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.