New York Theater Notes

[+ Lucky]

Can you have good theater and cute boys too? Indeed you can! Tonight I saw a brilliant production of Master Harold and the Boys, starring Danny Glover, Michael Boatman, and a sensational newcomer, Christopher Denham. I wasn't very fond of Glover's movie stuff, but I have new respect for him tonight. A great performance. This Denham kid resembles the young Leo DiCaprio and his acting was amazing.

 

Last Friday I saw a small production from Scotland called New Boy. The lead, Neil Henry, is a cute butterball who has great comedic timing and considerable acting skills. He plays opposite Todd Swenson, who played the gay son in the Broadway production The Goat. Both guys are in their underwear a lot as Henry (Mark)tries to figure out his sexual confusion. Swenson, (Barry) meanwhile is having considerably more success as the local heartthrob. I liked this show so much I went back on Sunday. Seats are only $16. It plays until May 18th.

 

Getting great buzz is I Am My Own Wife and word is to buy tickets now before the reviews come out. It is at Playrights Horizon and I see it next week.

 

I am looking forward to Benjamin Bratt in Intrigue With Fay, also later this month. Hopefully he will take his shirt off!

 

In the meantime, any other good shows I should see?

[Cooper]

The Broadway play "Master Harold and the Boys" is not going to leave you happy, but you'll have no problem relating to it's serious message. Also, the word "BUMP" will take on a whole new relevant meaning.

 

The acting is excellent. Master Harold will win you over with his youthful charm and great acting skills. I believe we'll be hearing a lot more from him. As for Danny Glover, he lowers his pants to reveal his not so "fair" butt, and it's a big butt. He was a perfect choice for this role.

 

For those of you who like a good serious drama, check out "Master Harold and the Boys". There are no intermissions and it lasts about 1hr. and 45min. Lots of seats were available.

[Guest Raffy]

in a much ligher vein... I recently enjoyed seeing "Zanna Don't!"

 

It's an off-broadway musical about a bunch of gay high school kids, with a very sweet and eager cast. (http://www.zannadont.com)

 

I took my niece and her girlfriend who were visiting from college, and it was a perfect show for them.

 

b

[Cooper]

For information on "Master Harold and the Boys", go to: www1.playbill.com/events/event_detail/1877.html

[HooBoy]

My favorite show in New York is "Hairspray."

 

The downtrodden, the fat, the ugly, the black, the people who just "don't fit in" understand that they are just as good as everyone else; they go for it and they succeed.

 

It is such an uplifting show, I see it again and again...whenever I am in town. The music is great, the dancing almost non-stop and Harvey is magnificent!

 

Funny sidenote....the last time I saw it, I was with an gorgeous escort. When Wayne Morrison, one of the stars, came onstage I whispered to my date, "that is John Wayne's grandson."

 

He said, "Who is John Wayne?"

 

I think I'm gonna start going for the older guys. Any you guys out there remember the Beatles? I'll be in Liverpool to see Paul's final concert and I don't want to be with someone who does not remember Wings.

 

:*

[LovesYng]

>I see it again and again...whenever I am in town.

 

>I think I'm gonna start going for the older guys. Any you

>guys out there remember the Beatles? I'll be in Liverpool to

>see Paul's final concert

 

 

Ha Ha, whenever your in town now that's a good one.

 

I hate you Hoobaby, seeing Paul's final concert. I love Paul, he IS one of the BEST.:+

[Will]

On Friday night I saw THE WOMEN OF LOCKERBIE at St Clement's on 47th (?) between 9th and 10th. It has fabulous actors, among whom is Judith Ivey, who used to play the pistol-packing heiress from Texas on DESIGNING WOMEN. But LOCKERBIE is no comedy. It's very serious stuff, very heavy going, but absolutely wonderful. The catharsis at the end -- for actors as well as audience -- was practically Aristotelean.

 

Saturday I saw TAKE ME OUT for the second time and decided that I liked it even better than I thought I did. Although the shower scene near the opening of the second act had struck me the first time as gratuitous if delicious, this time I saw how it advances the plot and the characters without sacrificing an iota of its considerable eye-appeal. One of the delights of seeing it on a Saturday night was watching all the WASP suburbanites from Connecticut get swallowed up by a play that is much more queerly subversive than they realize.

[+ Lucky]

Will, thanks for the info on Lockerbie. As for Take Me Out, I saw it twice at the Public. The thing that I didn't like was the lack of anything credibly gay about the star player. He didn't have anything about his life that indicate gay interests except for saying that he was gay. (Unless being a toally self-absorbed ass is a gay thing!)

How did you see this aspect?

 

As for Zanna Don't, I saw the previous incarnation last year and liked it a lot. Not enough to see it again, though!

 

Does anyone know anyone who saw The Play What I Wrote?

[+ Cash4Trash]

I saw "The Play What I Wrote" and liked it but not enough to recommend it. It's fun and silly but I came away wanting more. Probably a problem that I don't know Morecambe And Wise, the British comedy duo who originally developed the material. Got some good bits but didn't add up for me.

[Guest Dan]

Let's see...

 

GYPSY: Bernadette Peters has to be the most seductive Mama Rose, but she just doesn't pull off Rose's Turn. Far from it.

 

HAIRSPRAY: The most fun show around.

 

THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE: A dated movie deconstructed. Some might say that it's politically correct, but I think that it found ways to have fun with more modern thought. The deco set and lighting is amazing.

 

TAKE ME OUT: Yes, it is about homophobia in sports, but to me, it was even more about the love of baseball. I'm recommending it to all my straight friends who love the game. Hopefully they'll take me when it comes to L.A!

 

LAST SUNDAY IN JUNE: As Take Me Out was able to find a universal enough theme to get it moved up to Broadway, I'm afraid that this one fails and does not deserve the same fate. The least they could have done was shown dick! :+

 

Dan Dare

http://meetlocalmen.com/mlm/dandarela.html

[Guest alanm]

On "Gypsy," I saw Ethel Merman as Momma Rose and thought that Peters' at least was Merman's equal in performing "Rose's Turn." Yes, Merman is the gold standard by which every other Momma Rose is judged because

she may have given the best performance ever in a musical in the part, but Bernadette is doing just fine. (Saw Merman when I was 16).

 

On "Take Me Out," haven't we gone beyond the point where a character in a play must have "gay interests." Certainly, some gays and lesbians in real life fit none of the stereotypes and have none of what would be consider "gay interests."

[+ Lucky]

"On "Take Me Out," haven't we gone beyond the point where a character in a play must have "gay interests."

 

If in fact the character is supposed to be gay, and the whole play is about him coming out, why then, yes, it would help for him to show some interest in at least something gay.

[Will]

Lucky, I can't tell you how much I appreciate your contributions about the theater. It's been a long time since I've had the privilege of discussing these kinds of issues with other gay men, and it's a real shot in the arm.

 

As for your problem with the character of Darren Lemming, I'd like to put forward a teeny-tiny theory, namely, that his character and even his name are part of that subversiveness that I mentioned yesterday.

 

There's no doubt in my mind that Dan Dare is right: the energy driving the play is the love of baseball. What makes it remarkable is that this is a love of baseball filtered through the experiences and perceptions of a gay man, the playwright, whom -- for me -- the character of Mason Marzac represents.

 

The play goes a long way, I think, towards demonstrating that gay men (whether Darren or Marz) can love baseball as much as straight men. Right away, that's a pretty radical claim when you think about it. It becomes even more radical when it's apparent that Darren's being gay is a lot bigger issue to his straight team-mates than it is to him. It's they, not he, who keep wanting him to tell them who is boyfriend is, how it feels, etc. In other words, I think that one message of the play is that being "gay" is sometimes a function of having a certain set of stereotypes projected onto you, whether you want them or not. (All of us have had that experience in one way or another.) What made the players so nuts, in fact, was that Darren didn't "act" or "look" gay, and they took that as a betrayal.

 

Right towards the end, in that heartbreaking little scene with Marz, though, I think Darren does begin to act on his homosexuality. Characteristically for an empowered gay man, he doesn't look for an image of himself in his lover. He looks for someone who complements him, someone who fills out a part of his life that he can't fill out for himself. In other words, it's Marz. While the script -- and the directing -- make us think that it's Marz who's doing the fantasizing, on the second viewing I think I saw a kind of irony at work. What I saw was that Darren was beginning to warm up to the idea of Marz, and that he was using that flirtatious way of doing it both to protect himself until he was sure and to keep Marz acting in that delightfully fey (not nelly) manner of which Darren knows he himself to be completely incapable. So when he asks Marz to be his date, Marz thinks that Darren is making a sort of gay in-joke. And he is. But I think that Darren is also actually asking Marz to be his date. Only Darren knows that, of course, because as a gay man Darren has learned to keep the erotic desires that make him most vulnerable very much to himself. In that way, to me he seems the perfect icon of a mature gay man.

 

I'd be much interested to know your thoughts about this collection of half-baked notions.

[+ Lucky]

Will, I am glad to shoot you in the arm, hehehe, but if we are not careful, Hoo knows, this could become a theater review site instead of an escort....Oh, I guess not.

Your view of the play interested me because when first saw the show, the "feyness" of Marz turned me off. As a (macho?)baseball fan, I didn't see where he would really have an interest in the sport other than looking at the tight uniforms. But, of course, perhaps I was projecting. When I saw it the second time, I was very impressed with the character (and the actor/playright). Either his performance had improved or I was able to get past my original distaste for him to appreciate more what he was doing. So if I look at the play as a baseball play, I can see where it is more of a tribute to the sport.

 

I have a harder time with the gay guy, but your take on his credibility would do a trial lawyer proud. I do see your point, but I guess I needed more objective criteria of "gayness." Surrounded by all those naked men, couldn't he have shown ANY interest? (I mean, we are!) But, of course, if you are right, he had more interest than I saw. As for the ending, I guess the romantic (a bit of a stretch) in me wanted them to go off arm in arm...but perhaps, as you point out, they did later.

So what's next on your theater card?

[Guest Dan]

Very astute observations from Mr Will who by all means has to be one of the more charming denizens of this board!

 

Dan Dare

http://meetlocalmen.com/mlm/dandarela.html

[Guest Kenny021]

I don't live in NYC and therefore can't really criticize alot of "theatre" but I do visit 3 or more times per year and spend all my free time there. I really enjoy reading posts about different plays and musicals and especially enjoy the different opinions expressed by various posters. Keep it up. It really facinates me to see how two individuals can have different takes on a performance, etc.

[Cooper]

I really enjoy reading posts about

>different plays and musicals and especially enjoy the

>different opinions expressed by various posters.

 

High on my recommend list would be the revival of "Man of La Mancha". Excellent cast staring Brian Stokes Mitchell as Don Quixote, and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio as Aldonza. No intermission, runs about 1hr. 40min. BSM brings the house to it's feet when he sings "The Impossible Dream". I've never heard it sung better and with so much feeling.

[BgMstr4u]

"Does anyone know anyone who saw The Play What I Wrote?"

 

Saw it last week. Mystery guest was Roger Moore, who collapsed onstage the next night. He looks bloated. TPWIW is typical English music hall silliness, full of physical humor and wordplay which the Brits for some reason find irrestible and likewise the BBCAmerica contingent over here. I own up to being one of that species, and so I liked it well enough, but my humor was helped by my having bought the ticket for half price. I suspect this only got to Broadway via the considerable pull of its director, Kenneth Branagh.

 

Gypsy: Saw it mid-April. In my opinion, dreadfully misconceived. The staging was barely suitable for a not very imaginative high school production, let alone a $100 per seat Browadway show. Disgraceful. I love Bernadette Peters, and have to say, pace John Simon and other critics who are probably her friends and have to find something nice to write, that she is simply terrible. She lost her voice in the first act and soldiered valiantly on, croaking and straining and vocalizing because her chords couldn't take the range and volume needed for the part. She has (as of today) missed more than 60% of the performances since the official opening on May 1. The reason given is a respiratory infection, but I wonder.... Her name, and the weak competition of the current season, will carry the show, but I would not consider returning even if someone else gave me a ticket. It was too painful.

[daniel]

I've been to NY last week.

"Long day's journey into night" was a greeeaaaat show, one of the best I've seen in many years.

Vanessa Redgrave and Brian Dennehy are fantastic!

For theatre lovers this show is an excelent occasion to visit NY.

 

Daniel

[Guest alanm]

I have already praised the new "Gypsy" revival above. Having seen every Broadway production, I had begun to think that "Gypsy" was

overrated after the Tyne Daly revival and the Bette Midler TV show.

 

Bernadette Peters is miscast, but for me she sings the hell out of "Everything's Coming Up Roses" and "Rose's Turn." This revival

has the strongest supporting cast since the original. The director has added important elements (such as Peters always standing slightly off stage mouthing the words to the the girls' songs). Peters also brings sex appeal to her scenes with Herbie; I believed they were a couple.

 

The observations on "Take Me Out" made me rethink the ending. At the very least, Marz represents a way into gay life for Darren. I am not sure that a romance is possible, but it would be a fine thing.

 

On the lack "gay elements" in Darren's world, it is ironic that Lucky rightly praised the current production of "Master Garold and His Boys," which is a play with no gay subtext. While I took the opposite point of view (concept is out of date), while praising gay icon, Ethel Merman. My argument that gay characters need not have gay "characteristic" partly comes from reading ex-Dodger

Billy Bean's new book. I have read about 100 pages, Billy is still in the closet & except for furtive visits to porn stores has not shown any interests in typically gay things (i.e. "Gypsy".)

 

I admire Lucky's pick of plays and willingness to see a lot of off

Broadway stuff. I tend to prefer plays over musicals & seldon see this kind of discussion the internet. Lucky is a real asset to this site.

[+ BenjaminNicholas]

London may be a best bet for more than just a McCartney concert~

 

West End theatre is currently brimming with some truly amazing material. Broadway is so much of a financial risk now (...with an intro musical being $8+ million) that it's become somewhat plastic & just not much fun. Musicals like 'Taboo' & 'We Will Rock You' are playing to packed houses in the UK, all while being great shows with ticket prices WELL below that of NYC.

 

I may love 'Hairspray,' but the thought of $100+ seats just makes my stomach turn. Theatre should be a culture enjoyed by everyone, not just the wealthy. I think the supreme bullshit move was when the powers-that-be with 'The Producers' offered limited $450 seats to try to 'curb the scalpers selling overpriced tickets.' Smart move, eh? Sounds like the Stooges were heading their PR dept on that one...

 

Hell, i remember hearing about 'A Chorus Line' tickets being $17.50 in the mid-70's... And that was for orchestra seating!

 

 

 

Regarding McCartney~ I just hope i look that good & rock that hard when i'm 62. Damn, does going veggie cure impending crows-feet?

 

 

 

Warmest Always,

 

 

 

Benjamin Nicholas

[+ Lucky]

Thanks, I am glad that you think so! I am enjoying the different posts and hope we can keep it going...and friendly!

 

Some friends saw The Play What I Wrote yesterday and loved it, so I guess I will go.

The Tony nominations come out tomorrow a.m. and I have arranged for Hoo's favorite musical to get a nomination for Best Musical. I saw Hairspray once and really liked it, so I am going back in July.

 

If Bernadette Peters didn't show up Saturday,I will bet that she does not get nominated.

[+ Lucky]

RE: Tony Award Nominations

 

The 2002-03 Tony Award nominees:

 

BEST PLAY:

Enchanted April

Say Goodnight, Gracie

Take Me Out

Vincent in Brixton

 

 

BEST MUSICAL:

Amour

Hairspray

Movin' Out

A Year With Frog and Toad

 

 

BEST REVIVAL OF A MUSICAL:

Gypsy

La Boheme

Man of La Mancha

Nine

 

 

BEST REVIVAL OF A PLAY:

A Day in the Death of Joe Egg

Dinner at Eight

Frankie and Johnny in the Claire de Lune

Long Day's Journey Into Night

 

 

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A LEADING ACTOR IN A PLAY:

Brian Bedford, Tartuffe

Brian Dennehy, Long Day's Journey

Eddie Izzard, Joe Egg

Paul Newman, Our Town

Stanley Tucci, Frankie and Johnny

 

 

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A LEADING ACTRESS IN A PLAY :

Jayne Atkinson, Enchanted April

Victoria Hamilton, Joe Egg

Clare Higgins, Vincent in Brixton

Vanessa Redgrave, Long Day's Journey

Fiona Shaw, Medea

 

 

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A LEADING ACTOR IN A MUSICAL :

Antonio Banderas, Nine

Harvey Fierstein, Hairspray

Malcolm Gets, Amour

John Selya, Movin' Out

Brian Stokes Mitchell, Man of La Mancha

 

 

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A LEADING ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL:

Melissa Errico, Amour

Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Man of La Mancha

Elizabeth Parkinson, Movin' Out

Bernadette Peters, Gypsy

Marissa Jaret Winokur, Hairspray

 

 

BEST DIRECTION OF A PLAY:

Laurence Boswell, Joe Egg

Robert Falls, Long Day's Journey

Joe Mantello, Take Me Out

Deborah Warner, Medea

 

 

BEST DIRECTION OF A MUSICAL :

David Leveaux, Nine

Baz Luhrmann, La Boheme

Jack O'Brien, Hairspray

Twyla Tharp, Movin' Out

 

 

BEST BOOK OF A MUSICAL:

Jeremy Sams, Amour

Mark O'Donnell and Thomas Meehan, Hairspray

Willie Reale, A Year with Frog and Toad

David Henry Hwang, Flower Drum Song

 

 

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE:

Michel Legrand, Amour

Willie and Robert Reale, A Year with Frog and Toad

Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, Hairspray

Various composers, Urban Cowboy

 

 

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A FEATURED ACTOR IN A PLAY :

Thomas Jefferson Byrd, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

Philip Seymour Hoffman, Long Day's Journey

Robert Sean Leonard, Long Day's Journey

Denis O'Hare, Take Me Out

Daniel Sunjata, Take Me Out

 

 

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A FEATURED ACTRESS IN A PLAY:

Christine Ebersole, Dinner at Eight

Linda Emond, Life x 3

Kathryn Meisle, Tartuffe

Michele Pawk, Hollywood Arms

Marian Seldes, Dinner at Eight

 

 

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A FEATURED ACTOR IN A MUSICAL :

Michael Cavanaugh, Movin’ Out

John Dossett, Gypsy

Dick Latessa, Hairspray

Corey Reynolds, Hairspray

Keith Roberts, Movin’ Out

[Guest Dan]

RE: Tony Award Nominations

 

Notice that Sam Mendes was passed over?

 

I hope that Fierstein and Winouker win - just think, Mother and Daughter win both Actress and ACTOR!!!!

 

 

Dan Dare

http://meetlocalmen.com/mlm/dandarela.html

[foxy]

RE: Tony Award Nominations

 

A special award should be given to "Dance of the Vampires" for the show that lost more money than any other show in Broadway history. $12 million! What idiot would have paid $100 to see it?... Me! It was beyound awful! I think the Playbill will become a collectors item. Maybe I can auction it off on Ebay.