Threaded Order Chronological Order
| LONDON Last Week (Very long and maybe a spoiler or two) | |
| Last Edit: sergius 08:34 pm EDT 10/08/23 | |
| Posted by: sergius 08:26 pm EDT 10/08/23 | |
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| CRAZY FOR YOU—Charlie Stemp, who is not yet 30, is a rare commodity: a male musical comedy star. It’s hard to think of a contemporary, American or British, who’s as skilled and as charming a singer and dancer. I’ve never seen CRAZY FOR YOU so shame on me because it’s entirely winning. This is, I take it, a reproduction of Stroman’s original work, and it’s easy to see why it put her on the map; the level of movement invention is high throughout. I’m generally grumpy about jukebox musicals, but if CRAZY FOR YOU can be considered an early version of one, there have since been few as good that I’m aware of. Through and through, the show’s a tonic. Stemp was a fine Barnaby in HELLO, DOLLY! a few years ago. Broadway should get him back pronto. OPERATION MINCEMEAT—Hugely popular in London, its charm eluded me entirely. Obviously indebted to SIX and its ilk—and to HAMILTON especially—it feels like scrappy, collegiate improv at best. It didn’t help that the sound balance was terrible, the musicians and the performers battling for preeminence throughout. I heard about two thirds of this lyric driven show which, though frustrating, was maybe plenty. In fairness, the audience seemed mad for it. Maybe it’s a British thing. PRIVATE LIVES—Having seen Maggie Smith in this light years ago, I’m forever spoiled. She is, of course, a deeply idiosyncratic actor which, to me, PRIVATE LIVES needs to come across. Patricia Hodge and Nigel Havers are competent but uninteresting; they’re not scathing enough. The play’s polite sadism seems mostly lost on them, or beneath them, and so the play tarries when it should thrust. For Coward, love can be an especially savage variety of doom eagerness. His wit is often cruelty barely disguised. This production is closer to drawing room comedy than to the rapier satire it’s meant to be. VANYA—There’s no compelling reason to rewrite Chekhov of course. His world of sorrow is always entire; everyone is wholly and uniquely alone. Here everyone is singular: Andrew Scott plays all the characters and he’s tremendous. If, expectably, the play loses some depth in this effort, what’s astonishing is how Scott accumulates a spectrum of feelings and bounds between them so that all the sorrows of man are, well, all the sorrows of man. At one point he sings “If You Go Away” and it’s as shatttering as it is surprising. This take on UNCLE VANYA is either a gimmick or an effective conceit. To me, nothing can dull Chekhov’s greatness, so I’m happy to see his work boldly reconfigured. VANYA beautifully illustrates how we all struggle to feel like one person when we know we are several. PYGMALION—Another revision—there are a lot of adventurous British directors working today and they seem well supported which is encouraging—this one directed by Richard Jones. His is a cold, clinical take—the scenic design is especially confused and ugly—and it sputters off in too many directions, but Shaw’s brilliance is hard to dim. The two leads, Bertie Carvel and Patsy Ferran especially, manage finally to draw you into Shaw’s great disquisition on the perils of middle class morality. And of masculine authority. It’s possible I have never actually seen PYGMALION, so, despite some wrong turns, I was very happy to see this. DR. SEMMELWEIS—An unlikely, riveting play about the discovery of, basically, bacteria. Mark Rylance, singularly committed and arresting as always, helped to put this together and the result, which effectively combines science with dance and music, is oddly compelling. Semmelweis is credited with discovering the importance of hand washing (timely of course) in the prevention of disease—septis—and death. Rylance, as the not so mad doctor/scientist on a mission to stem the deaths of pregnant women who were routinely dying at the (unclean) hands of the men delivering their children, never sacrifices credibility for all his remarkable invention. Women killed in the service of men’s intransigence is a shocking story but, sadly, still not an unbelievable one. OLD FRIENDS—It seems strange that NY has yet to see a proper tribute to Sondheim like this one—Bernadette Peters should not have to go to London to celebrate him—but here we are. This is exactly what you think it will be and what you want it to be: an exhilarating procession ‘of songs demonstrating Sondheim’s sublime, ceaseless musical intelligence. And his great, ambivalent heart. The revue format works better in the second half than the first when it’s more contextually jarring—content dictates form except in a revue—but it’s no matter. The singing—and the sound!—is terrific. Unsurprisingly, it’s Peters’ presence (dear, game) that provides the emotional weight, even as her vocal capacity is now diminished. Salonga is a strong but somewhat colorless singer. The show pulls the stops out—how many stops are there?—over and over. It’s exhausting. And, at the end, intensely moving. HAMNET—The Royal Shakespeare Company provides a proficient version of Maggie O’Farrell’s rich, grief soaked novel, but it’s lifeless, all bones, no flesh. Lolita Chakrabarti, who also made LIFE OF PI smaller than its source, summarizes things neatly but the play lacks feeling. It’s the epitome of prestige theatre: handsome and staid. Nothing’s at stake here. I’m drawn to stories about Shakespeare’s life and times—how did Shakespeare even happen?—but this was a disappointment. Will and Agnes (Ann) deserve better. THE FATHER AND THE ASSASSIN—This is one of those big, history plays the National Theatre does so well. It’s about the circumstances surrounding Ghandi’s assassination as told by his assassin, Hiran Abeysekera here and terrific. If you don’t know this history, the play might be somewhat hard to follow but, because this sort of story is more often than not the same story, the trajectory is clear. Everyone here is fully committed. The play has more size and scope than depth, but it’s a work of passion and dedication. SUNSET BOULEVARD—Lights, camera, action! Literally. Jamie Lloyd has hijacked SUNSET BOULEVARD and made it interesting. Suddenly, and strictly speaking, it’s sensational: you feel every which way watching it. It’s entirely audacious, sometimes lunatic, and completely thrilling. Nicole Scherzinger is a wildly incongruous—the point clearly—and spectacular Norma Desmond. Lloyd pretty much recalibrates—no, torches—the show except for her two big numbers (a précis of the entire story) which she delivers powerfully to put it very, very mildly. This SUNSET BOULEVARD is predictably spare—a Lloyd trademark—and proves the adage: less is (way, way) more. It’s the kind of show you watch with your mouth open. If more theatre were this bold, this committed to being startling, superlatives would be meaningless. But because theatre is so often not challenging, we need superlatives for when it is. So dust them off. There is no chance this doesn’t get to NY. If not you could use your miles. |
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| re: LONDON Last Week (Very long and maybe a spoiler or two) | |
| Posted by: theaterisok 06:09 pm EDT 10/09/23 | |
| In reply to: LONDON Last Week (Very long and maybe a spoiler or two) - sergius 08:26 pm EDT 10/08/23 | |
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| This is a great list, but it is such a shame you missed The Little Big Things at the Soho. | |
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| CRAZY FOR YOU | |
| Posted by: dbg 03:59 pm EDT 10/09/23 | |
| In reply to: LONDON Last Week (Very long and maybe a spoiler or two) - sergius 08:26 pm EDT 10/08/23 | |
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| What a wonderful report, Sergius. I planned a few days in London in August around seeing CRAZY FOR YOU, a show I've enjoyed many times over the years, including the original Broadway and London productions. Charlie Stemp is everything you say, a genuine star, who is an incredible singer, dancer and actor, totally ideal for this role. Fans of stopping by stage doors afterwards will find him a delight. He talked at length with small groups and gladly posed for photos, and by posed I mean he said, "Lets go over here, where the lighting is much better." If the show transfers to New York, he must come over with it. Susan Stroman's direction is, as it was in 1993, flawless. We lucked out getting third row center stalls for 45 pounds, part of a "Senior Summer Sale" promotion. | |
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| re: CRAZY FOR YOU | |
| Posted by: sergius 04:12 pm EDT 10/09/23 | |
| In reply to: CRAZY FOR YOU - dbg 03:59 pm EDT 10/09/23 | |
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| Glad you enjoyed it, dbg. I'm pretty sure Stroman only did the choreography for the original production. Mike Ockrent, her husband who subsequently died, was the director. I have heard that a transfer of this production might be possible. I think NY would love Stemp. I first saw him in DICK WHITTINGTON, a 2017 panto at the London Palladium. He was a standout then as well. | |
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| re: CRAZY FOR YOU | |
| Posted by: JereNYC (JereNYC@aol.com) 04:42 pm EDT 10/09/23 | |
| In reply to: re: CRAZY FOR YOU - sergius 04:12 pm EDT 10/09/23 | |
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| Stemp was a terrific replacement Barnaby in the most recent HELLO, DOLLY! revival, and I was so curious about why he was doing it, as he was already becoming something of a name in London, and how the production justified hiring a non-American for this role. | |
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| re: LONDON Last Week (Very long and maybe a spoiler or two) | |
| Last Edit: sf 09:01 am EDT 10/09/23 | |
| Posted by: sf 08:44 am EDT 10/09/23 | |
| In reply to: LONDON Last Week (Very long and maybe a spoiler or two) - sergius 08:26 pm EDT 10/08/23 | |
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| Pygmalion - no, it's not the most conventionally attractive set design, but there's nothing confusing about it. The set is deliberately reminiscent of an audio lab - hence the soundproofing on all the walls and the speakers above all the doors. It's a VERY obvious visual metaphor. Sunset Boulevard - I saw it Friday night. Yes, thrilling, but one of those rather intellectually sloppy productions where it's probably best not to think too hard about what the director's concept is trying to say. It's dazzling to look at, and enormously entertaining, but Lloyd hasn't thought every element through as well as he thinks he has, he sometimes leans too hard on arch self-referential touches, and one (admittedly spectacular) sequence was nicked directly from Ivo van Hove's staging of Network. Overall, yes it's an astonishing reinvention of the show, but it isn't unimpeachable. The singing is superb, though, and Scherzinger is great (so is Tom Francis as Joe Gillis), and yes, I'm sure it'll end up in New York. And in particular - Scherzinger takes the final verse of With One Look in the original key, and I don't think I've ever heard anyone sing it better than she did. And I saw every one of the ladies who played Norma in the original London production. |
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| re: LONDON Last Week (Very long and maybe a spoiler or two) | |
| Posted by: sergius 09:41 am EDT 10/09/23 | |
| In reply to: re: LONDON Last Week (Very long and maybe a spoiler or two) - sf 08:44 am EDT 10/09/23 | |
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| Yes, an audio lab of course. But this proved a distinctly unmalleable choice where the play's other scenes were concerned. As for SUNSET BOULEVARD, intellectually sloppy to be sure and van Hove is a clear influence, but Lloyd's intrepid and I appreciate that. As I said, he made the show interesting, visceral even, which I didn't think was possible. | |
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| re: LONDON Last Week (Very long and maybe a spoiler or two) | |
| Posted by: sf 12:19 pm EDT 10/09/23 | |
| In reply to: re: LONDON Last Week (Very long and maybe a spoiler or two) - sergius 09:41 am EDT 10/09/23 | |
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| I didn't find the audio lab setting an "unmalleable" choice in Pygmalion in the scenes outside Higgins's house, actually - rather, it underscored the huge issue at the centre of his character, which is that he mostly sees other people as *objects* for him to study, which means he is incapable of considering the consequences of his experiment - which in turn amplifies the play's dissection of class boundaries. It's a very clever take on it. | |
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| re: LONDON Last Week (Very long and maybe a spoiler or two) | |
| Last Edit: Delvino 08:05 am EDT 10/09/23 | |
| Posted by: Delvino 08:02 am EDT 10/09/23 | |
| In reply to: LONDON Last Week (Very long and maybe a spoiler or two) - sergius 08:26 pm EDT 10/08/23 | |
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| Especially intrigued to get the report on the new Semmelweis. I saw the ill-fated Semmelweiss (different spelling) by Howard Sackler at the Kennedy Center in my youth, this very week, October 1978. In three acts and 19 scenes, running just under three hours, it was, to say the least, ambitious. But to my young eyes and ears, a great, harrowing story, if anything almost too well told. It had a self-annotating quality. But I never forget its power, and that production, starring Colin Blakely in the exhausting title part, Lee Richardson, Stefan Gierasch, Patricia Routledge, Barton Heyman, Maureen Silliman. It received lukewarm press and never arrived. I could never shake it, and pleased to learn that this new telling seems to have solved the storytelling problems in the subject's DNA. For what it's worth, this trip and the Private Lives mention offered me time travel: I saw Maggie Smith in the Coward play in June 1973 in London. I'd only seen Brodie, and I'll never forget her Amanda, opposite John Standing. I've never been able to hear anyone else's and recreate the experience. It's a devilishly hard play to nail, its zingers are well known but it has a lot of talky ground to cover to highlight them. Without an explosion at its center - which Smith was - it can feel almost staid and self-indulgent. And as noted, not all that funny. It remains my introduction to Smith, still a career defining performance. |
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| re: LONDON Last Week (Very long and maybe a spoiler or two) | |
| Last Edit: KingSpeed 02:28 am EDT 10/09/23 | |
| Posted by: KingSpeed 02:27 am EDT 10/09/23 | |
| In reply to: LONDON Last Week (Very long and maybe a spoiler or two) - sergius 08:26 pm EDT 10/08/23 | |
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| CRAZY FOR YOU is not a jukebox musical and it's not even the first "new" Gershwin musical. MY ONE AND ONLY essentially did the same thing several years later. Thanks for your review though. Should I fly to London to see SUNSET? Sounds very exciting. Will it lose anything on its way here? | |
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| re: LONDON Last Week (Very long and maybe a spoiler or two) | |
| Posted by: sergius 06:24 am EDT 10/09/23 | |
| In reply to: re: LONDON Last Week (Very long and maybe a spoiler or two) - KingSpeed 02:27 am EDT 10/09/23 | |
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| I wasn't sure whether CRAZY FOR YOU could be considered a jukebox musical. On research, it seems some say yes, others no. As for SB, it was indeed very exciting and, if it comes here, I doubt anything will be lost in translation. It's very wild so don't fly to London if brash--really brash--reinterpretations aren't for you. | |
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| re: LONDON Last Week (Very long and maybe a spoiler or two) | |
| Last Edit: bway1430 01:31 am EDT 10/09/23 | |
| Posted by: bway1430 01:29 am EDT 10/09/23 | |
| In reply to: LONDON Last Week (Very long and maybe a spoiler or two) - sergius 08:26 pm EDT 10/08/23 | |
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| I couldn't agree with you more on OPERATION MINCEMEAT and you described it perfectly when you wrote 'scrappy, collegiate improv at best'. Glad you loved SUNSET...its that rare show here with actual buzz/excitement surrounding it with everyone I know who has seen it calling it a "must see". We have booked to see it in December with Rachel Tucker (we love her work) and am curious as to what the reviews will be like. Glad you enjoyed your trip. |
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| Shame about Private Lives | |
| Posted by: DistantDrumming 01:14 am EDT 10/09/23 | |
| In reply to: LONDON Last Week (Very long and maybe a spoiler or two) - sergius 08:26 pm EDT 10/08/23 | |
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| That was on my London shortlist for my late November / early December trip. Do you think audiences with zero Coward experience might enjoy it more than you did? Totally subjective I know, but I might as well ask. No one in my group has seen a Coward play before. | |
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| re: Shame about Private Lives | |
| Posted by: sergius 06:16 am EDT 10/09/23 | |
| In reply to: Shame about Private Lives - DistantDrumming 01:14 am EDT 10/09/23 | |
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| Yes, I think someone who hasn't seen Coward before would probably like it. It's not terrible, just bland. Here's a brief clip of Smith: | |
| Link | https://vimeo.com/812830734 |
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| re: Shame about Private Lives | |
| Posted by: bicoastal 02:43 pm EDT 10/09/23 | |
| In reply to: re: Shame about Private Lives - sergius 06:16 am EDT 10/09/23 | |
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| I saw Smith in Private Lives on spring break 1975. I had never seen a Coward show but I knew and loved her, and I remember loving how physical her performance was. Would this clip indicate the entire production is recorded and hidden away somewhere? | |
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| re: Shame about Private Lives | |
| Posted by: sergius 04:05 pm EDT 10/09/23 | |
| In reply to: re: Shame about Private Lives - bicoastal 02:43 pm EDT 10/09/23 | |
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| A good question. Seems like there might be, but I couldn't find it. | |
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| re: Shame about Private Lives | |
| Posted by: FinalPerformance 07:07 am EDT 10/09/23 | |
| In reply to: re: Shame about Private Lives - sergius 06:16 am EDT 10/09/23 | |
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| Saw it with Smith and Maggie & cast hit it out of the park. Also saw it on Broadway with Joan Collins which didn't have much of a punch sad to say. | |
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| Felt like I was there! | |
| Posted by: Genealley 11:48 pm EDT 10/08/23 | |
| In reply to: LONDON Last Week (Very long and maybe a spoiler or two) - sergius 08:26 pm EDT 10/08/23 | |
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| Thanks so much, sergius! | |
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| re: LONDON Last Week (Very long and maybe a spoiler or two) | |
| Posted by: berksons 10:55 pm EDT 10/08/23 | |
| In reply to: LONDON Last Week (Very long and maybe a spoiler or two) - sergius 08:26 pm EDT 10/08/23 | |
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| Delightful wrap-up. Thank you. | |
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