Update: The contest has now closed. The winner of the random drawing is Margarette Connor (maggiec)
Ticket Giveaway: Win two tickets to see “Orphans,” the play by Lyle Kessler that stars Alec Baldwin, Ben Foster and Tom Sturridge. It tells the story of two orphaned brothers living a rough life in North Philadelphia when they decide to kidnap a notorious Chicago gangster – with unexpected results. The revival is directed by Daniel Sullivan (Glengarry Glen Ross)
“Orphans” began performances March 26th, and opens on April 18th. It is scheduled to run through June 30th at Broadway’s Gerald Schoenfeld Theater.
To enter the contest, answer either of these two question:
Either
1. What is your favorite stage show involving crimes and criminals? Describe the show and explain why it’s your favorite.
Or
2. What is your favorite performance by any of the three actors in “Orphans’ – Alec Baldwin, Ben Foster or Tom Sturridge – and why?
1. Please put your answer in the comments at the bottom of this blog post, because the winner will be chosen through Random.org based on the order of your reply, not its content.
But you must answer the one of the two questions, fully (not just the title of your favorite show or role) or your entry will not be approved for submission.
2. Please include in your answer your Twitter name and follow my Twitter feed at @NewYorkTheater so that I can send you a direct message. (If you don’t have a Twitter name, create one. It’s free.)
3. This contest ends Tuesday, April 2, 2013 at midnight Eastern Time, and I will make the drawing no later than noon the next day. You must respond to my direct message on Twitter within 24 hours or I will choose another winner.
(The tickets are for a performance on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday through 4/23, except for 4/18 which is the opening. You have to be in New York City and able to attend one of the designated performances.)
Update: Please follow the instructions above carefully. If you do not include your Twitter name on your post, for example, you are ineligible for the prize. And only one comment per contestant.
My fave show about a criminal would be Catch Me If You Can, cuz Frank Abagnale Jr had such a fascinating journey/life story, for someone so young to pull off such complicated scams…and Aaron Tveit was amazing! 🙂 Twitter: @ladystardust25
Tom Sturridge undoubtedly shines best in The Boat That Rocked — or Pirate Radio, as it got called here in the U.S. The whole cast is great in the story of an illegitimate rock radio station, broadcast from a boat off the English coast. Anyone who loves a good little-guy-fighting-stuffy-corporate-tycoons with an awesome soundtrack should find this movie ASAP.
#2. I think my favorite Alec Baldwin performance might be his SNL – Canteenboy/Scoutmaster performance just for its sheer ridiculousness and unexpected humor. His performance in Entertaining Mr. Sloane performance a few years back kind of reminded me of that, and I also enjoyed that performance too. I’m @kshen on twitter.
My favorite show about crimes and criminals has to be Chicago. I love the how, on one level it’s a fun and energetic romp, but on another level, it’s a social commentary on corrupt law enforcement/judicial system in Chicago at that time. Cell Block Tango is clever and showcases woman-power in all its glory! @LauriLand
My absolute favorite stage show about crimes and criminals is Martin McDonagh’s THE LIEUTENANT OF INISHMORE because it’s violence made me both laugh and scream out loud in the theater. Watching it was as thrilling as riding a roller coaster, and at the same time it was smart enough to show the senselessness of violence. The best!
There was a bit in SNL where Alec Baldwin was an actor on a soap opera. He was being interviewed for a soap opera digest, whereas he was asked about his training to be a doctor. The clip goes on to show him mispronouncing words left and right…including going to “Yah-lee” university. That segment always has me in hysterics. He plays it so deadpan but it is so over the top and stupid.
Favorite performance? Is that even a question? Alec Baldwin, Jack Donaghy, “30 Rock”—masterfully acted, brilliantly subversive, sophisticated yet absurdly hilarious.
Twitter: @ArtWineWhimsy
Alec B. shines on SNL. His ‘Shwetty Balls’ sketch was too much fun.
My favorite stage show about crime has got to be Deathtrap by Ira Levin. The play is about Sidney Bruhl, an accomplished writer, who has had a series of box office flops and is having trouble writing the next play. When he reads a play by Clifford Anderson, a younger writer, he decides to steal the script and kill him. Many plot twists and crazy characters later the lead characters die in very unexpected endings.
My favorite thing about this show is that you truly never know what is about to happen next. Unless youve seen the show, obviously. Its amazeballs!
@keatonorchaplin
gotta go with Sweeney Todd. cause Sondheim, that’s why @movidude74
To answer Question 2 – my favorite performance of Ben Foster’s is Ben Kurtzman in Liberty Heights.
I was in high school when that movie came out and instantly liked Foster’s character because of his love of Sinatra and the fact that he liked someone society/family told him he shouldn’t. I thought it was cool that someone my age in a movie would stand up for what he thought was the right thing to do… Plus, I had a crush on Ben (because how could you not? The way he stared at Sylvia during morning prayer, or hid in her closet… I was in 9th grade – I thought he was sweet.).
I have seen a lot of Foster’s film and tv work since, but his performance in Liberty Heights will always hold a special place in my heart.
(my twitter handle is @KLabovitz)
My favorite Alec Baldwin role is still Jack on 30 Rock. I never thought Baldwin could actually ACT (see: the other Baldwin brothers) until I saw his total commitment to that role and spot-on comic timing.
@MarleeWalters
Fave Alec Baldwin has got to be Mr. Schweddy on SNL selling his Schweddy Balls LOL! Makes me laugh just thinking about it!
@annabellekline
Alec Baldwin in Pearl Harbor. Why? Because he was able to keep his composure and act even though , while supposedly standing at Mitchell Field, there are clearly mountains in the background. Alec, having grown up and living on Long Island, knows full well there are absolutely no mountains.
My favorite Alec Baldwin role has to be Adam in Beetlejuice. I’m a child of the 80s, so there’s a certain nostalgia …
@LDurfee
Twitter: @schwartzieduck
My favorite performance of Ben Foster is in the movie get over it. Sometimes I feel like I am the only one who has seen it but in it him Kirsten Dunst sing original songs in a hilarious performance of mid summers night dream. It is hysterical.
I like “Ametican Buffalo” by David Mamet, especially since in an ironic turn of events the planned robbery doesn’t come off. The play is filled with Mamet’s rich language that depicts the bravado (and false bravado) of a particular type of angry American male. It does give some insight into the minds of petty criminals and there is an underlying sense of suspense or urgency throughout. Not to mention it is also quite funny!
Twitter: @Queerbec
Alec Baldwin is best when playing Jack Donaghy in 30 Rock. I think it might be because the role is so close to his real personality. I also think he and Tina Fey have amazing chemistry on-camera together. (And I love him on SNL.)
@RachHadley
My favorite show about criminals has to be Bonnie and Clyde. I didn’t get a chance to see it during its brief run, but have listened to the cast album countless times. The story of two lovers doing whatever it took to survive and stay together is so romantic in a kind of twisted way. Plus the music is absolutely beautiful
@wackeal
Twitter: MD584
My favorite show about a criminal was Bonnie and Clyde. I know..I know.. It wasn’t a popular show and this is not a popular opinion, but the story moved me and the music is still stuck in my head a year later. I’m glad it will find a life regionally and I think the story of love in the time of economic crisis is still relevant today. The criminal aspects were both terrifying and sad. What drove Clyde to do this? His parents seem so loving, so we can’t blame them. Is it society? The financial issues of the time? Or was he born bad? A fascinating true story and a lovely musical.
Alec Baldwin’s only Academy Award nomination for a supporting role in The Cooler, where he plays a brutal and sentimental Las Vegas casino owner. Baldwin is amazing going from viciousness to self-pity, from utter rottenness to something that might be mistaken for nobility.
@taikoboy
I’m going to be cliche and say Chicago, but it’s classic and it’s still great after all these years. Especially when they aren’t stunt-casting and allow real musical theatre actresses to shine.
@RyanCBrinson
Give me Ben Foster in “X-Men: The Last Stand” any day! The part of Warren Worthington III was little more than a cipher, but Foster managed to make him vulnerable without ever trespassing into wimphood. Foster gave him a quiet Sam the Eagle dignity, and I’m not ashamed to say I got choked up when he swooped in during the climactic battle to rescue his mutant-phobic pop. @k_guad
“Sweeney Todd” is by far my favorite stage show about criminals. In an art form that still retains vestiges of the daffy, unplotted revue, it’s rare to find a Broadway musical so gripping and cracklingly thick with PLOT. At this point the sympathetic antihero has become a cliche, but I don’t think any villain will ever be as insanely lovable as Angela Lansbury’s Mrs. Lovett.
@MattWeinstock
What a wonderful giveaway!
My favorite is 12 angry men. It´s a great and thrilling story. From the very beginning jury number 8 vote “not guilty”. As the story goes along, the jury´s vote “not guilty”. Even though they are not 100 % sure, they are doubting, and so is the reader/audience. What is the truth?
@EmelyDrugge
I’d have to say Alec Baldwin in Glengarry Glen Ross. It is rare for an actor to have such little screen time in a film but to be one of the most memorable parts. Baldwin had about 10 minutes in the film, but his speech at the beginning created one of the greatest scenes of all time.
@caitlinbetz
My favorite show involving crime is Nice Work If You Can Get It because it is witty and funny with an engaging story and great music.
@mymusicboxes
Alec Baldwin’s performance in Beetlejuice was one for the record books. It showed how versatile of an actor he is and really brought his character to be believable and real in a very unrealistic environment. @stealthcatbg
Alec Baldwin in Glengarry Glen Ross. He was perfect for the role of Blake. His character Blake and the motivation speech i believe set the tone for the entire movie. @THECINNA
1. My favorite show about criminals is by far Bonnie & Clyde (it’s still my all time favorite show). I saw it seven times in it’s much too short run. It spoke to me in a way that a show hasn’t in a really long time. It was so chilling at times, haunting even, but it was SO beautifully staged. Plus how can you not just fall in love with that score? It’s a show about two teenagers who are just stuck in life. They want out of Texas, but during the Great Depression and Dust Bowl they didn’t have much means to make money. Robbing those banks just seemed so easy – until Clyde had to kill a law to leave alive, that’s when their lives started to spiral out of control. It was such an honest musical with no flash or spectacle, just a lot of heart and rawness. (Yup, I can still talk about this show forever, haha.)Twitter name: dcf_09
There are a bunch of Alec Baldwin’s performances I enjoy but I have to say seeing him in PRELUDE TO A KISS onstage was my favorite. A befuddled leading man who falls in love with the perfect woman for him who tries to keep calm as she changes? So funny and sad at the same time. There’s a moment in Act II when it looks like things are at their worst and he starts to shake for a moment until he comforts his love…heartbreaking. @Bobster427
#2: I absolutely LOVE Ben Foster’s performance as Russell in HBO’s Six Feet Under. He plays Claire Fisher’s sexually confused art school boyfriend. Ben Foster’s performance is so raw, intense, funny, and even a little disturbing at times. Claire (one of the show’s main characters) grows a lot during her stint at art school, and her complicated with troubled Russell plays a great role in her development. Ben brought such a wonderful depth to the character!
@oh_allllison
My favorite musical, hands down, about a crime is Les Miserables. Valjean was a criminal in the eyes of the law. The music, the heartbreak, the plot! I have not seen either film version yet but part of me does not want to adulerate that pure Broadway experience I had when I was a 12-year old girl. I will probably break down and see Hathaway break out in song on Netflix. lol @Lavesq on Twitter and I follow. 🙂 Thanks for the chance!
Into the Woods. The baker’s father should not have stolen those beans! He left behind a mess for his son to clean up. . . and then Jack stole the gold, and the wolf ate Red Riding Hood, and then they all commit Gianticide. . . of course, what really matters is the blame.
It’s my favorite because I love the score, the journeys and transformations made by the characters, and the messages of redemption and forgiveness and acknowledging moral grey areas.
@CarlifromNJ
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels was an entertaining musical way to show a life of crime. Freddy and Lawrence were a great pair, and the twist at the end with the Jackal…what a way to end a show. @MicheleW_86
Does the John Gay’s Beggar’s Opera count as a show about criminals? I hope so. Macheath is fascinating, and it’s not just about the underclass of London. It’s cracking political satire as well. And you can sing to it. And of course, Brecht and Weil’s Threepenny Opera is a stunner, as well.
On Twitter, I’m @mrc0201
I loved loved loved Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, the tale of two con men who get out-conned by a woman, starring Norbert Leo Butz and Jonathan Pryce. I remember sitting in the orchestra — third row center, and being so close that I could see the actors making each other laugh. I never laughed so hard — before or since — at a show. My Twitter name is @kathrynlurie. Thanks for the chance! 🙂
Going to have to go with “Twelve Angry Men.” an American classic and a window into our justice system and ourselves. I’m on Twitter at @cunningkatieham