WALKING IN A WEST END WONDERLAND - Part 1

WALKING IN A WEST END WONDERLAND

PART 1

The West End. Prior to my first visit to London in, gasp, 1972 (can it really be more than 40 years ago??), whenever I heard the term "West End," I conjured up images of well-dressed, sophisticated theatre-goers chatting, drinking and smoking in cozy, elegant pubs before dashing off to see the latest in scintillating theatre. I can't say the reality totally dashed my images, but it certainly was not the genteel haven of refinement that I had somehow envisaged.

What is the West End, you ask? Simply, and perhaps inaccurately, put, the West End is London's version of Broadway, though I suppose the Brits would say that Broadway is New York's version of the West End. Semantics aside, the West End is the heart of London's commercial theatre. (For the record, the Fringe is London's version of Off-Broadway or v.v.) It's a big, sprawling affair that goes from Victoria Station up to the top of Shaftesbury Avenue to Covent Garden to Soho to the Stand to the … well, you get the picture. The West End is not nearly as tidily arranged as Broadway.  London is a much older city than New York. Streets and sidewalks tend to be narrow and at curtain time, the area throbs with a very proper British insanity that can, at times, be a bit daunting.  And, be warned, London streets can be a warren, so a wrong turn can send you blocks away from your intended destination. I recommend keeping your London A-Z handy (or download the App). Day-of-performance discount tickets can be found at the TKTS booth in Leiceister Square and it works pretty much the same as it does in New York and no, you will not find tickets to The Book of Mormon at the booth, just like in New York. But it would be so wrong of me to give anyone the impression that the West End is just another Broadway, but with a British accent. It's so much more.

I freely admit I'm an Anglophile. I'm even more of a Londonphile. When I first arrived in London on that May morning in 1972, it was love at first sight. And the love affair continues unabated. For a number of reasons, it's been several years since I've spent time in this wonder of cities, and I'm not exaggerating when I say I actually ache to go visit. I love my hometown of Chicago and I truly "heart" New York, but with London, I feel a sense of belonging that is hard to describe. The weather can be horrid, the city is ridiculously expensive, everything is crowded and in the summer tourist season, it borders on bedlam, but there is also sense of wonder and discovery, of history, of stillness and peace, and of course the theatre! This remarkable city on the Thames is one of the two great theatre capitals in the world, the other being, not surprisingly, New York. (Note to my fellow Chicagoans…don't roll your eyes at me or start tsk-tsking. It's just the way it is. Deal with it.)

I thought it'd be fun to start this series of West End memories with my first West End experiences. Company, my first West End show, was highlighted in my first blog post. And The Mousetrap, also seen during that visit, was featured in an earlier post as well. The following shows filled the rest of that memorable week in May-June, 1972, back when I was young (21), a mere wisp of a thing, and when you could stay at a comfortable hotel with breakfast included (the Crescent on Cartwright Circle), eat and see lots of shows and sights for less than $100…and that was for the entire week!! Sigh!

Let's begin....

London theatre tickets at the time were different from what I was used to in the Colonies. As seen in this advert, the name of the show is not printed on the tickets, just the theatre name, date and time of performance, seat location and the price. I guess you just had to know what show you were seeing! These were the stubs from the two performances of Company I attended that week. 

(note: for Dietrich, it looks like the price increased from the printed 70p to a walloping 1 quid!!)

May, 1972.  I'm going to tell you a story and I swear on my parents' drawer it's true. Dietrich did NOT walk onstage. I don't how she got center stage, maybe she was flown down from the flies, maybe she just materialized, but the curtain was open, the lights were dim and I swear she was wheeled out on some sort of dolly. Don't roll your eyes. It's the truth! The woman did not move during the entire concert. Oh sure, she moved her hands, but she did not step one inch away from the microphone. Ever! (She held onto the mic during her bows.) I'm not sure how she left the stage. The curtain fell after what seemed like a million curtain calls, accompanied by much adoring screaming, and that was that. Dolly or not, she was freaking awesome! All glamour and all legend. Mesmerizing. She played at the Queen's Theatre…a most appropriate name for the venue, if you catch my drift. — at Queen's Theatre, London.

May, 1972. I have absolutely no recollection of this play at all. According to a web source, Alpha Beta is "about a marriage in terminal decline." Couldn't prove it by me. I'm certain the draw must have been the dual casting of Albert Finney, best known for playing the randy Tom Jones, and Rachel Roberts, a fine actress, but at the time probably most noted for being the most recent ex-Mrs. Rex Harrison. Finney continues to act to this day; Roberts tragically committed a rather gruesome suicide in 1980 at age 53. Playwright E.A. Whitehead was reasonably popular at the time and was the resident playwright at the Royal Court . This was his second play. There is no Wikipedia entry on him; and an Internet source indicates his most recent play was in 1977. Well, it was over forty years ago!  - at the Apollo Theatre, London

June, 1972. The British do love their sex farces and their saucy, but ultimately innocent, entertainments and No Sex, Please - We're British could safely be considered the quintessential British sex farce. The critics hated it, but it ran for a zillion years on the West End. (It was a big flop in a Broadway edition. I think it's safe to say the British sex farce doesn't cross the Pond very well.) The ridiculous plot had something to do with Scandinavian porn being sent to a young bride instead of Scandinavian glassware and the complications that ensued. It was silly, but modestly fun. The matinee audience at the Strand shrieked with laughter and a few gasps of titillated delight. I was somewhat less than enthusiastic. It was played with great gusto by a young Michael Crawford as the friend of the bridegroom whose muddles everything up and London theatre grand dame Evelyn Laye as the bridegroom's very proper mum. An agreeable enough way to spend the afternoon. - at the Strand Theatre, London

June, 1972. Taking a break from live theatre, I managed to see a couple of movies during my visit. To be truthful, I think it was primarily because I couldn't find a Friday matinee and the second film had a late showing. Whatever the case….

Film 1: The Music Lovers. Ken Russell's sumptuous and over-the-top film about Tchaikovsky was, and remains, a rather delicious bon-bon of sex, music, and really good scenery and costumes. Am I the only one, but did everyone in that film seem a bit (or more than just a bit) on the pervy side? The sequence with Glenda Jackson writhing naked on the floor of the train compartment and Richard Chamberlain's horrified reaction to it remains one of the most unforgettable and disturbing sequences on film. And the final visual of Glenda Jackson looking out from the barred window of the insane asylum is haunting. The theatre, a one-level house on Tottenham Court Road, was closed in 1976. - at the Berkeley Theatre, London

Film 2: Cabaret. What good is sitting alone in your room, indeed. In London, Cabaret was treated as a road-show film, with limited show times and reserved seating. The Prince Charles, located in Leicester Square, still exists, but it's now a repertory film house.  My seat in the Front Stalls was in the smoking section (an ashtray was conveniently provided in the seat back in front of me) and that picture was a perfect one to enjoy a cigarette or two. (I also had a G&T….civilized movie-going!). I digress. Back then, major motion pictures, like Cabaret, had souvenir programs with bios and pictures, just like their legit cousins. Now, I will say this only once. Cabaret the musical play and Cabaret the musical film are not the same show. They are first-cousins at best, but definitely not the same. The dramatic thrust is different, character treatments are very different, major characters from the play are deleted or relegated to bit status in the film and new characters added for the film, ditto with songs, etc. etc. It won a crapload of Oscars and it's a brilliant film; I just prefer the stage version. - at the Prince Charles Cinema, London

June, 1972. This musical version of Chaucer's classic didn't do well in New York, but was a 2000-odd performance smash in London. When I saw this, it was in its fifth year. Jessie Evans, the biggish name in the cast, was out that performance. I remember being unimpressed with the show to the point of boredom, but then, frankly, Chaucer's original didn't do it for me, either. Pretty much a miss. - at the Phoenix Theatre, London

June, 1972. A French Ravenal, an Illinois native as Magnolia ("and introducing Lorna Dallas as Magnolia"), a chorus of 38, 10 billed principals and a gorgeous physical design made this production of the Jerome Kern/Oscar Hammerstein II classic a sight to see and hear. It was quite the spectacle and just this side of being overproduced. Trust me on this…you haven't lived until you've heard a group of British chorus folk trying to wrap their tongues around a Southern drawl. I smiled a lot. Personally, I can take or leave Show Boat. The score is gorgeous and the story has something to say, but there's just something about it that seems, I don't know, flat. My reason for going was to see the late Kenneth Nelson, the fine actor who originated roles in The Fantasticks and The Boys in the Band. He became an London expat after his last New York show, Lovely Ladies, Kind Gentlemen failed rather spectacularly with lots of press and talk about the power of the critics, specifically the New York Times critic, a debate that continues to this day. He would have a successful career in the UK.  He died in 1993. - at the Adelphi Theatre, London

June, 1972. My debut week in London concluded with this tasty little thriller written by novelist/screenwriter/playwright Francis Durbridge and starring Gerald Harper, then a major UK telly star. Other names included Veronica Strong (another TV name), Terrence Longdon, and a young Penelope Keith, who would become a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2007. But look who's also listed…."international stage and TV star" Rula Lenska of VO5 fame! In 1971, she was just another working actress. She wouldn't become a United States TV personality until the late 70s. A quick read of her Wikipedia entry indicates she's worked constantly, often in "B" stuff, but, really, Rula, Celebrity Big Brother? Back to the play itself. While the details escape me, I do remember this being a suspenseful, involving play and enjoying it quite a lot. A suitable conclusion to a memorable visit. - at the Fortune Theatre, London

Cheers for now. See a play or musical this week. As always, comments welcome!

THESE ARE A FEW OF MY FAVORITE ... PLAYS (the top 10) - PART 1

THESE ARE A FEW OF MY FAVORITE ... PLAYS (the top 10)

PART 1

Unlike my top twenty-five musicals, I haven't seen professional productions of all of my top twenty-five plays.  Most of them, yes, but there are a few exceptions. So how, you ask, can a play be among my top 25 if I've not seen a production of it? Simple answer: the script itself. Musicals have cast albums and an outstanding cast recording can make even an average musical sound good. Very often that's what makes the first impression rather than the book of a musical. But a play is almost always just words and if the words aren't compelling, the play doesn't work no matter how brilliant the cast. Now let me state flat out that my favorites are not going to necessarily be your favorites. You might look at a title and say, "Really? You like that play?" You'll notice there's not a Shakespeare or a Stoppard or a Mamet or a Williams in the bunch and an absence of many of the so-called Bests. (Okay, I admit it. I don't give a crap about "Our Town.") And the list, like any "Bests" list, is a fluid thing. This list is not set in stone. I'm positive there will be plays in the future that will get top ten status and rankings will change.

So, then, how does a play make my list. That's easy to answer. The play has to, for lack of a better word, speak to me. It's more of an intuitive thing rather than a quantitative one. What does my gut tell me? How did I react to it? Many of the plays on my list have gay themes, plots or sub-plots. I'm a gay man and rightly or wrongly, I am drawn to plays with gay themes, plots or sub-plots. Sue me.

So…without further ado, the Top 10-Part 1

# 10 - THE HISTORY BOYS by Alan Bennett

 

January, 2008. This play about adolescence, sex, the role of education, the teaching of history and what history teaches us, and how young promise does not always translate into adult success is literate, funny, touching and moving. We saw the excellent film version first and this National Theatre production, with an impeccable replacement cast, surpassed the film. Seeing it live…well, there's just no substitute. Terrific performances by everyone. I loved every minute of it. Truly remarkable. - at Wyndham's Theatre, London

June, 2009. We were so looking forward to this production. TimeLine Theatre Company is one of the finest in Chicago and one of the actors from Bob's production of The Sum of Us was playing Dakin, the resident student stud. We figured TimeLine would do justice to this wonderful play. The critics certainly thought so and it ran and ran and ran for a total of six months or so and became TimeLine's biggest success. Sadly, however, we were less than impressed. The alley staging and the scenic design didn't do the show any favors as it scattered the focus too much. There was no joy in the production, no camaraderie between Hector and the boys or among the boys themselves and except for a nice job by the actor playing Posner, no one was even remotely interesting, including Donald Brearley's Hector, which just left me cold. Why was Hector so popular? There was absolutely no indication in Brearley's lackluster performance. Perhaps it was an off night. Perhaps we were spoiled by the flawless West End production. Whatever the case, we left at the interval. A rare misfire for TimeLine. - at TimeLine Theatre, Chicago

#9 - THE LARAMIE PROJECT by Moisės Kaufman and the Members of the Tectonic Theater Project

December, 2004. This is one play I must see performed by professional actors, but I rather doubt it would have the same emotional impact that this wonderfully acted high school production had.  Some background. In the spring of 2004, Bob and I were reading plays and searching for the perfect one for Bob to direct as his last directorial project as a high school teacher. (He retired at the end of the 2004-2005 school year.) I was reading this just to be reading it, but the minute I finished it, I handed it to Bob and said, "You must do this." Like me, he read it in one sitting and he was hooked. It took a bit of convincing, but the powers-that-be signed off on it and with a cast of 22 (!!), this was a fitting finale to Bob's teaching career and a tribute to his skill both as a director and as a theatre educator.  What makes this play so extraordinary? Let me quote what Bob wrote in his director's notes: "I chose The Laramie Project as my final production because it speaks to the very core of who we are - of the heights to which we can soar and the depths to which we can descend. The plays is a testament of the enduring human spirit." This is a remarkable piece of work. Remarkable because it creates something beautiful out of something so horrific it is almost beyond comprehension. Bravo, Mr. Kaufman. Bravo. (Note: we were honored to get permission from photographer Nanette Martin to use her moving photograph for our program cover.) - at the McGee Theatre, New Trier High School, Winnetka, IL 

#8 - WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? by Edward Albee

February, 2005. "We've played Humiliate the Host…we've gone through that one…what shall we do now? … How about…how about…Hump the Hostess?" By the time the curtain came down on this Broadway-bound revival of this legendary contemporary American theatre masterpiece, I was simultaneously exhausted and exhilarated.  Exhausted because, well, let's face it, spending time with George and Martha is exhausting. Exhilarated because, instead of being just braying, showboating, over-the-top characters, as portrayed by Kathleen Turner, Bill Irwin, Mireille Enos and David Harbour, they were infused with a humanity and a vulnerability that ultimately made the play sad, yet oddly hopeful and rather touching. A simply sensational performance by Bill Irwin earned him a well-deserved Tony Award. And while no one can really quibble with Cherry Jones' win for Doubt, I think the better choice would have been Kathleen Turner's phenomenal turn as Martha. I was impressed with the local production I saw decades earlier at the Ivanhoe with Eileen Herlie. This production simply blew me away. Curiously, the Playbill calls this "Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" Well, duh! Whose else would it be? This is a trend. Stop it. - at the Wilbur Theatre, Boston

#7 - MY NIGHT WITH REG/THE DAY I STOOD STILL/MOUTH TO MOUTH by Kevin Elyot

Three exceptional plays by the relatively unknown here in the States Kevin Elyot.  Each of them confronts loneliness, loss, love, unrequited love and the struggles of people just trying to live their lives.

aka Hugh Bonneville, aka the Earl of Grantham.  Looking pretty hot there, your Lordship!

August, 1995. Written and first produced during the height of the AIDS plague in the early-mid 1990s, I saw this during a time of great emotional upheaval, loss and sorrow and felt the pain these characters felt with an heightened awareness that made Elyot's fine comedy-drama seem personal. Crisp dialogue and acting together with an appropriate physical production and invisible direction made for a memorable, sad/funny evening. (Sidebar: before he started being Master of the House in the divine "Downton Abbey," Hugh Bonneville, then billed as Richard Bonneville, played Daniel in this production. Richard is his middle name.)- at the Playhouse Theatre, London

Spring, 1998. As performed in the National Theatre's intimate Cottesloe Theatre, this play lyrically moved between present and past with a fluidity that made this both an exceptional memory play as well as a exceptional modern play. The loneliness and the memory of unrequited love was almost palpable. As performed by its talented cast, this haunting evening ranks very high on my "best" list. - at the Cottesloe Theatre, London

Fall, 2008. When I first read Mouth to Mouth, I was blown away by it. I still am. It's a devastating work that slaps you when you least expect it, usually when you're laughing at one of Elyot's very funny lines. That's what I love about Elyot: his ability to make you laugh and then make you gasp in a beat. I love the play and thought I'd feel the same about this performance. I didn't. Oh, the acting was fine, especially David Cale and Lisa Emery, but there appeared to be a chilly efficiency to the whole affair that robbed the play of both its legitimate humor and its legitimately slimy creepiness. I felt I was watching really good actors play at characters rather than inhabit them. Really glad I saw it, but a bit disappointed. The play itself, however, is a winner. - at the Acorn Theatre (The New Group), New York

#6 - TAKE ME OUT by Richard Greenberg

August, 2003. This Tony Award-winning play for 2003 was a stunning, brilliantly acted play about baseball, life, prejudices and hope.  Daniel Sunjata, Neil Huff, Frederick Weller and Nat DeWolf (subbing for Denis O'Hare) delivered performances of nuance and great humanity, even when you didn't necessarily like the character (Mr. Weller played the show's bad guy.) Top-notch direction and superb production values were the icing on this cake. And, I would be remiss as a gay man if I didn't at least mention the nude shower scene. Prurient perviness aside, the scene was crucial to the plot, but it was an added bonus. Why is this in the top ten? Because it's an amazing play, a true home run! - at the Walter Kerr Theatre, New York.

That's it for now. What show are YOU seeing this week? Ciao!