Sweet Charity (The SOB Review) – Theatre Royal Haymarket, London, United Kingdom
*** (out of ****)So, let me get right to the point.
I don’t pop my cork for every production of
Sweet Charity I see. Aside from
Dorothy Fields and
Cy Coleman’s wonderfully fizzy score, it’s
Neil Simon’s clunky and largely unsatisfying conclusion that usually makes me wonder what’s going on in his mind.
Yet the minute the exceptional
Tamzin Outhwaite walked in the joint, er, on the stage, I could tell
Matthew White’s was a revival of distinction. Good looking, yet remarkably (and appropriately) unrefined in
Menier Chocolate Factory's inherently gritty fashion. As Charity Hope Valentine, this charismatic triple threat has plucky charm to spare, making this
Sweet Charity a sheer, shimmying delight.
Mark Umbers proves a quadruple threat in terms of effortlessly taking on Charity’s four (yes, four) romantic interests from start to finish.
Josefina Gabrielle and
Tiffany Graves turn in respectable trades as Nickie and Helene, respectively. Their breathtaking turn on "There's Gotta Be Something Better Than This" with Outhwaite is a triple threat cubed. And
unlike the
last Broadway revival, there's no need to relegate this Charity almost entirely to the sidelines since Outhwaite is more than up to the choreographic challenge.
If you want to have fun, more than a few laughs and above all else a good time -- all while touching your heart -- you've got to get up, you've got to get out to London's
Theatre Royal Haymarket and see this
Sweet Charity live it.
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: Cy Coleman, Dorothy Fields, Josefina Gabrielle, London, Mark Umbers, Menier Chocolate Factory, Neil Simon, Revival, Sweet Charity, Tamzin Outhwaite, The SOB Review, Tiffany Graves, Transfer
Brighton Beach: Too Soon To Fade To MemoriesThe new Broadway revival of
Brighton Beach Memoirs that just opened at the top of this week will close Sunday.
Over the past 15 hours, there has been a flurry of slightly varying news items about the future of the show, along with word that the planned production of
Broadway Bound originally scheduled to run in repertory with
Brighton Beach Memoirs beginning in November would be scuttled.
Last evening at 8:11 p.m.
The New York Times'
Pat Healy posted the initial scoop noting the production's weak ticket sales:
The production had failed to build a strong advance sale and grossed only about $124,000 for eight performances last week.
A little later last evening, in taking note of Healy's story, Playbill's
Kenneth Jones quoted a statement indicating only a "provisional" closing notice had been issued:
The notice can be taken down at any time and no final decision on closing will be made until Monday, Nov. 2, when a statement will be issued.
However, this morning, the fate of
Brighton Beach Memoirs appeared to be sealed as noted by
The New York Times' Healy in a story posted at 10:08 a.m.
Healy quotes producers Emanuel Azenberg and Ira Pittelman from a statement released earlier today:
A lot of nice people on stage and off will be out of work and a lot of good partners and investors will have lost a great deal of money. They all deserve better. It makes us sad.
It would be hard for anyone to say with a straight face that they didn't see this coming. As noted above, ticket sales have been extremely weak. Over the past
couple weeks,
Brighton Beach Memoirs had been the single lowest-grossing Broadway production by a mile, as well as the one with the lowest average ticket price. For the week ending October 25, the play's
average ticket price was a steal at just $21.32.
Personally, having easily scored a front-row seat without paying a premium just a week prior to attending the show, I was hardly shocked by the news. On my Saturday at the Nederlander Theatre, I was surprised by how few people were in the audience.
While I can't say I had not anticipated the closing notice, I am extraordinarily disappointed. I love what
David Cromer and his excellent cast have done with
Neil Simon's heartfelt material. It is a beautifully executed production deserving to be seen. While
most reviews were largely favorable (my own
SOB Review was a rave), the
one that I concede matters most was mixed with a dash of withering.
While I'm thankful I had an opportunity to see
Brighton Beach Memoirs for myself, I'm a little sad that my hopes for seeing what Cromer
et al had in store for us with
Broadway Bound have been dashed. So excuse me for feeling a little melancholy today.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Labels: Best Revival of Plays, Brighton Beach Memoirs, Broadway, Closing Notices, David Cromer, Neil Simon, Play
Brighton Beach Memoirs (The SOB Review) - Nederlander Theatre, New York, New York
**** (out of ****)
Prepare to be astonished.
Back in the eighties when I was just beginning to enjoy
Neil Simon's seminal comedies on film, the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright was already reinventing himself on the Great White Way with heartfelt plays that have consistently been ranked among the very best in his entire oeuvre.
So a generation later, I've finally started catching up on
those works. And are they ever mighty.
Three years ago, I caught
a tremendous production of his 1991 hit
Lost In Yonkers that was found in Minneapolis. It demonstrated Simon's introspective genius. Despite being a nod to his own youth, the play was so vital, real and relevant.
But not even that mounting could have prepared me for the earnest and devastating charms found in Simon's superb
Brighton Beach Memoirs. The play is so well-written, it's no wonder it ran on Broadway for a solid three years. Set in the 1930s, this semi-autobiographical period piece is currently receiving an excellent revival, flawlessly executed by director
David Cromer.
Through
Brighton Beach Memoirs, Cromer further cements his reputation, burnishing his credentials as a brilliant, visionary master at breathing vigorous new life into classic material. But unlike his mind-blowing, stripped-down revival of
Thornton Wilder’s
Our Town -- still playing New York's
Barrow Street Theatre -- the director stages
Brighton Beach Memoirs with all the bells and whistles you'd expect from a Broadway show, which is Cromer's first.
John Lee Beatty's design of the Jerome Family home is evocative of the type of Depression-era residence where you'd expect to find an extended family forced to live together out of sheer necessity. And those bells and whistles, and other sound effects? Well, they're compliments of
Joshua Schmidt and
Fitz Patton (the former wrote the score to the revered musical
Adding Machine, which was also helmed by Cromer).
An exuberant
Noah Robbins makes his impressive Broadway debut as Eugene Jerome, Simon's young alter-ego. His dream may be to become a great baseball player, but by living in a cramped Brooklyn household his parents have opened to his widowed aunt and her two daughters, Eugene discovers that he not only possesses the ability to discern major milestones under that roof, but also has a knack for writing about them, too.
With winsome appeal, Robbins captivates and enthralls, whether serving as
de facto narrator or when engaging in often spirited dialogue with the revival's fine ensemble that includes the extraordinary
Laurie Metcalf (as his mother Kate), the magnificent
Dennis Boutsikaris (as his father Jack) and the sublime
Santino Fontana (as his brother Stanley), along with
Jessica Hecht (as his Aunt Blanche) and
Alexandra Socha and
Gracie Bea Lawrence (as his cousins Nora and Laurie, respectively). Make no mistake, this show has been perfectly cast throughout. There's not one false note to be found.
As outstanding as Cromer's ensemble is, Laurie Metcalf is an unmitigated and complete triumph as Kate. Without ever overshadowing the rest of the cast, Metcalf delivers one of the year's most withering, nuanced performances. Her omniscient Kate may have eyes in the back of her head, as the young Eugene knows all too well when sneaking a cookie, but it's the subtlety within Metcalf's eyes and facial expressions that lend sumptuous layer after layer to the enormous depth of her portrayal. Simply put, Metcalf is amazing.
No wonder this
Brighton Beach Memoirs left me utterly gobsmacked and misty-eyed. Cromer and his cast have delivered yet another outstanding revival that is unmistakably unmissable and will have you yearning for more.
Fortunately, that wish will come true soon enough via the
Broadway-bound Broadway Bound.
UPDATE - 10.31.2009: Brighton Beach Memoirs will close just one week after opening due to weak box office demand, thus scuttling the planned revival of Broadway Bound.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Labels: Broadway, Laurie Metcalf, Neil Simon, Play, Revival, The SOB Review
Broadway Bound AgainUPDATE - 10.31.2009: Brighton Beach Memoirs will close just one week after opening due to weak box office demand, thus scuttling the planned revival of Broadway Bound.
Yesterday,
I highlighted the history of
Neil Simon's
Brighton Beach Memoirs and its
hotly anticipated first revival.
In my earlier post, I mentioned the two things that truly intrigue me about the revival. One is that it's being helmed by Chicago's visionary director
David Cromer. The other is that Cromer will soon be staging it in repertory with his revival of
Broadway Bound.
As I noted, both works are part of what's been dubbed the "Eugene Trilogy" since they, along with the jettisoned
Biloxi Blues, revolve around Simon's young alter-ego Eugene Jerome.
Laurie Metcalf and
Dennis Boutsikaris headline each as Kate and Jack Jerome, respectively.
Santino Fontana will tackle Stanley Jerome in both, and
Jessica Hecht plays Blanche in each. While
Noah Robbins is portraying Eugene in
Brighton Beach Memoirs, Theatre World Award winner
Josh Grisetti assumes the Eugene mantle in
Broadway Bound, a play set 12 years beyond the first.
When originally produced on the Great White Way, each of the three plays comprising Simon's cycle came in relatively short order.
Brighton Beach Memoirs debuted on Broadway in 1983,
Biloxi Blues followed in 1985, and
Broadway Bound realized
exactly that when it opened at the
Broadhurst Theatre on December 4, 1986. All were directed by
Gene Saks.
However, unlike the new
Simon Plays in which Metcalfe, Boutsikaris, Fontana and Hecht portray the same chacters in both shows, the cast of the original
Broadway Bound was different from
Brighton Beach Memoirs. Cast in the
Broadway Bound roles first seen
Brighton Beach Memoirs were
Linda Lavin as Kate,
Philip Sterling as Jack,
Jason Alexander as Stanley,
Phyllis Newman as Blanche and a young
Jonathan Silverman as Eugene.
John Randolph and
Philip Sterling were also in the cast.
Not only was
Broadway Bound nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, it also earned Simon a Tony nomination. Lavin and Randolph would each win Tony Awards for their performances, while Newman, in her last Broadway role to date, would earn a Tony nod. The show finally closed in September 1988 after 756 performances.
As I mentioned yesterday, the only real reported news I've heard for the Simon Plays has been relegated to
behind-the-scenes strife. Fortunately, I've already heard great buzz about the first installment that began previews earlier this month.
Audiences will have their first opportunity to see previews of
Broadway Bound beginning November 18; the show will open December 10 -- a month and a half after
Brighton Beach Memoirs opens October 25. The two shows begin playing in rep just in time for Thanksgiving.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Labels: Broadway, Laurie Metcalf, Neil Simon, Play, Previews, Revival
Bringing Back BrightonUPDATE - 10.31.2009: Brighton Beach Memoirs will close just one week after opening due to weak box office demand, thus scuttling the planned revival of Broadway Bound. Consider the enormous impact the
first run of
Neil Simon's much beloved semi-autobiographical
Brighton Beach Memoirs had on Broadway by the time it closed on May 11, 1986, at the
46th Street Theatre (now
Richard Rodgers Theatre).
The
Gene Saks-helmed production not only enjoyed a whopping 1,299 performances over a three year-two month period -- pretty remarkable for a straight play -- it also helped launch the career of a young actor named
Matthew Broderick.
Broderick would go on to earn his first Tony Award portraying Eugene Jerome. He'd revisit the role via Simon's second portion of his "Eugene Trilogy,"
Biloxi Blues, which enjoyed a successful concurrent run with
Brighton Beach Memoirs from 1985-86. (Alas,
Jonathan Silverman would play Eugene in
Broadway Bound,
the third play in the cycle that ran for nearly two years starting in 1986.)
Broderick was joined in
Brighton Beach Memoirs by
Elizabeth Franz as his mother Kate,
Peter Michael Goetz as his father Jack and
Željko Ivanek as his brother Stanley, along with
Mandy Ingber,
Jodi Thelen and
Joyce Van Patten. In addition to Broderick's Tony, Zaks would score one for his direction, while Franz and Ivanek would each receive nominations for their turns.
Now, over a quarter century after the show's Broadway debut comes its
hotly anticipated first revival. What makes the revival intriguing is that it's being directed by the super-hot visionary
David Cromer, who breathed incredible new life into
Our Town. Cromer is adding to the intrigue by ultimately playing
Brighton Beach Memoirs in repertory with a revival of
Broadway Bound. (Sorry,
Biloxi Blues fans -- the middle portion of the trilogy is not included.)
Laurie Metcalf and
Dennis Boutsikaris will star in each as Kate and Jack, respectively.
Santino Fontana will tackle Stanley Jerome in both, and
Jessica Hecht will also be in both installments as Blanche.
Noah Robbins is set to make his Broadway debut in
Brighton Beach Memoirs as Eugene, Neil Simon's alter ego. The young actor graduated earlier this year from Washington's Georgetown Day School. (In
Broadway Bound, Theatre World Award winner
Josh Grisetti assumes the role of the older Eugene. More on that portion of the overarching production to come.)
Will
Brighton Beach Memoirs create the same lasting memories as the first? While its only real reported buzz has been relegated to
behind-the-scenes strife, I'm hearing from my trusted insiders who have already seen early previews that it's a wonderfully solid production.
This first of two
Simon Plays opens October 25. I'll offer my SOB Review shortly thereafter.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Labels: Broadway, David Cromer, Laurie Metcalf, Neil Simon, Play, Revival, The SOB Preview
A Great Game Of Simon SaysIn celebrating its first season in its new home, Minneapolis'
Guthrie Theater is conducting an engaging series of conversations with renowned playwrights, kicking off with the prolific
Neil Simon yesterday.
Simon's award-winning
Lost In Yonkers is currently performing at the Guthrie. During yesterday's "Conversation with Neil Simon," the great playwright told Guthrie Artistic Director
Joe Dowling that he had enjoyed a performance on Saturday and praised the ensemble.
Simon said that he still uses a good old-fashioned typewriter to bring his stories to life after writing first drafts longhand. Much of what he writes is based in part on his own experiences or of those he knows (
The Odd Couple was based in part on his brother and his roommate). He had high praise for venerable director
Mike Nichols, saying he himself never had any desire to direct. And while he still sees virtually every show that plays on Broadway, today's writers seem to write from a different place ("a place of anger") than what he has. But the 79 year old writer also revealed that he's busy working on a new script for a play called, "Where's My Papa," based on a sojourn to Long Island during his youth when he was taken to watch for his own father coming out of a home where he had supposedly been having a tryst.
The packed house was highly appreciative of every nugget Simon offered. After all, he is arguably America's greatest living playwright with an amazing career spanning more than fifty years, starting in the early 50s with television's "
Your Show Of Shows."
Simon's Broadway entrée came 51 years ago with a musical revue show called
Catch A Star for which he and his brother Danny wrote the sketches. After writing a sketch called "Madame Interpreter" for
New Faces Of 1956, it was another five years before Simon struck real gold on the Great White Way. But what a gilded treat it was in
Come Blow Your Horn, which played 677 performances at the
Brooks Atkinson Theatre.
Since 1961, Simon has written 24 more Broadway plays along with the libretto for five musicals. Along the way, he has earned 17 Tony nominations, winning 3 times -- for The Odd Couple
(1965),
Biloxi Blues (1985) and
Lost In Yonkers (1991), for which he also won the Pulitzer Prize.
This coming Sunday, Simon's enormous contributions to the
American conversation will earn him the ninth annual
Mark Twain Prize for American Humor at the Kennedy Center. It will mark the second time for the estimable playwright to be honored there -- he also was awarded the Kennedy Center Honors in 1995. In announcing Simon's selection, Kennedy Center Chairman Steven A. Schwarzman said, "Neil Simon, like Mark Twain, has a unique way of exposing the American spirit by drawing on experiences in his own life and creating insightful and touching portraits of the world around him."
With an opportunity to celebrate the gift of word that Simon has given American audiences, I was thrilled to be in his presence yesterday. Congratulations on your latest, well-deserved honor, Mr. Simon!
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Click here for Lost In Yonkers tickets.Click here for Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize tickets.Related Stories:Lost In Yonkers (The SOB Review) - Wurtele Thrust Stage, Guthrie, Minneapolis, MN (October 5, 2006)
Guthrie's Lost In Yonkers Opens Tonight (September 29, 2006)
Labels: Broadway, Guthrie, Lost In Yonkers, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Neil Simon, Theatre Discussions
Guthrie's Lost In Yonkers Opens TonightMinneapolis may be 1000 miles from Yonkers, New York, but its premier theatre serves as the setting for a revival of
Lost In Yonkers, which opens this evening.
Neil Simon won both a Tony for Best Play and Pulitzer Prize in 1991 for his semi-autobiographical writing about two boys forced to live with their grandmother after their mother's death. Incredibly enough, this marks the first time a Simon play has been presented on the Guthrie stage.
The new Guthrie Theatre production is directed by Gary Gisselman and its cast includes Michael Booth, Dylan Frederick, Ryan Howell,
Rosaleen Linehan, Noah Madoff, Ryan McCartan, Stephen Pelinski, Finnerty Steeves and Suzanne Warmanen.
The show is scheduled to run through November 12. On October 8, Simon himself will take to the stage with Guthrie Director
Joe Dowling in a dialogue about the state of American theatre and playwriting.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Click here for tickets.Labels: Guthrie, Lost In Yonkers, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Neil Simon, Opening Night, Play, Revival
