert serving as a giddy respite amid the slamming doors and flying bodies. Mr. Whitford, by comparison, starts out uncomfortably broad and has nowhere to go as the tension builds."
Fessing up that "I hate to be a buzz kill.... [A]nd I don't have a clue to explain the genuine mirth around me," Newsday's Linda Winer sounds as if the show lost her luggage: "Why the reception appears to be different now, I don't dare to analyze. Despite a dreamy hoot of a performance by Mark Rylance ... the director's comic philosophy is rooted in the bellowing, jumping around, hitting-with-a-beanbag-chair school of humor.... Please don't get me wrong. My problems is not prissy feminism, a modern distortion of feminism's joy and strength. Sure, women are plugged into the mechanics of the plot as if they were widgets in gumball-colored, miniskirted airline uniforms. But the women ... are at at least unpredictable. Warchus ... lets the women be sexual thugs-blowup dolls who are also action figures. The physical businesses -- the phony trembling fits, the floor rolling and the big leggy strides across the stage -- culminate, if that's the verb, with special 'curtain-call choreography' by Kathleen Marshall. Big strides for the theater, perhaps, are for another day."
Declaring that Boeing-Boeing "crash landed," New York Post' s Clive Barnes sounds as if he boarded the wrong flight in his one-star review: "When I saw this revival, staged by Matthew Warchus and designed by Rob Howell, in London last summer, I thought it was terrible, but Rylance had already left the cast, and I was assured by some that he had made a terrific difference. He does make a terrific difference. And it's still terrible -- as repetitious and as tedious as a flea circus.... But the whole cast, particularly the agile Whitford and a beautifully acidulated Baranski, as the game but aging French maid, prove to be accomplished farceurs."
With plenty of raves all around, this Boeing-Boeing looks like it can settle in for a reasonably long, comfortable flight on the Great White Way. I'll be taking in a performance this week and will provide my own SOB Review shortly thereafter.
This week marks the final homestretch for Broadway's 2007-08 Theatrical Season. The lastthreeshows open before this year's Tony Award derby shifts into high gear with its nominees being announced May 13.
Now directed by Matthew Warchus, this Boeing-Boeing is taking off on the Great White Way with a stellar cast, including Christine Baranski (in her first regular Main Stem outing since 1991's Nick & Nora), Bradley Whitford in his first Broadway turn since serving as a replacement in 1989-91's A Few Good Men), Gina Gershon and Mark Rylance, who is not only reprising his Olivier-nominated role as Robert, but is finally making his Broadway debut.
I'm hearing that this version of Boeing-Boeing is played much more broadly than the acclaimed West End mounting. Will the second time be the charm for this play on the Great White Way? Find out tomorrow as I provide my critics' capsule.
God Of Carnage (The SOB Review) - Gielgud Theatre, London, United Kingdom
***1/2 (out of ****)
It doesn't take very long during Yasmina Reza's latest effort God Of Carnage-- as adapted by frequent Reza translator Christopher Hampton -- to get to its very exacting, visceral guts.
By the time seemingly mild-mannered French housewife Véronique Vallon (an absolutely brilliant Janet McTeer) declares, "We're all fundamentally uncouth," all hell has already broken loose. And what a riot it is.
Alain and Annette Reille (Ralph Fiennes and Tamsin Greig, respectively) have been summoned to the home of Véronique and her husband Michel (Ken Stott) after their son has bullied the Vallon's boy. Civility goes out the window almost as quickly as Annette's lunch -- along with every defensive insult -- is hurled in every direction. Alliances quickly realign depending upon the argument du moment.
With Matthew Warchus' razorsharp, precise direction and finely calibrated and downright funny performances from his superb cast of four, it doesn't really matter that Reza is telling all of us that like the characters in God Of Carnage, we're all basically rude, too. Set against Mark Thompson's appropriately stylish blood-red set, it's the delivery of this massacre that makes it an engrossing kill worth watching.
As Alain, Fiennes offers a steely slow burn as the ethically-challenged businessman who can't be bothered with the niceties or apologies he's been asked to submit. Turns out, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, but in this case, the junior Reille has branched out and uses sticks as his weapon. Try as she might, not even Annette can mask Alain's insouciance. Although in one of the most rip-roaring, ribald reflexes I've ever seen give way on a stage to date, Greig shocks as her Annette erupts quite literally.
Even as the aggrieved, put-upon Vallons, McTeer and Stott excel at slithering down to the most ignoble base of their beings. But it's McTeer's Véronique who steals the show with a meltdown from the responsible citizen of the world she fancies herself as being into the real human being she truly is.
Yet unlike Harold Pinter's The Homecoming, which presents a mostly vile family virtually lacking in any preposessing virtues, Reza's buoyant new work credibly serves up an assortment of readily recognizable, fully-rounded married couples who march to the beat of a drum we've likely thumped ourselves. And it's all done with a decent dose of humor that makes this 100 minute performance riveting entertainment.
Post Script: It looks as though that drum will be beating closer to home as it's been announced today that Reza's play will see a New York mounting sometime next year.
Will the second time be the charm? And more importantly, will any of the London revival's starry cast fly over the Atlantic to reprise their roles? Personally, I'd love to see both Frances de la Tour and Mark Rylance again. But I'd be more than happy to have another go with Elena Roger as well.
Rain: A Tribute To The Beatles Limited run extended through May 31, 2011 (Show will go on hiatus starting January 15 and reopen at Brooks Atkinson Theatre on February 8)
Rock Of Ages - Open-ended run (Show will go on hiatus starting January 9 and reopen at Helen Hayes Theatre in March)
As someone who has been involved in both politics and public relations, it's no wonder I love watching theatre. Good or bad, it's the raw energy of seeing a live performance that gets my adrenaline pumping. From the moment I saw my very first Broadway show ("Annie" in London in 1979), I was hooked. Now I see as many as 70 shows each year ranging from soaring musicals to two-hander plays. And these eyes just may be in an audience near you!
