FINIAN'S RAINBOW A REVIEW

If the music and dancing were enough this would be a much happier occasion, but there is a book too and time has not been very kind to it. That is the main problem with director/ choreographer Warren Carlyle's in and out revival of Finian's Rainbow. It has it's good points, mainly the still memorable music by Burton Lane and some of Yip Harburg's best lyrics, but the book that Mr Harburg wrote with Fred Saidy really does not hold up very well.
It is a fantasy about an old Irishman who comes to this country with a magic pot of gold which he has filched from a leprechaun and the trouble he get into. It must have been funny and satirical back in 1947 when it was first produced, and I thought it was enchanting in a 1960 Broadway revival, but in 2009 it's edge is gone, and at times it creaks with age.
The show is fine in it's musical sequences and the original orchestrations byRobert Russell Bennett and Don Walker and played by an exellent pit orchestra conducted by Rob Berman give the songs a rich full sound.
The cast is fine as well with Jim Norton and Kate Baldwin especially good as the Irishman and his daughter and Christopher Fitzgerald has fun as the leprechaun.
Every so often Finian's Rainbow does take off and become an enjoyable show,but for the most part this revival is firmly earthbound.
AT THE ST. JAMES THEATRE 246 WEST 44th STREET N. Y. C.

AIDA A BREIF THOUGHT

I attended Aida at the Met yesterday afternoon, and with this performance my belief that no one does grand opera like the Met was confirmed It was beautifully done in every way and conducted expertly by Daniele Gatti. Again, a memorable afternoon at the opera.
At THE METROPOLITAN OPERA HOUSE LINCOLN CENTER N. Y. C.

THE NEIL SIMON PLAYS___BRIGHTON BEACH MEMOIRS A REVIEW

What promises to be a very rewarding project is off to a great start with Brighton Beach Memoirs. Neil Simon's 1983 autobiographical memoir about his teenage years in Brooklyn in the late 1930s is being given an exquisite production by director David Cromer,and is superbly acted by a topnotch cast.
With just two Off Broadway shows [the musical Adding Machine and the current classic revival of Our Town] Mr. Cromer has become a major force on the New York theatre scene, and he has brought out all that is warm and endearing in Mr.Simon's wonderfully affectionate tribute to his teen years.
As already mentioned, Mr. Cromer has cast his production expertly. As Mr. Simon's alter ego Noah Robbins makes a smashing Broadway debut and Laurie Metcalf is excellent as his mother and everyone else is superb.
John Lee Beatty's scenery, Jane Greenwood's costumes, and Brian MacDevitt's lighting are as expert as everything else in this exquisitly tasteful production. Neil Simon should be very proud.
Brighton Beach Memoirs will be joined by Broadway Bound [about his start as a writer] on December 10th, and the two shows will alternate perfomances there after. I can't wait.
At THE NEDERLANDER THEATRE 208 WEST 41st STREET N. Y .C.

AFTER MISS JULIE A REVIEW

There's alot of huffing and puffing, but not much heat in After Miss Julie,Patrick Marber's interesting but static take on August Strindberg's classic play Miss Julie.
Mr Marber has reset this tale of a forbidden love and it's consequences from 19th century Sweeden to post World War 2 England on the eve of the Labour Party's victory in 1945. It is still about Miss Julie's flirtation with her father's chauffeur, and their one night of lusty passion,but passion seems totally absent in director Mark Brokaw's frantic but wrongheaded staging.
Sienna Miller and Jonny Lee Miller work hard but don't generate the heat needed to bring this tale to life, and Marin Ireland is good as the chauffeur's intended bride.
After Miss Julie has a good idea and some decent writing,but it needs a much sexier and passionate production than it is getting here. Too bad because everyone works hard, but it is alot of sound and fury adding up to very little.
At THE AMERICAN AIRLINES THEATRE 227 WEST 42nd STREET N. Y C.

MEMPHIS A REVIEW

The time is the 1950s. The place, Memphis Tennesee,the beginning of Rock n Roll. This is the setting of Memphis, and despite some roughness around the edges and a leveling off in the second act, it is a lively and enjoyable show.
Joe DiPietro's book concerns a white backwoods disk Jocky who comes to Memphis with a new kind of music,exploits and falls in love with a talanted black singer, and and becomes accepted in this mostly black area of music.
If the book is uneven there is some lively toe tapping music by David Bryan and fine choreography by Sergio Trujillo.
The cast is generally fine with notable performances by Chad Kimball and Montego Glover as the disk jocky and his singer girl friend. The rest of the cast is spirited and very adept as singers and dancers, and Christopher Ashley's direction keeps things going at a lively clip.
Is Memphis perfect? Not at all, but it is bright, good looking, tuneful, and worth seeing. I might ad that this looks like a real crowd pleaser because the audience I saw it with went crazy over it.
Go and enjoy.
At THE SHUBERT THEATRE 225 WEST 44th N. Y. C .

LET ME DOWN EASY EXTENDED

Anna Deavere Smith's brilliant new one woman show LET ME DOWN EASY has been extended thru December 6th. It is highly recommended and belongs at the top of your must see list.
At the SECOND STAGE THEATRE 305 WEST 43rd STREET N. Y. C.

BYE BYE BIRDIE THEATRE INFO.

Bye Bye Birdie is at the handsomly restored HENRY MILLER'S THEATRE 124 WEST 43rd STREET N. Y. C.

BYE BYE BIRDIE A REVIEW

If ever a musical was tied to an era Bye Bye Birdie is it. In it's day this show [first produced in 1960] was a clever and sometimes funny satire of the teenage obsession with rock and roll and the Elvis Presley craze. Maybe there is a way to make this musical seem fresh and new,but if there is director choreographer Robert Longbottom has not figured it out.
This show still has it's very plesant Charles Strouse/ Lee adams score [their first for Broadway] but Michael Stewart's book now coughs desperately and sometimes quits altogether, and what was once refreshingly current now just seems old hat.
As already mentioned Mr. Longbottom hasn't figured out how to solve the shows problems. He has staged it like a Radio City Christmas show and his dance numbers are strictly Las Vegas kitch.
The casting isn't very happy either. John Stamos and Gina Gershon are no more than fair as the leads and Bill Irwin mugs it up as a father of one of the teenagers. The rest of the cast overplays to the hilt which is not the best way to approach this material, and the sets by Andrew Jackness are very hi tech and not in the period. More 2009 then 1960.
Maybe Bye Bye Birdie could still work, but not in this misguided and flat production. It should have been better.

OLEANNA A REVIEW

Out of one of the theatre's most fertile minds comes Oleanna, and it is a scorcher of a play.David Mamet's stunning riff on sexual harassment and academic correctness was first seen Off Broadway in 1992 and in it's Broadway debut it is being given a razor sharp production by director Doug Hughes and a marvelous cast of two terrific actors.
This play concerns a male college instructor and his female student who sit down in his office to discuss her grades. What starts out as a purely academic relationship quickly becomes a verbally abusive sparring match between teacher and student that at the outset turns violent.
The performances of Bill Pullman and Julia Stiles are first rate and the staging by Doug Hughes brings out all the heat of Mr. Mamet's red hot dialog and situations.
Oleanna is stunning and a most welcome addition to the Broadway scene. It is worth checking out.
At THE GOLDEN THEATRE 252 WEST 45th STREET N. Y. C.

THE ROYAL FAMILY A REVIEW

When The Royal Family opened right after Christmas in 1927 it wasdish hailed as masterpeice of affectionate fun. In it's 1975 revival it was still capital fun in a wonderfully cast and staged production, but in 2009 this George S. Kaufman,Edna Ferber play about a famous theatrical dynasty [modeled after the Barrymore family] shows it's age,and this mostly frantic production doesn't help.
The Royal Family pokes good natured fun at the every day goings on of the Cavendish clan, an acting family. They go about the business of choosing scripts,performing, and stealing kisses from the opposite sex,but the fun seems to be missing from it this time around.
The direction by Doug Hughes is loud and busy but not very impressive and the acting company is for the most part ordinary.The one exception is Rosemary Harris who gives a beautifully shaded performance as the head of the clan. The rest of the cast seems to be overdoing the campy bit,and after a while it becomes rather tiresome.
The Royal Family is still worth looking at, but the humor of it's famous authors is shortchanged in this flat, noisy and unhappy production.
At THE SAMUEL J. FRIEDMAN THEATRE 261 WEST 47th STREET N.Y.C

LET ME DOWN EASY A REVIEW

With the issue of health care on everyones mind theatre artist and personality Anna Devere Smith has used her considerable skills as a performer and journalist and come up with an extroadanary look at the world of health care in her new show Let Me Down Easy.
Using her expertise as an interviewer, Ms. Smith spoke to people from all walks of life and explores this most important issue from the perspective of both the patient and the practitioner.
Instead of being clinical Ms. Smith examines the human side of her subjects and creates a sometimes remarkable study of how people feel about medical care in this country.
Let Me Down Easy is not light entertainment. It's unflinching take on it's subject may unsettle some people, but Anna Devere Smith is an extroadanarily talented journalist and performer, and her latest one woman show is essential viewing for anyone caring about this most urgent subject.
At THE SECOND STAGE THEATRE 207 WEST 43rd STREET N. Y. C.
Lmited run thru Nov. 8th.

HAMLET A REVIEW

Many people consider Hamlet to be the greatest play ever written in the English language. It demands grand acting and staging, and it gets both in director Michael Grandage's dark and thrilling production.
Hamlet is one of Shakespeare's moodiest characters and one of the most difficult to play properly. In his first Broadway appearence since 1995 Jude Law captures all the swagger and despair needed for this most complex of roles. It is a most accomplished performance,and he is surrounded on all sides by a superb cast.
As already mentioned, Michael Grandage's staging is superb,and Christopher Oram's sparsely effective sets and costumes are just right. They are saying that the evening belongs to Shakespeare and the actors.
I have seen some fine Hamlets in my many years of theatregoing and this one is up there with the best of them. Go see it.
At THE BROADHURST THEATRE 235 West 44th STREET N. Y. C.

BROKE----OLOGY THEATRE INFO.

I forgot to mention in my review that Broke- Ology is playing at
The MITZI NEWHOUSE THEATRE LINCOLN CENTER N. Y. C.

BROKE--OLOGY A REVIEW

How does one deal with an ailing parent? This is the vital issue asked in Broke-Ology, Nathan Louis Jackson's slow starting but promising rookie New York effort.
It deals with a poor Kansas City family, and the two sons who return home to care for their termenally ill father. It asks important questions about loyalty,and the limit that one should go to care for a parent,and if Mr. Jackson dosen't resolve all of his issues, he has written a play that is engrossing, even if it is rough around the edges.
So, even with it's problems, Brook-Ology was worth doing and Mr. Jackson is a playwright worth watching.It's staging and acting are of a very high order,and it is worth seeing.

BROKE_

TOSCA AT THE METROPOLITAN OPERA A THOUGHT

I attended director Luc Bondy's new concept of Tosca yesterday afternoon, and weather you agree with his take on it or not[ I didn't] I still thought it beautifully sung, and well conducted by Joseph Colaneri who was filling in for the indesposed James Levine. It didn't deserve the boos from the audience it got on opening night.
Tosca is one of everyone's favorite operas. Go see this nontraditional production and form your own opinion.
At THE METROPOLITAN OPERA HOUSE LINCOLN CENTER N. Y. C.

WISHFUL DRINKING A REVIEW

I wish this could be a happier report. I wish I liked Wishful Drinking as much as the highly enthusiastic audience I saw it with did. The truth is that I found Carrie Fisher's solo tell all about her life as a Hollywood princess to be actively annoying. It is'nt Miss Fisher's fault. She works hard and may be an ingratiating story teller to some, but to me her battles with depression,mental illness and other addictions, affairs and breakdowns became more depressing and dispiriting as the evening wore on.
I have never followed the tabloids much and I have always felt that embarrasingly intimate aspects of life should remain personal,and Miss Fisher talks about all of them, but my reaction is mostly,why am I listining to all this?
Again, the audience I saw it with seemed to love it, so what do I know?
At STUDIO 54 254 W. 54th STREET N. Y. C.

SUPERIOR DONUTS A REVIEW

To get right to the point, Superior Donuts is terrific. This new play by Tracy Letts,who wrote the epic Pulitzer Prize winning August,Osage County two years ago, has come up with a supremly entertaining yarn about an owner of a Chicago donut shop who clings to the past and resists change. He hires a bright-eyed youngster who dreams of being a novelest, and they form an unexpected friendship that is lasting and life changing.
Mr. Letts is a playwright who has theatre in his blood. His scenes are meaty and gripping and his characters spring to life onstage.
The play is well directed by Tina Ladau,and the cast,headed by Michael McKean and Jon Michael Hill is perfection.
Superior Donuts is a fine play and Tracy Letts is a major playwrght. Highly reccomended.
At THE MUSIC BOX THEATRE 239 WEST 45th STREET N.Y.C.