THE BROADWAY SCENE 50 YEARS AGO THE MUSICALS 1960-1961

It was a busy season for musicals with an even dozen bidding for acceptance. Of the dozen that came to town only two of them seemed truly successful. They were "Irma La Douce" with its' infectious music, brilliant direction by Peter Brook, and a dynamic performance by Elizabeth Seal, and "Carnival "with it's evocative music, brilliantly atmospheric staging by Gower Champion, and a fine company headed by the enchanting Anna Maria Alberghetti.
If the remaining ten were uneven in quality most provided a fair amount of entertainment. "Tenderloin" had a wonderful score and a problematic book. "The Unsinkable Molly Brown" had a weak book, a lively score, and a remarkably energetic performance by Tammy Grimes. "Wildcat" had some rousing songs and an engaging star in Lucille Ball but was otherwise a very weak show
"Do Re Me" had Phil Silvers and Nancy Walker as stars and was good fun because of them, and "Camelot" was stunning to look at but uninteresting to listen to.
"The Conquering Hero" had a funny book [based on a classic film] and a decent score but due to poor management was gone within a week.
"Thirteen Daughters" had a very engaging Don Ameche as star and handsome scenery and costumes, but was otherwise an impovershed salute to the then new state of Hawaii, and "The Happiest Girl In The World"tried to merge Aristophanes with Offenbach, but the result was a melodic but ponderous show.
The seasons' final musical was"Donnybrook" based on the film "The Quiet Man" and it was a pleasantly undistinguished,but decently entertaining show.
The next blog will wrap up the season.

THE BROADWAY SCENE 50 YEARS AGO THE DRAMAS 1960-1961

As we head into another New York theatre season, I thought it might be fun to look back on what was happening on Broadway fifty years ago. I was going into my last year of high school ,was totally in love with theatre and saw quite alot of it that year.

It was a season of fine dramas with great performances. We had Peter Glenville's spectacular production of "Becket" with Laurence Olivier and Anthony Quinn mesmerizing in the leading roles. Angela Lansbury and Joan Plowright were stunning in the squalid but riviting"A Taste Of Honey". "Advise And Consent" was an exciting political drama and "All The Way Home" was a lovely play with exquisite performances and won the Pulitzer Prize for drama that year. "The Wall" and " The Devil's Advocate" were both adapted from bestselling novels, but depite fine acting in both plays neither worked as drama and seemed heavy handed and dull as theatre.

"Big Fish, Little Fish" was a distinguished first play by the talented Hugh Wheeler and boasted some of the finest all-around acting of the season. "A Far Country" was an interesting look at the young Sigmund Freud's early experements with the human mind but "Mandingo" was an apallingly tastless look at slavery in the old south with bad acting and inept direction.
While" A Call On Kuprin" only ran 12 performances, it was a good, solid, theatrical look at the cold war, had some stunning scenery by Donald Oenslager, and first rate acting and direction. This was fine and sometimes exciting theatre and deserved a much better fate then it got.
"Face Of A Hero " was a dull, lifeless play that even Jack Lemmon's fine performance could not save but "Little Moon Of Alban" with Julie Harris giving a superb performance was a fine and sometimes moving look at Dublin during the political unrest of the 20s, and was far better than the 20 performances it ran.
My next blog will look at the season's musicals.









'

A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC--------------REVISITED

With almost nothing happening on the New York theatre scene until late September, I went to revisit Trevor Nunn's elegant bandbox rethinking of " A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC" with its two new leads Bernadette Peters and Elaine Stritch replacing Catherine-Zeta Jones and Angela Lansbury respectivly.
How do they compare with their predesessors? Well Ms. Peters is a fine actress and a wonderful singer and her rendition of the shows' best song "Send In The Clowns" is devestatingly beautiful,but her kewpie doll looks and generally cheerful disposition seemed at odds with her part and she never convinced me that she was a well traveled actress trying to make amends with her elderly and wise mother.
On the other hand, Ms. Stritch is wonderful as the mother delivering her lines with expert timing and doing her one solo "Laisons" with the skill of the superb actress that she is.
The rest of the show is in tip top shape and Hugh Wheeler's book and Stephen Sondeim's score seem even better now then they did when this production opened ten months ago even if the new orchestrations by Jason Carr don't serve Mr. Sondheim's classic score very well and can't even begin to compare with Jonathan Tunick's superb originals.
But despite certain reservations I may have this lovely rethinking of"A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC" is well worth seeing and provides one of the better theatre evenings in town.
AT THE WALTER KERR THEATRE 219 WEST 48th. STREET N.Y.C.

THE GRAND MANNER A REVIEW

While the New York theatre is taking it's summer snooze, one new play has opened that is worth mentioning. It is A.R. Gurney's new and extravagantly enjoyable play THE GRAND MANNER. In it this eminent and prolific playwright goes back to his youth when he traveled from his New Hampshire boarding school to New York City in 1948 to attend a performance of Shakespeare,s "Antony and Cleopatra"starring the great actress Katharine Cornell and went backstage after the performance to meet her. She signed his program, gave him a farewell handshake and departed.
This play is a re-imagined account of that meeting as he would have liked it to be. A far more elaborate meeting involving the great actress, her husband, and her stage manager. It is told with the same humor and affection that Mr. Gurney has brought to his other plays including"The Dining Room", "Love Letters", and my favorite of all "Sylvia". Once again Mr. Gurney proves himself to be one of our finest American playwrights and his play is being given a first rate production.
Under the very able stage direction of Mark Lamos the cast of four work beautifully together. As the great Ms. Cornell Kate Burton is wonderful and Boyd Gaines and Brenda Wehle are just as good in support, but it Bobby Steggert as the playrights alter-ego who turns in the most winning performance and again reveals himself as a most accomplished young actor.
THE GRAND MANNER is not a big or major work, but it's a lively and amusing valentine to the theatre and a warm and winning look at a bygone Broadway era.
AT THE MITZI E. NEWHOUSE THEATRE LINCOLN CENTER N.Y.C. THRU AUG.1st.

THE 2010 TONY AWARDS AN OVERVIEW

As one who has been watching the Tony telecasts since they began I must say that the one last night was the most boring one I have come across in years. None of this years musical sequences came off well and some of host Sean Hayes's routines were tastless in the extreme. This was unfortunate because Mr. Hayes is a real talent and should have been presented to much better advantage.
Another problem was that the nominated musicals weren't very strong to begin with. "Memphis" won the best musical award and it was an entertaining, crowd pleasing show to be sure, but I suspect that the real reason it got the award was because it was the only nominee with an original score. The others used pre-existing songs to tell their stories and while "Fela"was a more solid entertainment, it still [along with the other nominees] came across as a jukebox musical.
There weren't many upset victorys and the winners were all deserving of their awards even though I did not agree with all the results. I will say that I was very pleased that "Red" won the best play award. It fully deserved to win because it was a splendid play and gave me the best evening on Broadway I had all season. Not far behind it was "Time Stands Still" which was another worthwhile play, and that one is returning to Broadway in September. Worth seeing.
So another awards season is over. My only wish is that the Tonys should become more about excellence in the theatre and less about glitz and commercialisim and not be the crashing bore it was this year.
I will be posting sporadically over the summer months. Otherwise, see you in the fall.

COME FLY AWAY A REVIEW

Being a lifelong fan of Frank Sinatra, I was looking forward to choreographer Twyla Tharp's latest Broadway dance show with fond anticipation even though I have never been much of a fan of her choreographic style or her way of presenting her concepts. In her previous Broadway outings "Moving Out" and "The Times They Are A Changing",she used the songs of Billy Joel and Bob Dylan respectivly to tell her rather flimsy stories and and the results [to me at any rate] were heavy and unsatisfying. In her new show COME FLY AWAY Ms. Tharp is combining the great voice of Frank Sinatra with an excellent 19 piece on stage band playing many of Mr. Sinatra's original charts, but the story she is telling [something about four couples falling in and out of love] is even flimsier then her other two shows and the result is musically exciting but visually monotonous.
The idea`of combining live musicians with a recorded voice is a good one and Ms. Tharp has assembeled a talented group of dancers but while some of her sequences are theatrically effective I have always felt that her work would be more at home with a major dance company then in a Broadway theatre.
The settings by James Youmans, Lighting by Donald Holder, and costumes by Katherine Roth are elegently effective and the onstage band sounds teriffic,but to one theatregoer of long standing COME FLY AWAY is as pretentious as artificial jewelry and just about as valuable.
AT THE MARQUIS THEATRE 210 WEST 46th STREET N.Y.C.
We now are at the end of another New York theatre season. I will be posting my impression of the Tony Awards on Monday

COLLECTED STORIES A REVIEW

Donald Margulies is one of the better home grown playwrights on the scene at the moment. In plays like "Dinner With Friends", "Sight Unseen" and this seasons' excellent "Time Stands Still" he has had an ability to look at the human condition thru the eyes of ordinary people,and has created a gallery of fine, lifelike characters. Now we have the first Broadway production of his twelve year old off-Broadway play COLLECTED STORIES, and while it may not be quite up to some of his later works it is still a fine play and it is being given an extrodanarily effective production by the Manhattan Theatre Club.
In it Mr. Margulies looks at the complex relationship of two female writers. One is a celebrated New York author and the other one her young protege, and the play deals with the path the relationship takes when the young author finds success on her own. Maybe this story seems a bit padded as a two act play,[I think it would have been more effective as a one act play] Mr. Margulies' talent is always evident and under the intelligently planned direction of Lynne Meadow the cast of two are giving astonishingly fine performances.
Linda Lavin is giving one of her finest performances as the experienced author and Sara Paulson is first rate as her young protege.
Santo Loquastos' scenic design and Natasha Katz' lighting serve their purpose capably and Jane Greenwoods' costumes are just right.
COLLECTED STORIES may not be a play for the ages, but it shows Mr. Margulies in fine form and helped by his two talented actresses, it provides a fine theatre evening.
AT THE SAMUEL J. FRIEDMAN THEATRE 261 WEST 47th STREET N.Y.C.