Final FourJust as America’s annual national obsession with college basketball is about to conclude, so will four performances on Broadway this evening.
The Great White Way will bid adieu to two plays, one musical and one singular, breathtaking performance in a musical. They include:
The critically-acclaimed
Manhattan Theatre Club revival of
Brian Friel’s
Translations, which after 53 regular performances sadly leaves on a bitter note with the abrupt firing of actor
Michael Fitzgerald for rough handling of a castmate.
Jeremy Bobb replaced him for the final performances.
David Hare’s
The Vertical Hour, with
Bill Nighy and
Julianne Moore. Critics were mixed on this play, although all sang Nighy’s praises. Moore’s starpower wasn’t enough to keep the production from closing two weeks earlier than planned. Still, with 117 regular performances, the production achieved that rarest of feats for Broadway plays: it leaves having already turned a profit.
The Roundabout Theatre Company’s revival of
The Apple Tree with
Kristin Chenoweth,
Brian d’Arcy James and until recently,
Marc Kudisch, who jumped ship for
The Pirates Of Penzance. Although the cast received decent to rapturous notices, few critics (including yours truly) were excited about this dated concept musical. The limited run enjoyed 99 regular performances.
Bob Martin (pictured), a/k/a Man In Chair, in the ongoing, Tony-winning Broadway production of
The Drowsy Chaperone. Martin, of course, is one of the genii behind this vastly entertaining musical from before its inception as a 1999 Toronto Fringe Festival favorite. But fortunately for West End audiences, Martin will be returning to the comfort of an English version of his favorite settee later this year. Still, it will be hard to imagine anyone else on the Great White Way as this one-of-a-kind character, who inserts himself into the action of a 1920s-style tuner.
Each of these departures is deserving of a fond farewell, and expect to see some well-deserved Tony nominations announced for performances in the outgoing productions. And perhaps there’s a future Olivier in the cards for Martin, who rightly received a Tony nod last year.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Click here for The Drowsy Chaperone tickets.Labels: Bob Martin, Broadway, Closings, Kristin Chenoweth, Musical, Play, Revival, The Apple Tree, The Drowsy Chaperone, The Vertical Hour, Translations
Did Translations Translate Into Good Reviews
Translations, of course, is a limited run revival of yet another
Brian Friel play set in Ireland. Last year, similar praise was heaped upon the revival of his
Faith Healer when it opened on Broadway.
Proclaiming it "nothing short of glorious,"
Charles Isherwood of the
New York Times waxes rhapsodic: "A basic fluency in the workings of the human heart is all that’s necessary to absorb the beauties of Mr. Friel’s tender, sad and funny play about the difficulty of finding a home in the world, a person to share it with, and a name to call it by....On this occasion it has wisely been entrusted to
Garry Hynes...Ms. Hynes has in turn wisely entrusted Mr. Friel’s challenging play to a stageful of little-known but hugely talented actors, creating an ensemble of an extraordinarily high caliber and consistency."
Labeling
Translations "engrossing," the
New York Sun's
Eric Grode sounds a positive note: "Director Garry Hynes, follows (Friel's) lead, crafting a well-paced, suitably raucous potboiler that slips in cultural commentary with admirable stealth. Not even a handful of over-the-top performances can dampen the bracing effect of her empathy for Mr. Friel's boisterous, doomed villagers.
In offering up a three-and-a-half star review,
USA Today's
Elysa Gardner notes: "The Manhattan Theatre Club's absorbing, heartbreaking revival...captures the tortured contradictions at the heart of Friel's drama without stooping to sentimentality. Garry Hynes...expertly directs
Translations, which is anchored by a trio of superb performances....After more than 25 years, Friel's study of the beauty and futility of words, and the power and difficulty of human connection, remains as haunting and relevant as ever."
The Associated Press'
Michael Kuchwara also has words of praise: "It is an extraordinary play, emotionally satisfying and intellectually bracing at the same time. And this splendid Broadway revival...has been able to tap into both aspects. It expertly recreates what is the most heartbreaking of Friel's many fine dramas....Credit should go most prominently to director Garry Hynes. She has brought together a gifted collection of actors as well as several fine designers (specifically
Francis O'Connor and
Davy Cunningham), who have given the play a dark, shadow-flecked setting that suggests a world ominously on the brink of change."
Calling the show "fascinatingly flawed" in his two-and-a-half star review,
New York Post's
Clive Barnes laments: "It can't...overcome the play's ramshackle structure, and one of those terribly Irish, O'Casey-style endings that leaves you up in the air with a sense of loss, without knowing quite what has happened. It's a difficult play to produce...is better than most in uncovering playwright Friel's elusive inner poetry. We also have some grand performances, best of all (
Niall) Buggy's boisterous, near tragic Hugh. Yet despite many beauties displayed, the play's broken-backed problems are here left quite a distance from solution."
Now we'll see whether mostly positive reviews translates into green at the box office, for although Translations was filled to 87.5% capacity last week, it was primarily through deeply discounted tickets -- the average ticket price last week was a mere $40.15, the lowest of any show currently on Broadway.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
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Labels: Broadway, Critics' Capsule, Play, Revival, Translations
Oíche Tosaigh: Translations For Opening NightA dozen years have passed since
Brian Friel's short-lived
Translations first appeared on the Great White Way. But this evening marks the limited run Broadway revival for the work at the
Manhattan Theatre Club where it is scheduled to run more than twice as long as the original.
The play concerns the miscommunication, and its resulting clashes, within the mythical 19th Century Irish community of Ballybeg.
While major stage names like
Brian Dennehy,
Dana Delany,
Donal Donnelly and
Michael Cumpsty graced the boards of the
Plymouth Theatre during the drama's 25 regular performance run back in 1995, the new
Garry Hynes-helmed revival features actors mostly unfamiliar to Broadway audiences. They include:
Niall Buggy,
David Costabile,
Alan Cox,
Dermot Crowley,
Michael Fitzgerald,
Morgan Hallett,
Geraldine Hughes,
Susan Lynch,
Graeme Malcolm and
Chandler Williams.
Will last year's belated, enthusiastic reception to Friel's
Faith Healer translate into positive reviews? Or will the moldy residue from MTC's last work,
Losing Louie, sour the critics' opinions of anything new opening at the
Biltmore Theatre? I'll let you know via my critics' capsule tomorrow.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Click here for tickets.Labels: Broadway, Manhattan Theatre Club, Opening Night, Play, Revival, Translations
