November's December Comes In JulyAccording to
Playbill,
David Mamet's election year comedy
November will close on July 13 after playing 205 performances.
For well over a month, the production has been
advertising "final weeks" to catch its president, played by
Nathan Lane, and despite the lone Tony nomination for the excellent
Laurie Metcalf, the rest of the mounting was shut out of consideration.
Directed by
Joe Mantello,
November wasn't half bad in
my humble estimation. In fact, it had some very funny moments. As I said earlier, "While not a perfect send-up of politics,
November certainly strikes a chord with those weary with the current state of the union, making me glad I elected to see it."
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Click here for tickets.Related Stories:David Mamet: A Conservative Voice? (March 12, 2008)
November (The SOB Review) (March 1, 2008)
Did Critics' Ballots Favor November? (January 18, 2008)
November's January Opening (January 18, 2008)
Metcalf Elects To Join November (August 9, 2007)
Will Mamet Offer Hail To Nathan Lane? (May 10, 2007)
Labels: Broadway, Closing Notices, David Mamet, Joe Mantello, Laurie Metcalf, Nathan Lane, November, Play
David Mamet: A Conser-vative Voice?Have you seen the latest issue of
The Village Voice in which playwright
David Mamet declares himself no longer a liberal?
In the fascinating piece, Mamet tosses off the cloak of liberalism, declaring, "I believe I have changed my mind."
Without sounding too emphatic, Mamet discusses his new Broadway play
November:
The play, while being a laugh a minute, is, when it's at home, a disputation between reason and faith, or perhaps between the conservative (or tragic) view and the liberal (or perfectionist) view. The conservative president in the piece holds that people are each out to make a living, and the best way for government to facilitate that is to stay out of the way, as the inevitable abuses and failures of this system (free-market economics) are less than those of government intervention.
While taking shots at critic
John Simon and directors alike, Mamet says:
But if the government is not to intervene, how will we, mere human beings, work it all out? I wondered and read, and it occurred to me that I knew the answer, and here it is: We just seem to.
No wonder he says of the stark contrasts within
November:
At the same time, I was writing my play about a president, corrupt, venal, cunning, and vengeful (as I assume all of them are), and two turkeys. And I gave this fictional president a speechwriter who, in his view, is a "brain-dead liberal," much like my earlier self; and in the course of the play, they have to work it out. And they eventually do come to a human understanding of the political process. As I believe I am trying to do, and in which I believe I may be succeeding, and I will try to summarize it in the words of William Allen White.
...
White knew that people need both to get ahead and to get along, and that they're always working at one or the other, and that government should most probably stay out of the way and let them get on with it. But, he added, there is such a thing as liberalism, and it may be reduced to these saddest of words: " . . . and yet . . . "
Rodney King once pleaded famously, "Can we all get along?" and yet Mamet apparently has concluded that despite all of our differences, we have been
all along.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Labels: Broadway, David Mamet, Freedom Of Speech, November, Politics
November (The SOB Review) - Ethel Barrymore Theatre, New York, NY
**1/2 (out of ****)As I entered the
Ethel Barrymore Theatre to take in
David Mamet’s
November, I admit I went in
expecting the worst, but came out with some semblance of a smile on my face. Not a big toothy grin, mind you, but a smile nonetheless.
In his incredibly prescient and exceedingly smart screenplay for “
Wag The Dog,” Mamet demonstrated his uncanny ability to perfectly nail some of the worst of Washington, and I mean that in the most reverential respect.
But as he’s shown more recently through his work in latter day plays like
Romance, he’s placed his skewering, scalding humor in more of a
Norman Learesque vein with characters not unlike the "classic" bigot
Archie Bunker, who goes on one visceral, politically incorrect tirade after another.
Like Lear, Mamet seems to relish creating loathsome characters who happen to vomit all the worst and most disgusting, if not so puerile, diatribes that no regular, likeable protagonist would ever be caught spewing. Not unlike Lear’s Archie Bunker -- who essentially had free reign to attack virtually any ethnic group, religion or sexual orientation that deviated from his narrowly drawn comfort level -- Mamet empowers his unsavory characters by giving a caustic voice to the ignoble ignoramuses in all of us.
Think of it as “Out of the mouths of bubbas, babes and boobs…” exposing an ugly underbelly of America we'd prefer to think doesn't exist, including within ourselves, including all of our collective prejudices. We may choose to believe we don't have them, but Mamet reminds us they're there.
While that touch largely failed in
Romance, it tends to succeed in
November, a screwball
Oval Office comedy about quite possibly the worst president
ever. And that it succeeds is both good and bad. That we laugh at all is unsettling. But the fact is, as preposterous as his premises are, they often offer something worth busting a gut over.
Many in the audience would be completely forgiven for seeing a lampoon of the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue -- even though Mamet insists any resemblance between
George W. Bush and his President Charles Smith (
Nathan Lane, at once robust and visceral) is purely coincidental -- but the contemptible temerity exhibited by the corrupt Smith is closer in approximation to the complete sellout that
Warren G. Harding was.
And faster than you can say
Teapot Dome, Smith is all too willing to threaten, cajole and extort, all in the name of preserving his legacy. You see, the first-term Smith, with poll numbers "lower than Gandhi's cholesterol" is on the eve of Election Day, with virtually no chance of earning a second term.
The boisterous Lane delivers a take-no-prisoners
tour de force portrayal as a president who's quick to lob f-bombs just as casually and readily as real ones, ironically with the threats of tortuous incarceration aimed at his enemy at any given moment as he is all too willing to give them a one-way ticket to permanent obscurity onboard his "piggy plane" to Bulgaria.
As Lane headlines as the hapless conservative Commandeer (if not Condemner)-in Chief,
November ultimately succeeds due chiefly -- pun intended -- to the exceptional performances offered by its enterprising ensemble, with
Dylan Baker as Chief of Staff Archer Brown,
Laurie Metcalf as chief presidential speechwriter/lesbian Clarice Bernstein,
Michael Nichols as Native American chief Dwight Grackle and
Ethan Phillips as a chief campaign donor representing the American turkey producers.
While it defies reasonable explanation why Clarice would stick by this president when he deplores her sexual orientation, Metcalf offers perhaps one of the more nuanced female performance ever in a Mamet play. So effective is her ability to wring out the maximum from every line for ultimate impact that I swear I caught whatever was ailing Clarice, freshly back in the White House from China after adopting a baby with her partner.
Baker, who's thankfully back on the Broadway stage with gusto this year -- first as
Mauritius' smug philately expert, and now as the smarmy Archer -- effortlessly lands each excoriating put-upon zinger with more precision than the poison dart shot by Grackle at President Smith.
Blessedly, director
Joe Mantello seems to have found his farcical footing after stumbling with his
last Broadway outing, but
Scott Pask's glorious re-creation of the Oval Office certainly helps to set scene from the moment the curtain rises.
While not a perfect send-up of politics,
November certainly strikes a chord with those weary with the current state of the union, making me glad I elected to see it.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Click here for tickets.Related Stories:Did Critics' Ballots Favor November? (January 18, 2008)
November's January Opening (January 18, 2008)
Metcalf Elects To Join November (August 9, 2007)
Will Mamet Offer Hail To Nathan Lane? (May 10, 2007)
Labels: Broadway, David Mamet, Dylan Baker, Joe Mantello, Laurie Metcalf, Nathan Lane, November, Play, The SOB Review
Did Critics' Ballots Favor November?Last evening,
David Mamet's world premiere play
November opened at Broadway's
Ethel Barrymore Theatre, and this morning the election re, er, critics' reviews are in.
Helmed by
Joe Mantello,
November is a presidential election year comedy starring
Nathan Lane,
Dylan Baker,
Laurie Metcalf,
Ethan Phillips and
Michael Nichols. Like a nation that seems inexorably split down the middle, so were the critics in their reviews.
Offering that "Mamet here is better than ever," Bloomberg's
John Simon voted early and often for the show: "A comedy and its production score a joint bull's-eye, and for a couple of hours on Broadway, all is well with the world. Nathan Lane, a great comic actor, gets the part he needed to prove himself the greatest....Lane is a one-man laugh riot as he tries to wangle or bribe, bully or blackmail his way into re-election....Joe Mantello, the director, emerges yet again as equal master of pinpoint detail and overarching orchestration."
Concluding that it's "empty-headed political fun,"
Clive Barnes of
New York Post offers two and a half stars: "With a masterly sleight of hand, Nathan Lane turns slightness into giddy fun in
November, David Mamet's impeccably politically incorrect tale of a US president in pollster hell. Not that all the credit belongs to Broadway's current maestro of the aggressive put-down and the aggrieved double-take. Much the same virtuosity is shown by a suavely buttoned-down Dylan Baker and a hysterically buttoned-up Laurie Metcalf, all three directed with metronomic brilliance by Joe Mantello."
Proclaiming
November a "manically funny new comedy," the Associated Press'
Michael Kuchwara offers his "yes" vote: "Lane is anything but bland as he ricochets around the room, spewing obscenities, mostly of the f-word variety....the cleverly jumbled plot ... demands comic actors at the top of their form. The cast, which also includes Laurie Metcalf and Dylan Baker, deftly navigates its way through the thicket of laughs, nailing every one."
Labeling it "sneaky and scabrously funny,"
Eric Grode of
The New York Sun is mostly positive: "As the Gandhi joke ... demonstrates, the plotting often gives way to a Borscht Belt style that comes a bit too easily to the author. But if anyone on Broadway can pull off this sort of material, it's Mr. Lane. Dangling offers and hurling threats like a
Tammany Hall alderman, Smith stands to leave the
Oval Office (replicated with witty fidelity by set designer
Scott Pask) with either his head held high or his pockets full. Mr. Lane's patented blend of lovable loutishness keeps the audience guessing -- and laughing, as he dispenses profane nuggets of Mametian wisdom with pedantic cluelessness."
Characterizing Mamet's latest as a "glib and jaunty new play
," The New York Times'
Ben Brantley votes no: "Despite the thick swarm of obscenities that are de rigueur in a Mamet play, there’s nothing remotely shocking about
November. If the play had been acted in the old Mamet tradition of louts stewing broodingly in homicidal rage and exasperation, it would probably be more unsettling when the president disgorges racist, sexist and xenophobic diatribes....
November is a David Mamet play for people who don’t like David Mamet. Being a long-time Mamet devotee, I cannot say I see this as a cause for rejoicing. Finding the singular Mamet voice (I mean, other than in its '#@$+*!' verbal punctuation) requires hard listening."
Noting how "it has no sense of proportion or plausibility,"
Joe Dziamianowicz of New York's
Daily News offers thumbs down: "In the past Mamet's work has been incisive, powerful and realistic. Here he goes for an easy, well-worn target and obvious setup: America's highest office is held by a low-life thug (Smith's political party isn't identified). It's so broad that
November is a satire with a big mouth but no bite. There's plenty of bark though. Lane revels in his freewheeling performance, launching one-liners -- some very funny -- and endless expletives. Unlike in his dramas, Mamet's streaming profanity here seems like self-parody or ugly wallpaper -- it just hangs there, demanding attention."
Proffering that Mamet "takes the lazy way out with the election-year sitcom,"
Newsday's
Linda Winer casts a negative ballot: "Instead of wit and fury, we get gags and grimaces. Instead of humor so daring that critics have been known to bite their own lips to maintain decorum, the comedy is so eager-to-please that we strain to hear Mamet's voice beyond the punch lines....[t]here is scant resemblance to real-world satire....Mantello appears unwilling or unable to find the seriously wonderful actor who existed before Lane froze his distinctive trumpet voice and flipper eyebrows in monster comedies. When Mamet's sly street-poet humor meets the hard sell, the language grates."
So there you have it folks, a split vote. I'll be offering my own SOB Review once I see the show right in the middle of primary season.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Click here for tickets.Related Stories:November's January Opening (January 18, 2008)
Metcalf Elects To Join November (August 9, 2007)
Will Mamet Offer Hail To Nathan Lane? (May 10, 2007)
Labels: Broadway, Critics' Capsule, David Mamet, Joe Mantello, Laurie Metcalf, Nathan Lane, November, Play
November's January OpeningDavid Mamet's latest work
November, which opens tonight at Broadway's
Ethel Barrymore Theatre, delves smack dab into the middle of presidential election year politics.
But I have to tell you, if the jokes at the top of the show's
Web site are any indication, the play could be as lame as the fake duck in the White House portrayed by
Nathan Lane. There's one turkey after another. Who wrote
that?
Directed by
Joe Mantello,
November also includes
Dylan Baker (fresh from his stint in
Mauritius),
Laurie Metcalf,
Ethan Phillips and
Michael Nichols.
Having spent my first four years out of college working on Capitol Hill, I have an interest in just about any depiction of politics in popular culture. In all too many cases, I'm amused by the complete naïveté demonstrated by most writers.
But since I have enjoyed other Mamet works, I'll be reserving judgment until I see it in the weeks to come. However, I'll be sharing my critics' capsule tomorrow.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Click here for tickets.Related Stories:Metcalf Elects To Join November (August 9, 2007)
Will Mamet Offer Hail To Nathan Lane? (May 10, 2007)
Labels: Broadway, David Mamet, Joe Mantello, Laurie Metcalf, Nathan Lane, November, Opening Night, Play
Metcalf Elects To Join NovemberAccording to Variety, three-time Emmy Award-winning actress
Laurie Metcalf has been confirmed to join
Nathan Lane in the cast of
David Mamet's
November, scheduled to open on Broadway in early 2008.
Most audiences know Metcalf for her broad-humored television work as
Roseanne Barr's policewoman sister Jackie on "
Roseanne," as well as for her portrayal of Carolyn Bigsby on "
Desperate Housewives." Yet, Metcalf first cut her teeth treading the boards.
While
November will unbelievably mark just her second Broadway outing -- the first came in the short-lived 1995 production of
Alexandra Gersten's
My Thing Of Love -- the riveting actress has been a member of Chicago's
Steppenwolf ensemble since 1976. In fact, it was in Steppenwolf's 2001 chilling production of
Purple Heart that I finally had an opportunity to see this versatile actress' full dynamic range. She's a major force. Not only was I utterly mesmerized by her excellent performance, but I became a believer in the magic of Steppenwolf itself. (Incidentally,
My Thing Of Love was produced by Steppenwolf.)
In
November -- a play about what befalls an incumbent American president in the days leading up to the election -- Metcalf is slated to portray a presidential aide. With
Joe Mantello providing direction to this work, I had already added this play to my "must see" list, but Metcalf's addition could very well have me voting early and often for this show.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Related Stories:The Pain And The Itch Slated for New York Run (June 7, 2007)
Will Mamet Offer Hail To Nathan Lane? (May 10, 2007)
The Unmentionables (The SOB Review) (July 10, 2006)
Flashback: Best of 2002-03 (May 25, 2006)
Labels: Broadway, David Mamet, Joe Mantello, Laurie Metcalf, Nathan Lane, November, Play, Purple Heart, Steppenwolf
Will Mamet Offer Hail To Nathan Lane?
According to Robertson, the "chatter" surrounding the production is that
Nathan Lane might be cast as President Charles Smith. Lane's name, of course, has also been attached to the percolating stage musical version of the hit movie "
Catch Me If You Can."
With or without Lane, I'm intrigued by the premise of this play that's described as "three men in a room trying to work things out." This would be the esteemed playwright's first work to premiere on the Great White Way.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Related Stories:
Labels: Broadway, David Mamet, First Word On New Show, Joe Mantello, Nathan Lane, November, Play
