THESE ARE A FEW OF MY FAVORITE ... PLAYS (the Honor Roll) - PART 3

THESE ARE A FEW OF MY FAVORITE ... PLAYS (the Honor Roll)

PART 3

In earlier posts I've chatted about my top ten plays. In the next two posts, I'll talk about the fifteen shows that round out my current top 25, aka The Honor Roll. Like any list of "bests," this has changed over the years, some plays added while others subtracted. And, also like the top ten plays, I've not seen a professional production of all of them, but they do rank among my top 25, so they deserve a mention. Let's get started.

THE LITTLE FOXES by Lillian Hellman

Elizabeth Taylor's Broadway debut in this glorious play about ambition and greed has already been featured in an earlier post. 

THE PARIS LETTER by Jon Robin Baitz

June, 2005. Internalized homophobia, the fear of being gay, financial shenanigans, illicit affairs and the complexities of friendship, love and marriage are the major elements of Jon Robin Baitz's sprawling story which spans 40 years and moves fluidly from one decade to another and then back again…a theatrical time machine. Director Doug Hughes had the good sense to cast an amazing group of actors who worked as an ensemble to bring Baitz's challenging and thought-provoking play thrillingly to life. In less capable hands, this could easily have turned into a messy affair, but with John Glover (in yet another outstanding performance), Daniel Eric Gold, Jason Butler Harner, Michelle Pawk (one of the theatre's great underutilized talents, despite winning a Tony Award. People, get with the program!) and Ron Rifkin onstage, well, let me put it this way, it was an honor to be a member of their audience. Roundabout Theatre Company is one of the nation's finest resident companies. There's a reason for that. - at the Laura Pels Theatre, New York 

VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE by Christopher Durang

The newest addition to the top 25, Durang's 2013 Tony-winning Best Play was also featured in an earlier post. An outstanding example of how humor can so brilliantly illuminate our fears, hopes, disappointments and love of life.

THE SUM OF US by David Stevens

January, 2009. Story time. Back in the summer of 2008, Bob was all set to direct The Lion in Winter for a company, now defunct…and defunct for good reason, in Oak Park, IL, a Chicago suburb famous for an abundance of Frank Lloyd Wright architecture. When the company's artistic director finally got around to applying for the rights, however, he discovered that the amateur rights were frozen and would be frozen for an indefinite time. Oops. Plan B.

     Bob next chose David Stevens' lovely, touching and often funny play about a Australian dad and his gay son and the woman and gardener who come into their lives. I've long admired the honesty and charm  of The Sum of Us. Back when it was performed off-Broadway in 1990, back when AIDS infections and deaths were peaking, the unconditional parental acceptance and love shown by Harry toward his gay son Jeff were rarely, if ever, seen onstage or on the screen. In its modest way, this was an important and groundbreaking work. If at times the emotions seem a bit simplistic, they are never less than true. More than twenty years later, it still resonates with warmth and love.

     I digress. The play was cast, the initial read-through was held and the set was being built. Bob was excited. The artistic director was excited. And then without warning, the warm, supportive attitude at the theatre deteriorated quickly from good to bad to worse to, finally, toxic. No rhyme, no reason. For whatever reason, they wanted Bob and the play out and Bob was more than eager to comply. The partially built set was left onstage…a sad testament to a shattered dream…and Bob left. The show was cancelled and that was that. Or so we all thought. Plan C was just around the corner.

     In the fall of 2008, Bob turned sixty and, well, you just don't turn sixty without some sort of celebratory acknowledgment. I hate giving parties. Hate it. I'm no good at it. I can manage a dinner party just fine, but a party party? Nope. Not in this boy's repertoire.  So I gave Bob a choice: a party or a production of The Sum of Us. I know my Bobby, so I knew what the answer would be. Before you could say "David Merrick," I was a producer. Our friend Michael, brilliant as Harry, by the way, found a theatre for us for a ridiculously low rent while the theatre was dark for six weeks. We formed an ad hoc production company, obtained the rights, recast the show, got our designers back on board and just like Mickey and Judy, put on a show!

     Surprise! Shock! We received excellent reviews and played to full houses. The cast was magnificent and overall, it was a great experience. Remarkable for a premiere production for a new company, had our agreement with the theatre not included a portion of the gate, we would have made…a profit! I now have a deep and abiding respect for producers and company managers. The amount of work behind-the-scenes necessary to get an audience, press, etc. is daunting, to put it mildly. To date this is the only show from 1027 Productions, but who knows what the future will bring? - at Piccolo Theatre, Evanston

PETER AND THE STARCATCHER by Rick Elice

May, 2012. I'm mad about this incredible show. Someone told us the day before we saw Peter that seeing this show would just make us feel like better people. And you know what? She was absolutely right. Funny, poignant, smart, farcical, beautifully staged and wonderfully acted, this ranks among the finest shows I've seen in a long time. And the beginning of Act Two? Let me just say that alone is worth the price of admission. The show appeals to all ages. If the text is perhaps a bit too adult for children, the youngsters in the house loved the antics onstage. Seated by us was a group of special needs young adults and they were completely enthralled. Christian Borle won a well-deserved Tony Award for his hysterical and just-this-side-of-over-the-top performance as Black Stache. Celia Keenan-Bolger was a tart and sassy Molly. The handsome and talented Adam Chanler-Berat was a charming and sometimes clueless Boy, the perfect foil to Ms. Keenan-Bolger and Mr. Borle. And kudos to the rest of the talented ensemble. We'd see Greg Hildreth and Carson Elrod this year (2013) in other shows. Simply wonderful. - at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre, New York 

BENT by Martin Sherman

very young Richard Gere, David Dukes and David Marshall Grant. And check out James Remar! He was quite the hot little thing, wasn't he?

February, 1980. Martin Sherman's disturbing play about the persecution of gays by the Nazis starred a 30-year-old Richard Gere in his final (to date) appearance on Broadway. In 1980, Gere was starting to make a name for himself in film (Bent was before "American Gigolo" and "An Officer and a Gentleman"), but his star was high enough to warrant above-title billing and, let me be absolutely clear about this, he delivered the goods and then some. He gave a layered and nuanced performance as a man willing to do despicable things to stay alive before he comes to realize that sometimes taking a stand and being willing to die for that stand is worth far more than life. This was one of the first, if not the first, plays to explore the Nazi persecution of homosexuals and exposed yet another of the horrors unleashed by the evil known as the Nazi Party. The audience was riveted. The scene in Act Two where Gere's character, Max, and Horst, played in a remarkable performance by the late David Dukes, achieved mutual sexual orgasm by talking while standing completely still on opposite sides of the stage ranks as one of the most powerful single scenes I have ever seen in a play. Devastating. By the time the play ended, I was completely shattered. Along with Gere and Dukes,  the outstanding cast included David Marshall Grant, Ron Randell, George Hall, Gregory Salata and a young and briefly naked James Remar (Dexter's dad, Harry) making his Broadway debut. (Fun factoid: when the Apollo Theatre returned to the legit fold, the entrance was moved from W. 42nd Street to W. 43rd Street and the theatre was christened the New Apollo Theatre, possibly in an attempt to distance itself from its past as a grind house for B action movies. It's return to legitimate theatre was short-lived, however, and it closed its doors in 1983. Architectural features of the Apollo/New Apollo and the Lyric Theatres were incorporated into the design of the present Foxwoods Theatre which occupies the site of both former houses.) - at the New Apollo Theatre, New York

M. BUTTERFLY by David Henry Hwang 

          

October, 2004. David Henry Hwang's provocative 1988 Tony-winning play has it all: sex, politics, espionage, gender-bending and it's all wrapped up in a package that's thought-provoking, disturbing and even a little shocking. Arena Stage in Washington can usually be relied upon to deliver the proverbial theatrical goods and they certainly did with this classy production staged by Tazewell Thompson in their arena space which gave the show both an expansiveness and an intimacy necessary for this play. Compelling leading performances by Stephen Bogardus and J. Hiroyuki Liao, in an impressive professional debut, were supported by a first-rate company of actors. One of the really great things about M. Butterfly is that it doesn't wrap everything up in a nice, neat package. It's raw. It's dangerous. It's pretty damn wonderful. - at the Arena Stage (Fichandler Theatre), Washington, D.C.

AUNTIE MAME by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee

I've only seen the movie, which is pretty much a filmed version of the play, and which, thankfully, preserves Rosalind Russell's iconic performance as everyone's favorite aunt. I've long been a huge fan of author Patrick Dennis' books, the source for this play and the subsequent musical (a top 25 musical). Dennis' books and this classic adaptation by Lawrence and Lee are funny, often insightful and so life-affirming that you simply can't help but feel good after reading the books and/or watching the play or movie. Amazingly, Auntie Mame has never had a Broadway revival. I know, surprising, isn't it? And given its large production and cast requirements, it's quite possible there never will be since the cost would be almost prohibitive for a straight play in today's economic environment. A shame, too, since Auntie Mame would be a perfect antidote for today's often joyless social-political-economic times. (Fun factoid: Greer Garson and Beatrice Lillie also played Mame during its Broadway run.)

Check in next time for the rest of the honor roll. In the meantime, go see a play. Enjoy a musical. Go to the theatre!