| Veteran’s Day Weekend in New York | |
| Posted by: BillEadie 12:22 pm EST 11/15/22 | |
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| I came to New York City for the American Theatre Critics Association Conference, its first in-person event in a few years. The sessions were excellent: highlights included Jesse Green discussing his new book, “Shy,” and answering more far-ranging questions posed by the critics; a conversation with Helen Shaw, the new theatre critic for The New Yorker; a session on the newly opened musical version of “Kimberly Akimbo,” with composer Jeanine Tesori and lyricist David Lindsay-Abaire, as well as two cast members; and a bang-up tour of the historically preserved Hudson Theatre, knowledgeably and enthusiastically led by Tim Dolan. I had wanted to see the preview of the about-to-open Museum of Broadway, but my theatre choices precluded getting there in time. Those theatre choices reflected my interests more than not. On Friday, I saw Tom Stoppard’s new play, “Leopoldstadt,” a sprawling tale of generations of a Jewish family in Vienna with a very large cast, including many children. To his credit, Mr. Stoppard manages to introduce the characters well and help the audience keep them straight as time passes. He also evokes but doesn’t dwell on themes from previous plays. The story line leads the audience bit by bit to its inevitable and tragic conclusion. I am not certain whether Mr. Stoppard intends this play to be his valedictory, but it would make a fine one if that’s the case. On Saturday, I saw the last performance of the current run of “Peter Grimes” at the Met in the afternoon. Director John Doyle’s minimalist approach did not work for some, but it worked for me. In the evening, I went to a preview performance of the musical version of “Some Like It Hot.” Mark Shaiman and Scott Whitman have done as fine a job of evoking the Big Band era as they did in evoking 60’s rock for “Hairspray.” It’s a lighthearted, fleet-footed show that I more or less forgot was a farce until a set appeared with a series of doors that were opened and closed in quick succession. The set up finds instrumentalists Christian Borle and G. Harrison Ghee dressing up as women to hide out in an all-female big band after witnessing a gangster “hit” job. Borle’s character wears his disguise grumbling, but Ghee’s character rather enjoys it and ends of walking off the with show. They both connect to the band’s lead singer, Sugar, played by Adrianna Hicks. San Diego is mentioned several times as the locale of the story, but designer Scott Pask missed an opportunity to evoke the Hotel Del Coronado, which figured prominently in the film version. In fact, everyone goes off to Mexico for a more free-wheeling experience, which rings true for the period but which would never happen in today’s ICE border protection environment. You do have to enjoy big band swing to like “Some Like It Hot,” but I listened to enough of my parents’ Reader’s Digest recordings of various bands to plug in easily. There will undoubtedly be tweaks before the show opens officially, but I suspect that the Schubert Theatre will be occupied for some time. Sunday, I wanted to see “Funny Girl,” but I wasn’t able to get a ticket. Instead, I saw an off-Broadway production titled “Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish” and directed by Joel Gray. “Fiddler” has long been a favorite musical, and I’m very familiar with it. Staging it in a smallish theatre with a crackerjack cast led by Steven Skybell as Tevye, allowed me to appreciate it in a more intimidate way, with hearing it in Yiddish was an added bonus. From sometimes following the titles I realized that, for the song lyrics, at least, the English translation corresponded to how the lyrics were actually written. I also realized what a great musical “Fiddler” is - I even teared up at the end, which surprised me. Of course, there’s always more to see. I will need to pick dates, get my “Funny Girl” ticket well in advance, and head on back. Bill, in San Diego |
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