I raved about the immersive theatrical experience that is “Natasha, Pierre and the Comet of 1912” – a new type of dinner theater – when it was performed at Ars Nova last fall, and so was startled when one of the people with whom we were seated this time around stormed out.
This was not, I hasten to add, the instantly-infamous story of the woman who left in a rage after somebody threw her cellphone across the length of the dining room/theater because she had been using it during the show. My story is about a man who left in a huff during intermission, saying that “Natasha” was like “Bloody, Bloody Andrew Jackson.”
That of course would count as a sterling recommendation in some quarters, a counterweight to the fear that a musical adapted from “War and Peace” by Leo Tolstoy might just be too intimidating. It’s not intimidating; it’s hip! It’s not an intellectual exercise; it’s a party! The producers might as well have paid this gentleman to compare it to the hip downtown deconstruction of Andrew Jackson that moved to Broadway.
And so I am going to rave again about this musical – but add a caveat.
“Natasha, Pierre and the Comet of 1812” has transferred, with cast largely intact, to a new location, Kazino, built expressly to house the show. There are differences. Kazino is a “temporary structure,” resembling a circus tent, set up in the chi-chi Meatpacking District, snuggled next to the entrance to the High Line and the Standard Hotel. The theater is perhaps three times the size of the Ars Nova space. The vodka no longer comes free with the price of the ticket. It costs $14 additional for each tiny glass.
But the performers along with the rest of the staff (about a third of whom are actually Russian!) still bring pierogi and Russian black bread – now supplemented by other foodstuffs (chicken! shrimp!). And though the space is less intimate, the designers (scenic, costume, lighting, sound and culinary) have made it just as awesome and inviting. There is still no real stage, the performers singing in the aisles and on the countertops and platforms that snake around the tables. Anatole and Natasha are just as likely to be embracing passionately about 18 inches from your nose, or Pierre to leave a packet of letters on your table, or doddering old Bolkonsky to sit down next to you, maybe even gallantly/lecherously kiss your hand.
The music is still tuneful and delicious, a wondrous contemporary opera (no dialogue at all) scented with rock and folk, klezmer and country, R&B and reggae, even techno. And the plot still works best for people who have read “War and Peace.”
The story is taken from one small section of Tolstoy’s massive book, the arrival of Natasha (stand-out Philippa Soo) in Moscow to await the return of her fiancé Andrey from the front lines; her seduction by Anatole (the seductive Lucas Steele) and her saving by Sonya (Brittain Ashford, who sings the lovely ballad, “Sonya Alone,”), and by family friend Pierre, played by David Malloy himself, the awesomely talented creator and composer of the musical.
click on any photograph to see it enlarged
David Malloy, creator of and Pierre in “Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812″
Lucas Steele
Malloy tries all sorts of tricks to make the sprawling story accessible to those unacquainted with the literary source. The entire cast sings the prologue to Malloy’s bouncy accordion music:
“There’s a war going on out there somewhere. And Andrey isn’t here.”
“And this is all in your program
You are at the opera
Gonna have to study up a little bit if you want to keep up with the plot, ‘cause it’s a complicated Russian novel. Everyone’s got nine different names.
So look it up in your program
We’d appreciate it, thanks a lot.”
And the program is helpful, containing a page-long synopsis that explains more than the lyrics do, and a two-page illustrated “family tree” showing the connections among the many characters.
But let us face the fact that the complications in the story are simply not as easy, nor as interesting, to follow for those who haven’t read Tolstoy’s novel — though surely it will inspire a few theatergoers to pick up the book. For better and for worse, the particular scenes that make up the musical are even less important to grasp at Kazino than they were at Ars Nova, for, like any happening downtown dining spot , “Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812″ is becoming its own scene.
13th Street and Washington Street in the Meatpacking District
Written by Dave Malloy, adapted from War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
Direction and musical staging by Rachel Chavkin
Scenic design by Mimi Lien, costume design by Paloma Young, lighting design by Bradley King, sound design by Matt Hubbs, choreography by Sam Pinkleton
Cast:
Brittain Ashford as ‘Sonya,’ Gelsey Bell as ‘Princess Mary,’ Blake DeLong as ‘Bolkonsky/Andrey,’ Amber Gray as ‘Hélène,’ Ian Lassiter as ‘Dolokhov’ (through May 31st), Nick Choski as ‘Dolokhov’ (beginning June 1st), Dave Malloy as ‘Pierre,’ Grace McLean as ‘Marya D,’ Paul Pinto as ‘Balaga,’ Phillipa Soo as ‘Natasha,’ and Lucas Steele as ‘Anatole.’ Also: Nicholas Belton, Catherine Brookman, Luke Holloway, Azudi Onyejekwe, Mariand Torres and Lauren Zakrin.
Ticket prices: $125, includes dinner. Premium: $175
“Wood Bones,” a play by William S. Yellow Robe, Jr. that marks the inaugural production of The Eagle Project, a Native American theater company in New York City, is a work that excited me – until I actually attended it.
“When was the last time you saw a Native Tribal play, written by a Native Tribal person, featuring a Native Tribal cast?“ playwright Yellow Robe, who is a member of the Assiniboine Tribe and grew up in Wolf Point, Montana on a reservation, asked interviewer Adam Szymkowicz. As he told Native News Network,“it is important for us to tell our stories, otherwise, they will not be told.”
“Wood Bones” is produced by a new New York theater company, led by artistic director Ryan Victor Pierce (aka Little Eagle, a member of the Naticoke Lenni-Lenape tribe), who believes that theater should be a “sacred place where ideas flow…and uncomfortable truths can be voiced.”
The play is based on an intriguing, if not wholly unfamiliar, premise — the different people who have lived in a single house. The house itself – or the spirit of the house — is a character, named 121, its street address, portrayed by actress Dawn Jamieson.
The first act begins with a scene between 121 and a Native American named Leroy, conducting some kind of ritual. Then there is a scene with a Native American couple looking to buy the house, followed by one with two men fixing up the place and complaining of previous tenants. The scene switches to another couple, a Native American man named Sam married to a white woman named Christen, who has a black child Mary from a previous encounter. They too are about to buy the house. Sam expresses prejudice against his adopted daughter while with his wife; but he is secretly molesting her. Through each of these scenes, 121 attempts to talk to the characters, and they think it’s the house settling, or wonder whether it means the place is haunted. Only Leroy is able to talk with 121 directly.
By intermission, I was itching to leave. It is an uncomfortable truth that the performance I saw was poorly done. In fairness, it was clearly an off night: One of the regular actors had an emergency and was replaced by the director, who was on book. It’s hard to see, though, how this explains the glacial pace of nearly every scene in the first act. In addition, the chronology was unclear. Virtually no effort was made to establish in what era each scene was taking place. Were we going back and forth in time? Was this all supposed to be happening in current times, offering alternative realities? Were the playwright and/or director being inattentive, or were they trying to make a point — that time is fluid, and eras unimportant? The lack of clarity was disorienting, and the cumulative experience dulling.
Veracity Butcher and Freedome Bradley
Guilt and inertia kept me in my seat for the second act; also habit and policy. And, as is often the case when I’ve committed to seeing through to the end of a show that I’ve given up on, I discovered something worthwhile in the second act. There is a scene when the sheriff and the owner of the property confront the Native American couple who’ve just signed the lease and moved into the house, Jacob and Vera, played by the exquisitely named actors Freedome Bradley and Veracity Butcher. The lease was with the owner’s father, who has been declared incompetent, and so they are being evicted. It’s a heavy-handed scene — the owner is a jerk whose bigotry is so over-the-top that audiences can too easily dismiss it as unrealistic, especially since it is not completely clear in what era this is occurring — but the scene’s intensity suggests what this play could have been. In another scene, the two men “renovating” the house are revealed to be in truth ransacking it, selling off its valuable fixtures, and cutting it up into apartments, which might well serve as a metaphor for the Native American experience.
Threaded through “Wood Bones” are enough provocative if not fully explained allusions to Native American culture and practice to cheer on The Eagle Project in its mission, and hope for a more satisfying realization of it.
Cast: Dawn Jamieson (121), Albert Ybarra (Leroy), Jacob (Freedome Bradley), Vera (Veracity Butcher), David Fierro (Neal), Ryan Victor Pierce (Calvin), Robert Baumgardner (Sam), Joleen Wilkinson (Christen), Eden Sanaa Duncan-Smith (Mary)
This year Sondheim and Chekhov and Tom Hanks and Vanessa Redgrave share honors with a bus. The Drama Desk Awards nominating committee has selected “The Ride” as one of the choices in “Unique Theatrical Experience,” one of its 29 award categories.
The Ride passes by Father Duffy Square
“The Ride” is a 75-minute tour through midtown Manhattan on a sightseeing bus. This is its “third season” – the trips began in October, 2010 – and, because the bus is full of illustrations by an artist named Charles Fazzino, it is now called the Fazzino Ride. It differs from other Manhattan sightseeing bus tours in two ways. The bus itself, which the owners prefer to call a mobile theater, is specially constructed, so that passengers sit on three rows on the right side of the bus, and face the left side, which is a series of big picture windows bordered by blinking colored lights and video monitors. The most impressive technical achievement of the bus is its ability to impersonate a subway train. For a couple of blocks along Eighth Avenue, the lights turn blindingly white and blink rapidly, the sound system grinds, roars, rattles and barks, and the bus violently rocks the passengers back and forth. It is a spot-on and queasy simulation. No word yet on whether The Ride will next simulate a mugging.
The second distinguishing feature of The Ride is that, along the route, the passengers are treated to brief performances by a tap-dancer, break dancer, rapper, Broadway belter, ballet couple, and jazz duo – each introduced as if they were accidentally passing by.
In-between the performances and the simulation, the two tour guides offer the typical sightseeing patter of corny jokes, half-hearted quizzes, and interesting trivia mixed in with deliberate or inadvertently inaccurate information about New York City. (Purists need look no further for errors than the bus itself, which misspells “The Book of Mormon.”) The best thing about the ride is the reaction and interaction from (the real) passersby. Two young men started dancing as if they were part of the professional entertainment.
Is this a unique theatrical experience? To break this down: It’s certainly an experience. Is it theatrical? That depends on what the word means. To the creators of The Ride, theatrical apparently doesn’t mean pertaining to the theater: Although the tour begins and ends on 42nd Street at Eighth Avenue, the heart of the theater district — and though the bus itself is illustrated with the names of many Broadway shows (most of them no longer open), the two tour guides offered no information about Broadway.
Is it unique? One can argue that the Ride symbolizes, if not embodies, most of what Broadway has become – an entertainment, full of genuinely talented performers, geared to tourists.
The other nominees in the category:
Bello Mania
Bello Mania Chris March’s The Butt-Cracker Suite! A Trailer Park Ballet Cirque Du Soleil: Totem That Play: A Solo Macbeth The Man Who Laughs
The Theatre World Award winners for 2013 include, from top row left to right, Yvonne Strahovski (Golden Boy), Valisia LeKae (Motown)< Tom Hanks (Lucky Guy) Rob McClure (Chaplin), Carrie Coon (Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf), Keala Settle (Hands on a Hardbody); Conrad Ricamora (Here Lies Love), Brandon J. Dirden (The Piano Lesson), Bertie Carvel (Matilda); Ruthi Ann Miles (Here Lies Love); Tom Sturridge (Orphans); Shalita Grant (Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike)
Broadway’s fresh faces this year include Tom Hanks, one of the world’s most familiar faces, and Yvonne Strahovski, who has a dedicated following for her roles in “Chuck” and “Dexter.” These are two of the 12 winners this past week of the 2013 Theatre World Awards, given to a dozen performers making their New York stage debuts. Two of the winners actually had made their debuts in previous seasons, but nobody is complaining in a season when 88-year-old Cicely Tyson can count as a fresh face — and a welcome one: This week Tyson won the Outer Critics Circle Award for best actress in a play, likely to be only the first for her.
This week “Smash” was canceled, “Orphans” announced it would close early, and “Jekyll and Hyde” did close early. But it’s awards season and so that’s where most of us focused our attention: We learned the winners of the Theatre World Awards and the Outer Critics Circle Awards this week, and will find out the winners of the Drama Desk Awards on May 19 and the Tonys June 9. Meanwhile, we revel in the excitement of discovering exciting new talent on the stage — even those whom the world discovered in another medium long ago.
This Week in New York Theater
Monday, May 6, 2013
Billy Crudup and Shuler Hensley join Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart in Pinter’s No Man’s Land and Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, opening November 24 at the Cort Theater
“Orphans” will close May 19, after 27 previews and 37 regular performances. It was scheduled to close June 30th. It received two Tony nominations, for best best revival and for Tom Sturridge as best leading actor, but that apparently was not enough to bring in the audience.
How does a theater recover from embezzlement, founder’s suicide,near-bankruptcy? Ask the Ensemble Studio Theatre
The award is given to six men and six women making their New York stage debuts.
Dame Helen Mirren dressed as the Queen left The Audience to “cuss out” some drummers outside the theater. The drummers were “very sweet & stopped the minute they knew I wasn’t just a batty old woman haranguing them on the street”
”How Broadway Has Changed” is title of Huffington Post piece by Alec Baldwin. But much of its contents show ho much it hasn’t changed: Baldwin wants the Times to fire its chief drama critic Ben Brantley. Its contents: Fire Ben Brantley.
8
There will be another Broadway Beatles concert show: Let It Be, July 16 – December 29, at the St James Theater.
The Pirates of Penzance with gasp! Kevin Kline, Glenn Close,Eric Idle, Martin Short. Catch? One night only, June 10, The Public Theater gala, with tickets priced in the gazillions of dollars.
Director Julie Taymor will be given an award for breaking gender barriers, and then chat with Gloria Steinem at the Brooklyn Museum June 13th.
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To nobody’s surprise, Neil Patrick Harris will serve as host for the fourth time, and a producer, of the Tony Awards.
2013 Drama Desk Awards nominees: Billy Porter (Kinky Boots), Keith Carradine (Hands on a Hardbody), Keala Settle (Hardbody), Donna Murphy (Into The Woods), Tim Minchin (Matilda), Andrea Martin (Pippin)
Vanya and Sonia, Outer Critics Circle best Broadway play, Kinky Boots, best Broadway musical, best actress Cicely Tyson (The Trip to Bountiful), best actor, Nathan Lane (The Nance)
Clockwise from upper left: Vanya and Sonia, Outer Critics Circle best Broadway play, Kinky Boots, best Broadway musical and Billy Porter best actor in a musical; Nathan Lane, best lead actor in a play for The Nance; Cicely Tyson, best lead actress in a play for The Trip to Bountiful
“Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike” won outstanding new Broadway play, “Kinky Boots” new Broadway musical, ”Pippin” best musical revival, “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” best play revival in the 63rd annual Outer Critics Circle Awards. Complete list (Winners in bold with an asterisk):
Now that NBC has canceled “Smash,” what will happen to the original songs created for this TV series about Broadway? Here are 11 that should last. (Lyrics are below the videos)
1. Let Me Be Your Star, with Megan Hilty (written by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman)
2.The National Pastime, with Megan Hilty (Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman)
3. 20th Century Fox Mambo, with Katharine McPhee (Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman)
4. Hang The Moon – duet between Bernadette Peters and Megan Hilty (Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman)
5. Second Hand Baby Grand, with Megan Hilty (Shaiman and Wittman)
6. Don’t Say Yes Until I Finish Talking, with Christian Borle (Shaiman and Wittman)
7. Broadway, Here I Come, with Jeremy Jordan (written by Joe Iconis)
8. Caught in the Storm, with Katharine McPhee (written by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul)
9. A Love Letter From The Times, with Christian Borle and Liza Minnelli (Shaiman and Wittman)
10. The Goodbye Song, with Jeremy Jordan and Katharine McPhee (Joe Iconis)
11. Don’t Forget Me, with Megan Hilty (Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman)
Let Me Be Your Star:
Fade in on a girl
With a hunger for fame
And a face and a name to remember
The past fades away
Because as of this day
Norma Jean’s gone
She’s moving on
Her smile and your fantasies
Play a duet
That will make you forget
Where you are
The music starts playing,
It’s the beat of her heart saying
Let me be your star
Flashback to a girl
With a song in her heart
As she’s waiting to start the adventure
The fire and drive
That make dreams come alive
They fill her soul
She’s in control
The drama, the laughter
The tears just like pearls
Well they’re all in this girl’s repertoire
It’s all for the taking
And it’s magic we’ll be making
Let me be your star
I just have to forget the hurt that came before
Forget what used to be
The past is on the cutting room floor
The future is here with me, choose me
Fade up on a star
With it all in her sights
All the love and the lights
That surround her
Someday she’ll think twice
Of the dues and the price
She’ll have to pay (She’ll Have to pay)
But not today (But not today)
She’ll do all she can
For the love of one man
And for millions who love from afar
I’m what you’ve been needing
It’s all here and my heart’s pleading
Let me be your star
I just got a date (She just got a date!)
With baseball’s Joltin’ Joe! (That lucky so-and-so!)
So run me ‘round the bases,
Put me through my paces,
And teach me all the things a slugger’s lover
Should know!
What’s that there? (That’s the pitcher’s mound!)
Have you ever seen a shape that is so perfectly round?
(Batter up!) Play ball!
(You better give it your all!)
‘Cause all men like to play at
The national pastime.
Who’s that man? (That’s the first base coach!)
Have you noticed that he signals every time I approach?
(Kill the ump!) Throw him out!
(Because there isn’t a doubt..)
That all men like to play at
The national pastime!
When I was just a little girl,
I liked being dainty and purty.
But now that I’m giving sports a whirl,
I find I kinda like to get dirty!
(Yeah!)
(Baby, what’s that there?) That’s the team bullpen,
And I like the odds I’m seeing: no girls, all men!
(Hit the deck, look alive!
Beware the lady’s line drive!)
Because my skill and my passion’ll
Elevate the national…
Peanuts!
Hot Dogs! Crackerjack!
I don’t care, I don’t care if I ever get back!
(When the season’s over, the play won’t end…)
‘Cause a baseball diamond is a girl’s best friend!
Yes, my style and my fashion’ll
Elevate the national
Pastime!
The 20th Century Fox Mambo
At Paramount it’s “Oh la la”
The Warner Brothers “Cha Cha Cha”
And L.B. Mayer loves his schmaltz
so MGM made the great waltz.
But the 20th Century Foxtrot…
It’s precious but precious
It’s not hot!
To make the big boys hire me, please make that rhythm fiery
(Come on boys and girls, make me over)
In this factory where dreams can come true,
Are you ready to make someone new?
You’re the team that must teach me to do,
The 20th Century Fox Mambo!
Done the homework and I’ll pass the test,
I’ll do whatever my teacher suggests.
I can do it clothed or undressed,
The 20th Century Fox Mambo!
Make it up! Shake it up!
Let the fantasies begin!
Here’s the dope:
To get cast, change the past
Make the light just right for Cinemascope
Take a gamble cause it’s safe to bet
Mister Zanick ain’t seen nothin’ yet!
When we’re finished he’ll never forget
This 20th Century Fox!
Ah! Ah-ah! For fame… Play the game… Change your name… To the 20th Century Fox!
Make it up! Shake it up!
Make me feel like the main attraction
Change the clothes, fix the nose
And then 5,6,7,8, Action! (ACTION!)
Now I’m blonde but I ain’t so dumb (No!)
Hollywood will be under my thumb (Yes!)
I’ll change partners until I become…
The 20th Century Fox Mambo!
Hang The Moon
If our lives were a movie
I’d know what to do
I’d write every scene with my heart
An RKO picture that stars me and you
And this time I’d learn my part
I’d paint you some scenery
We’d sing, and we’d dance
From morning ’til late afternoon
And when that scene is done
Then I’d take down the sun
And for you darling, I’ll hang the moon
We’d wake up to sunshine
Like lights on a set
You’d reach out and there’d be my hand
All day there’d be music, a perfect duet
That flows from the white baby grand
At night when you’re frightened
I’d play you to sleep
That melody from Clair de Lune
And to fill up the sky
Past the clouds, I would fly
And for you darling, I’ll hang the moon
Hang the moon forever
So you’d never fear the darkness
The darkness I’ve known
Moon protect Norma Jean
So that she’ll never be alone
Never alone
If our lives were a movie
Then you’d be the star
‘Cause now I know the role I should play
To applaud all you do
All the things that you are
And just be there on opening day
I know in the past
That the lines were all wrong
And the music was never in tune
But the wish that I make
Is for just one more take
Because then darling
I’ll hang the moon
I’ll hang the moon above you
So you’ll never fear the darkness
The darkness of night
Then you’ll know I love you
Each time that you feel the light
Feel the light
If our lives were a movie
Then I’d cut away
All the moments when I wasn’t there
The scenes that are happy
Are all that will stay
The rest will dissolve into air
As the final reel ends
We might both shed a tear
For the ending is coming up soon
But when the screen fades to black
We can smile and look back
And for you darling I’ll hang the moon
Second Hand Baby Grand
My mother bought it secondhand from a silent movie star
It was out of tune but still I learned to play
And with each note we both would smile forgetting who we are
And all the pain would simply fly away
Chorus:
Something secondhand and broken still can make a pretty sound
Even if it doesn’t have a place to live
Oh, the words were left unspoken when my momma came around
But that Secondhand White Baby Grand still had something beautiful to give
Through missing keys and broken strings the music was our own
Until the day we said our last goodbyes
The baby grand was sent away, a child all alone, to pray somebody else would realize
Chorus:
That something secondhand and broken still can make a pretty sound
Even if it doesn’t have a place to live
Oh. the words are still unspoken now that momma’s not around
But that Secondhand White Baby Grand still has something beautiful to give
For many years the music had to roam
Until we found a way to find a home.
So now I wake up every day and see her standing there.
Just waiting for a partner to compose
And I wish my mother still could hear
That sound beyond compare
I’ll play her song till everybody knows.
That something secondhand and broken still can make a pretty sound
Don’t we all deserve a family room to live
Oh. the words can’t stay unspoken until everyone has found
That Secondhand White Baby Grand that still has something beautiful to give.
I still have something beautiful to give
Don’t Say Yes Until I Finish Talking
A studio executive has no beliefs
That’s the way of the studio system
We bow to every rear of all the studio chiefs
And you can bet your ass we’ve kissed ‘em
Even the birds in the Hollywood Hills
Know the secret to our success
It’s those magical words that pay the bills:
Yes, yes, yes, and yes
Gentlemen! Take a memo.
Today the Trades are all aglow
With grosses for our Miss Monroe
The things those vermin mustn’t know
Is what she puts us through
She makes directors wait all day
One line per hour is all she’ll say
And still, she thinks we’re gonna pay
She needs a talking to
Tomatoes like her must be put in their place
If she don’t shape up soon, she’ll soon be walking
‘Cause the buck stops with me
Yes you’re right, we agree!
Uh, don’t say yes until I finish talking
She’s got them all tied up in knots
Makes each producer faint in plotz
She thinks she’s queen and calls the shots
As she sits on a thrown
She needs to learn she’s only skin
The next girl’s waiting for a spin
I made a star of Rin Tin Tin and paid him with a bone
Tomatoes like her
Well, they’re easy to find
We throw them out as soon as they start squacking
So, get me some younger dish
We concur, as you wish!
Hey! Don’t say yes until I finish talking
And while you’ve got me on a roll
Let’s find a role for Nat King Cole
Tell Mankiewicz his script is trite
A little lower, to the right
I think that Brando is miscast
That television just won’t last
That I’m the king of Hollywood
All hail the king!
Oh, that feels good
Which brings me back to that dumb blonde
To her demands, I now respond
Some buy your act, but I’m not conned
You’d better fall in line
Your two bazooms are nuts to boot
I’ll keep you in a bathing suit
When you stop bringing in the loot
Well, go back to the vine
Tomatoes like you
They all wither and die
My powers, though, will never be diminished
So don’t bring me to my boiling point
You’re just a broad, I own the joint
I’m in control, you’re just a face
So allow me to cut to the chase
I’ll make another movie star
Could someone light my damn cigar?
And then say “yes”
Cause yes, men
I’m finished
YES!
Broadway Here I Come
I’m high above the city
I’m standing on the ledge
The view from here is pretty
And I step off the edge
And now I’m falling, baby, through the sky, through the sky
I’m falling, baby, through the sky
It’s my calling, baby, don’t you cry, don’t you cry
I’m falling down through the sky
Toward the street that I’m from
Oh Broadway here I come
Broadway here I come
The pressure it increases
The closer that I get
I could almost go to pieces
But I’m not quite there yet
See I’ve been braving crazy weather
Drownin’ out my cries
I’ll pull myself together
I’m focused on the prize
I’m falling, baby, through the sky, through the sky
I’m falling, baby, through the sky
It’s my calling, baby, don’t you cry, don’t you cry
I’m falling down through the sky
Its a tune you can hum
Oh Broadway here I come
hmmmmmmmmm
Will I remain the same, or will it change a little bit
Will I feel broken or totally complete
Will I retain my name when I’m the biggest hugest hit
Or will I blend in with the rest of the street
The people all are pointing
I bet they’d never guess
That the saint that they’re anointing
Is frightened of the mess
But even though I fear it
I’m playing all my cards
Baby, you are gonna hear it
When I give them my regards
I’m falling, baby, through the sky, through the sky
I’m falling, baby, through the sky
It’s my calling, baby, don’t you cry, don’t you cry
I’m falling down through the sky
And I refuse to go numb
Oh, Broadway here I come
Broadway, here I come
Broadway, here I come
Broadway, Broadway, here I come
Here I come!
And the last thing I hear
As the impact grows near
Is it a scream or a cheer?
Well, never mind, I’ll never find out
‘Cause Broadway, I am here!
Caught In The Storm
You can push me away
I can take it
I can make you a promise
and break it
We know the way it goes by now
Running off just to see
if I chase you
I pretend I know how
to replace you
still we get tangled up
somehow
Hear it thunder
and I wonder
How long can I hang on
I’m caught in the storm
I’m caught in the rain
I’m caught in the rush
that hides this pain
I’m ready to drown
but it’s coming down
but I feel so alive
Just let me go
Just walk away
If you love someone
you never let them stay
caught in the storm
as the bars on the Bowery
are closing
you arrive at the door
standing frozen
you say you thought you’d find me here
tell me how I begin
to forget you
when you keep coming back
and I let you
Love me until you disappear
I’m caught in the storm
I’m caught in the rain
I’m caught in the rush
that hides this pain
I’m ready to drown
but it’s coming down
but I feel so alive
Just let me go
Just walk away
If you love someone
you never let them stay
caught in the storm
Let me wash away
you can find me after the flood
let me wash away
caught in the storm
caught in the rain
caught in the rush
that hides this pain
If you love someone
you find a way to stay
caught in the storm
hmmm
A Love Letter From The Times
Tom:
Today at tech where life’s a zoo
What irony, I missed my cue
Your birthday almost came and went
No wonder you were malcontent
And so tonight to right the wrong
I’ve written you a birthday song
But I ain’t gonna wing it
Look who I got to sing it
Liza:
May each evening be a triumph
Where are the planets are aligned
With you, the star that hits the sky and climbs
And when you’re waking in the morning
Well, dear friend, I hope you find
A love letter from The Times
Then, an afternoon of roses
Like the At Home section brings
Just past the metro section and its crimes
They’re yellin’ on the sports page
But the Arts and Leisure sings to you
A love letter from The Times
A full page ad that’s full of quotes
About your face, your style, those notes
superlatives about your gifts prolific
The raves from me would never end
About the girl who’s my best friend
She’s wonderful, she’s special, she’s terrific
So that’s the gift I wish for you
And hope I can achieve
And someday when we both run out of rhymes
I don’t care about my notice
But I know that you’ll receive
A love letter from The Times
Tom:
You’re older and I’m wiser
Ivy, look, I brought you Liza!
Liza:
With a love letter from The Times
The Goodbye Song
The time has come
I’m flying away
Mouth is numb
Heart don’t know what to say
And although I’ll be out of sight, dear
Know I’ll be right here
Right here forever, ever, ever, ever
When you look to the night skies
Don’t think of goodbyes
Think how I’m right here ever, ever, ever
Come
No, you can’t come with me
Stay
I wish I could
Goodbye aye-aye-aye
I know it’s hard to say
Come
No, you can’t come with me
Stay
I wish I could
Goodbye aye-aye-aye
I know it’s hard to say
Ow
I know it hurts to say
I’d stay if I could
But the universe won’t let me
So please be good
And don’t you forget me
And although I’ll be out of sight, dear
Know I’ll be right here
Right here forever, ever, ever, ever
When you look to the night skies
Don’t think of goodbyes
Think how I’m right here ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever
Don’t Forget Me
They thought they could dispose of me
They tried to make me small
I suffered each indignity
But now rise above it all
Yes, the price I paid was all I had
But at last, I found release
And if something good can come from bad
The past can rest in peace
Oh if you see someone’s hurt
And in need of a hand
Don’t forget me
Or hear a melody crying from some baby grand
You don’t forget me
When you sing happy birthday to someone you love
Or see diamonds you wish were all free
Please say that you won’t;
I pray that you don’t forget me
But forget every man who I ever met
‘Cause they only lived to control
For a kiss they paid a thousand
Yet they paid fifty cents for my soul
They took their piece
The price of fame that no one can repay
Ah, but they didn’t buy me when they bought my name
And that is why I pray
That when you see someone’s hurt
And in need of a hand
You don’t forget me
Or hear a melody crying from some baby grand
You don’t forget me
When you sing happy birthday to someone you love
Or see diamonds you wish were all free
Please say that you won’t;
I pray that you don’t forget me
There are some in this world who have strength on their own
Never broken or in need of repair
But there are some born to shine who can’t do it alone
So protect them and take special care
Take care
And don’t forget me
Please take care
And don’t forget me
When you look to the heavens with someone you love
And a light shining bright from afar
Hope you see my face there
And then offer a prayer
And please let me be
Let me be that star
Smash, the TV series on NBC about the making of a Broadway musical that began with such promise and excitement — and more than 11 million viewers — has been canceled after more than a year of ridicule and dwindling ratings. The series finale will be on May 26, 2013.
Thank you for all the kind words about Smash! It was an incredible experience and one I’ll always be grateful for! twitter.com/meganhilty/sta…
Click on any photograph to enlarge it in a slide show
Smash “Opening Night” 9
Megan Hilty as Ivy playing Marilyn in “Bombshell” on Smash
Jeremy Jordan (on Broadway in “Newsies” and “Bonnie And Clyde”) has been added as womanizing musical genius Jimmy Collins.
Megan Hilty and Leslie Odom Jr., both seasoned stage performers, remain in Season 2.
Smash season 2 includes a raft of guest stars, including Jennifer Hudson.
Smash filmed on location at 46th Street and Ninth Avenue, with Megan Hilty and Leslie Odom Jr.
Smash: Katherine McPhee playing Broadway performer Karen Cartwright in the fake musical about Marilyn Monroe “Bombshell,” which now has a real cast album.
Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts as mother and daughter in a scene from the movie of August: Osage County
The film adaptation of Tracy Letts’ 2008 Pulitzer Prize-winning play, “August: Osage County” with a sterling cast led by Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts, will be in movie theaters on August 8th, 2013. The first poster and the first trailer for the movie has just been released, both below.
Sam Shepard as Beverly Weston, the alcoholic former poet and patriarch in “August Osage County”
“August Osage County” ran for 648 performances on Broadway, winning five Tony Awards, including best play.
Meanwhile, Tracy Letts, who wrote the screenplay based on his play, has been nominated for a Tony, a Drama Desk and an Outer Critics Circle award as best lead actor for his role as George in the revival of Edward Albee’s “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” which ran on Broadway from October 2012 to March of this year.
At a reception yesterday, I asked him whether there was a show that convinced him to become a performer or a playwright. The first play he ever saw was “To Kill A Mocking Bird” starring his father as Atticus Finch, but, he said, the urge to act “comes from some basic unattractive place in us.” As for the show that convinced him to become a playwright, it was “Killer Joe.”
But that’s a play he wrote himself.
Yes, he replied, it wasn’t until he saw his play in London that he thought he could become a playwright.
For Keith Carradine, it was going to the opening of “Hair” when he was 19. For Andrea Martin, it was seeing Chita Rivera at 12; for Jay Armstrong Johnson it was “Disney on Ice” at age four. Michael Urie’s life changed at age 17 thanks to Alf’s Dad (explanation below). Tim Minchin thinks it might have been listening to Gilbert and Sullivan with his grandmother, or maybe “Jesus Christ Superstar.” But then there were also the Beatles, the Kinks, the Stones, Deep Purple, and William Shakespeare.
This season’s nominees for theater awards, attending a reception 2013 Drama Desk Award nominees, answered the question: Was there a show or performer that made you decide to become a theater artist?
Billy Porter
Billy Porter, nominated for Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critic Circle awards as best lead performer in a musical for his role in “Kinky Boots.”
Jennifer Holliday performing from Dreamgirls on the Tony Awards broadcast in 1981 when he was 12 years old.
Andrea Martin
Andrea Martin,nominated for Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle awards as best featured actress for her role in Pippin.
“Chita Rivera in her nightclub performances in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where I used to go for summers with my family. I thought: Here’s a spunky ethnic woman….Maybe I have a chance”.
Playwright Doug Wright
Doug Wright, nominated for a Drama Desk Award for the book for the musical “Hands on a Hardbody.” His previous works include the book for the musical “Grey Gardens,” and the play “I Am My Own Wife,” which earned for him a Tony and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
“I grew up in Dallas, Texas, and my parents took me to a production of “Life With Father” by Howard Lindsay and Russell Crouse, when I was about eight years old. That was the first grown-up play I ever saw, and I fell in love. That a writer could concoct whole worlds, and these brilliant collaborators – actors, designers – could realize them on stage, was intoxicating to me. I fell in love with the medium right away”
But why did he want to be a writer rather than one of the actors or designers?
“To be an actor, you need a part. To be a producer, you need a play; same with a director. But to be a writer, all you need is an idea, a paper, a pencil and some time.
I thought it the best way to seize my own destiny in a perilous profession.”
Those are pretty heady thoughts for an eight-year-old.
“I think I came to that later on.”
Keith Carradine
Keith Carradine, who has been nominated for a Tony and a Drama Desk Award for best performance by a featured actor in a musical for his role as the oldest contestant in “Hands on a Hardbody,” which won nine Drama Desk Award nominations, the highest number (tying with “Giant”)
“The Los Angeles production of “Hair” at the Aquarius Theater when I was 19. I was there opening night and that was that: I thought I have to be up there, I have to be a part of that. Actually, I wound up in that show about six months later.”
Joel de la Fuente
Joel De La Fuente, nominated for a Drama Desk Award as best solo performance for “We Hold These Truths”
“I always loved the theater, but I never saw people who looked like me on stage, so I never thought there was a place for me. So it wasn’t until I performed in a play called A Storm Is Breaking by James Damico when I was 19 that I realized I had to be a performer.”
Daniel Everidge
Daniel Everidge, who has been nominated for a Drama Desk Award as best actor in a play for his role as an adult with autism in “Falling”
“When Shuler Hensley was in Oklahoma, I realized for the first time that a big manly person could be in musicals, and it kind of made my whole world make sense at that point.”
Ironically Shuler Hensley is nominated in the same category as Everidge this year, for his role
Keala Settle, who won a Theatre World Award and is nominated for both a Tony and a Drama Desk Award as best actress in a featured role in a musical for her role a religious contestant in “Hands on a Hardbody.”
“When I first saw The Sound of Music, it changed my life. I wanted to be Maria.”
Michael John LaChiusa and Sybille Pearson
Michael John LaChiusa, nominated for a Drama Desk Award outstanding music, and Sybille Pearson, composer and book writer of “Giant,” which received a total of nine nominations, the highest number of any show.
He: Wizard of Oz when he was about three years old
She: Brigadoon
Donna Murphy
Donna Murphy, nominated for a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical for her role as the witch in “Into The Woods” at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park.
“I knew I wanted to be a performer before I saw any show, but in fifth grade I saw a production of “The Tempest,’ and I experienced the power of what they were doing.”
Aaron Clifton Moten
Aaron Clifton Moten, who played a smart, not fully socialized movie theater usher in “The Flick” nominated for a Drama Desk Award as Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play
“Cool Hand Luke,” the movie starring Paul Newman, which he saw when he was eight.
Lin-Manuel Miranda, nominated for outstanding lyrics for Bring It On, was hooked when he was cast in six musicals at age 12.
Jay Armstrong Johnson
Jay Armstrong Johnson, a member of the ensemble of “Working” that was collectively won a 2013 Drama Desk Award, was hooked at 4 by Disney on Ice. “I saw Aladdin do a back-flip on the ice. I thought that was the coolest thing I’d ever seen. That was the moment I realized I wanted to be a performer.”
Richard Kind
Richard Kind, who has been nominated for a Tony for best performance by a featured actor in a play for his role as the mean movie mogul in “The Big Knife”
Zero Mostel in Fiddler on the Roof and Robert Preston in The Music Man, which he saw when he was 10 and 14 respectively. “Larger than life. They’re big. They grab attention and say ‘look at me, look at me.’”
Tim Minchin
Tim Minchin has been nominated for a Tony and a Drama Desk as the composer of “Matilda,” which has been nominated for 12 Tony, seven Drama Desk and five Outer Critics Circle awards.
“I loved anyone who tells stories in a unique way.”
Michael Urie, nominated for Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle awards for outstanding solo performance for “Buyer and Cellar,” decided to become a performer when at the age of 17 he saw Max Wright (who played Alf’s Dad on TV) portray Sir Andrew Aguecheek in the 1998 Broadway production of “Twelfth Night.” “I never understood a word of Shakespeare. I understood everything he said, and it made me want to become an actor, a Shakespearean actor. It gave me the drive to pursue a career. I’ve never met him, but I don’t know what I would say if I did.”
Michael Urie, best-known as the catty fashion editorial assistant Marc St. James of the TV series “Ugly Betty,” is playing some half dozen characters in an acclaimed new play by Jonathan Tolins, “Buyer and Cellar,” which imagines what it would be like for an underemployed actor to work as the sole employee in the full replica shopping mall she has set up in the basement of her estate in Malibu. The play has been nominated for a Drama Desk Award as best solo performance. In an interview at the nominees reception, Urie talks about how he was inspired by Alf’s Dad and Shakespeare to become an actor, and how he approached playing Streisand.
“Buyer and Cellar” is closing May 12th at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, and reopening at Barrow Street Theater June 18 for what is scheduled to be a 10-week run.
I raved about the immersive theatrical experience that is “Natasha, Pierre and the Comet of 1912” – a new type of dinner theater – when it was performed at Ars Nova last fall, and so was startled when one of the people with whom we were seated this time around stormed out.
“Natasha, Pierre and the Comet of 1812” has transferred, with cast largely intact, to a new location, Kazino, built expressly to house the show. There are differences. Kazino is a “temporary structure,” resembling a circus tent, set up in the chi-chi Meatpacking District, snuggled next to the entrance to the High Line and the Standard Hotel. The theater is perhaps three times the size of the Ars Nova space. The vodka no longer comes free with the price of the ticket. It costs $14 additional for each tiny glass.
But the performers along with the rest of the staff (about a third of whom are actually Russian!) still bring pierogi and Russian black bread – now supplemented by other foodstuffs (chicken! shrimp!). And though the space is less intimate, the designers (scenic, costume, lighting, sound and culinary) have made it just as awesome and inviting. There is still no real stage, the performers singing in the aisles and on the countertops and platforms that snake around the tables. Anatole and Natasha are just as likely to be embracing passionately about 18 inches from your nose, or Pierre to leave a packet of letters on your table, or doddering old Bolkonsky to sit down next to you, maybe even gallantly/lecherously kiss your hand.
David Malloy, creator of and Pierre in “Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812″
Lucas Steele
This year Sondheim and Chekhov and Tom Hanks and Vanessa Redgrave share honors with a bus. 
In-between the performances and the simulation, the two tour guides offer the typical sightseeing patter of corny jokes, half-hearted quizzes, and interesting trivia mixed in with deliberate or inadvertently inaccurate information about New York City. (Purists need look no further for errors than the bus itself, which misspells “The Book of Mormon.”) The best thing about the ride is the reaction and interaction from (the real) passersby. Two young men started dancing as if they were part of the professional entertainment.
It’s official: 
