2013 Outer Critics Circle Winners Pick Up Their Awards

May 24, 2013 Leave a comment

Longtime rocker and now Broadway songwriter Cyndi Lauper seemed to be getting the cold shoulder from Arthur Treacher, he of the fish and chips but also of Camelot and a dozen other Broadway shows, while Dame Flora Robson (Lady Macbeth on Broadway) looked perplexed while her fellow Sardi’s caricature seemed to be licking Kinky Boots bookwriter Harvey Fierstein’s ear at the awards ceremony for winners of the 2103 Outer Critics Circle.

Cicely Tyson, who won for best leading actress in a play for her role in “The Trip To Bountiful,” told the crowd at Sardi’s that she had been “terrified” to return to the Broadway stage after an absence of 30 years. “I didn’t know where upstage was or downstage was.” She soon relearned, and has been sweeping all the theater awards.

Click on any photograph to see it enlarged in a slideshow.
Kinky Boots book writer Harvey Fierstein and leading actor Billy Porter
Cyndi Lauper and Harvey Fierstein, Kinky Boots
Christopher Durang, playwright of “Vanya, Sonia, Masha and Spike”
Here Lies Love composer David Byrne and Public Theater artistic director Oskar Eustis
Leading actress Patina Miller in Pippin
Lead actress Cicely Tyson, The Trip to Bountiful
Best featured actor Tom Sturridge, for Orphans, with his fiancee Sienna Miller
Nathan Lane, for The Nance
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Anthony Weiner officially declares for NYC Mayor. Should he be running? Take a poll

May 22, 2013 Leave a comment

Anthony Weiner and wife in new campaign video

Anthony Weiner and wife in new campaign video

Anthony Weiner in 2011, when he announced his resignation from Congress.

Anthony Weiner in 2011, when he announced his resignation from Congress.

Anthony Weiner, the disgraced former Congressman, has announced via the video below that he is running for mayor of New York City.

Should he be running?

A native New Yorker, Anthony Weiner, now 48,  served as a member of the New York City Council from 1992 to 1998, then U.S. Representative serving New York’s 9th congressional district from January 1999 until June 2011, when he resigned due to a sexting scandal. 

 

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BAM Next Wave Festival 2013: Anna Nicole Smith opera; Fiona Shaw poem; Rube Goldberg inventions animated

May 21, 2013 Leave a comment

The  opera “Anna Nicole,” based on the life and  death of Playbill model and octogenarian billionaire’s bride Anna Nicole Smith, is one of 34 works of opera, theater, dance and music that will be presented in the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s 2013 New Wave Festival, September 17 through December 22.

Also on the schedule is the collaboration between actress Fiona Shaw (Temptation of Christ) and dancer Phyllida Lloyd in presenting Coleridge’s poem “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”; “A Rite,” a dance/theater collaboration between SITI director Anne Bogart and choreographer Bill T. Jones to mark the centenary of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring,  and “Goldberg’s Variations” which presents video animations of 12 classic Rube Goldberg inventions set to the music of Andy Biskin

Complete list:

Opera

Anna Nicole……………….Mark-Anthony Turnage, Richard Thomas

 War Sum Up…………….. Hotel Pro Forma, Latvian Radio Choir

 

Theater

The Blue Dragon…………Ex Machina, Robert Lepage

Not What Happened……..Ain Gordon, Pick Up Performance Co(s

Hans was Heiri……………Zimmermann & de Perrot

Nosferatu….TR Warszawa,Teatr Narodowy, Grzegorz Jarzyna

An Enemy of the People………..Henrik Ibsen, Schaubühne am Lehniner Platz

The Humans………………Alexandre Singh

Water……………………….Filter Theatre, David Farr

 La Belle et la Bête……….Lemieux Pilon 4D Art

Bodycast………….Suzanne Bocanegra, Frances McDormand, Paul Lazar

 The Rime of the Ancient Mariner……Fiona Shaw, Phyllida Lloyd

 A Piece of Work………….Annie Dorsen

 

Music

The Table…………………Karbido

We Have An Anchor……Jem Cohen

Documerica………………ETHEL, Steve Cosson

The Edge of Heaven……Gary Lucas, Gods and Monsters

 The Sweet Science Suite………….Fred Ho

 Goldberg’s Variations……………Andy Biskin, Rube Goldberg

Electronium: The Future Was Then…Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson

21c Liederabend, op. 3……Paola Prestini, Beth Morrison

 

Dance

A Rite………….Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, SITI Company, Anne Bogart

Sider…………………………The Forsythe Company

DanceMotion USAsm ……..Doug Varone and Dancers

 Come, and Back Again…..David Dorfman Dance

 En Atendant & Cesena…...Rosas, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker

Run Don’t Run………….Brian Brooks Moving Company

Dark Theater…………….Dance Heginbotham

Dark Lark………………….Kate Weare Company

And then, one thousand years of peace…..Ballet Preljocaj

 Sun………………………..Hofesh Shechter Company

Play/Pause………………Susan Marshall & Company, David Lang

Moses(es)…………………Fist & Heel Performance Group, Reggie Wilson

Bleed……………………..Tere O’Connor Dance

 

Filed under Off-Broadway, Preview

Broadway is NOT New York Theater

May 20, 2013 Leave a comment

BroadwayisNOTNewYorkTheaterThe winners of two more annual theater awards were announced this past week — the Drama League and the Drama Desk. Some of the winners were not on Broadway. It comes as no surprise to any New York theatergoer that the most inventive, challenging and exciting theater in the city is Off or Off-Off Broadway.  The shows I saw this week involved 1. a bus, 2. a new Native-American theater troupe, 3. a theater festival presenting the problems of gay homeless youth — and directly involving actual legislators in seeking solutions. But the biggest buzz this week was generated by the opening in its new home in the  Meatpacking District of a musical based on “War and Peace” — which caused a bit of a war in itself, having nothing to do with the contents of the show, but rather the behavior of the audience. (See May 16 below.)

The Week in New York Theater

May 14, 2013

700Sundays BillyCrystal700 Sundays, Billy Crystal’s autobiographical play, returns to Broadway November 5 to January 5, 2014, at the Imperial Theater

Strange Interlude

Esteemed Broadway composer David Yazbek (The Full Monty, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown): “God Damn you, fucking shoe!” I just said this sentence alone in a room and now I’m tweeting it so now you know.

Jonathan Mandell:  What did the shoe do? And what would it say in its own defense?

David Yazbek: The shoe ran away from home, moved in with a dope dealer and got its lip pierced.

15

BloombergasSpidermanRoger Rees will star this fall in Roundabout Theater Company’s production of The Winslow Boy, 1946 Terrence Rattigan play (made into a 1999 film)

Everett Quinton stars in “Manna-Hata,” Peculiar Works Project’s site-specific play taking place at the main post office on 34th Street, about the creation of NYC, June 7-23.

Jed Bernstein, former head of the Broadway League, has been put in charge of Lincoln Center.

Scot Heller, New York Times:  Mayor Bloomberg says Bernstein persuaded him “to wear Spider-Man costume & gold disco platform boots”

Terry Teachout, Wall Street Journal: Ah, but how hard was that?

TheRide1My review of “The Ride” – Unique Theatrical Experience?

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,”

Full review of The Ride

Adam Gale ‏(@ArgoTheatricals): Can you imagine if there were as many of those circling the Theater District as there are Elmos?

Expanding The African American Narrative

AfricanAmericanNarrativepanel

Before the opening night performance of Beneatha’s Place by  Center Stage Artistic Director Kwame Kwei-Armah, several playwrights held a panel discussion that was broadcast online by Howlround. Excerpts: 

Keith Josef Adkins: August Wilson and Lorraine Hansberry are great, but why just recycle their plays?

Kirsten Greenidge: There’s a myth that there’s not enough room at the table for new black plays.

Kwame Kwei-Armah: When black artists have equal access, then race becomes secondary to storytelling

–

We could all write 50,000-word theses,but it’s a joyous experience~composer  Tim Minchin, talking about Matilda on Charlie Rose.

`WoodBonesAlbertYbarra

My review of Wood Bones: Native American Theater in New York

“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.

16

A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder, a musical comedy with Jeff Mays (I Am My Own Wife) in multiple roles, opens on Broadway November  17

“Vanya, Sonia, Masha and Spike,” which has won several awards and is sure to win some more, has been extended to July 28

Two new theater websites to kvell about:

Broadway.org, from The Broadway League

DramaDesk.org, from The Drama Desk

GreatComet2

Natasha, Pierre and The Great Comet of 1812

1. The Cell Phone Vigilante

NatashaCometTheater critic Kevin D. Williamson snatched the cell phone of a talker and threw it across the room, during a performance of “Natasha.” Then HE was kicked out. 

This generated a LOT of comments. One exchange between Pulitzer-winning playwright Lynn Nottage and Wall Street Journal theater critic Terry Teachout:

Lynn Nottage: Lord knows I’ve wanted to smash someone’s cell phone during a show.

Terry Teachout:  I incline more to the garrote or stun gun (depending on whether you’re seated behind or beside the user).

Lynn Nottage: Luv the idea of a stun gun to silence cell phone abusers in the theatre.

Terry Teachout ‏ One beat of stunned silence, then laughter and applause–and no ringing phones during the performance, either!

Jonathan Mandell: This is maybe excessive?

Terry Teachout: Oh, let’s not be priggish! At least she didn’t endorse my OTHER suggestion.

If Charles Bronson were alive, he’d make Death Wish VI: Cellphone Vigilantes.

2. My review of Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812

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…o I am going to rave again about this musical – but add a caveat….
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

Full review of Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812

17

Winners of Drama League Awards: Nathan Lane; Vanya, Sonia, Masha and Spike; Kinky Boots; Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?’ Pippin

The Assembled Parties has been extended (a 2nd time) to July 7. See it.

The Village Voice, home of Obies honoring theater Off and Off-Off Broadway, has fired its two chief theater reviewers, Michael Feingold  (who was chairman of the Obies!) & @mikeymusto.

Charles McNulty:  Let the #Obie judges hand out awards in an alternate ceremony — the Village Voice’s funeral

18

Fiona Shaw,who played Mary in “The Testament of Mary,” will perform  the Coleridge poem Rime of the Ancient Mariner at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in December

Dame Helen Mirren and The Audience will grant an audience to The Lillian Booth Actors Home in New Jersey.

19

SaveTheDramaTamaraWilliams

Save The Drama: Theatre of the Oppressed NYC

A cop bumped into Tamara Williams, frisked her, mocked her, then issued her a citation for resisting arrest — a traumatic incident from last summer that became a dramatic one this weekend. It was one of the scenes in Save The Drama, a show about  the problems facing LGBTQ homeless youth, the latest presentation by Theatre of the Oppressed NYC. (TONYC) In a challenging and ultimately satisfying piece of casting, Williams herself portrayed one of the harassing cops..

It is a tonic in this time of theatergoers’ Tony obsession to contemplate TONYC. How many theatergoers leave Kinky Boots aware of the Community Safety Act?

Save The Drama full article

 

DramaDeskAwardWinners20132013 Drama Desk Awards

The big winners of the 58th Annual Drama Desk Awards included Matilda, which won the most number of awards, five, including Outstanding Musical, and Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?, which won three, including Outstanding Play, Outstanding Director of a Play, and leading actor. The other three leading actor awards went to Cicely Tyson (Trip to Bountiful), Billy Porter (Kinky Boots), and Laura Osnes (Cinderella). Other shows singled out for honors: Pippin,  Vanya, Sonia, Masha and Spike, and Here Lies Love — which, like “Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812″ — is inventive, exciting…and Off-Broadway.

Complete list of 2013 Drama Desk Award nominees and winners

 

Filed under New York Theater, New York Theater Weekly Summary

Drama Desk Winners 2013 — Matilda, Virginia Woolf, Vanya Sonia Masha and Spike, Pippin

May 19, 2013 Leave a comment

DramaDeskAwardWinners2013 The big winners of the 58th Annual Drama Desk Awards included Matilda, which won the most number of awards, five, including Outstanding Musical, and Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?, which won three, including Outstanding Play, Outstanding Director of a Play, and leading actor. The other three leading actor awards went to Cicely Tyson (Trip to Bountiful), Billy Porter (Kinky Boots), and Laura Osnes (Cinderella). Other shows singled out for honors: Pippin, Here Lies Love, and Vanya, Sonia, Masha and Spike.

Complete list of winners (boldface with an asterisk*) :

Outstanding Play
Annie Baker, The Flick
*Christopher Durang, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike
Joe Gilford, Finks
Richard Greenberg, The Assembled Parties
Amy Herzog, Belleville
Deanna Jent, Falling
Richard Nelson, Sorry

Outstanding Musical
A Christmas Story: The Musical
Giant
Hands on a Hardbody
Here Lies Love
*Matilda
Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812
The Other Josh Cohen

Outstanding Revival of a Play
*Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Golden Boy
Good Person of Szechwan
The Piano Lesson
The Trip to Bountiful
Uncle Vanya

Outstanding Revival of a Musical or Revue
Passion
*Pippin
Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella
The Golden Land
The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Working: A Musical

Outstanding Actor in a Play
Reed Birney, Uncle Vanya
Daniel Everidge, Falling
Tom Hanks, Lucky Guy
Shuler Hensley, The Whale
Nathan Lane, The Nance
*Tracy Letts, Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Outstanding Actress in a Play
Maria Dizzia, Belleville
Amy Morton, Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Julia Murney, Falling
Vanessa Redgrave, The Revisionist
Miriam Silverman, Finks
*Cicely Tyson, The Trip to Bountiful

Outstanding Actor in a Musical
Eric Anderson, Soul Doctor
Brian d’Arcy James, Giant
Jim Norton, The Mystery of Edwin Drood
*Billy Porter, Kinky Boots
Steve Rosen, The Other Josh Cohen
Ryan Silverman, Passion
Anthony Warlow, Annie

Outstanding Actress in a Musical
Kate Baldwin, Giant
Stephanie J. Block, The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Carolee Carmello, Scandalous
Lindsay Mendez, Dogfight
Donna Murphy, Into the Woods
*Laura Osnes, Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella
Jenny Powers, Donnybrook!

Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play
Chuck Cooper, The Piano Lesson
Peter Friedman, The Great God Pan
*Richard Kind, The Big Knife
Aaron Clifton Moten, The Flick
Brían F. O’Byrne, If There Is I Haven’t Found It Yet
Tony Shalhoub, Golden Boy

Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play
Tasha Lawrence, The Whale
*Judith Light, The Assembled Parties
Kellie Overbey, Sleeping Rough
Maryann Plunkett, Sorry
Condola Rashad, The Trip to Bountiful
Laila Robins, Sorry

Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical
Stephen Bogardus, Passion
John Bolton, A Christmas Story: The Musical
Keith Carradine, Hands on a Hardbody
*Bertie Carvel, Matilda
John Dossett, Giant
Andy Karl, The Mystery of Edwin Drood

Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical
Annaleigh Ashford, Kinky Boots
Melissa Errico, Passion
*Andrea Martin, Pippin
Jessie Mueller, The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Christiane Noll, Chaplin: The Musical
Keala Settle, Hands on a Hardbody
Kate Wetherhead, The Other Josh Cohen

Outstanding Director of a Play
Lear Debessonet, Good Person of Szechwan
Sam Gold, Uncle Vanya
Ed Sylvanus Iskandar, Restoration Comedy
*Pam MacKinnon, Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Lynne Meadow, The Assembled Parties
Ruben Santiago-Hudson, The Piano Lesson

Outstanding Director of a Musical
Andy Blankenbuehler, Bring It On: The Musical
Rachel Chavkin, Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812
John Doyle, Passion
*Diane Paulus, Pippin
Emma Rice, The Wild Bride
Alex Timbers, Here Lies Love
Matthew Warchus, Matilda

Outstanding Choreography
Andy Blankenbuehler, Bring It On: The Musical
Warren Carlyle, A Christmas Story: The Musical
Peter Darling, Matilda
Josh Rhodes, Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella
Sergio Trujillo, Hands on a Hardbody
*Chet Walker and Gypsy Snider, Pippin

Outstanding Music
Trey Anastasio and Amanda Green, Hands on a Hardbody
*David Byrne and Fatboy Slim, Here Lies Love
Michael John LaChiusa, Giant
Dave Malloy, Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812
Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, A Christmas Story: The Musical
David Rossmer and Steve Rosen, The Other Josh Cohen

Outstanding Lyrics
Amanda Green, Hands on a Hardbody
Amanda Green and Lin-Manuel Miranda, Bring It On: The Musical
Michael John LaChiusa, Giant
Dave Malloy, Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812
*Tim Minchin, Matilda
David Rossmer and Steve Rosen, The Other Josh Cohen

Outstanding Book of a Musical
*Dennis Kelly, Matilda
Sybille Pearson, Giant
Joseph Robinette, A Christmas Story: The Musical
David Rossmer and Steve Rosen, The Other Josh Cohen
Jeff Whitty, Bring It On: The Musical
Doug Wright, Hands on a Hardbody

Outstanding Orchestrations
Trey Anastasio and Don Hart, Hands on a Hardbody
Larry Blank, A Christmas Story: The Musical
Bruce Coughlin, Giant
Larry Hochman, Chaplin: The Musical
Steve Margoshes, Soul Doctor
*Danny Troob, Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella

Outstanding Music in a Play
César Alvarez with The Lisps, Good Person of Szechwan
Jiří Kadeřábek, Mahir Cetiz, and Ana Milosavljevic, Act Before You Speak: The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark
*Glen Kelly, The Nance
Eugene Ma, The Man Who Laughs
Steve Martin, As You Like It
Jane Wang, Strange Tales of Liaozhai

Outstanding Revue
Forbidden Broadway: Alive & Kicking!
*Old Hats
Old Jews Telling Jokes

Outstanding Set Design
*Rob Howell, Matilda
Mimi Lien, The Whale
Santo Loquasto, The Assembled Parties
Anna Louizos, The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Michael Yeargan, Golden Boy
David Zinn, The Flick

Outstanding Costume Design
Amy Clark and Martin Pakledinaz, Chaplin: The Musical
Dominique Lemieux, Pippin
*William Ivey Long, Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella
Chris March, Chris March’s The Butt-Cracker Suite! A Trailer Park Ballet
Loren Shaw, Restoration Comedy
Paloma Young, Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812

Outstanding Lighting Design
Ken Billington, Chaplin: The Musical
Jane Cox, Passion
Kenneth Posner, Pippin
*Justin Townsend, Here Lies Love
Daniel Winters, The Man Who Laughs
Scott Zielinski, A Civil War Christmas

Outstanding Projection Design
Jon Driscoll, Chaplin: The Musical
Wendall K. Harrington, Old Hats
*Peter Nigrini, Here Lies Love
Darrel Maloney, Checkers
Pedro Pires, Cirque du Soleil: Totem
Aaron Rhyne, Wild With Happy

Outstanding Sound Design in a Musical (three-way tie)
*Steve Canyon Kennedy, Hands on a Hardbody
*Scott Lehrer and Drew Levy, Chaplin: The Musical
*Tony Meola, The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Brian Ronan, Bring It On: The Musical
Brian Ronan, Giant
Dan Moses Schreier, Passion

Outstanding Sound Design in a Play
Ien DeNio, The Pilo Family Circus
Steve Fontaine, Last Man Club
Christian Frederickson, Through the Yellow Hour
Lindsay Jones, Wild With Happy
*Mel Mercier, The Testament of Mary
Fergus O’Hare, Macbeth

Outstanding Solo Performance
Joel de la Fuente, Hold These Truths
Kathryn Hunter, Kafka’s Monkey
Bette Midler, I’ll Eat You Last: A Chat with Sue Mengers
Julian Sands, A Celebration of Harold Pinter
Holland Taylor, Ann
*Michael Urie, Buyer & Cellar

Unique Theatrical Experience
Bello Mania
Chris March’s The Butt-Cracker Suite! A Trailer Park Ballet
*Cirque Du Soleil: Totem
That Play: A Solo Macbeth
The Fazzino Ride
The Man Who Laughs

Outstanding Ensemble Performance
This year the nominators chose to bestow a special ensemble award to the cast of Working: A Musical. “Marie-France Arcilla, Joe Cassidy, Donna Lynne Champlin, Jay Armstrong Johnson, Nehal Joshi, and Kenita R. Miller created a memorable ensemble of marvelously gifted singer-actors working together in pure artistic harmony.” Individual cast members receiving this award are ineligible for acting awards in the competitive categories.

Special Awards
Each year, the Drama Desk votes special awards to recognize excellence and significant contributions to the theater. For 2012-2013, these awards are:
• The New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF), Isaac Robert Hurwitz, Executive Director and Producer: for a decade of creating and nurturing new musical theater, ensuring the future of this essential art form.
• Wakka Wakka (Gabrielle Brechner, Kirjan Waage, and Gwendolyn Warnock): for sophisticated puppet theater, as represented by this season’s SAGA, that explores with wit, imagination, and insight serious issues of our times.
• Jayne Houdyshell: for her artistry as an exceptionally versatile and distinctive Broadway and Off-Broadway performer.
• Samuel D. Hunter: His empathic and indelible The Whale affirms his arrival as a distinguished dramatist who depicts the human condition.
• Maruti Evans, the Sam Norkin Off-Broadway Award: for his ingenious lighting designs, reflecting an exquisite and bold theatrical aesthetic. This season’s The Pilo Family Circus and Tiny Dynamite confirm his incandescent creativity.

PRODUCTIONS WITH MULTIPLE WINS

 Matilda
- 5

 Pippin
- 4

 Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella
- 3

 Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? – 3

 Here Lies Love – 2

PRODUCTIONS WITH MULTIPLE NOMINATIONS:
9 Giant
9 Hands on a Hardbody
7 Matilda
7 Passion
7 The Mystery of Edwin Drood
6 A Christmas Story: The Musical
6 Chaplin: The Musical
6 Pippin
6 The Other Josh Cohen
5 Bring It On: The Musical
5 Here Lies Love
5 Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812
5 Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella
4 Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
4 The Assembled Parties
3 Falling
3 Golden Boy
3 Good Person of Szechwan
3 Sorry
3 The Flick
3 The Man Who Laughs
3 The Piano Lesson
3 The Trip to Bountiful
3 The Whale
3 Uncle Vanya
2 Belleville
2 Chris March’s Butt-Cracker Suite! A Trailer Park Ballet
2 Cirque Du Soleil: Totem
2 Finks
2 Kinky Boots
2 Old Hats
2 Restoration Comedy
2 Soul Doctor
2 The Nance
2 Wild With Happy

The Drama Desk Awards, which are given annually in a number of categories, are the only major New York theater honors for which productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway and Off-Off Broadway compete against each other in the same category. Formed in 1949 by a group of New York theater critics, editors, reporters, and publishers, the organization was born out of the desire to educate the community on vital issues concerning the theater.

 

Filed under New York Theater, Theater Awards

Save The Drama: LGBTQ Youth And The Theatre of the Oppressed NYC

May 19, 2013 Leave a comment

SaveTheDramabannerA cop bumped into Tamara Williams, frisked her, mocked her, then issued her a citation for resisting arrest — a SaveTheDramaTheFashionPolice1traumatic incident from last summer that became a dramatic one this weekend. It was one of the scenes in Save The Drama, a show about  the problems facing LGBTQ homeless youth, the latest presentation by Theatre of the Oppressed NYC. In a challenging and ultimately satisfying piece of casting, Williams herself portrayed one of the harassing cops.

For more than two years, Theatre of the Oppressed NYC,  which likes to call itself  TONYC, has been partnering with community organizations  to create theater that aims for political and social change. Among the theater troupes that have resulted. the most visible is Concrete Justice, formerly called the Jan Hus Homeless Theatre Troupe, which has published a collection of poems and photographs entitled “Street Poetry.”  Other TONYC troupes have been made up of  HIV+ homeless New Yorkers, undocumented immigrants and refugees, and New York City public school students and teachers.  The TONYC motto is “Inspiration. Collaboration. Transformation,” and they follow the techniques developed by the late Brazilian theater artist Augusto Boal, the founder of the original Theatre of the Oppressed in the 1960′s.

In "Troubled Times," a scene from Save the Drama, Eliezer Quarless, 16, left, plays a gay kid coming out to his parents, James McKinney Jr, 17, and Alexis Kane, 16.

In “Troubled Times,” a scene from Save the Drama, Eliezer Quarless, 16, left, plays a gay kid coming out to his parents, James McKinney Jr, 17, and Alexis Kane, 16.

And so the audiences of Save the Drama did not just watch a performance by ensembles of young people from three community organizations, The Hetrick-Martin Institute, The Ali Forney Center and The Door, presenting scenes based on their real-life experiences —  that scene of “stop and frisk” humiliation, as well as scenes about cyber-bullying, about a gay kid coming out to parents and getting kicked out of the house, about the difficulty of getting emergency housing and the dangers of living on the street. Audience members were also invited to the stage to dramatize ways that the victimized character in each scene could have responded. And then we were all asked to write on white index cards our ideas for new legislation or changes in public policy that would address each problem. A “legal support team,” three members of local advocacy groups, then sorted through the cards, and conferred with the “legislative participants” — the only local legislator to show up

Councilmember Jimmy Van Bramer reads policy proposals based on audience suggestions.

Councilmember Jimmy Van Bramer reads policy proposals based on audience suggestions.

was Jimmy Van Bramer, a member of the New York City Council, but also in attendance was Samuel E Miller, an official with the federal department of Housing and Urban Development. Van Bramer then presented three proposals for policy changes, which included support for the Community Safety Act, a package of bills currently before the City Council that aims to stop discriminatory “stop and frisk” police practices. We were all given three colored index cards, and asked to vote on the proposals — green if we approved, red if we disapproved, yellow if we had doubts. The auditorium at the Church of St. Luke in the Fields, the West Village church where the festival took place, became a sea of green.

The experience was bracing, and thought-provoking, in several ways. It is a tonic in this time of theatergoers’ Tony obsession to contemplate TONYC. How many theatergoers leave Kinky Boots aware of the Community Safety Act? On the other hand, how many people left Save The Drama feeling above all entertained?  Theater of the Oppressed NYC founding artistic director Katy Rubin, who trained directly with Boal shortly before he died, readily concedes that the process leading up to the show and the political engagement after the show were both more important than the show itself.

Jimmy Van Bramer, an openly gay legislator who is also chair of the council’s Cultural Affairs Committee, sees a benefit for the performers. “Even if no legislation comes out of this process,” he told me afterwards, “LBGT youth are on stage telling their stories, getting support, building self-esteem.”

This is true. But how much more would these performers have benefitted if the art of it was taken as seriously as the politics? While Theatre of the Oppressed NYC shows have received copious publicity in advance, none of its shows have been reviewed, and it seems obvious why: They resist criticism because the basic stagecraft does not rise to a level that would invite it.

This is not how theater of the oppressed has to be:  Boal himself was a consummate theater artist who had studied at Columbia with John Gassner, teacher of Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller. There was clear evidence of the raw talent of the members of the Show The Drama ensembles (most of whom are teenagers, though not necessarily either gay or homeless) in the improvisatory scenes in which the audience members came up with new approaches to which the actors playing the problem-causing characters then had to respond in character.

I know of no other local theater company besides Theatre of the Oppressed NYC that focuses with such clarity and conviction not just on politics but on problem-solving and practical political results. But there are several in which real people tell their stories on stage to glorious effect.  For example, The Arts Effect, an acting school for young girls, produced Facebook Me, a work presented at the 2011 New York International Fringe Festival written and performed by girls ages 13 to 15. For 20 years, Ping Chong & Company has been presenting various versions of  ”Undesireable Elements,” in which people, most of whom had no prior experience as performers, tell their own stories on stage. Ping Chong is invited into a community, chooses the “cast members” after interviews, listens to their stories, creates a script based on those stories, and then trains them to perform their own stories. It is a process that results in first-rate theater that IS frequently reviewed. The communities of Undesireable Elements — examples include  the disabled, survivors of sexual abuse, refugees — are on the margins of society, as oppressed as any in the Theatre of the Oppressed.

Tamara Williams

Filed under New York Theater, Politics and the Arts, Theater community reaching out Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , ,

Natasha, Pierre and the Comet of 1812 at Kazino Review: A Hip Home of Its Own in The Meatpacking District

May 16, 2013 1 Comment

PhilippaSooasNatashaI 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.

Kazinofood“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.

KazinoBut 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.

Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812

at Kazino

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

Running time: About two and a half hours including a 15-minute intermission.

Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 is scheduled to run through September 1.

Filed under Theater Reviews

Wood Bones Review: Native American Theater in New York

May 16, 2013 Leave a comment

`WoodBonesAlbertYbarra

Albert Ybarra as Leroy in “Wood Bones”

“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

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.

Wood Bones

Eagle Project at Abingdon Theater Arts Complex

312 West 36th Street

Written by William S. Yellow Robe, Jr.

Directed by Bob Jaffe

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)

Through May 18th

Filed under Off-Off Broadway, Theater Reviews Tagged with , , ,

The Ride. Unique Theatrical Experience?

May 15, 2013 Leave a comment

TheRide2This 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 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.

TheRidetapdancer2

TheRidecloseupIn-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

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

Click on any photograph to see it enlarged
Veracity Butcher and Freedome Bradley

Filed under New York Theater, Theater Awards Tagged with , , , , , , ,

Fresh Faces of The New York Stage 2013

May 13, 2013 Leave a comment

The 12 winners of the 2013 Theatre World Awards

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

7

12 winners of Theatre World Awards

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 Trip to Bountiful extends to September 1

My review of Surviving Mommie Dearest, opening tonight

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.

9

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)

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)

14 Broadway and Off-Broadway theater artists (Drama Desk Award nominees) talk about their first time — the performer or show that convinced them to become theater artists.

10

AugustOsageCountyMerylStreeptJuliaRoberts

August: Osage County movie peek

Me: What play convinced you to become a playwright?

Tracy Letts: Killer Joe.

Me: But you wrote that play.

Melissa Errico (@melissa_errico) Best you hear it from me first. I am going to have a laser procedure to repair a blood vessel on my vocal cord

GoodbyefromSmashIt’s official: Smash has been canceled. Its season 2 finale on May 26th will be the series finale.

 11

Top 11 songs from Smash

12

Ending today:  ”Jekyll and Hyde,”  ”Tally’s Folly, “
“Buyer & Cellar” (starting at Barrow Street Theater June 18)

13

Outer Critics Circle Awards 2013

 

Vanya and Sonia, best Broadway play, Kinky Boots, best Broadway musical, best actress Cicely Tyson, best ator, Nathan Lane

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)

 

Filed under New York Theater Weekly Summary Tagged with , ,

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