NY theatergoers who watch Netflix's #1 streaming show, Inventing Anna, may flash on the Douglas Carter Beane play, which J. Smith Cameron starred in so memorably off-Broadway. It's striking how the MO of its colorful character, Alexa Vere de Vere (a name that still makes us smile) is eerily the same as the chameleon-like Anna. The major plot point at the end of the Bees first act is precisely the reversal in the limited series. Of course, Anna also brings to mind Six Degrees of Separation, the oft-produced and filmed Guare play (which still to my amazement, didn't win the Pulitzer).
Bees, on paper, remains delightful, if probably tethered to a late 80s sensibility in its trappings. But perhaps late 80s NYC isn't a bad era to revisit. Wondering if it's ever revived. Alexa is such a terrific role, we can only imagine the wonderful stars who might bring her to life now. |
