SOB's Favorite Shows Of The Noughties: #3 - Assassins (2004, Studio 54, Roundabout Theatre Company, 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. If nothing else,
Assassins proved to be definitely ahead of its time. This
Joe Mantello-helmed
Stephen Sondheim revival was nearly sidelined indefinitely as a result of 9/11.
Thankfully, this tour-de-force morality musical on America’s real and would-be assassins really hit the mark, with excellent performances all around. Standouts included Tony-winner
Michael Cerveris (John Wilkes Booth),
Denis O'Hare (Charles J. Guiteau) and
Jeffrey Kuhn (Giuseppe Zangara).
But
Neil Patrick Harris’ harrowing transformation from Balladeer to Lee Harvey Oswald was especially chilling. It's a pity it came and went so quickly. But thankfully, the tuner was recorded for posterity, and my CD is nearly worn out from so much play.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
In keeping with the new 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 this performance.Labels: Assassins, Broadway, Denis O'Hare, Jeffrey Kuhn, Joe Mantello, Michael Cerveris, Musical, Neil Patrick Harris, Revival, SOB's Favorite Shows Of The Noughties, Stephen Sondheim
In The Next Room or the vibrator play (The SOB Review) - Lincoln Center Theatre, Lyceum Theatre, New York, New York** (out of ****)In
Sarah Ruhl's provocative yet surpringly limp
In The Next Room or the vibrator play that opened last evening, the playwright apparently wants to have it both ways.
Try as Ruhl might to suggest that the climax isn't
the most important thing, she dares to make hers exactly that. Her conclusion's message on the delicate balance between intimacy and, er,
paroxysms isn't so much heavy-handed as it is a few delicate digits milking things for all its worth making the rest of the work seem too clever by half.
Euphemisms and word play abound in supplementing the handheld variety in this work about the introduction of the vibrator in the Victorian era. As demonstrated by Dr. Givings (an unusually earnest
Michael Cerveris), the device's earliest use was purely clinical in treating (primarily) women for "
hysteria" by releasing paroxysms.
While he's helping his patients feel, um, better, his own wife (an unfortunately out-of-her-element
Laura Benanti) is feeling low from post-partum neglect that we'll just call a no-coital connection with Dr. Givings. Exacerbating her melancholy are the squeals emanating from her husband's office, immediately adjacent to their home's living parlor. She's hearing an array of pleasured patients including the blooming sapphist Mrs. Daldry (portrayed with dizzying delight by
Maria Dizzia) and caddish artist Leo Irving (
Chandler Williams).
Try as she might to rouse her husband, including by actively engaging both Leo and Mrs. Daldry's own spouse (
Thomas Jay Ryan), if only to elicit a response from Dr. Givings, Mrs. Givings is largely left to her own devices. That is, until Mrs. Daldry introduces her to the one Dr. Givings has been using in treatment.
Ruhl certainly tries to titillate by mining laughs at the expense of the period's intense degree of innocence and prudishness. And it is often quite funny. But even with an eleventh hour epiphany by Dr. Givings that enables him to view his wife in a new light (furnished here by
Russell H. Champa), the real stimulation comes too late to be completely satisfying. It's enough to leave you feeling as if someone has been faking it all along just to be done with it.
Post script: On a side note, one aspect of this production that was particularly infuriating for me were the extremely poor sight-lines from my left orchestra seat. Not only could I not see much of the action, but for a play that yearns to be about intimacy, I felt as though I was in the theatre next door, trying to get my own peek inside. For this, I not only fault director
Les Waters' blocking of his actors, but also
Annie Smart's less than ingenious scenic design that separated the two time appropriate rooms from each other.
Would I have enjoyed the play more had I been able to see everything? It's possible. Word to the wise: If you're going to see this
In The Next Room, be sure to get center seating to enjoy an unobstructed view.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Labels: In The Next Room, Laura Benanti, Lincoln Center, Michael Cerveris, Play, Sarah Ruhl, The SOB Review
The Buzz Over In The Next RoomTonight marks the Broadway debut for a work by acclaimed playwright
Sarah Ruhl, who was a 2005 Pulitzer Prize finalist for
The Clean House. Her
In The Next Room or the vibrator play, which begins previews this evening at Rialto's
Lyceum Theatre, is also her very first work to be staged on the Great White Way.
Produced by
Lincoln Center and directed by
Les Waters, this Victorian-era dramatic comedy stars Tony winners
Laura Benanti and
Michael Cerveris as a married couple coming to terms with a certain electric device. The cast also includes
Quincy Tyler Bernstine,
Maria Dizzia,
Thomas Jay Ryan,
Wendy Rich Stetson and
Chandler Williams.
Since Lincoln Center's
Vivian Beaumont Theatre is already occupied by
Bartlett Sher's Tony-winning revival of
South Pacific, the non-profit is once again mounting part of its subscriber season in a for-profit Broadway house.
In The Next Room is scheduled to open November 19 and run through January 10, 2010.
Ruhl's provocative title, of course, hints at its potentially stimulating subject matter. Lincoln Center
describes the work as follows:
What exactly were doctors thinking back in the 1880s at the dawn of the age of electricity, when they utilized vibrator therapies on their female patients in the name of medical treatment? And what did the women think was happening to them when doctors allayed their so-called "hysteria" with a very personal newfangled machine? That's what Sarah Ruhl wondered when she set out to write In The Next Room or the vibrator play. Hysteria was a real diagnosis, and a quite common one given to women in the Victorian age. Just as common was medical treatment with electrical stimulating machines, the vibrators of the day, to ease their condition!
In The Next Room or the vibrator play is a provocative, funny, touching and marvelously entertaining story about a young doctor and his wife. Dr. Givings (Michael Cerveris) is obsessed with the marvels of technology and what they can do for his patients. His wife, Catherine, (Laura Benanti) is only a bystander in her husband's world -- listening at the door from the next room as he treats his female patients. Dr. Givings is not sure exactly how the vibrators help the women he treats -- but they do keep coming back. The only woman whose problem is not helped by the doctor is his own wife who longs to connect with him -- but not electrically.
Les Waters also directed the world premiere of
In The Next Room or the vibrator play earlier this year at
Berkeley Rep, which had commissioned the work. The play received decent reviews there.
Time will tell whether Ruhl's work generates the same kind of buzz on Broadway by appropriately titillating audiences.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Labels: Berkeley Rep, Broadway, In The Next Room, Laura Benanti, Les Waters, Maria Dizzia, Michael Cerveris, Play, Sarah Ruhl
Did Critics Think This Revival Has Hedda Steam?Yesterday, the latest Broadway revival of
Henrik Ibsen's
Hedda Gabler opened at the
American Airlines Theatre.
Ian Rickson helms
Christopher Shinn's new adaptation of the classic work. The production stars
Mary-Louise Parker in the title role, along with
Michael Cerveris,
Paul Sparks,
Peter Stormare,
Helen Carey,
Lois Markle and
Ana Reeder.
Critics' reviews were uniformly negative.
Asking rhetorically, "Who would do such a thing?"
Ben Brantley of
The New York Times compares this piece to '
Twilight' in his pan: "That affectless, amateurish acting I’d been seeing onstage, with its flat-line readings and saggy pauses, was all in the name of creating the illusion of people already dead.... That (Rickson) is now responsible for one of the worst revivals I have ever, ever seen has me flummoxed. Mr. Rickson’s
Seagull was a fluidly integrated production in which everyone seemed to exist in the same moment and in the same universe. With this
Hedda it’s not just that everyone is bad. It’s that they’re all bad in their own, different ways. At times you feel that because of some confusing detours in the back alleys of Broadway, actors who were meant to be in -- I dunno, anything from
Grease to
Equus -- showed up at the wrong place."
Lamenting that the revival "is an aggressively contemporary take on the play, but one whose insights seem more perverse than illuminating,"
Variety's
David Rooney front loads his review with a dire assessment: "Mary-Louise Parker's interpretation of
Hedda Gabler was probably always going to be a little wacky, but in the Roundabout revival she's the loopiest of a fairly off-kilter bunch. Using a disappointingly blunt new adaptation by Christopher Shinn, this is a production so doused in glum eccentricities that Ibsen's terminally bored neurotic has already reached the apex of her caged desperation before a line of dialogue has even been spoken. And while there's entertainment to be had from Parker's curt sarcasm and nutty double-takes, too many perplexing choices make the great play unaffecting and the irrational actions of its self-destructive antiheroine unsurprising."
Regretting that "two big hurdles blocked (Parker's) path this time: the adaptation and the direction," Bloomberg's
John Simon is outraged: "Why is it deemed necessary for minor American playwrights to adapt masterpieces whose status is owed precisely to their timelessness and universality? ... Ian Rickson, a British director who already did serious current damage to
The Seagull, now gets to wreak havoc on another masterwork. Rickson’s people do not behave like proper, staid, 19th-century Scandinavians, the source, in large part, of Hedda’s ennui. Rather, they carry on like hot-blooded Sicilians storming through '
Cavalleria Rusticana' minus the music.... There are moments when Parker’s charm and talent keep Hedda afloat, but all too often she drowns in misdirection."
Quipping that this revival "is too contemporary by half,"
Joe Dziemianowicz of New York's
Daily News only awards two out of five stars: "Nuance seems to have flown the coop.... But there's no sense of her psychology. Hopeless? Helpless? Repressed? Bored? ... Parker... is an unpredictable actress, and that's what makes her so exciting. But in this outing, she's got two switches: seethe and boil over."
Concluding that "Ibsen deserves better. So do we,"
New York Post's
Barbara Hoffman piles on in her two-out-of-four star review: "(Parker's) sultry star turn in Ibsen's 1890 shocker is the only reason, really, to see the uneven revival that opened last night at the Roundabout. The fault lies not in its stars -- well, partly ... -- but in Christopher Shinn's tin-eared adaptation.... (The) playwright has given Hedda some terrifically bitchy zingers (this is the rare Ibsen production that keeps 'em laughing), (but) he's lost much of the music along the way. His is a clunkier, more contemporary
Gabler."
Noting "wow, is it ever weird. Unfortunately, it is also not interesting-and really not good at all,"
Newsday's
Linda Winer blasts the production: "Parker, a thoroughly modern theater creature before she became the world's favorite pot-selling mom in '
Weeds,' has many fascinating qualities. What we learn from the
Roundabout Theatre Company's revival, alas, is that period versatility is not one of them. At least as disappointing, and perhaps more surprising, is the awkward staging by Ian Rickson.... Except for a couple of erotic flourishes -- including a nonsensical opening shot of Parker's bare butt and breast -- this is a stodgy and straightforward version of the Ibsen's pioneering mad-housewife classic."
This is one case in which I fully agreed with the consensus. While I profess to be a longtime fan of Ms. Parker's and have thoroughly enjoyed some of her previous stage work, her portrayal of
Hedda Gabler left me cold. You may find my
SOB Review by clicking
here.
Roundabout Theatre Company's mounting of
Hedda Gabler is currently slated to run through March 29.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Labels: Broadway, Christopher Shinn, Critics' Capsule, Hedda Gabler, Henrik Ibsen, Ian Rickson, Mary-Louise Parker, Michael Cerveris, Play, Revival
Hedda Gabler (The SOB Review) - Roundabout Theatre Company, American Airlines Theatre, New York, New York** (out of ****)You want to know the craziest thing about the latest revival of
Henrik Ibsen's
Hedda Gabler as directed by
Ian Rickson?
Surpringly, it’s not the wide, glassy-eyed deer in the headlights portrayal of the eponymous character by
Mary-Louise Parker, which, by the way, seems more like an extremely strung out page taken from her long-running Showtime hit “Weeds.” In fact, because
Hildegard Bechtler's lackluster set design includes a sparsely-appointed room, Parker continually appears desperately in search of more scenery to chew.
Nor is it that sad irony of this most vain mistress of seduction appearing to be more of a vanity project for the gifted Parker, especially given the sheer number of New York revivals of
Hedda Gabler staged over the past 15 years.
No, the craziest thing about this
Hedda Gabler is that the only fate worse than a serious misfire of squandered talent and classic script on the stage is Rickson’s tragically self-inflicted shot that comes close to fatally undermining this great work. While
Christopher Shinn’s new adaptation must bear some of the responsibility, it’s the director who can’t quite dodge his own bullet.
Indeed, it is Rickson’s
second Broadway outing in a row in which a leading character is done in by acute miscalculations on the part of both director and actor alike. Just as his revival of
The Seagull was thrown seriously off kilter by the egregiously miscast
Peter Sarsgaard as Trigorin -- a role fundamentally demanding a halfway decent striking man with at least some modicum of charm-- so, too, is this
Hedda Gabler so certifiably imbalanced that you can’t understand why any man would find her attractive.
There’s no pretense of nuance in Parker’s possessed performance. Because of that, not even the usually dependable
Michael Cerveris as her husband, a mousy Jorgen Tesman, can salvage this production. While the rest of the ensemble is capable, only
Ana Reeder as Thea Elvsted completely acquits herself.
If you're waiting for the right time to see
Hedda Gabler, you'll have to wait a little longer.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Labels: Ana Reeder, Broadway, Hedda Gabler, Henrik Ibsen, Ian Rickson, Mary-Louise Parker, Michael Cerveris, Play, Revival, The SOB Review
Latest Gabler Gamble Opens On BroadwayPerhaps it's because the title character provides such an amazing opportunity for actresses to show their moxie that
Henrik Ibsen's
Hedda Gabler is opening on Broadway -- this evening -- for an astounding
19th time.
Coming just eight relatively short years after
Kate Burton's celebrated, Tony-nominated turn as Hedda -- and just three after
Cate Blanchett famously packed a pistol across the East River in
Brooklyn -- now
Mary-Louise Parker is sinking her teeth into the role of Sweden's coveted temptress.
Directed by
Ian Rickson,
Roundabout Theatre Company is presenting this latest incarnation with fresh adaptation from
Christopher Shinn. The ensemble includes
Michael Cerveris as Jorgen Tesman,
Paul Sparks as Ejlert Lovborg,
Peter Stormare as Judge Brack,
Helen Carey as Miss Juliane Tesman,
Lois Markle as Berte, and
Ana Reeder as Thea Elvsted.
Will critics hail this latest revival? Find out tomorrow as I not only provide my critics' capsule, but my own SOB Review.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Labels: Ana Reeder, Broadway, Cate Blanchett, Hedda Gabler, Henrik Ibsen, Ian Rickson, Mary-Louise Parker, Michael Cerveris, Opening Night, Paul Sparks, Peter Stormare, Play, Revival
Road Show (The SOB Review) - The Public Theater, New York, New York
*** (out of ****)Just when you may have thought everyone either loved or hated the latest revision to
Stephen Sondheim's ever-gestating musical, currently called
Road Show, I'm here to tell you that I merely liked
John Doyle's interpretation.
But that's infinitely better than where my own personal journey began with this
Road Show. Just over five years ago, I took in the overbloated
Goodman Theatre production of the tuner's precursor of
Bounce in Chicago, which included a major love storyline barely hinted at in the streamlined
Public Theater staging.
With
John Weidman's book and Sondheim's
Assassinsesque score substantially whittled, Doyle's decidedly darker direction ironically gives
Road Show its, er, bounce. It doesn't hurt that the largely comic verve in Chicago has been replaced by a more serious, sinister examination of
Addison and
Wilson Mizner, the real-life brothers who sought fame and fortune (the former was credited with launching a "Florida Renaissance" via his architecture in Palm Beach and Boca Raton, while the latter wrote three Broadway shows staged between 1909 and 1912). Set against another troubling economic time, Doyle mines the material to maximum cautionary impact, including through his own ingenious scenic design.
In the single best performances I've yet to see from frequent Sondheim interpreters
Michael Cerveris and
Alexander Gemignani, the actors offer measured portrayals of Wilson's greedy self-destruction and Addison's yearning to rise above it, respectively. While Gemignani wrings pathos from his Addison, Cerveris' Wilson is purely and perfectly pathetic ... and highly entertaining.
Will
Road Show someday find its place among the most revered in Sondheim's canon? While it's nowhere near that, yet, it's certainly come a long way.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Labels: Alexander Gemignani, Bounce, John Doyle, John Weidman, Michael Cerveris, Musical, New York City, Off-Broadway, Public Theater, Road Show, Stephen Sondheim, The SOB Review
Cymbeline Opens TonightThis evening marks the first of many Broadway openings during a very crowded week, thanks to all the reshuffling done to accommodate shows shuttered during the recent stagehands strike.
But the show opening tonight is one of a small handful that thankfully was open for business throughout due to its being staged at the not-for-profit
Lincoln Center. And the opening
did not need to be rescheduled.
A revival of
William Shakespeare's
Cymbeline, which was
last produced on the Great White Way more than 84 years ago, formally opens this evening with a star-studded cast including
Jonathan Cake,
Michael Cerveris,
John Cullum,
Martha Plimpton and
Phylicia Rashad. Helmed by
Mark Lamos, the limited run revival only performs through January 6 at the
Vivian Beaumont.
I took in a performance during the final week of the strike and will provide my SOB Review tomorrow along with my regular critics' capsule. We'll see how much I agreed with the critics on this rarely mounted play.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Click here for tickets.Related Stories:I've Got A Secret (August 15, 2007)
Labels: Broadway, Cymbeline, John Collum, Lincoln Center, Martha Plimpton, Michael Cerveris, Opening Night, Phylicia Rashad, Revival, William Shakespeare
I've Got A SecretYou're about to learn one of my deepest, darkest secrets. I've never shared it in this space before because I know what I'm about to say is considered heresy by most of my peers who enjoy theatre. But here goes...
I dread seeing most productions of
William Shakespeare's plays. They invariably put me to sleep.
I realize that this admission is probably not one I should make lightly (and I don't), and I may actually live to regret ever admitting it quite so boldly.
However, as artful and daring as The Bard was in creating virtually every story line ever imaginable in 16th and 17th Century England, the fact of the matter is that my ears rarely adjust to the tedious nature of the time's spoken word (many of which were created by Shakespeare himself). It becomes torture.
Yes, Shakespeare's themes may be universal, but no one speaks that way anymore, and if delivered poorly, as is too often the case, it's too much of a slog for me. So much so that the only show I've ever walked out of was a production of
Antony And Cleopatra. (Boring!)
OK, so I know this is sacrilege to most theatre lovers, but it's my truth.
It is against this startling admission that I learned
Lincoln Center would be mounting a revival of Shakespeare's
Cymbeline, which was
last seen on Broadway nearly 84 years ago...for 15 performances.
If there's any reason for me to be somewhat hopeful, it's because of the casting that includes
Jonathan Cake,
Michael Cerveris,
John Cullum,
Martha Plimpton and
Phylicia Rashad. It certainly doesn't hurt that
Mark Lamos will be directing.
Performances at the
Vivian Beaumont begin on November 1 with opening night slated for December 2. Maybe, just maybe, I'll find myself riveted. But I'm not counting on it.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Click here for ticket information.Labels: Broadway, Cymbeline, First Word On New Show, John Collum, Lincoln Center, Martha Plimpton, Michael Cerveris, Phylicia Rashad, Revival, William Shakespeare
Did Critics LoveMusik?
Look no further than
New York Post's
Clive Barnes, who opines in his three-star review: "If, in the remarkable -- no, sensational -- hands of both Donna Murphy as Lenya and Michael Cerveris as Weill, the music comes off more convincingly than the love, that was ultimately the story of their lives....The book is frankly clunky. But time and time again it is luckily resuscitated by the music and the altogether remarkable performances from the whole cast under Harold Prince's inspired direction."
Calling it a "daring new musical,"
Newday's
Linda Winer is mostly positive: "The show has its problems, some inherent in the range of Weill's music, and a few that seem to be almost willfully wrong-headed choices by director Harold Prince and author Alfred Uhry. But its strengths -- especially the courageous, ruggedly brilliant performances by Michael Cerveris and Donna Murphy -- are far more haunting than the flaws are troubling."
The first review posted
before last night's performance even began came from
Michael Kuchwara of the Associated Press, who in calling the production "uneven yet fascinating" goes on to say: "[T]he production -- much of it based on letters between Weill and Lenya -- still feels unfinished and uncertain....Cerveris and Murphy dominate. Both have undergone startling physical transformations and both are flawless in their Teutonic accents -- which does make the English lyrics a little more difficult to understand....Prince presents the show as if it were a revue, a series of sketches depicting the lives of these unique people. There is a mock proscenium within the real proscenium of the Biltmore to underscore the artificiality of the storytelling."
Offering a surprising assessment that
LoveMusik "is sluggish, tedious and (hold your breath) unmissable,"
The New York Times'
Ben Brantley notes: "Donna Murphy and Michael Cerveris turn in stunningly shaded performances that hold their own in a season notable for its surprisingly high standard of celebrity character studies....How you wish, though, that they weren’t trapped in the struggle between Alfred Uhry’s conventionally sentimental book and Mr. Prince’s self-consciously jaded staging."
Calling it "ambitious but schizophrenic,"
Eric Grode of
The New York Sun laments: "
LoveMusik comes tantalizingly close to explaining how the son of a cantor and a former child prostitute formed one of the 20th century's most curious romances. Ironically, though, the project is foiled by the very thing that made it so tempting in the first place -- Weill's own versatility....This embarrassment of lyrical riches stymies Messrs. Prince and Uhry, who are left with a stylistic smorgasbord that continuously wriggles free of any unified tone and leaves the complexities of the Weill-Lenya relationship unexplored."
All these reviews would seem to suggest that the nominations the show has already received were deserved. Whether or not audiences will gravitate toward this unusual musical remains to be seen.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Labels: Alfred Uhry, Critics' Capsule, David Pittu, Donna Murphy, Hal Prince, LoveMusik, Michael Cerveris, Musical
LoveMusik? Check Out MTC's Opening Night
Will critics love this musical? I'll be reporting on their reviews tomorrow.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Labels: Alfred Uhry, Broadway, David Pittu, Donna Murphy, Hal Prince, LoveMusik, Michael Cerveris, Musical, Opening Night
Pittu's Hit Parade Leads To LoveMusik
Have you ever seen an actor, of whom you've never previously heard anything, who blows you away -- so much and so positively -- that you know you'll never forget them? Actor
David Pittu, who is currently part of the phenomenal cast of
The Coast Of Utopia, is one such actor.
I first caught Pittu when I took in the 2000 tour of the Uhry/
Jason Robert Brown musical
Parade. Pittu absolutely took my breath away with his brilliant portrayal of the tragic Leo Frank. It should be noted that critics hailed Pittu's breakthrough performance and largely credited him for helping the tour succeed in measurable ways that surpassed the original Broadway production. Pittu was so superb that he was honored with the
National Broadway Award for Best Actor in a Musical.
Pittu's addition to the cast of
LoveMusik is enough to push me toward purchasing a ticket. Previews for the show begin on April 12; the musical opens on May 3 at the
Biltmore Theatre.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Click here for ticket information. Related Stories:
Labels: Alfred Uhry, Broadway, David Pittu, Donna Murphy, Hal Prince, Jason Robert Brown, LoveMusik, Michael Cerveris, Musical, Parade
SOB's Best of 2005-06: #10 - Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (Eugene O'Neill Theatre, New York, NY)Although Stephen Sondheim's musicals often get the bad rap that they're inaccessible, this third Broadway mounting of his classicly dark tale of a vengeful barber named Sweeney Todd works extraordinarily well on many counts and is quite tasty, almost in spite of the subject matter.
First, the import helmed by John Doyle strips the show down to its bare essentials and requires each cast member to play a musical instrument. Rather than distract from the performances, the on-stage orchestrations add more depth -- even though the original rationale for this type of staging was to contain production costs.
Second, the cast is sublime. I've long been an ardent admirer of Patti LuPone. While I've seen her in three other productions (including the brilliant Broadway revival of Noises Off in 2002), this marked my first opportunity to see her perform in a Broadway musical. Not only does she provide a delectable, vampy take on the downright demented Mrs. Lovett, but she also adds to the orchestrations by playing percussion and tuba! Michael Cerveris -- who won a Tony for his portrayal of John Wilkes Booth in 2004's remarkable Assassins -- provides a creepily sympathetic take on the demon barber himself. Other cast members, including Manoel Felciano and Lauren Molina simply captivate.
But the best reasons for seeing this show are the score and story themselves. The scandalous twist at the end helps turn this feast for the eyes and ears into a tragedy, yet with Sondheim tunes as merry as "A Little Priest" and "God, That's Good," the audience has a deliciously invigorating means of getting there.
Fortunately, audiences still have an opportunity to take in this already classic retelling of Sweeney Todd. But best get tickets before the crush of demand from its certain Tony Award nominations, including its probable lock on Best Musical Revival. It's tenth on my list of the Best of 2005-06.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Click here for tickets.
Related Stories:
The Tonys: If I Could Vote....for Best Revival of a Musical (June 4, 2006)
SOB's Best of 2005-06: #1 - Theater Of The New Ear (Royce Hall, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA) (May 30, 2006)
SOB’s Best of 2005-06: #2 – Guys And Dolls (Piccadilly Theatre, London, UK) (May 26, 2006)
SOB’s Best of 2005-06: #3 – Hedda Gabler (Brooklyn Academy of Music – Harvey Theatre, New York, NY) (May 25, 2006)
SOB’s Best of 2005-06: #4 – A Blameless Life (Steppenwolf Garage, Chicago, IL) (May 24, 2006)
SOB’s Best of 2005-06: #5 – Reeling (The Children’s Theatre Company, Minneapolis, MN) (May 23, 2006)
SOB’s Best of 2005-06: #6 – “MASTER HAROLD”…And The Boys (Steppenwolf Theatre, Chicago, IL) (May 21, 2006)
SOB’s Best of 2005-06: #7 – Love Song (Steppenwolf Theatre, Chicago, IL) (May 19, 2006)
O-Kaye Given to Temporary LuPone Replacement (May 18, 2006)
SOB's Best of 2005-06: #8 - Billy Elliot The Musical (Victoria Palace Theatre, London, UK) (May 18, 2006)
SOB's Best of 2005-06: #9 - The Well-Appointed Room (Steppenwolf Theatre, Chicago, IL) (May 17, 2006)
The SOB Five "Worst" of 2005-06 (May 12, 2006)
SOB's Best and Worst of 2005-06 Theatre Season (May 12, 2006)
Labels: Michael Cerveris, Musical, Noises Off, Patti LuPone, Revival, SOB's Best of 2005-06, Stephen Sondheim, Sweeney Todd, Tony Nominations
