Send in the Stars
Bernadette Peters and Elaine Stritch make ‘Night Music’
By Mark Peikert
What a difference a few months and two new cast members make. When I saw Trevor Nunn’s production of Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler’s A Little Night Music last December, I was blown away by both Catherine Zeta-Jones—who ended up winning a Tony Award for her performance as actress Desirée Armfeldt—and Alexander Hanson, as her married former lover Fredrik. The rest of this elegiac musical about lust and love, set in turn-of-the-last-century Sweden, felt serviceable at best, and egregious at worst. Having just seen the show with Bernadette Peters stepping in for Zeta-Jones and Elaine Stritch replacing Angela Lansbury, I still maintain that the revival is less than sparkling, but for different reasons. Read more
Review: Shakespeare in the Park
Pacino shines in ‘Merchant’; ‘Winter’s Tale’ intoxicates
Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice has meant very different things at very different times. It began its stage life with a comic Shylock in a false nose and evolved through the centuries into a drama of great pathos. But whether you see this play as a comedy or tragedy, Daniel Sullivan’s staging at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, starring Al Pacino as Shylock, is incisive and arresting. Read more
Summer Guide 2010: Theater
Marathon 2009
After 30 years, Ensemble Studio Theatre’s One-Act Play Festival is still going strong, with options ranging from the economy to a showdown between a nun and her most rebellious student. If unproven talent gets you down, the E.S.T. Festival is for you during the summer months.
May 22 through June 27, E.S.T., 549 W. 52nd St. (at 10th Ave.), 212-247-4982, www.ensemblestudiotheatre.org Read more
The Real Housewives of Brooklyn
When a play has so moving and complete an effect on audiences as Alan Brody’s Housewives of Mannheim, now at the 59E59 Theaters, news spreads fast. Many people have already seen this charming play when it was staged last year by the New Jersey Rep Company at Long Branch. Housewives, which is the first part of a trilogy, arrives in New York with its original cast. Read more
Second Chance for Star-Studded Theater
With a community-minded focus, drama in the basement of an East Side church
By Deirdre Donovan
In its heyday, the Jan Hus Theater, tucked in the basement of Jan Hus Presbyterian Church, has been the artistic home to the Light Opera of Manhattan and Chicago City Limits, featuring top-tier entertainers like Barbra Streisand, Robin Williams and Jerry Seinfeld. About four years ago, though, Chicago City Limits left for a new venue and the space fell somewhat fallow. Read more
In Search of the American Dream
By Deirdre Donovan
If it were not for Lauren Yee’s insight, Ching Chong Chinaman would just be another play about Asian Americans. But Lee punctures the old stereotypes in her new work, staged by the Pan Asian Repertory Theatre at the West End Theatre, and gives us a portrait of super-assimilated Asians in search of a fresh corner of the American dream. Read more
A ‘Rink’ Worth Revisiting
By Deirdre Donovan
The Rink: The title doesn’t exactly roar down memory lane, does it? When The Rink opened on Broadway in February 1984, it was widely seen as a flop and flippantly referred to by critics as “The Rank.” Even so, the musical had first-rate talents in co-stars Chita Rivera and Liza Minnelli, and skated on for 204 performances, including 29 previews. Rivera won her first Tony Award playing the Italian mom, and the Kander-Ebb music, if not the team’s best effort, had some likable melodies. Read more
Theater Thaw
By Deirdre Donovan
Setting aside the wonders of Broadway, The Gilbert & Sullivan Fest tucks in at City Center and the Off-Broadway scene is popping with a new play by Sam Shepard. Here’s a selective guide to some promising shows:
Off Broadway
59E59 Theaters: Just completing its popular “Brits Off Broadway” series Jan. 3, this up-and-coming arts complex has three productions waiting in the wings: Rough Sketch (opens Jan. 17), The Man in Room 306 (opens Jan. 20) and Happy Now? (opens Feb. 9). Want cutting-edge theater imported from all over the world? Interested in previewing shows that have gigs at the International Edinburgh Fringe Festival? Prefer fresh contemporary works to retooled classics? This theater is your best bet. 59 E. 59th St., 212-753-5959. Read more
No Small Fry
By Deirdre Donovan
When the going gets tough, this teacher goes to the Comic Strip Live Theater. Jack Freiberger’s new solo show, They Call Me Mister Fry, is a love letter to teachers, based on the true story of his first year as a 5th-grade teacher in South Central Los Angeles. Written by and starring Freiberger, this work combines the optimism of Patch Adams with the gritty reality of an inner-city classroom. Read more
A Zippy ‘Zero’
By Deirdre Donovan
If it takes a star to play a star, then toss some stardust on Jim Brochu, who brilliantly shines in Zero Hour at St. Clement’s Theater. Starring and written by Brochu, this new solo work is a kind of homage to Zero Mostel, the legendary actor who left an indelible mark on American theater.
Brochu, who first met Mostel backstage in 1962 during the run of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, learned first-hand that Mostel never minced words or tolerated fools. Read more
