LET'S START AT THE VERY BEGINNING – Episode 1
(a wholly-owned subsidiary of Alphabet Soup)
"Let's start at the very beginning/A very good place to start/When
you read you begin with A-B-C…"
Some memories from the start of the alphabet. A gimmicky
entertainment, a delicious Lillian Hellman play, a surprisingly good play about
gay relationships, a minor, and forgettable, Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, a
spectacular and provocative world premiere play, and a bonus show that takes
the audience 20,000 leagues, etc. etc. Let's begin.
My name, apparently, was "Paper, Paper." As in papering the house. And check out the seat location...prime.
The two alternating programs establishing the show's conceit.
March, 2010. Preview. When the actor playing a disgruntled
and prickly Stage Manager gets the biggest ovation of the afternoon with her
rendition of "And the World Goes Round" in a show that stars Michael
Feinstein and Dame Edna Everage, you know something is not right with the show.
And Jodi Capeless did exactly that. The show's premise was that Feinstein and
Dame Edna booked the same theatre for the same night for their respective solo
shows. Hokey, but okay, I'll buy it. This conceit even extended to the two
programs available, each featuring either Feinstein or Dame Edna. Clever. And
that is kind of where it ended. Separately, both were fine, and in Feinstein's
case, more than just fine, but together the two were not a match made in heaven. Opposites may attract in romance, but
not necessarily on stage. I would have been happy with an afternoon of just
Feinstein and the lovely onstage band. Dame Edna? Well, here's the thing. The
first time I saw Dame Edna, I was convulsed with laughter. The second time I
saw Dame Edna, I thought the entire show was too forced and too long. This, the
third time, did nothing to win me back to my initial enthusiasm. Yes, the Barry
Humphries creation can still toss off her share of zingers, but, this time
around, there was an element of same old-same old, of pushing too hard for the
laughs. I won the tickets an hour or so earlier by winning a Sondheim trivia
game hosted by Seth Rudetsky at the old Times Square Information Center next to
the Palace Theatre. This show was not on our radar, but, hey, a free ticket is
a free ticket, and we hadn't picked a show yet for the matinee, so… Enjoyable
enough, but nothing to write home about. Great tee shirt, though. All
About Me found favor with neither the critics nor the public and closed
after only 27 previews and 20 performances. – at the Henry Miller's Theatre,
New York
ANOTHER PART OF THE FOREST – Ivanhoe Theatre, Chicago
May, 1971. This was a divinely delicious evening of theatre
in the company of the Hubbards, that unprincipled and unsavory Alabama family
made famous in playwright Lillian Hellman's classic The Little Foxes. This prequel-after-the-fact had it all…greed,
deceit, hate…in a finely-acted, tightly-directed production by George Keathley.
One could feel the tension and the family dynamics in the intimate Ivanhoe
Theatre. John Saxon, hugely popular at the time, was the box office draw, but Keathley had the good sense to cast
his show with seasoned pros like Larry Gates and Nancy Coleman, and rising
newcomers like Mark Lamos, Rebecca Taylor, and, in an especially good
performance, Harriet Hall as a young, coolly savage Regina. She scared the crap
out of me! Praised by the critics, I was enthralled from start to finish. I've
long felt both Another Part of the Forest
and The Little Foxes should be
performed in repertory. A matinee/evening day with the Hubbards would be
bracing theatre indeed. – at the Ivanhoe Theatre, Chicago
Back in the Day: Chicago has always had a vibrant theatre scene,
second only to New York City. And then, as now, some theatres were
catch-as-catch-can while others were solidly reliable. The Ivanhoe was one of
the latter, often bringing star power to its intimate space on Wellington, now
a Binny's Beverage Depot. I still miss it.
AFTERGLOW – The Loft at the Davenport Theatre, New York
The late Davenport Theatre on W. 45th.
May, 2018. The provocative tag line stated "the climax
is just the beginning," and in the case of S. Asher Gelman's Afterglow, that was truth in
advertising. For as the curtain rose, or dropped in this instance, the three
men comprising the cast were discovered sprawled out on the bed, naked after an
apparently rather active and messy sexual threeway. In the course of the evening,
each gentleman got naked one or two more times. But, here's the thing...the
nudity was relevant and presented so nonchalantly, it was all rather a
non-issue as it should be. (Full disclosure: a non-issue after all of us gay
men in the audience, i.e. the vast majority of the folks there, took stock of
the actors', uh, credentials. Yeah..I'll go with that term.) The play itself had its ups and downs, but
overall it was a surprisingly good and often sensitive and affecting look at
marriage, love, sex, open relationships, and how what in theory should work, in
reality doesn't always when emotions are put into play. The intimate space at
the Davenport was perfect for this show. Nicely directed and designed, the
three talented men, Joe Chisholm, Brandon Haagenson, and David Merten, brought
it all to vibrant life. - at The Loft at the Davenport, New York
Let's Extend: Following favorable reviews and a strong box-office, Afterglow's original limited run was
extended multiple times until it finally closed after a run of over a year. The
show has had multiple regional productions, and a hugely successful London
edition.
R.I.P. Davenport Theatre: The two-stages Davenport Theatre closed
its doors at the end of January, 2019. Built in 1915 as an electric substation,
it later became a Masonic Lodge, and then in 1984 began a nearly 35-year run as
a theatre, first as Primary Stages, then the 45th Street Theatre, the New
Theatre at 45th Street, and finally the Davenport Theatre, operated by Broadway
producer Ken Davenport and named after his dad. Davenport said the closing was
due to the lease being up and the landlord either not willing or not able to
come to an agreement. The theatre portion of the building is now the New York
City Tango dance school. A loss for the off-Broadway community.
ASPECTS OF LOVE – Civic Theatre, Chicago
July, 1992. "Love, love changes everything/Hands and
faces, earth and sky/Love, love changes everything/How you live and how you die…"
I defy anyone seeing a performance of Aspects
of Love to leave the theatre without humming the ridiculously
earworm-inducing opening number. A huge hit when it premiered in London in
1989, it tanked in New York in 1990 and lost a crapload of money. Enter
director Robin Phillips, who mounted a slimmed-down version for Edmonton's
Citadel Theatre to critical acclaim, took it to Toronto, then brought it to the
States, where it kicked off its national tour at that lovely jewel box, the Civic Theatre. The show
spanned a period of 17 years, centering around a French actress, her daughter,
a handsome, young Englishman, his rakish uncle, and assorted members of
households and staff. Richard Christiansen, the chief critic of the Chicago Tribune at the time, who loved this operetta-like show, stated that it encompassed various aspects of love including
"amorous affairs of triangular and quadrangular dimensions, along with a
whiff of lesbianism and a touch of dirty old man." Well, okay, then! The
debonair Keith Michell played the rakish uncle and was every bit as suave and
sophisticated as one could ask for. Thirty-one-year-old Ron Bohmer was the
handsome, young Englishman and blessed with a gorgeous tenor and a compelling
stage presence. Linda Balgord, a Chicago and ALW favorite (she was Norma in the
first national company of Sunset
Boulevard, with Ron Bohmer as her Joe Gillis), played the French actress,
and, in my opinion, was a casting misstep. I never warmed to her, and, as a
result, didn't really care about her character. Plot-wise, although it was more
or less linear in its storytelling, the various sexual machinations gave me a
headache, and, to be honest, I was often a bit confused as to whom was sleeping
with whom. Sir Andrew's score was pleasant enough and eminently listenable, not
as bad as the future The Woman in White,
but not as good as the early Tim Rice collaborations. In the ensemble were future Broadway stars Anne L. Nathan and Brad Oscar. One of Steve's clients,
and a casual friend of ours, was the house manager of the Opera House and Civic
Theatre, and one of the perks of that relationship was that we got a lot of
comps, including one for this. Aspects of
Love's three-month run at the Civic was its last major booking. It would
close as a theatre and become a rehearsal hall, dressing rooms, and scenery
storage space for its big brother, the Civic Opera House. I loved that theatre,
gone, but not forgotten. – at the Civic Theatre, Chicago
AFTER INDEPENDENCE – Arcola Theatre, London
Senior Citizen rate: 14 quid. Could you die?
At the Arcola, no programs were distributed. Purchasing the script gave you all the program stuff.
Lobby pics. Our friend, Peter, is upper right.
May, 2016. World premiere and debut play of playwright May
Sumbwanyambe, After Independence's
plot revolves around a white Zimbabwean farmer during the second "land
reclamation" in 1998 under Robert Mugabe's rule. Filled with questions,
none of which have easy answers, if they have answers at all, this was an
exciting and powerful play. Does a new injustice make up for old injustices? Is
it a new injustice at all, or is it simply an overdue righting of wrongs, or is it a new form of discrimination and just as bad as the old? Is a
white Zimbabwean any less of a Zimbabwean than a black Zimbabwean? Throw into
the mix family dynamics and the meaning of independence. Not a happy play.
Brilliant lighting design. Simple, efficient set design. Fluid and unfussy
direction. Superb acting by a cast of four, including our dear friend, Peter
Guinness, this alone was worth our trip to a London. I want Bob to direct this
play. And here you thought we only went to musicals! – at the Arcola Theatre,
London
BONUS SHOW (because
it was mistakenly filed under "A")
20,000 LEAGUES UNDER
THE SEA – Lookingglass Theatre, Chicago
August, 2018. Psychopath seeks revenge. And that pretty much
sums up the plot of Lookingglass' 20,000
Leagues Under the Sea. Slow start with some muddy diction. Nifty physical
production, terrific lighting, some Cirque du Soleil-style rope stuff, and,
with one exception, good acting made for an enjoyable, if not at all
challenging, evening of theatre on a hot summer night. - at Lookingglass
Theatre, Chicago
And with that, I'll wind up today's post. More later.
© 2020 Jeffrey Geddes
No comments:
Post a Comment