Reasons To CloseIt took less than 24 hours after going home empty-handed at Sunday's Tony Awards, but
Neil LaBute's Tony-nominated
reasons to be pretty posted its closing notice on Monday. The play, which was produced earlier by Off-Broadway's MCC, will shutter Sunday after just 85 performances on Broadway.
I rather liked this little play and am sorry to see it go.
Terry Kinney offered taut direction to
Thomas Sadoski,
Marin Ireland,
Steven Pasquale and
Piper Perabo, who were all first rate.
But
reasons to be pretty never really caught on with Great White Way audiences as it hovered around the 50% capacity mark. In a week when its Tony nomination should have mattered with the public, its capacity actually dropped last week to just 47.4%.
While an award could have helped it attract more theatregoers, producers pulled the plug
seeming to feel that with a lack of major names, it was lost in the flurry of openings this spring.
That alone give me more than enough reasons to be a little sad.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Labels: Broadway, Closing Notices, Marin Ireland, Neil LaBute, Piper Perabo, Play, Reasons To Be Pretty, Steven Pasquale, Terry Kinney, Thomas Sadoski
reasons to be pretty (The SOB Review) – Lyceum Theatre, New York, New York
*** (out of ****)There are plenty of reasons to like
Neil LaBute’s surprisingly endearing
reasons to be pretty, but the biggest is
Thomas Sadoski as the comedy’s protagonist Greg, a lunkhead stuck in a dead-end job and a relationship going nowhere in a hurry.
Right before our eyes, Greg transforms from a juvenile jerk into a principled man.
But getting there is anything but pretty. I count myself among LaBute’s legion of fans, with his
The Shape Of Things ranking among my favorite plays of the past ten years. For other LaBute fans, if I were to describe his latest work -- expertly directed by
Terry Kinney -- as a
Shape Of Things flipped inside out, I think you’d get my meaning.
That earlier work lulls you into thinking that the central, seemingly beautiful relationship is founded on trust, but ultimately gets upended with a startling revelation. There's no lulling about in
reasons to be pretty, where the honesty that alternately seems too much or completely lacking in Greg's relationship with Steph (a marvelous
Marin Ireland) is actually right down the middle all along. Although, quite frankly, it’s hard to believe anyone could possibly find Steph as anything close to ugly, unless you get a huge heaping load of ugliness spewing from her acid tongue.
reasons to be pretty epitomizes a coming of age story for a new generation, even if its hero is a little late to life’s game of standing up for what's right. It’s that courage of conviction and taut cast that makes
reasons to be pretty so compelling.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Labels: Marin Ireland, Neil LaBute, Play, Reasons To Be Pretty, Terry Kinney, The Shape Of Things, The SOB Review, Thomas Sadoski
Does This Make Me Look Fat?Maybe there's hope for me yet as the upcoming production of
Neil LaBute's
reasons to be pretty is looking for average Joes and Josephines for
its ad campaign.
Sounds as inspired as if on the wings of a
Dove.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Labels: Ad Campaign, Broadway, Neil LaBute, Open Casting Call, Reasons To Be Pretty, Terry Kinney
Your SOB "Who Knew?" FlashbackChicago's Tony Award-winning
Steppen-wolf Theatre Company, co-founded in 1974 by
Terry Kinney,
Jeff Perry and
Gary Sinise, has long been known for its edgy to inspiring innovative fare.
But who knew that the second production ever mounted by Steppenwolf back in April 1974 was
Grease?!
I guess
there are worse things Steppenwolf
could do.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Labels: Chicago, Gary Sinise, Grease, Jeff Pery, Musical, Steppenwolf, Terry Kinney
LaBute's Play About La Beauts Broadway BoundAccording to
Variety,
MCC's Off-Broadway production of
Reasons To Be Pretty will transfer to Broadway early next year. This will mark the Great White Way debut for a work by playwright
Neil LaBute.
Under the direction of
Steppenwolf founder
Terry Kinney, the current castmembers
Piper Perabo,
Alison Pill,
Thomas Sadoski and
Pablo Schreiber will all be part of the Main Stem incarnation, which will be produced there by three of the individuals responsible for bringing
August: Osage County to New York:
Jerry Frankel,
Jeffrey Richards and
Steve Traxler.
The last time Kinney helmed a show on Broadway, it was the Tony-winning revival of Steppenwolf's
One Flew Over A Cuckoo's Nest back in 2001. More recently, he's directed the world premiere of
Richard Greenberg's
haunting post 9/11 play
The Well Appointed Room at Steppenwolf in 2006. That production starred
Kate Arrington,
Josh Charles and a couple actors you may have heard of recently named
Tracy Letts and
Amy Morton.
Anything Kinney directs, I'll be interested in seeing, and given it's Neil LaBute with a cast including Alison Pill? Are you kidding? I'll be there!
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Labels: Alison Pill, Broadway, First Word On New Show, Neil LaBute, Off-Broadway, One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest, Play, Reasons To Be Pretty, Terry Kinney, Transfer
SOB's Best of 2005-06: #9 - The Well-Appointed Room (Steppenwolf Theatre, Chicago, IL)Over the past ten years, Richard Greenberg has become one of the most prolific and respected playwrights of our time. Just recently, his 1996 Pulitzer Prize-nominated
Three Days of Rain made its way to the Broadway stage with a certain well-publicized high-profile cast. But beyond Broadway, he’s launched several new works including this year’s world premiere of
The Well-Appointed Room at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre. Evocative of
Three Days of Rain in that it traces two story lines through the same setting using its actors in multiple roles, the newer, sometimes explosive piece also carefully weaves a subtle tapestry that covers the most significant event in recent American history: the terrorist acts of September 11, 2001.
While Greenberg’s original script for
The Well-Appointed Room actually included three acts, the two that remain are quite distinctive from each other with seemingly little in common save for the New York City apartment setting and effective use of Steppenwolf ensemble members Tracy Letts and Amy Morton. The first act begins with Letts as a happily oblivious husband who is confronted by his wife Natalie (with bags packed), infuriated by his pretentious ignorance toward all pain he has created within his relationship. Natalie’s pointed tongue ultimately eviscerates her husband, who never saw the lashing coming. The rather breathtakingly short act ends with wife leaving husband.
The second act revolves around Mark, a young man played by Josh Charles (known to most audiences for his work on television’s “Sports Night”), who makes an immediate bond with the audience. He shares his story of finding Gretchen -- played with great emotional depth by Kate Arrington -- falling in love with her and trying to build a life together in that same well-appointed room from Act One, albeit some time later. The act evolves around a backdrop that focuses on where they were on 9/11, as well as by Gretchen’s mysterious behavior after taking a walk away from that room.
While I can’t pretend to know exactly what Greenberg intended to serve as the common thread between the two dramatically divergent acts, my instincts tell me that it is 9/11 itself. I can tell you that I walked away from this fascinating performance haunted by the broken relationship from the first act. It resonated with me as a metaphor for the strained ties between the United States and much of the world. Letts’ character, so caught up in himself, arrogantly ignored all the warning signs until it was simply too late to repair any of the damage he unwittingly and blithely inflicted. Interestingly enough, the second act – which specifically called out the horrific events of 9/11 – ended up serving as a more hopeful salve, that maybe it wasn’t too late for us after all.
As I’ve mentioned in earlier postings in the interest of full disclosure, I’m a proud member of Steppenwolf’s Auxiliary Council’s Board of Governors. But trust me, this richly textured play stands on its own merits. With moving performances by the entire cast, exquisite direction from Steppenwolf co-founder Terry Kinney and a truly poignant story,
The Well-Appointed Room is my selection for ninth place on my “Best of 2005-06” list. Should it come to a theatre near you, I encourage you to make a point of seeing it.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Related Stories: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)
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: #10 - Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (Eugene O'Neill Theatre, New York, NY) (May 15, 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: 9/11, Amy Morton, Chicago, Richard Greenberg, SOB's Best of 2005-06, Steppenwolf, Terry Kinney, The Well Appointed Room, Tracy Letts
