Seals

“In the best of all possible worlds it really would be wonderful if there were no entrance applause and even no applause within a show. But it’s part of the enthusiasm of American audiences.”

-Frank Langella, commenting on a common phenomenon that happens to be almost ruining his present show "Frost/Nixon." (I take it anyone else who's seen it on a packed night can attest.)

Funny how the evidence in this article at least seems to indicate that in this too the Brits really are better. At least according to Guardian critic Michael Billington:

Mr. Billington recently went to see.Patricia Routledge, a popular British television star [e.g. the PBS brit-com staple "Keeping Up Appearances"], in “Office Suite” at the Chichester Festival Theater. When she entered, he said, one person clapped, and was promptly shushed.

Chicago, too, is extolled as a model of decorum. But a key distinction is overlooked throughout simply between profit and non-profit venues. In London, "Frost/Nixon" played at the Donmar. Ms. Routledge was at Chichester, a state-supported festival, not on the West End. Ditto the examples cited from Steppenwolf; I'm sure audiences at the touring houses in the official Loop "theatre district" are just as clap-happy as Broadway.

To my mind, it really harkens back to a 19th century grandstanding tradition, where the star was just unabashedly the attraction and who the crowd came to see. Entrances and exits and death scenes were milked for all they were worth, and built into the show. Perhaps even with room for an encore or added interpolation. After all, we still have room in our vocabulary for something called "Stopping the Show," right?

Of course, the problem is when this pre-modern custom clashes with the fourth-wall of stage naturalism. Just another reason why that species of serious modern drama is jeopardized on today's Broadway. The Great White Way has reverted to its circus roots.

Playing "Period"

I haven't seen the Roundabout revival of the 1940 comedy "Old Acquaintance"--which even Clive Barnes, in a one-star(!) review, calls "inexplicable"--but I think Ben Brantley puts his finger on something broader in the following critique:

Playing combative best friends of long standing, Margaret Colin and Harriet Harris share a stage and star billing in the handsomely upholstered production that opened last night at the American Airlines Theater, directed by Michael Wilson. But they are living in different time zones.

Ms. Colin comfortably inhabits the era in which the play is set; she makes the decades fall away. Ms. Harris presents the same world through the perspective of a contemporary comedian who has watched a lot of old movies; she makes a distant age look even more distant. Fans of fine-grained acting will admire Ms. Colin, while fans of diva-spoofing drag queens may well adore Ms. Harris.

Lesson: nothing makes a period piece seem more dated than trying to play the "period." Rather, as the most effective recent revivals have shown ("Journey's End," "Dark at the Top of the Stairs") nothing makes an old chestnut seem more "relevant" than pure simple honesty.

Even in such seemingly exaggerated times as Restoration London and Roaring Twenties Chicago, people still had genuine unforced emotions. Honesty is never anachronistic.

Photo of the Day

The Theatre Royal Brighton, built 1807.

Read about the bicentennial celebration in The Guardian. It was built by George IV and opened with Charles Kemble as Hamlet.

Many renovations have ensued, but some whiff of olden times remains:

From the fly tower, the theatre looks more like the rigging of a three master ship, and has scarcely changed since the building opened. It is one of a handful of surviving "hemp houses" in the country, where every piece of scenery is lowered into position and then hauled out again by gangs of men dragging ropes. The sailing ship resemblance is no coincidence: the theatre often hired local fishermen as stage crew, who sat mending their nets backstage between acts. The only change is that the rope is now synthetic, kinder on the hands and less likely to snag. The technical manager swears by the system: for a recent musical they used one motorised lighting bar - the motor failed on the second last show, and a man had to be sent up into the rigging wearing a safety harness to replace it.

Yes, that's what we need in the theatre: more hemp. And less computerized scenery.

William Hutt

The veteran Canadian classical stage actor William Hutt has died at 87. Here's the obit from the Toronto Globe & Mail.

I never had the chance to see him live. But the final season of Slings and Arrows was practically a valedictory to the man, featuring him as a dying "Lear." (check out video for Episode 4 for a clip.)

HS War Play "Voices in Conflict" gets 2 more NYC perf's

If you're curious to check out "Voices in Conflict" the little HS antiwar play that could (despite its censorious principal) there are three more free performances at the Vineyard coming up on July 11-13.

REVIEW: Ian Hill's Hamlet (Village Voice)

I wished I had liked Ian W. Hill's Hamlet (at the Brick's Pretentious Fest) better, Hill being a blogger and all. But the Voice pays me for my objective opinion.

As someone who once directed a bad Hamlet myself, I can appreciate the passion and sweat that goes into such a grand venture. Attempting to realize Hamlet onstage is almost always, I imagine, a matter of measuring the gap between the idea and the reality.

This actually appeared in print last week, but the vv-dot-com's theatre page has been way slow on the uptake lately. I have a review out this week, too, but it's not even online yet.

(It's of "Fall Forward," a nice little site-specific piece at an old church in the financial district. It's free and worth an hour if you're down there. Closing Saturday. Info here.)

"Briefly" Arts

Sorry, Sam (NYT Arts Editor) Sifton, but when your "Arts, Briefly" devotes space to both Paris Hilton and Lindsey Lohan in the same day...you're not allowed to call yourself an Arts section anymore.

What, was Pete Doherty not in court again yesterday???

"Corrie" @ CATF

According to WaPo, West VA's Contemporary American Theatre Fest's staging of "Rachel Corrie" is helping foster a good helping of holy land plays in and around our nation's capital this summer--including our fellow blogger Jason Grote's 1001 (also at CATF) and David Zellnick's Theodore Herzl play at DC's Theatre J.

Once again, good things can come of controversy. Despite the usual grumbling.

One CATF board member and donor resigned and some regular subscribers canceled after Artistic Director Ed Herendeen chose the play, objecting to its critical portrayal of Israel. CATF Associate Producing Director Peggy McKowen wrote in an e-mail to Backstage [WaPo's theatre column] that subscriptions are "holding steady" compared with the previous two years.

Yes, holding your ground can pay off.

Spike Lee: Theatre Director

Today's Theatre Oddity story, via Robertson and Riedel.

Actually I don't know what's odder: a Spike Lee Joint on stage, or just the idea of a revival of Stalag 17!

Or that he'll be getting rewrites out of the 87-year-old white man who wrote it.

Labute to Voice: Fuck You (Playgoer unharmed)

Wow, and I thought I had Neil Labute problems...

In last week's Village Voice--the very same issue, in fact, as my own more respectful thumbs- down of Mr. LaB's In a Dark Dark House--ran this slightly more, uh, unguarded? take by James Hannaham on a one-act by said dramatist in the latest E.S.T. marathon.

Things We Said Today, by hateful Neil LaBute.

Tired idea #547: Draw parallel between "us" and characters from Greek drama, using extreme violence as "proof." Dana Delany fights to lend credible emotional arc to scene in which wife's discovery of husband's years of infidelity with sister leads her to abort own fetus w/ handy steak knife in crowded restaurant. Would that LaBute's mom had done same. Fact that people won't ignore LaBute better evidence that humanity sucks than his stupid plays.

Well turns out playwright reads the Voice. Hence, this week...

Re James Hannaham's "The Five Spot [June 13-19]: I'm usually very tactful in my letters to critics, but very few of them talk shit about my mother--pleasebe kind enough to tell Hannaham that he's a pussy and that if my mom doesn't drive to New York and wash his mouth out with soap, kick his ass, and laugh in his fucking face over his pathetic I-wish-I-was-a-playwright review, I just might. Thanks for delivering the message--you folks are really doing terrific work, keep it up.

Neil LaBute
Los Angeles, California

As for that "keep up the good work," perhaps he's picking up from another letter just last fall...

Please pass along my thanks to Michael Feingold for almost reviewing Wrecks ["Unnecessary Evils," October 25–31]. I'm sorry that he didn't enjoy it any more than he did, and I hope he enjoys the next play a bit more (it has "jerks" and "twists," so he should, as it takes one to know one). As for me, I'll wait happily to see his next translation/adaptation of a more suitable play for the New York theatergoing public.

Neil LaButeLos Angeles, California

Now I feel insulted he hasn't puffed his chest at out at me, too. I'll have to be meaner next time.

Nice how the letters all come from LA.

Note: No link as of yet on the 1st letter, so I just typed it in from the print ed. Don't know what's up at villagevoice.com this last week, but as you may notice many pages--including theatre--have not been updated. Including my latest review! But I'm on that.

What IF the Rain it Raineth Every Day

In case you ever wondered what goes into making the call at the Delacorte when clouds loom, Playbill takes us inside what must be one of the most maddening Stage Manager jobs in town.

Soyinka @ TCG

Readers: Sorry for the light posting last few days. Been in Chicago, where I was hoping to blog on the road, but too busy enjoying it. So stay tuned for delayed Chicago dispatches in the days to come reporting on the latest from Mary Zimmerman, Steppenwolf, and the US premiere of Jerry Springer: The Opera!

Ok, so I can finally post something on what went down at the TCG (Theatre Communications Group) conference a few weeks ago. Apparently Wole Soyinka, the keynoter, dropped Louis Farrakhan's name in a way that was or was not controversial/offensive, depending on whom you ask. And apparently I wasn't the only one getting emails the next day from one particularly angry Artistic Director present. But now that he also was blasting the Voice's Michael Clancy, I can link to something more legit.

According to Clancy's reporting, here's what happened:

In his keynote address about the importance of ritual in healing communities (or something squishy like that; it’s all above our pay grade), Soyinka talked about three people who have used pageantry to soothe misery and anger. First, you got Aeschylus; no problems there. Then you got Sartre; a bit of a stretch, but whatever.
Then you got Farrakhan, and the Universal Day of Atonement he proposed a few years back. Whatever you think of Farrakhan’s nastier side, Soyinka said, he was on to something there. If we could only return to the notion of humanity apologizing together on one day, the world could begin to turn away from war and greed.

That led Tuvia Tanenbom (of the Jewish Theatre of New York) to challenge Soyinka in the Q & A, accusing him of lionizing the Jewish-unfriendly Nation of Islam preacherman.

Soyinka replied that Farrakhan may be a schmuck, but that shouldn’t preclude us from using him as a metaphor. And then he made his second mistake: he deployed
an oblique reference to people who consider themselves victims. According to one attendee, the audience understood him to be referring to self-important theater professionals, including himself. But to Tanenbom, that could only mean one thing: those mouthy Jews.

Among the many recipients of Tanenbom's subsequent email blast (go ahead and read it here for his side of the story) was the ADL. It got their attention enough to get a quick press-release/denunciation out of them. Until...

Ah, but then the staff at the ADL went and actually read Soyinka’s speech. And promptly learned that Soyinka’s point was considerably more complex, and that he had clearly denounced Farrakhan for, among other things, defending brutal African dictators. The ADL scrubbed the release from its web site and began the time-honored process of hoping this would all just go away.

And so now Tanenbom's still pissed (at both Wole and ADL's Abe Foxman) and still nobody else can read the text of Soyinka's speech itself because TCG claims they're not authorized to publish or release it. And looks like the Nigerian Nobelist doesn't quite see it in his interest to fan any more flames.

Anyone actually there who'd care to tell it yet another way...?

"Purple" People

...and they're "eating" it up! The Color Purple, that is!

Who said I can't write for Entertainment Tonight.

(Then again, no one under 35 probably got this joke. "Purple People Eater?" Anyone?)

Well let me turn it over to a real tabloid, the NY Post, and its theatre man Michael Riedel for his breakdown of The Color Purple's continued success--moreover, in-the-black success--on Broadway despite very middling initial reception:

On Wednesday, she [82 year old Lucille Goldsborough] and 55 other "Jewels of the Ebenezer" (as the seniors call themselves) boarded a Peter Pan bus at 6 a.m. to make the 61/2-hour trip to New York to see their idol....

The Jewels of the Ebenezer - which included a few grandchildren and the odd husband - is just one of hundreds of groups from black churches around the country that have made the pilgrimage to see "The Color Purple" since it opened in the fall of 2006. The groups have become a marketing phenomenon, turning the $10 million musical, which received mixed notices when it first opened, into a very profitable show for its backers, who include Oprah Winfrey.

Stand outside the Broadway Theatre on any given day, and you'll see four or five buses, some from as far away as Chattanooga and Atlanta, unloading their passengers. (Not all the groups are from churches. The show also attracts student groups, labor groups, even family reunions.) What was a steady stream of business last year has turned into a torrent since Fantasia joined the show in April. "The Color Purple" now regularly grosses more than $1 million a week, and advance ticket sales are nearing $10 million.

Church groups are an enormous and, for Broadway, which has long struggled to attract black audiences, relatively untapped market.

Now let us pause over this "long struggled to attrack black audiences" part. My sense is that most Broadway producers couldn't care less about the diversity of the audience. Diversity is all well and good for pr, but can drag you down if it means lowering your ticket prices (and hence profits) to attract them. So let's be clear--despite the decrying of Broadway as a rich white enclave by some for many years, I don't think "Broadway" itself--as personified by the people really making the decisions--has made black attendance any kind of serious goal.

Now on the subject of African Americands simply not going to Broadway shows let's remember some recent shows: P. Diddy in "Raising in the Son"; Usher in "Chicago"; even Brandy in "Aida," I seem to recall. In each case we heard from the white press, "Wow, black people at the theatre! Finally!" But isn't the pattern obvious? An audience--any audience--turns out for performers it really wants to see. In this case it's Fantasia, of course. If the material speaks to this audience--as Color Purple obviously does, not just in content but in its gospel- and soul-infused idiom--even better. Though note how "Aida" and "Chicago" are certainly white musicals--even if Elton John thinks he's black and "Chicago" does address the very relevant issue of corrupt justice better than any other play currently on.

Needless to say, people of any race, ethnicity, or culture will respond, I believe, to something of quality, something genuinely entertaining and stirring. However, the art of marketing is convincing people they will enjoy something, even when their perception of the show tells them otherwise. That's probably the biggest obstacle in Broadway/Black relations.

By the way, we always hear that the racial barrier is a price barrier, but look at this:

The cost [for the Jewels of Ebenezer trip] is $160 per person and includes an orchestra ticket, transportation and dinner after the show at Applebee's.

Ok, I guess that's a good value for a DC-NYC roundtrip, dinner, and a show. And I'm sure any B'way producer would prefer to pocket that whole $160 as "premium" seating. But still, it's not "cheap."

Insert Applebee's joke here.

My point is: attracting "different" audiences to Broadway--or the theatre in general--is no rocket science. Lower ticket prices, yes. But usually the $30-$40 range will do the trick if the show is attractive. No one wants to be the only black person in 1,000-seat house of white people--just as the vice-versa is true. So attracting--nay, soliciting groups also works.

Just more money in Oprah's pockets, you say? Perhaps. Still, gotta hand it to a show that defies the conventional wisdom. And, who knows, perhaps there's lessons here for nonprofits and regionals as well.

And it doesn't hurt that Fantasia reportedly really delivers....Can anyone verify that?

The Old Places

The Guardian's Maxie bemoans the imminent loss of one old London theatre--Wilton's Music Hall (above)--and puts out the call for other reader faves with a possible wrecking ball in the future.

(I think the Wilton is that brittle old thing featured in the Mamet-directed "Catastrophe" for the "Beckett on Film" series, starring Pinter.)

So let me do the New York version! What are your favorite old theatre spaces in the city?

To get things started, I'll actually give a shout out to the Connelly Theatre, believe it or not. That dingy high school auditorium in alphabet city. Spacious, and certainly does have atmosphere. And you know you're not in The Hilton Center for the Performing Arts.

Chime in! Especially if the site is endangered.

Tonys: A "Sound" Decision

Whoever complained about slighted sound designers on this site at Tony-time can now take a victory lap. You're getting a category!

Now you can now be slighted the way a Broadway designer should be: by being unceremoniously pushed off the stage before air time at 8:00.

Speaking of which, as said link notes, CBS has unbelievably renewed the world's least watched awards show for another year.

“Platanos & Collard Greens”

Heard of this show?

NYT's Gina Bellafante checks out another "little show that could," in this case one totally off the radar of the commercial, nonprofit, or downtown theatre worlds. But it has gotten word out to a very enthusiastic and loyal urban audience "of color." But, no, it is not a "chitlin" show.

Bellafante is right that the show's success (even its existence) reminds us of how much theatre there is in this town that isn't white, isn't upper-income bracket, and isn't even artsy. And thus it is totally under the radar of coverage in...um, the New York Times? (Ok, good for them!)

Mr. Lamb’s play represents the strongest evidence at the moment of the blunt racial divide that marks so much cultural consumption — particularly in the theater, where projects attracting ethnically diverse audiences, either by design or in effect, come upon us with the regularity of orange groves in a cold climate. André 3000 is a crossover artist. Tyler Perry is not.

“Platanos & Collard Greens” concerns itself with the tension between the African-American and Latino communities in New York and the overwhelming majority of men and women who go to see it, some over and over, are nonwhites.

Good point on the Andre/Perry comparison. Though based on what I've seen of the movie of "Diary of a Mad Black Woman," I'm not sure how much "crossing over" I'll be doing to his stage work.

(Personally I might prefer Madea's Family Reunion, which, when I first saw the title on the Beacon Theatre marquee I imagined some crazy Greek tragedy rewrite...So, Medea, are you married? Do you have kids?--Medea: Yeah, I have kids. Well, had.)

Whatever one may think of "Plantanos" (I haven't seen it) it seems a good sign of the artform to me whenever any play attracts an audience outside the Times Square tourist or (uh, sorry again) New York Times demographic.

Check out the inspirational story, by the way, of how the playwright, David Lamb, made it happen:

"Platanos & Collard Greens” was first produced in a tiny Midtown theater — 70 seats — in 2003 and has moved gradually and intermittently to larger spaces since, with virtually nothing but conversation to endorse it.

Though the show’s creator, David Lamb, had taken out a few spots on urban radio over the years, he relied primarily on his audiences to do his promotional work for him. The show functions without a press agent; until a few weeks ago it had no Web site. The cast is entirely anonymous, in the purest, hoariest sense of the term. The production notes for “Platanos & Collard Greens” may be singular in the world of New York theater for featuring not one actor whose credits include an outing on “Law & Order” or its subsidiaries.

By the end of its run at Gould Hall [a rental house at the tony Alliance Francaise in midtown] in September, though, about 90,000 people will have seen “Platanos & Collard Greens” a figure that exceeds the number who have taken a seat at “The Year of Magical Thinking” on Broadway by close to 20,000.

Bellafante says it required an initial $20,000 investment from him and his wife, and the two of them still produce the show as a production company. No other producers are listed, so I don't know if it's fully funded by ticket sales or what.

Here's a clue: that reference to no "Law and Order" credits? Why do I have a feeling Actors Equity won't be happy reading this today...

Wilton HS Update

I've been provided with a copy of this official notice from Wilton HS in Connecticut, regarding the fate of drama teacher Bonnie Dickinson, whose class is responsible for the Iraq play "Voices in Conflict."

To those of you who took time to write, kudos! You just might have made a difference.

We have received a number of emails expressing support for Bonnie Dickinson and concern over potential disciplinary action. I wish to clarify the situation. In April, we received a complaint from a parent about Ms. Dickinson. After receiving the complaint, we followed an investigative process that included administrative review of the complaint, an opportunity for both parties to be heard, and examination of the facts. After a thorough review we found no evidence that would justify disciplinary action against Ms. Dickinson. We consider the matter concluded.

On a separate note, we congratulate the students on their successful off-campus performances of the revised “Voices in Conflict” project.

Respectfully,
Gary G. Richards
Superintendent

If you ask me, looks like the school is eager to get the controversy behind them, even if that means standing up to their more right-wing parent constituencies. It's always good when the intolerant are not the only ones exerting pressure.

Thanks again to Alisa Solomon for bringing the latest developments to my attention. The website for the project is here. Looks like the kids are doing their last show this Friday night. In Fairfield!

Singapore says Nix to Sir Ian's Naughty Bits

For an upcoming tour stop in Singapore this summer, the Royal Shakespeare Company has agreed to make Ian McKellen keep his knickers on during the storm scene in "King Lear," so as to avoid the theatrical equivalent of an 'R'-rating in the city.

I guess it was either that or get caned.

Guardian's Lyn Gardner has humorous analysis, as always.

NY Critic Myopia

“If it’s not in The New Yorker, it doesn’t exist in the culture.”

So said John Lahr, reportedly, to the crowd at a recent NEA conference for arts journalists at USC's Annenburg School. In case you didn't know, Lahr is the lead critic for... The New Yorker.

In this article, Missoula, Montana critic Joe Nickell begs to differ.

I actually respect and enjoy reading Lahr quite a lot. Even if I think he's wacky on what he likes sometimes. (Neil LaBute, Mr. Marmalade.) And I want to allow for the possibility he's quoted a wee bit out of context. (Would he really want to walk into a room of regional theatre critics and say Fuck You???)

But at the very least, he should have a sit-down with Jill Abramson and determine once and for all just who is the arbiter of culture!

You also gotta laugh when you realize how hypocritical Lahr would be in saying the only theatre that matters is in New York when he famously lives in London most of the year. (I know, same difference.)

"Viral" Marketing

A little NYT item you may have missed today in the Business section...

Typically you are told to turn off your cellphone before a performance. But at a recent Saturday matinee of “Spring Awakening”[...] the audience was told to do just the opposite.

“Win Your Chance to Come Backstage!” said a flier inserted into the Playbill, which encouraged theatergoers to send the text message “bdway spring” to a five-digit number before the end of intermission.

And so the lucky winner is "texted" and invited to come backstage post-show for some rudimentary tour.So much for banning cellphones from the theatre...

Oh, and just in case you thought this was just for fun:

At the performance, 62 people sent text messages, which included their telephone numbers and e-mail addresses, in hopes of winning the contest. All of their information went into a database that will be used to pitch Broadway tickets and other promotions.

Big Brother, or at least "Situation Marketing" is watching.