And the season begins...Fall Broadway preview I.

[skynyc]

Hello gentlemen!

 

Hope all are well. I have been very remiss in both posting and going to the theater this summer. APS (Aging Parent Syndrome) has taken me out of town a great deal, and when I've been in town, I haven't been motivated to do anything but go home after work and sit on the veranda with my grandmother's lace fan and drink juleps. LOL. Actually I'm a yankee through and through and had to look up how to spell julep.

 

Sorry. I got off track...back to the Fall Broadway Preview. This is mostly to organize my own thoughts, and prioritize my own viewing, but I am always looking for last minute theater partners, so if something strikes you...let me know and I will give a shout when I am going.

 

The first "official" show of the Broadway season has all ready come and gone. It was Harry Connick Jr. in Concert at the Neil Simon. I had a ticket, but had to give it away because I had to go out of town at the last minute. Heard it was great, and recorded...perhaps it will show up on PBS or something.

 

Two early offerings are from the Roundabout Theatre Company...who has huge fans and huge detractors on some of the other boards. I have been a subscriber for years, and for the money have found them to be a terrific and mostly consistent presenter of good theater. They are still offering good subscription deals, and this season has some great promise.

 

First up is Brief Encounter at Studio 54...the Noel Coward play in the production that played at St. Ann's Warehouse last spring it was extended several times and rightly so...a sensational multi-media presentation that really is terrific. I believe that most of the St. Ann's cast is returning...I hope so, they were marvelous. This show is in previews very soon, and tickets are available on tdf, although the higher seats at 54 can really be far away. I saw it twice in Brooklyn and cannot wait to see it again.

 

Next is Mrs. Warren's Profession at the American Airlines Theater. I am over the moon that Cherry Jones is coming back to Broadway...after her stint as the President on 24. I feared we would lose her to TV, and think that this will be a perfect role for her. Shaw's play about a practical woman who runs a brothel in order to raise her daughter in comfort, and who must deal with her daughter's outrage when all is revealed. Shaw was ahead of his time in almost every way...and this play was a shocker when originally presented in 1893. Imagine that Mrs. Warren (the prostitute and madam) is the heroine and her daughter comes across as an ingrateful prude. Also on tdf for preview performances. And Miss Jones is a proud lesbian and very active in the LGBT community when she is in town.

 

Another early offering is Manhattan Theater Club's The Pitmen Painters. I am quite excited about this because it got such great reviews in London and is coming here to the Friedman with the entire original cast intact. The story of a group of coal miners in northern England who took up painting in their time above ground. Some of them showed great talent and their works have been shown in several museums and are currently on display in the UK. Again, I picked up tickets today for a preview performance on tdf for $35.

 

Next comes Time Stands Still which is a transfer from MTC last season. Of the original cast, Laura Linney, Brian D'Arcy James and Eric Bogosian return and will be joined by Christina Ricci (Wednesday of the Addams Family movies, and many other great films) in her Broadway debut. A powerful look at the motivations of war correspondent journalists, it's worth a view. Linney is terrific, and was Tony nominated in the role...losing to Viola Davis in Fences, but truly any of the actresses in the category this year could have won. It's reopening at the Cort in October.

 

A Life in the Theater stars Patrick Stewart and T.R. Knight from Grey's Anatomy. This Broadway premiere of a 2005 David Mamet play which got good reviews in London is about the relationship between an older actor and a newcomer to the field. I am not a huge Mamet fan in general, but will want to see this for it's two stars. It will be playing at the Schoenfeld and opening in early October.

 

Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson is a fun idea. Presented this spring at the Public, it will come into the Jacobs in mid-October. A rock opera about our 7th President, it's sexy star, Benjamin Walker will reprise his role on Broadway. There's a lot to enjoy about this very creative undertaking, which is part Saturday Night Live sketch and part funky East Village rock concert. Get a flavor of it in several clips and interviews on Youtube.

 

I have to say, I am very glad to have seen this at the Public, and won't rush to see it again unless I am offered a very cheap ticket. For me, there was more to the overall presentation than actual substance...especially in the score...but the history lesson is interesting and inspired me to read John Meacham's Pulitzer Prize-winning bio of him: American Lion. I was also a little put off by the kind of homophobic presentation of most of the other politicians of the day, as Jackson is portrayed as a rough and ready frontiersman and John Quincy Adams, Martin Van Buren, Henry Clay are portrayed as sissified New England dandies. I wonder if this will find a ready audience.

 

I am very very excited about La Bete. I saw Tom McGowen do it in the 90s...in a rather notorious flop production. This production, transferring the UK with Mark Rylance, a major player in London-kind of the Gielgud of our day, David Hyde-Pierce, who won the Tony for Curtains and about a million Emmys as Niles Crane and Joanna Lumley...Patsy from AbFab. A silly and smart romp about a pompous self-important actor of the "theater" and his rival: a self-adoring clown. I am hoping this will be as wonderful as Geoffrey Rush's turn in Ionesco's Exit the King from a couple years ago. It will be playing at the Music Box.

 

A very different piece will be next at the Circle in the Square...Lombardi. This new play about arguably the greatest coach in professional football, will star The Wonder Year's Dan Lauria, and the fabulous Judith Light. I am very curious about seeing Light on stage, and am curious if a play about Lombardi will find an audience. Ten points to anyone who knows Lombardi's team without looking it up. LOL!

 

Driving Miss Daisy with Vanessa Redgrave and James Earl Jones had a big presale when tickets went on sale this summer. It opens at the Golden in late October, and I will be curious to see how it plays in a Broadway theater. Granted, the Golden is smaller than many houses, but the original off-Broadway at the John Houseman in 1987 with Dana Ivey and Morgan Freeman was so intimate the audience felt they were practically in the car with Daisy and Hoke. Still, with this cast who can resist????

 

Rain is a Beatles Tribute show about which I know very little other than it is being touted as a "Live Beatles Experience" with as much care given to the performances as by a classical orchestra's attention to Mozart. Hmmm. I am perhaps being a little cynical here when I suggest that I suspect the Neil Simon will be able to have yet another show during this season. But hey, I loved Million Dollar Quartet and it is doing great guns at the box office.

 

Opening at the Lyceum on Halloween, The Scottsboro Boys may be the show to beat at this season's Tonys. The spring run at the Vineyard sold out instantly...and extended twice. Most of the original cast is transferring with the show and this is Kander and Ebb's last show...the one they were working on when Mr. Ebb passed in 2004. This is a dark and extraordinary tour de force of a show that presents the tale of nine young African-American men who were railroaded in a trial in the Jim Crow South. Presented mainly in a minstrel show format, the music and performances are riveting, but the subject matter may cause struggles at the box office. Like A Catered Affair a couple years ago, it's a smart, serious and thought provoking show.

 

Well, that gets us through October....

[+ sf westcoaster]

Skynyc, Thanks for the run down - seems to be shaping-up as an interesting season. I won't be able to get to Ny before next spring so the offerings will, no doubt, be quite different than this list.

[Kevin Slater]

First up is Brief Encounter at Studio 54...the Noel Coward play in the production that played at St. Ann's Warehouse last spring it was extended several times and rightly so...a sensational multi-media presentation that really is terrific. I believe that most of the St. Ann's cast is returning...I hope so' date=' they were marvelous. This show is in previews very soon, and tickets are available on tdf, although the higher seats at 54 can really be far away. I saw it twice in Brooklyn and cannot wait to see it again.[/quote']

 

I just saw it tonight. It's one of the best things I've seen in quite a while. The performances were great, the staging surprisingly innovative, and the interplay between the various media was a lot of fun. For me, the best part was the music. The witty songs which contributed greatly to the plot and the (quite attractive) musicians were on stage throughout. Many of the actors played instruments as well, similar to the recent Sweeney Todd. The performance I attended (its first Saturday night) had some of the cast serenading the audience as we were seated, and then the entire cast held a very fun and energetic jam session after the show. Their talent was truly impressive. I highly recommend this show (despite having hated the 1945 movie).

 

Kevin Slater

[Njbaseballjock]

Thanks for the informative summary. I live in NNJ only 15 miles from NYC so I enjoy visiting the Broadway theatre scene whenever possible. There is nothing better than an evening of dinner and great conversation with a friend followed by a show. Although I usually prefer musicals I have enjoyed many great plays also during the past few years. Now, I find myself with a lot of free time and no partner or companion to spend time with. The reason for my posting here is to see if there are others in a similar situation. It would be nice to find someone who might enjoy a night at the theatre from time to time. Any ideas how I might find this person?

[+ purplekow]

Well as a fellow Jerseyite, I find myself heading to the city for a play and am similarly unattached at the moment. I have been asking friends I have met here and other with whom I have lost touch to join me. It has been fun. If that doesnt work for you, send me a private message and perhaps we can arrange to meet for dinner and a show.