A Little Less Night Music Come January
Sure, the sophisticated
Stephen Sondheim tuner had only been selling tickets through January 9, 2011, anyway. But with the
celebrated replacements
Bernadette Peters and
Elaine Stritch originally scheduled only through November 7, coupled with the revival's
previous plans to close last June 20, I couldn't help but hope the producers could pull a fifth and sixth rabbit out of their stylish hat in terms of its headlining cast.
Instead, the producers
announced today a hat trick of another kind. While confirming the show's closure for the second time (and presumably final) time, they simultaneously announced that Peters and Stritch have extended their contracts through the closing date of January 9.
A Little Night Music will have enjoyed a remarkable Rialto run of 425 regular performances, after first wowing the critics across the pond.
Trevor Nunn's production
captured my heart when I first saw it nearly two years ago in London where his vision worked exceedingly well in the
Menier Chocolate Factory's thimble-sized theatre.
Having seen that incarnation and knowing what to expect with Nunn's spare staging,
I wasn't at all let down in quite the way many of my colleagues were by the time the show turned up on Broadway. However, I was every bit as genuinely disappointed by
Catherine Zeta-Jones's brassy performance as I was genuinely moved by
Angela Lansbury. Yet when Peters and Stritch took over as replacements, I couldn't help but believe
I had just witnessed the definitive portrayal of Desiree as manifested in "Send In The Clowns."
Was this a perfect revival? Certainly not. But it surely has provided audiences with a wonderfully rare opportunity to hear some of Sondheim's very best music back on the Broadway stage. And you know what? It sure
was rich.
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: A Little Night Music, Angela Lansbury, Bernadette Peters, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Closing Notices, Elaine Stritch, Stephen Sondheim, The House Of Blue Leaves, Trevor Nunn
A Little Night Music (The SOB Revisit)
***1/2 (out of ****)Talk about the difference between night and, well,
Night.
What was once a rare champagne in London when I first caught
Trevor Nunn's effervescent little revival of
A Little Night Music at the cozy
Menier Chocolate Factory had merely become just an amiable sparkling wine when it finally transferred to Broadway late last year.
Fizzy and fun, to be sure, but mass market nonetheless.
All the striations of intimacy I experienced at the Menier had seemingly been dispensed with in attempts to broaden its box office appeal as widely as possible. But given last season will best be remembered as the one in which the Great White Way was overrun with Hollywood stars, it seemed to be the price we had to pay for seeing
A Little Night Music back on Broadway's boards after a 35 year absence.
The revival succeeded primarily on the backbone of the indefatigable Menier holdover
Alexander Hanson (who continues to astound as Frederik Egerman) and the enormous strengths of
Angela Lansbury (who miraculously made fig newtons out of figs). Say what you will about
Jason Carr's spare orchestrations,
David Farley's simple scenic design and
Hartley T. A. Kemp's dim lighting, but I believe if you have a transcendant Desiree, any issues with them fade away. But because this revival first opened with one who was not, the problematic elements seemed to take center stage.
After a brief hiatus for the show after the departure of its two previous leads, I'm happy to report that what once was figs, is now a sumptuous feast on Broadway (and yet again for those of us fortunate enough to see the Menier production).
A Little Night Music's holdover cast seems immensely more assured as they've grown tremendously into their roles since the show first opened in 2009. They exude enormous confidence even if their characters do not. And that's half the battle.
But more significantly (and blessedly), the entirely intoxicating
Bernadette Peters demonstrates how richly textured and sparkling Desiree Armfeldt can ... no,
should .... be.
Peters offers a spellbinding master class in highly stylized nuance that is at once completely winning, enchanting and altogether shattering. As a valiant trouper and schemer who thoroughly understands that her weekend in the country may very well prove to be her last true opportunity in finding peace within herself and love in the man she's always loved, Peters' Armfeldt has every subtle shading necessary to effectively balance Desiree's lust for life with her darkest fears. After witnessing her heartwrenching rendition of "Send In The Clowns," you can't help but contemplate, "So
this is how it's done."
Assuming the mantle as Desiree's mother, Madame Armfeldt,
Elaine Stritch cackles a cacophany of delight and crackles with charm, even as she sometimes cracks from the untold pressure of hastily learning her lines. While her "Liaisons" could easily be dubbed liaisons and on and on, Stritch recovers well and soldiers valiantly on, managing to effectively offer her own unique and endearing interpretation of the lady who's been with kings and seen some things that a lady ought not to see. Still, you can't help but wonder if this Madame Armfeldt had considered herself a Bohemian in her own youth.
It's impossible to walk away from this newly fermented
A Little Night Music without marveling at how definitively rich and absolutely ingenious
Stephen Sondheim's glorious musical truly is. Finally, with a Desiree for the ages,
A Little Night Music has aged into the first-rate vintage bubbly we've been thirsting for.
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: A Little Night Music, Bernadette Peters, Elaine Stritch, Stephen Sondheim, The SOB Revisit, Trevor Nunn
A Little Night Music (The SOB Review) – Walter Kerr Theatre, New York City, New York
*** (out of ****)A funny thing happened on
A Little Night Music's way to Broadway.
As regular readers will recall, in November 2008,
I found myself absolutely swept away by
Trevor Nunn's revival of
Stephen Sondheim's glorious
A Little Night Music at London's tiny
Menier Chocolate Factory. I was swooning. I even wistfully wrote how I wished this production would find its way to the Great White Way.
Well, not
quite like this. Be careful what you wish for.
This nearly replicated staging, which worked extraordinarily well in that tiny black box in London, hardly fills the stage of the
Walter Kerr. While the show is still good and very much worth seeing, the quaintness across the pond could have --
should have -- been scaled appropriately upward from enhanced orchestrations (
Jason Carr) to set design (
David Farley) in order to fit its new venue with the luster it deserves.
What I had really wished was that the Broadway transfer would bring with it
Hannah Waddingham as Desiree and
Maureen Lipman as her mother Madame Armfeldt. Instead, the only actor who has made the journey across the pond is
Alexander Hanson, whose exceptional rendering of Desiree's one-time love is as tender and heartfelt as ever.
As truly enchanting as the initial Menier incarnation was, what made it all the lovelier was its superb cast headlined by Waddingham. While the incandescent
Catherine Zeta-Jones doesn't hold a candle to Waddingham's nuanced portrayal, her megawatt star power does light up the stage, albeit with a similarly forced "I'll prove to them I'm up to the challenge" moxie she demonstrated in "
Chicago." You can't help but admire her for trying, but subtlety is not one of her strongest suits.
Fortunately, the replacement of Lipman with
Angela Lansbury works infinitely better. While
Hugh Wheeler's book relegates Madame Armfeldt to a wheelchair, Lansbury commands the stage every time she's on it, whether in song or in her humor-filled chiding. It's pure bliss to see her return to Broadway in a musical role.
Then there's the splendid music. While not fully orchestrated for ultimate impact, Sondheim's score must be among his most beautiful. Coupled with Wheeler's ingenious storyline, it is what really makes this Broadway revival sing, even if not nearly as rhapsodically as it did in London.
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: A Little Night Music, Alexander Hanson, Angela Lansbury, Broadway, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Musical, Revival, Stephen Sondheim, The SOB Review, Transfer, Trevor Nunn
SOB's Favorite Shows Of The Noughties: #10 - A Little Night Music
SOB's Favorite Shows Of The Noughties: #10 - A Little Night Music (2008, Menier Chocolate Factory, London, United Kingdom)
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. Wasn't
this rich?! Who would have thought that a show staged in a style so deceptively simple could be so sublime, not to mention utterly romantic. Rich, indeed.
Now, if you're not a romantic at heart, you need not have bothered. But for the rest of us, there was the pure heaven found in
Trevor Nunn's gorgeous revival of
A Little Night Music. It enveloped every one of my senses like a welcome salve for these troubled times. Only a heart of stone could not be moved by
Stephen Sondheim's ravishing score and
Hugh Wheeler's über-clever book.
Thanks to Nunn's deft and gentle touch, this
tale of requited love in turn-of-the-20th-Century Sweden felt timeless, transcending all expectations. It made me feel a twinge in my heart and left a tear in my eye. While I have not yet seen the
current Broadway transfer (I will do so in January), the intimacy of the tiny Menier made this a revival utterly unmissable on both sides of the Atlantic.
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: A Little Night Music, Hugh Wheeler, Musical, Revival, SOB's Favorite Shows Of The Noughties, Stephen Sondheim, Trevor Nunn
SOB's Least Favorite Shows Of The Noughties: #5 - Gone With The Wind (2008, New London Theatre, London, United Kingdom)
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 not only pleased to present my list of my top 25 favorite plays and musicals of the Noughties, but also a simultaneous countdown of my five least favorite shows out of the hundreds and hundreds of shows I've seen over the last ten years. A flop of truly epic proportions, the musical's creative team was still chiseling away at its lumbering length a month after it opened in hopes of averting complete disaster. Instead, its massive capitalization was
Gone With The Wind.
Although purely unintentional, this ranks as one of the decade's funniest laugh-out loud musicals. While writer/sociologist
Margaret Martin and director
Trevor Nunn failed to deliver a compelling musical that could stand on its own, they did mount a show that was so bad, it left us nearly laughing in the aisles. Their efforts added nothing to the art of live theatre except endless exposition and a legend that gives those of us who saw it the best bragging rights this side of
Carrie, which helps to keep it from being named #1 on this list.
Did we really need a narrator telling us that Miss Scarlett was about to look at herself in the mirror when we could see that for ourselves, or worse, having her step over dying soldiers rolling around on the stage who suddenly popped up to tell us they were all dying? Funny, yet sad at the same time.
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 each performance.Labels: Gone With The Wind, London, Margaret Martin, Musical, SOB's Least Favorite Shows Of The Noughties, Trevor Nunn
Just One More Little Night Before Music
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Just One More Little Night Before MusicLast Thanksgiving weekend, I treated myself to one of the best theatrical experiences I had all year.
It came after the
West End Whingers advised me to do myself a favor and take in the
Menier Chocolate Factory's stunning revival of
Stephen Sondheim and
Hugh Wheeler's
A Little Night Music in London.
In some pre-trip prep work, SarahB at
Adventures In The Endless Pursuit Of Entertainment helped push me over the edge. I've yet to come back, and that's a good thing.
In my subsequent
SOB Review, I waxed rhapsodic in my praise:
Isn't it rich?!
Who would have thought that a show staged in a style so deceptively simple could be so sublime, not to mention utterly romantic. Rich, indeed.
Now, if you're not a romantic at heart, you need not bother. But for the
rest of us, Trevor Nunn's gorgeous revival of A Little Night Music is pure heaven.
So smitten was I that I closed my review rather wistfully:
There's little doubt that the bewitching allure of this excellent revival will follow other Menier productions to the West End, but how about to Broadway?
Well, maybe next year ... or so we can hope!
A little more than two months later,
it was announced that the revival would indeed transfer to a West End berth. Then, just two months ago,
came confirmation that the musical would be produced on Broadway with
Catherine Zeta-Jones making her Great White Way debut in the coveted role of Desiree Armfeldt alongside
Angela Lansbury as her mother, Madame Armfeldt.
Now, finally, we're but 24 hours away from the first preview and I know I'm not alone in anxiously awaiting my turn to see it fresh on the Main Stem after a long absence of more than 35 years.
Welcome back,
A Little Night Music! This Thanksgiving, we're giving thanks that you're back on Broadway.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Labels: A Little Night Music, Angela Lansbury, Broadway, Catherine Zeta-Jones, London, Menier Chocolate Factory, Musical, Revival, Stephen Sondheim, Transfer, Trevor Nunn
Send In The CrowdsToday, at long last and after what seems like months of endless speculation came confirmation that what is arguably
Stephen Sondheim's greatest lifetime triumph --
A Little Night Music -- is finally coming back to Broadway after a long overdue 35 year absence.
I'm truly not sure what is more remarkable about this
Trevor Nunn-helmed import from London.
On the one hand, you have Academy Award-winning actress
Catherine Zeta-Jones making her Broadway debut in the coveted role of Desiree Armfeldt. While a Rialto novice, a very young Zeta-Jones
made her West End debut in
Annie. She also appeared in the London production of
42nd Street -- incredibly, she was cast in the leading role of Peggy Sawyer after both the regular actress and understudy already filling the part fell ill! The rest, as they say, is history. After wowing us as Velma Kelly in the film production of "
Chicago," Zeta-Jones indicated shortly thereafter that she would someday love to tackle a musical on Broadway. That day is soon to come.
On the other hand -- and this is a mighty huge hand -- you have the legendary
Angela Lansbury. The beloved five-time Tony-winning veteran of 11 Great White Way shows over the last 52 years is defying all odds by agreeing
once more to one last crack at a Main Stem stage. This time, she'll be portraying Madame Armfeldt. Could it be that she'll earn her sixth Tony?
Also particularly noteworthy is that this production marks only the very first time
A Little Night Music will have been revived on Broadway. Hard to believe for a musical that inspires swoons from virtually all comers who have ever seen it performed.
Regular readers will note that even I was swept away. After seeing Nunn's earliest incarnation of
A Little Night Music in London last November, I summed up
my rapturous SOB Review by pining:
There's little doubt that the bewitching allure of this excellent revival will follow other Menier productions to the West End, but how about to Broadway?
Well, maybe next year ... or so we can hope!
According to the announcement made today, my complete wish is coming true.
A Little Night Music will begin previews at the
Walter Kerr Theatre on November 24. Opening night is currently scheduled for December 13.
While complete casting has not been announced, we do know that
Alexander Hanson will reprise his London role as Fredrik Egerman. Lansbury, Zeta-Jones and Hanson will be joined by
Erin Davie (Countess Charlotte Malcolm),
Hunter Ryan Herdlicka (Henry Egerman),
Leigh Ann Larkin (Petra),
Aaron Lazar (Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm) and
Ramona Mallory (Anne Egerman).
The first Broadway production of
A Little Night Music was directed by the great
Harold Prince. The musical opened February 25, 1973, at the
Shubert Theatre. Not only would the show earn a whopping 12 Tony Award nominations, but it would reap of six of the top honors including Best Musical, Best Original Score (Sondheim), Best Book of a Musical (
Hugh Wheeler), Best Actress in a Musical (
Glynis Johns), Best Featured Actress in a Musical (
Patricia Elliott) and Best Costume Design (
Florence Klotz - a Tony that I have had the thrill of holding myself).
Just seven months after first opening, the tuner transferred to Broadway's
Majestic Theatre, where it played until August 3, 1974. All totaled,
A Little Night Music enjoyed 601 regular performances on the Great White Way.
While I for one would have loved to have seen both
Hannah Waddingham and
Maureen Lipman recreate their roles from the London stage, you can bet that as the casting of Zeta-Jones and Lansbury will make this one of Broadway's most sought-after tickets of the year, I will be cueing up enthusiastically. To put it simply -- I can't wait.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Labels: A Little Night Music, Alexander Hanson, Angela Lansbury, Broadway, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Hugh Wheeler, London, Musical, Stephen Sondheim, Transfer, Trevor Nunn
A Little More Night MusicHurrah!
As regular readers will recall, I fell head over heels in love with the
Menier Chocolate Factory revival of
Stephen Sondheim and
Hugh Wheeler's
A Little Night Music.
Now comes word from
Playbill.com that this deservedly sold-out production will transfer next month to London's West End with most of its Menier cast intact. Directed once again by
Trevor Nunn, this scrumptious
A Little Night Music will play the Garrick Theatre with
Hannah Waddingham,
Maureen Lipman and
Gabriel Vick.
Again, perhaps given the current state of the economy, it's too much to ask, but I'm still hoping this wonderful news portends well for a Broadway transfer to follow.
In the meantime, if you have the means, get thee to London to see this exquisite little show. It begins March 28 with opening -- or first -- night scheduled for April 7.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Labels: A Little Night Music, Gabriel Vick, Hannah Waddingham, Hugh Wheeler, London, Maureen Lipman, Menier Chocolate Factory, Musical, Stephen Sondheim, Transfer, Trevor Nunn
A Little Night Music (The SOB Review) - Menier Chocolate Factory, London, United Kingdom**** (out of ****)Isn't
it rich?!
Who would have thought that a show staged in a style so deceptively simple could be so sublime, not to mention utterly romantic. Rich, indeed.
Now, if you're not a romantic at heart, you need not bother. But for the rest of us,
Trevor Nunn's gorgeous revival of
A Little Night Music is pure heaven. It enveloped every one of my senses like a welcome salve for these troubled times.
While the tuner opened last night at London's
Menier Chocolate Factory, I caught the production Saturday evening and found myself positively transported. Only a heart of stone could not be moved by
Stephen Sondheim's ravishing score and
Hugh Wheeler's über-clever book.
But thanks to Nunn's deft and gentle touch, this
tale of requited love in turn-of-the-20th-Century Sweden feels timeless, transcending all expectations. It is sure to make you feel a twinge in your heart and leave a tear in your eye. Yes, all is forgiven for
Gone With The Wind - The Musical; in fact, this production has more nuance per tune than that dreaded musical had in the entire show.
Nunn benefits from a uniformly superb cast. Of particular note is the sensationally sensuous and saucy
Hannah Waddingham as forty-something actress Desirée Armfeldt. Waddingham possesses a charm that's reminiscent of
Julie Andrews.
Then there's the enchanting
Maureen Lipman, who steals virtually every scene as Desirée's witty sage of a mother Madame Arnfeldt. The enormously talented
Gabriel Vick takes on the heartsick Henrick -- mark my words, with his extraordinary voice, Vick is a major musical find and one actor worth watching.
There's little doubt that the bewitching allure of this excellent revival will follow other Menier productions to the West End, but how about to Broadway?
Well, maybe next year ... or so we can hope!
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Labels: A Little Night Music, Gabriel Vick, Hannah Waddingham, Hugh Wheeler, London, Maureen Lipman, Menier Chocolate Factory, Musical, Revival, Stephen Sondheim, The SOB Review, Trevor Nunn
Gone With The Wind (The SOB Review) - New London Theatre, London, United Kingdom
* (out of ****)(Steve On Broadway sits down at his desk and contemplates typing his SOB Review for Gone With The Wind, which opened last week in London. He then begins to type.)Last week, I treated two of my favorite friends, who happen to hail from Atlanta, to the just-opened musical version of
Gone With The Wind (costing me approximately $330), which I can only describe as one of the funniest laugh-out loud musicals to come along in ages.
Only thing is those laughs are purely unintentional.
Tomorrow may be another day, but taking in this interminable show will lead you right into it. One must endure more than three and a half long hours to get through the mess created by sociologist and first-time musical creator
Margaret Martin's treatment of
Margaret Mitchell's epic 1936 novel. Inexplicably, Martin managed to gain permission from Mitchell's estate to transform the source material into a meandering pastiche of so many varied musical styles that you'd be forgiven for thinking you're watching several different intertwining tuners at once.
(Steve On Broadway momentarily ponders some of the silliest songs he has heard and then resumes typing.)Martin's ill-conceived book and largely inane lyrics seldom rise beyond the wings of a cliché. Most of the worst songs are reserved for the leading characters of Miss Scarlett (
Jill Paice was out sick, so I saw the valiant
Savannah Stevenson in her place) and her dashing husband Rhett Butler (
Darius Danesh, once a runner-up on
Britain's version of "
American Idol"); Stevenson and Danesh do what they can with the lackluster material, but are eventually done in by it. Surely, these actors must recognize that they've attached themselves to a stinker.
Interestingly enough, the best songs of the bunch by far are the tunes sung by the slaves. Indeed, the most rousing, deeply moving song -- which in most musicals would have been reserved for the 11 o'clock number -- is sung near the beginning of Act II by the spirited
Jina Burrows as Prissy. Sadly, I can't tell you the name of the number because the $10 programme doesn't even bother to list the song titles (perhaps because the show was whittled down to less than four hours just days before it opened, they didn't have time to print new programmes).
This and the other soaring anthemic ballads sung by the tuner's fine black actors -- including a splendid
NaTasha Yvette Williams (most recently Sofia in Broadway's
The Color Purple)
as Mammy -- provide the few stirring moments of the evening. But because this is ostensibly a story about a fancifully conceited and self-absorbed white woman named Scarlett O'Hara, the black storylines never have a real chance of going anywhere.
Unfortunately, the rest comes across as a mishmash of high school musicals, bad dinner theatre and a seemingly conscious nod to "
Waiting For Guffman." There are all the elements of parody without any shred of satirical irony. With the exceptions noted above, this
Gone With The Wind rarely rises to the caliber of what one should reasonably be able to expect from the vaunted, hallowed heights of the prestigious West End. Audiences deserve better.
(Steve On Broadway muses to himself how a director like Trevor Nunn fails to form any semblence of a cohesive show.)You'd think theatre veteran Trevor Nunn would be able to wade through Martin's musical morass -- after all, he is listed as the show's "adapter," whatever that really means. Instead, he seems to amplify the material's incredulity to an absurd level, never allowing any of the themes or subplots to go anywhere but through the revolving door of a set.
(It was at this moment that Steve On Broadway remembers how John Napier's eternally-rotating set design serves as an accidental metaphor for trying to cram far too much into this already overblown production.)Yes, John Napier's ever-revolving set that rarely ever
really changes no matter how frequently it's given a whirl is perhaps the best gauge for telling when a month or a year -- or years, for that matter -- has passed since it effectively serves as a revolving door for far too many characters we never have a chance to know or care about.
(Steve On Broadway suddenly remembers thinking to himself, "If only someone could make those infernal narrations cease!")Then there's the narration.
The endless, ultimately irritating narration.
Fact is, if I really wanted to read the book, I would have done so on my plane ride to London (or listened to the book on my iPod). I don't need the constant exposition by characters telling me the obvious. Do I really need a narrator to tell me that Miss Scarlett is about to look at herself in the mirror when I can see that for myself, or worse, having the dying soldiers rolling around on the floor suddenly rising up to tell us they're all dying?
(So Steve On Broadway is thinking, "They're probably wondering if you enjoyed yourself. Go ahead and tell them the truth.")Did I have fun? Well, yes, but for all the wrong reasons. I found myself laughing when I should have been moved. I couldn't help but think, "So this is what audiences who saw
Carrie - The Musical must have thought when they saw that great flopperoo."
On a more serious note, simply put, Martin and Nunn fail to deliver a compelling musical that can stand on its own. Their efforts have added nothing to the art of live theatre except endless exposition.
So my advice is to save your pounds or dollars
and time and invest the $11 or so on Margaret Mitchell's Pulitzer Prize-winning
book instead.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Click here for tickets.Related Stories:Is London's GWTW Already Went With The Wind? (April 14, 2008)
GWTW Composer: Knowin' Somethin' 'Bout Birthin' Babies (September 27, 2007)
Frankly My Dears... (July 1, 2007)
Gone With The Wind The Musical? (February 22, 2007)
Labels: Gone With The Wind, Jill Paice, London, Margaret Martin, Margaret Mitchell, Musical, The SOB Review, Trevor Nunn
Is London's GWTW Already Went With The Wind?It looks like there might be trouble in Tara.
This evening's preview performance of
Gone With The Wind has been canceled, after having already been in previews since April 4. The musical version of
Margaret Mitchell's epic Civil War novel is currently scheduled to open one week from tomorrow at the New London Theatre in the U.K. capital's West End.
According to
Playbill:
A production spokesperson told Playbill.com that the performance has been canceled to allow time for additional technical rehearsal. Director Trevor Nunn is also looking to reduce the running time of the musical, which is scheduled to officially open in the West End April 22.
This
Gone With The Wind features a book and score written by sociologist
Margaret Martin, who was
profiled fairly extensively by Donna Kornhaber and David Kornhaber in this past Sunday's
The New York Times. Martin describes how she passed Nunn's Volvo test, but only after first managing to win the rights for the project from author Margaret Mitchell's estate.
Rumblings about the show's exhaustive four-hour running time have already been circling the Web, necessitating a
two-
part review by the
West End Whingers.
I'm supposed to be in the audience one week from Wednesday -- the day after it opens across the pond. But one of my in-the-know theatre friends said, only half-joking, "I hope it doesn't close first."
All of which has me wondering whether this production is already "Went With The Wind." If all else fails, maybe former
Curtains star
Jill Paice, who is creating the role of Scarlett O'Hara in the London tuner, could don some drapes a la
Carol Burnett in that
fabulously funny spoof from her seventies variety show.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Click here for tickets.Related Stories:GWTW Composer: Knowin' Somethin' 'Bout Birthin' Babies (September 27, 2007)
Frankly My Dears... (July 1, 2007)
Gone With The Wind The Musical? (February 22, 2007)
Labels: Film, Gone With The Wind, London, Margaret Martin, Margaret Mitchell, Musical, Trevor Nunn
Did Critics Want To Rock 'N' Roll All Night?Last evening,
Tom Stoppard's hotly anticipated
Rock 'N' Roll opened at Broadway's
Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre. Helmed by
Trevor Nunn, the cast features
Rufus Sewell along with
Sinéad Cusack and
Brian Cox. Reviews ranged from absolutely rhapsodic to downright disappointing (sadly,
I fell into the latter category after having my hopes set, perhaps, unattainably high).
Praising it as "triumphantly sentimental,"
Ben Brantley of
The New York Times reaffirms his earlier laurels: "Writing about the political and cultural legacy of the late 1960s in his own late 60s (Mr. Stoppard recently turned 70) has, for better or worse, exposed this playwright’s soft side -- mostly for better. Mr. Stoppard treats the contentious, confused characters of
Rock ’n’ Roll with a deep, protective affection I’ve never encountered from him before, even in the supposed self-portraiture of his
Real Thing....Ms. Cusack -- who plays the cancer-riddled Eleanor in the first act and her grown daughter, Esme, in the second — is marvelous as two different women of feeling holding their own among men of ideas. Her bravura presentation of Eleanor’s argument against Max’s materialism in the first act is the emotional touchstone of the play."
Offering up four stars,
New York Post's
Clive Barnes is ecstatic: "Sir Tom Stoppard's new play
Rock 'n' Roll is funny, enthralling and, yes, it offers you something to take out of the theater you didn't come in with....The director Trevor Nunn is a wizard...at revealing the human face of Stoppard behind all the nervy, nervous brilliance. And -- a lot of any directorial success comes with the casting -- he has here a marvelous team of actors, the four leads from his original London production last year, with all the newcomers blending in with the effortless
Wilde-like grace that characterizes Stoppard's writing."
Calling it a "humane play,"
Michael Kuchwara of the Associated Press is unequivocally positive: "It's splendid, illuminating entertainment, chock full of ideas and high-flying arguments (could there be a Stoppard play without them?) yet resonating with an emotion that springs from several fully developed characters....The amazing Sewell...anchors the richly embroidered story....Cusack, too, is extraordinary, tackling two roles."
"Dense, but enormously satisfying," is how
Eric Grode of
The New York Sun describes the play: "Substituting
Dylan and
Jagger for
Bakunin and
Turgenev, he completes this latest task in a third of the time and with nearly triple the impact....The astonishingly good Ms. Cusack delivers one of the single most powerful sequences in all of Stoppard, a ferocious demand that Max not reduce Eleanor and her cancer-ridden body to one of his dialectic constructs."
Saying "it's too sprawling and ambitious to be consistently involving,"
Joe Dziemianowicz of New York's
Daily News offers a mixed assessment: "The estimable Trevor Nunn directs, and not without missteps. The cast shouts throughout the very long first act before settling in for the tighter, more satisfying second half. Cox gives heart to his barking Communist, while Sinead Cusack brings high contrast to dual roles. She morphs from searing to soft as Max's strong-willed wife and then her own hippie-chick daughter. As Jan, who might be a stand-in for the Czech-born Stoppard, Sewell paints an aptly earnest portrait as a reluctantly political man who realizes you can't play an LP without causing a revolution."
Citing its "unwieldy reflection on politics, poetics, rock music as expression of personal liberty and a whole lot else,"
Variety's
David Rooney is more critical: "Would that the intellectually overburdened play's journey -- or those of its mostly unengaging characters -- had half the humanity packed into Sewell's wonderful performance.
Rock 'n' Roll commands admiration simply by virtue of being unafraid to make demands on its audience, and it has an affecting central figure in Jan. But in order to get to 90 minutes of reasonably satisfying emotional drama, it first force-feeds you another 90 minutes of stodgy political-science backgrounding, made more cumbersome by awkward cross-cutting between Cambridge and Prague. (The latter aspect is not helped by
Robert Jones' clunky set, with its pedestrian use of a central turntable.)"
Comparing Stoppard's works with "going to school,"
Michael Sommers of the
Newark Star-Ledger offers one of the other discordant notes: "The trouble is that this erudite play's characters exist not to behave like messy human beings, but to voice different points of view. So they come to life only fitfully, despite the very good acting of director Trevor Nunn's ensemble. Stars imported from the award-winning play's London production shine brightest. Sewell's gentle Jan endures decades of troubles with saintlike patience. Cusack's quirky classics scholar blazes into rage over her piece-by-piece death."
The critical response was a bit more favorable than the audience response during the performance I attended. In fact, I overheard one person emphatically say, "This is the worst play I ever saw." While I didn't think it was quite that bad, it should be duly noted that
Rock 'N' Roll clearly will not be for everyone.
Tickets are currently available through March 2, 2008.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Click here for tickets.Related Stories:Rock 'N' Roll (The SOB Review) (November 5, 2007)
Broadway Ready To Rock Tonight (November 4, 2007)
When It Comes To Broadway, Stoppard's On A Roll (May 16, 2007)
Which British Hits Will Be Broadway-Bound? (September 20, 2006)
Labels: Brian Cox, Broadway, Critics' Capsule, Play, Rock 'n' Roll, Rufus Sewell, Sinead Cusack, Tom Stoppard, Trevor Nunn
Rock 'N' Roll (The SOB Review) - Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre, New York, NY*1/2Talk about being caught between a rock and a hard place.
Right around the beginning of the third hour of
Tom Stoppard's
Rock 'N' Roll, which opened last night at the
Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre, Jan -- the play's Czech protagonist sociologist -- dares to utter what many in the audience are already thinking: "We aim for inertia."
While the context should underscore how mired and resigned the Czech people were ten years after capitulating to the Soviet occupation of 1968, it unintentially serves as a stark reminder for how frustrating Stoppard's undeniably high-minded and intensely personal work is to slog through.
Unfortunately, this very sentimental journey is all too heavy-handed, relying on far too much pontificating and far too little character or plot development, which is only hampered by
Trevor Nunn's exasperating fits and starts direction.
Rock 'N' Roll spans 22 years (1968-1990) and jarringly shifts back and forth between Prague and Cambridge. Just as you think the story is getting somewhere, the scene is interrupted with yet another lengthy rock and roll intersticial with nary a connection to situation.
Stoppard himself was born in Zlín, Czechoslovakia, but left as a baby. Through Jan -- portrayed with uncompromising zest by
Rufus Sewell -- Stoppard explores what might have been had he never left his homeland, save providing Jan with a rare opportunity to attend England's prestigious
Cambridge University.
While at Cambridge, Jan becomes a student of Professor Max Morrow (a steely
Brian Cox), an avowed and unapologetic communist, who uses the Soviet's World War II victory over the Germans to remind Jan, a Jew, that he essentially owes his life to the party.
But from his lofty academic perch, Max casts a blind eye on the authoritarian realities of communism and deflects criticisms that the corrupt system inherently disapproves of free thought. As an informer to the Czech secret police, he is told "We're supposed to know what's going on inside people -- that's why it's the Ministry of the Interior."
Max ultimately betrays Jan, who's imprisoned when he's deemed unemployable -- although it's actually for his considerable subversive activities, not the least of which is being a rock and roll music aficianado and active participant in a concert from the outlawed Czech psychadelic rock band,
The Plastic People of the Universe, a living breathing symbol of the Western scourge of free will. After his release from prison, Jan submits to a 12-year stint as a bakery worker until he's "freed" by the astounding 1989
Velvet Revolution, enabling him to journey back to Cambridge and confront Max with his past, but also reconnect with Max's daughter Esme.
Amidst all these noble themes, we're introduced to one unsympathetic character after another, with the exception of Jan and the two handled expertly by the amazing
Sinéad Cusack, who imbues both Eleanor (Max's cancer-ridden wife) in the first act and the older Esme (Max and Eleanor's former flower child daughter) in the second with a unique level of dignity and humanity largely absent from the rest of the portrayals. Most stirring is Eleanor's comparison of her cancer to communism as she strives to impress upon Max that a mind is a terrible thing to waste.
If only the rest of play were as coherent or as riveting, I'd be able to say
Rock 'N' Roll is here to stay.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Click here for tickets.Related Stories:Broadway Ready To Rock Tonight (November 4, 2007)
When It Comes To Broadway, Stoppard's On A Roll (May 16, 2007)
Which British Hits Will Be Broadway-Bound? (September 20, 2006)
Labels: Broadway, Play, Rock 'n' Roll, Rufus Sewell, The SOB Review, Tom Stoppard, Transfer, Trevor Nunn
Broadway Ready To Rock TonightDespite its breathtaking critical success across the pond, it's easy to forget that
Tom Stoppard's
Rock 'N' Roll did
not win the Olivier Award for Best New Play earlier this year.
That distinction went to
David Harrower's Blackbird, although
Rufus Sewell was awarded the trophy for Best Actor.
But with many London critics proclaiming it even better than Stoppard's monumental
The Coast Of Utopia, which managed to clean up at this year's Tony Awards, anticipation is running high that this could be the play to beat come Tony time 2008.
Tonight,
Rock 'N' Roll officially opens at the
Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre with
Trevor Nunn at the helm and a cast that includes
Sinéad Cusack and
Brian Cox in addition to Sewell.
Of all the new Broadway shows I've been looking forward to, this is the one (my other pick would be
August: Osage County, although I've already had the very good fortune of seeing that one during its Chicago premiere). Stoppard's use of the spoken word is spellbinding.
Look for my critics' capsule tomorrow, along with my very own SOB Review.
Tickets are currently available through March 2, 2008.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Click here for tickets.Related Stories:When It Comes To Broadway, Stoppard's On A Roll (May 16, 2007)
Which British Hits Will Be Broadway-Bound? (September 20, 2006)
Labels: Broadway, Opening Night, Play, Rock 'n' Roll, Rufus Sewell, Tom Stoppard, Transfer, Trevor Nunn
GWTW Composer: Knowin' Somethin' 'Bout Birthin' BabiesAs
reported in June, the upcoming musical version of
Margaret Mitchell's epic
Gone With The Wind -- which will make its debut next April at London's New London Theatre -- will feature a book and score written by sociologist
Margaret Martin.
Now that the tuner's official Web site is
live, we finally learn more about who Martin is:
MARGARET MARTIN (Book, Music, Lyrics) earned a Doctorate in Public Health from U.C.L.A. in Community Health Science and a Masters degree in both Behavioral Science/Health Education and in Population and Family Health, also from U.C.L.A.’s School of Public Health. Dr. Martin is a specialist in maternal, child and family health and has delivered continuing education trainings for nurses throughout California. She has worked as a consultant for Parenting Magazine, and has conducted Leadership Trainings in community building for the American Public Health Association. She worked as an editor for Fisher Books, and is the author and illustrator of Pregnancy and Childbirth: The basic illustrated guide. Dr. Martin has delivered pregnancy and childbirth classes to expectant parents for more than thirty years and now trains community health-workers in how to deliver such classes.
Dr. Martin studied music theory at the Colburn School of Performing Arts in Los Angeles. She is the Founder and President of The Harmony Project, a non-profit organization based in Los Angeles that provides musical instruments and ongoing tuition-free music education to nearly 300 children from low-income L.A.-area families (see www.harmony-project.org). Dr. Martin plans to establish Harmony Project programs in inner-cities throughout the country.
Dr. Martin supported herself from the age of fifteen. As a single mother, she identified closely with the challenges faced by Gone With the Wind’s young protagonist, Scarlett O’Hara. She also felt the filmed adaptation left considerably more within Margaret Mitchell’s epic tale to be explored. Dr. Martin developed Gone With the Wind for the musical theater on her own. She brought the project to Trevor Nunn after she had acquired the rights to the property from the Mitchell Trusts. Author of book, music and lyrics, Gone With the Wind is Dr. Martin’s first play. She is the mother of three children and lives in Los Angeles with her youngest son. She is currently at work on two new plays.
If all else fails, perhaps theatrical novice Martin will be able to better inform the musical version's Prissy on the fine art of birthing babies.
With thanks to regular reader BroadwayBaby.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Tickets go on sale September 30.Related Stories:Frankly My Dears... (July 1, 2007)
Gone With The Wind The Musical? (February 22, 2007)
Labels: Film, Gone With The Wind, London, Margaret Martin, Margaret Mitchell, Musical, Trevor Nunn
Frankly My Dears...
The West End will receive the world premiere in April 2008 at the New London Theatre. Still no word on casting, but rumors persist that
Hugh Jackman will take on Rhett Butler, while
Jill Paice will portray Scarlett O'Hara -- given that the latter is currently starring in
Curtains, maybe she'll be able to steel away a swatch of material now to design that notorious dress.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Labels: Film, First Word On New Show, Gone With The Wind, London, Musical, Trevor Nunn
London Porgy And Bess Soon To Be Gone, Gone, Gone
So extraordinary was the reworking of
Porgy And Bess that the show was Olivier-nominated for Best
New Musical earlier this year; the production would lose to
Caroline, Or Change. Peters and Hughes were also nominated for their performances.
Porgy And Bess is reportedly still being readied for a Spring 2008 transfer to Broadway. And speaking of transfers, the show's early departure from the Savoy provides a West End opening for the transfer of
another musical revival, this time from Northern England's
Sheffield Crucible Theatre.
Personally, as a huge fan of Porgy And Bess' classic score, I'm looking forward to seeing it once it makes the journey "home" to America.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Click here for Fiddler On The Roof tickets. Click here for Porgy And Bess tickets. Labels: Closing Notices, Fiddler On The Roof, First Word On New Show, London, Musical, Porgy And Bess, Revival, Transfer, Trevor Nunn
My Fair Philly
At long last, the absolutely dazzling London revival of
My Fair Lady is bound for the United States. The tuner will enjoy its North American premiere at Philadelphia's
Kimmel Center's Academy of Music, March 11-16, 2008.
The wonderful West End production that was produced by
Cameron Mackintosh, directed by
Trevor Nunn and choreographed by
Matthew Bourne first opened at London's Lyttleton Theatre in 2001 before transferring to the city's Theatre Royal Drury Lane later that year. In 2002, it went on to earn five Olivier Awards including for Outstanding Musical Production.
Earlier, hopes had run high that the London success of the Mackintosh-Nunn revival would eventually strike gold on Broadway, but it now appears that My Fair Lady must settle for a North American tour instead.
I can tell you that if the production values remain anywhere near as high as they were in London, this deserves packed houses all across America.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Labels: Cameron Mackintosh, First Word On New Show, Jonathan Pryce, London, Musical, My Fair Lady, Olivier Awards, Philadelphia, Revival, Trevor Nunn
