THESE ARE A FEW OF MY FAVORITE ... PLAYS (the Honor Roll) PART 4

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

PART 4

Finishing up my top twenty-five plays with the remainder of the plays on my Honor Roll. Drum roll, please!

 THE LION IN WINTER by James Goldman

Although for some unknown reason I've never seen a professional production of this, I played John, the youngest son, in a production at Fort Sheridan, IL, decades ago. It wasn't pretty. More on that in a later post. Goldman's sparkling take on a festive Christmas gathering with Henry II, Eleanor of Aquitaine and their dysfunctional brood is perhaps sometimes too clever for its own good, perhaps sometimes pushes too hard for the comic line, but it's never boring and is often fascinating in the familial machinations that are second nature in this royal household. This 12th century tale of deception, power, intrigue and, yes, even enduring, if skewed, love oddly enough did not fare especially well in its 1966 Broadway debut, tallying only 92 performances. It was the 1968 film with Katharine Hepburn and Peter O'Toole that catapulted this play to great success. Since then, probably every college, regional theatre and community theatre in North America has produced the play. 

AMADEUS by Peter Shaffer

Boring computer-generated ticket. I still miss the old ticket rack tickets.

April, 1983. One of the great plays of the latter part of the 20th century, Shaffer's sprawling tale of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Salieri was a triumph of phenomenal writing, seamless direction by Peter Hall, sumptuous design by John Bury and exquisite acting by a cast headed up by the late John Wood, who was one of the finest actors of his generation, as Salieri and Mark Hamill, in a surprisingly agile and top-notch performance, as Mozart, proving that his acting skills went far beyond those on display as Luke Skywalker. A remarkable afternoon in the theatre. Bob has long wanted to direct this. I have long wanted him to direct this. (Fun factoid: John Woods had a very prolific career in television, film and the theatre. One of his films, oddly enough, is the quirky and fun "Jumpin' Jack Flash," in which he plays the nasty, KGB agent who works undercover at the NYC British consulate and is very, very mean to our heroine, Terry, played by Whoppi Goldberg in classic "early Whoppi" style.) - at the Blackstone Theatre, Chicago

BREAKING THE CODE by Hugh Whitemore

Regrettably, I've yet to see a production of Mr. Whitemore's exceptional play about the heroic mathematician and pioneering computer scientist, Alan Turing. A bit of history: Turing was responsible for breaking the Nazi Enigma code, which helped hasten the end of World War II. After the war, he focused on computer research and the viability of computers for everyday use. He was also homosexual, which resulted in a criminal prosecution for "gross indecency." He was found guilty, accepted chemical castration in lieu of prison, and committed suicide just shy of his 42nd birthday. In 2013, the British government posthumously granted Turing a pardon, 50 years too late for Mr. Turing, but significant nonetheless. Whitemore's play is sometimes a bit dense, a bit too scientific, yet it's also a thoughtful, engaging portrait of a brilliant, kind and gentle man caught in the homophobic traps of the era. Derek Jacobi originated the role in London and New York. I can only imagine how brilliant he was. (Can't find a VHS/DVD of the 1996 television adaptation, also featuring Jacobi.) This is the second play of Whitemore's to make my top 25. His Pack of Lies ranks at #3. Like that play, Breaking the Code places its characters in untenable situations and forces us, the audience and/or reader, to go and think outside of our comfort zones. 

ANGELS IN AMERICA: A GAY FANTASIA ON NATIONAL THEMES by Tony Kushner

April, 2011. ‎"Angels" marathon: I liked Part 1 ("Millennium Approaches") better. Sometimes, however, the actors yelled a bit too much for my tastes. I will burn in hell for this, but Part 2 ("Perestroika") needs some cutting. (Dear Tony, I don't care one iota about vacuum tubes. Love, Jeff) Part 1 flew by; Part 2 sometimes got bogged down. And sometimes, but very rarely, it was cocky in its own self-importance. But these are mere quibbles. This is a masterpiece. Full stop. No discussion needed. A stunning physical production in a seemingly limited space gave the play a terrific environment. Michael Grief gets low bows and kudos for his superb direction. This truly was a not-to-be-missed experience and a day well-spent with ideas, often great dialogue, and terrific actors.  The Ethel Rosenberg scenes were appropriately creepy and among my favorites. And let's hear it for the ensemble acting that raised the bar to the stratosphere. Michael Urie proved he's not just the funny gay boy from "Ugly Betty" by demonstrating some solid acting chops.  Bill Heck as Joe Pitt and Jonathan Hadary as Roy Cohn were charismatic. Billy Porter, Adam Driver, Sofia Jean Gomez, Keira Keeley and Lynne McCollough rounded out this amazing cast. I am still in awe. - at the Signature Theatre (Peter Norton Space), New York

THE VISIT by Friedrich Dürrenmatt

I first discovered Dürrenmatt's sardonically comic and thoroughly chilling tale of revenge in 4th level high school German class when I read the play in the original German. Fascinating auf Deutsch, fascinating in an English translation. Like Auntie Mame, the Kander and Ebb musical version of the play ranks in my top 25 as well. Sadly, I've never seen the original play. In today's often hostile, greedy, and money-driven society, the time is ripe for a first class revival. (Last NYC revival was over 20 years ago.) While reading the play, I laughed. I gasped. I shook my head in disgust. Dürrenmatt presents a number of themes in the play, but first and foremost, he asks the question: what would you do for money? Does everyone have a price? According to Dürrenmatt, the answer is yes. Essential reading.

THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST by Oscar Wilde

August, 1995. This elegant and very, very funny play, when performed well, is a delicious bon-bon of wit and manners. Bob and I were totally enchanted by Roundabout's production starring and directed by Brian Bedford in 2011. Sixteen years earlier, I had the pleasure of seeing the Birmingham Repertory Theatre's production of Oscar Wilde's classic at the Old Vic in London. Roger Allam (Jack) and Philip Franks (Algernon) were both about twenty years too old for their parts, but carried it off well. Barbara Leigh-Hunt's Lady Bracknell was, in a word, delicious. What makes this play so remarkable is that over one hundred years later, it still manages to delight audiences with its gentle, or perhaps not so gentle, send-up of society of late 19th century London. It is arguably Wilde's masterpiece; it is a classic of the theatre. - at the Old Vic, London

THE CRUCIBLE by Arthur Miller

March, 2006. Fact: once you've seen The Crucible performed by a superb cast of adults, you will never think of Arthur Miller's classic as just another high school play. As produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company at their Stratford home, this was as compelling an afternoon in the theatre as I have ever spent. Miller's themes of fear, religious extremism, persecution, greed and revenge are, unfortunately, so timely in our current atmosphere of right-wing extremism (can you say Tea Party?) and disturbing distrust by many Americans of anything that isn't white, male and Christian. If anything, the play is even more relevant today than in 1953 when it debuted as an allegory of McCarthyism. The entire cast was excellent, but I must especially praise Iain Glen's powerful John Proctor, Helen Schlesinger's courageous Elizabeth Proctor and Darlene Johnson's unyielding Rebecca Nurse. (Sidebar: an acquaintance of mine, Ian Gelder, played Rev. Parris.) We were simply blown away. Powerful, powerful stuff. - at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon

So, there you have it. My top twenty-five plays. A recap, you say? Delighted to oblige. Here it is:

1)  Next Fall

2)  Burning Blue

3)  Pack of Lies

4)  Love! Valour! Compassion!

5)  The Boys in the Band

6)  Take Me Out

7)  My Night with Reg/The Day I Stood Still/Mouth to Mouth

8)  Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

9)  The Laramie Project

10)The History Boys

Honor Roll (in alphabetical order)

o Amadeus

o Angels in America

o Auntie Mame

o Bent

o Breaking the Code

o The Crucible

o The Importance of Being Earnest

o The Lion in Winter

o The Little Foxes

o M. Butterfly

o The Paris Letter

o Peter and the Starcatcher

o The Sum of Us

o Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike

o The Visit

Until later! Have a super Labor Day weekend!