Oscar E Moore

The trend this season has been to employ mega movie and television stars to insure that the receipts of the box office overflow with profits and to bolster up the production, just in case the production doesn’t come up to snuff, so that the paying public gets its money’s worth.

And so it is with the Stephen Sondheim, Hugh Wheeler bitter sweet musical, A Little Night Music which has been transported from The Menier Chocolate Factory in Britain to our shores starring the beautiful Catherine Zeta-Jones and the indomitable Angela Lansbury.   It’s an uneven production at best.

Scaled down to chamber musical size and sound the evening starts with a sullen cello solo.  The cast slowly enters the dimly lit stage (which rarely gets much brighter) and proceeds to waltz in the semi dark.  As directed by Trevor Nunn we immediately begin to wonder if this somber, slow moving, snooze inducing with some sex and schnapps thrown in and about as subtle as a sledgehammer concept is going to work.   You be the judge.

Based on an Ingmar Bergman film, Smiles of a Summer Night, this Sondheim and Wheeler concoction is a sophisticated, witty and haunting look into the lives and loves of a group of early twentieth century Swedish citizens in three-quarter time.

Lost youth and lost love are remembered. Wives and mistresses commiserate. Repressed sexual desire ferments. Sexual antics abound during a weekend in the country.  Everyone seemingly involved with the wrong person.

Fredrik (Alexander Hanson, a fine sexual specimen of a leading man with an excellent voice who can act) is still enamored of actress Desiree Armfeldt (a gorgeous to look at Catherine Zeta-Jones who sings well and holds her own in her Broadway debut) while being married to the very young and still virginal Anne (a shrill but beautiful Ramona Mallory) who has feelings for Fredrik’s sullen son Henrik (Hunter Ryan Herdlicka) and vice versa.  Petra the maid (Leigh Ann Larkin) has feelings for just about every man available.  Desiree is mistress to a hunky, well endowed Dragoon (An excellent Aaron Lazar who lights up the stage whenever he is on it).  His put upon and unhappy wife, the Countess Malcolm (a fine Erin Davie) is caught somewhere in the middle of all this.  Madame Armfeldt (deliciously played with consummate artistry by Angela Lansbury) who has been there and back a couple of times sheds light (literally and figuratively) on all these affairs of amour.  As the granddaughter Fredrika Armfeldt  Katherine Leigh Doherty is probably one of the finer actors on stage – she shares the role with Keaton Whittaker.

But it’s a very long evening.  Without much spark or illumination.  With acting styles that vary from naturalistic to caricature to music hall turns.  Although Ms. Zeta-Jones is a stunning woman with vintage Hollywood star allure and does an “I’m ready for my close-up” rendition of “Send in the Clowns” is her performance, rather her star power, enough to keep this show afloat?  Even with the added bonus of having Angela Lansbury dispensing her wisdom and witticisms and the sumptuous Sondheim score which sounds very thin here we are left in the dark as to the future of A Little Night Music.

At the Walter Kerr Theatre.  www.nightmusiconbroadway.com

Tags:   Aaron Lazar · Alexander Hanson · Angela Lansbury · Catherine Zeta-Jones · Hugh Wheeler · Stephen Sondheim · Trevor NunnComments Off on Catherine Zeta-Jones and Angela Lansbury star in A Little Night Music

“WAR ON CHRISTMAS DAY”

FIRST VIDEO
FOR

AWARD WINNING CD

HALLWAYS
The Songs of Carol Hall

DEBUTS TODAY

Produced and directed by Leonard Majzlin, the first video for Carol Hall’s award-winning CD, HALLWAYS, The Songs of Carol Hall, will debut today.

The song, “War On Christmas Day”, was inspired by a young Pvt 1st Class, a friend of Carol Hall’s family, who had just finished her second tour of duty.
 
The video was made in gratitude and appreciation for the valiant men and women serving in our armed forces.
 
Performed by Scott Coulter, Tim Di Pasqua and Tom Andersen, “War On Christmas Day,” the 12th cut on the award-winning CD, has lyrics by Carol Hall and music by Robert Burke.
 
HALLWAYS, The Songs of Carol Hall (LML MUSIC) was originally released on March 11th, 2008 nationally in stores and online at iTunes and Amazon.com.
 
The CD’s critical and popular success led to a second printing, which shipped January 20th, 2009.    
 
Most recently winning the Bistro ASCAP Award for Outstanding CD, the album is being readied for a third printing.
 

To view the video go to:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agC3t3KOvRs

This video is what Christmas is all about – remembering those less fortunate.  And who are more less fortunate than those serving overseas to keep America safe and free.  War on Christmas Day – the video – is a moving tribute from the very first word, note and frame to the final image of a toy soldier decoration with his gun pointed at a red Christmas ball.  It’s brilliant.

Tags:   Carol HallNo Comments.

Thinking they had found another “Chicago” a play written by the eccentric Maurine Dallas Watkins while a student at Yale in 1926 upon which the long running hit musical  is based the Mint Theater has resurrected “So Help Me God!” written in 1928-29 – a long lost, found in a drawer farce written by the very same playwright.  It’s gotten a bit moldy sitting in that drawer all these years.  Despite the cuts made by director, Jonathan Bank we get creaky where sleek is called for.    What should be fast, frothy and ebullient isn’t.

The history of how Bob Fosse eventually got the rights to “Chicago” and the bizarre life that Ms. Watkins lived which is noted in the Playbill is far more interesting than the  predictable central casting antics on stage at the Lucille Lortel Theatre where “So Help Me God!” is playing.

Sometimes you find a treasure and sometimes the treasure chest comes up empty and in the case of this never produced until now comedy – half full.

It’s interesting to note that the title of the play within the play is titled “Empty Hands” in this back stage, supposedly biting satire which stars the dynamic, romantic, glamorous, gin guzzling, egocentric and downright “don’t mess with me buster” star Lily Darnley – herein portrayed by that dynamic, glamorous and very funny Kristen Johnston who deserves a better script and a more complex character.  Taking inspiration from Tallulah Bankhead and Charles Busch, Ms. Johnston delivers a whirling diva-ish performance as the star from hell whom all fear.  And rightly so.

That is all except the naïve girl from Ohio, Kerry Lane (Anna Chlumsky) who shows up backstage seeking employment with the intent of becoming a star herself without any formal training and who is not at all dumb.  She only gives that impression.  Echoing “All About Eve” although written twenty years before that classic.

In three acts we see the progression from a rehearsal in shambles where everyone is blaming everyone else for the play not working to its post opening night out of town performance to its eventful Broadway premiere. 

Pity the poor playwright (Ned Noyes) Lily’s producer (Allen Lewis Rickman) her first director (Brad Bellamy) her second director (Kraig Swartz) her press agent (Peter Van Wagner) her maid (Amy Fitts) her first leading man (Kevin O’Donnell) his replacement (Matthew Waterson – who matches Ms. Johnston tit for tat) Belle, a member of the company (Catherine Curtin who with her sore feet and sarcastic Joan Blondell/Thelma Ritter take on her part threatens to steal some thunder from Lily) and finally her quivering dog Frou-Frou.

The vibrant Kristen Johnston is ably supported by this large cast but the play never ignites, never sparkles as it should.  We could play the blame game here but I suppose there was a good reason why playwright Watkins never made the necessary revisions to make this a sure fire hit. 

Period costumes are fine especially the frocks adorning the statuesque, super slim body of Ms. Johnston designed by Clint Ramos.  Not helping “So Help Me God!  is the set designed by Bill Clarke.  An intermission after Act I allows the rehearsal space to be transformed into the luxury suite at the Ritz in Philadelphia but the third change is done awkwardly between Act II and III in semi darkness.  Surrounding the proscenium is a photographic collage of the eyes of past and present glamorous stars – which while interesting is extremely distracting but will give you something to do – trying to identify the eyes – when interest wanes while Lily and her cohorts attempt to get their mildly amusing and disappointing show on.

www.minttheater.org

Tags:   Catherine Curtin · Kristen Johnston · Maurine Dallas Watkins · Mint TheaterNo Comments.

Almost seventy years ago Carson McCullers wrote her first novel, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter which took the literary world by storm.  She never dramatized it as she did with The Member of the Wedding.  Why?  It deals with rejection, racial profiling, oppression and the mistreatment of our fellow man.  Evils that still exist today that make the themes of her story so timely.   So timely that The Acting Company in conjunction with the New York Theatre Workshop has produced the classic novel, adapted for the stage by Rebecca Gilman and directed by Doug Hughes.  It will be running through December 20^th.

Beautifully acted by the ensemble cast of ten the play itself is episodic and problematic.  There is the coming of age story of tomboy Mick Kelley (Cristin Milioti) who has a deep compassion for others and an even deeper love for music, giving up her meager lunch money to take piano lessons.  She is bright and smokes to stunt her all too rapid growth at the age of fourteen and has caught the eye of Harry (Bob Braswell).

There is the black family:  Dr. Copeland (James McDaniel) and his daughter Portia (Roslyn Ruff) who works for Mr. Kelly (Michael Cullen).  His son Willie (Jimonn Cole) works as a cook.  Dr. Copeland wants to instill in them the need to better their lives.

There is the drunken radical union organizer Jake (Andrew Weems) and the owner of a café, Biff (Randall Newsome) – whose wife has recently died. 

These stories are woven around the character of John Singer (Henry Stram) who is a deaf mute.  Polite in the extreme and generous with his time and money during the Great Depression in the South they all come to his small room for advice and companionship; to play chess or to listen to the radio – not realizing that he is also in need.  He longs to be with his friend Antonapoulos (I.N. Sierros) who was abruptly taken away to an insane asylum.  The gay factor is only hinted at.  Loneliness and longing more so.

This production is book ended with him speaking.  But when he communicates with his friend with sign language we have to strain to understand.  There are no super-titles here.  This would not be a problem as they make good use of a computer screen of a back wall where words and phrases appear when the actors feign writing them on the open set by Neil Patel which enables the many short scenes to flow cinematically.

Perhaps it is the electrifyingly honest and detailed performance of Cristin Milioti as Mick that sets the balance of the play off – in her favor.  You cannot wait until she returns for her next scene.  Perhaps there is too much to immediately absorb.  Perhaps the waiting for John Singer to write down in his notebook to communicate with the others makes one impatient.  Perhaps it is the many revelatory monologues spoken taking the place of dialogue between Mr. Singer and the others.  Perhaps the letters from him to his friend that are read towards the end should have come sooner.  Perhaps Carson McCullers thought that The Heart is a Lonely Hunter made a better novel than stage play.  As good as this production is, one wonders why she never adapted it herself.  Perhaps she thought it would be too episodic and problematic to do so.

www.nytw.org

NOTE:  Maintaining its commitment to making theatre accessible to all theatergoers, NYTW continues its Cheap Tix Sundays program in which all tickets for all Sunday evening performances at 7:00 pm will cost $20.00.  Tickets may be purchased in advance, payable in cash only, and are available in person only at the NYTW Box Office.

Tags:   Cristin MiliotiNo Comments.

I had written to Edwina wondering how I could possibly enjoy the holidays without her and she very kindly responded with re-opening her delightful production of DEAR EDWINA at the DR2 Kids Theatre 103 East 15th Street at Union Square.

December 11^th through February 15^th.  Here is the just a click away calendar.

http://www.dearedwina.com/calendar.jpg

If you want to see what I wrote about this show, please type DEAR EDWINA in SEARCH IT! and then press ENTER.

This is an interactive do it yourself review!

I loved the show as have countless children and adults alike and I encourage you to see it.  You’ll have a great time.

As an extra added feature I am including the direct link to my original review:

http://talkentertainment.com/c-7202-Dear-Edwina-a-musical-comedy-for-kids.aspx

And to the two young ladies that e-mailed me about getting parts in their own productions I hope that you are still auditioning and enjoying theatre more than ever.

www.dearedwina.com

Tags:   Marcy Heisler · Zina GoldrichNo Comments.

Baby Jane Dexter (2009 Nightlife Award Winner) in her new avant-garde, free spirited, Earth Motherly take on love cabaret show, aptly titled “All About Love” which is running at the cozy Metropolitan Room (34 West 22^nd Street) Fridays and Saturdays through December 19th at 7:30 will surprise you with some new renditions of some old standards – blues and jazz and Dylan crossed with Rodgers and Hammerstein and Sondheim with a bit of Bessie Smith and Duke Ellington included that makes for a pleasurable and painful journey through love in all its aspects as seen through the sparkling and wise eyes of someone who has been there before, seen it all, felt it all and has survived to share her wisdom intact – heartache and all.

Baby Jane Dexter not only wears her heart on her sleeve but exposes her deepest feelings in the presentation of all her song selections, which I might add is varied, eclectic and perfectly paced. 

Baby Jane is a woman with a sultry and rich contralto voice that starts off slowly and sultry and seduces you before you know it and then lets all hell break loose in her absolutely manic and angry presentation of “Not A Day Goes By”.  You haven’t ever heard this song sung so brilliantly. 

Where love requires patience, Baby Jane wants instant gratification, instantly gratifying her audience with “Hide Your Love Away”  “Make You Feel My Love” “A Good Man is Hard to Find” and the emotional “I’ve Got It Bad and That Ain’t Good”.

She has great style.  Is an original.  Makes odd choices.  Is a regular gal.  Sings about her yearnings.  Her loses.  Her pain.  Without any regrets.  She also has a fine deprecating humor about herself which absolutely charms.

She is not one for bravura endings – only when they are truly called for.  She cuts deep into the raw emotion of each lyric and you miss not a word.  Her long time arranger and musical director Ross Patterson is just as magnetic and the two of them are the perfect pair to present this program of unusual love songs with fine tuned direction by Elissa Patterson.

Baby Jane may have had her heart broken a few times, may have loved the wrong men, may have been impatient and willing to do just about anything to stay in love but no matter what she’s been through she ends her program with an anthem pleading with us all, herself included, to never give in – stay the course, it will be worth it, hold on and “Hang On”.  If you think you know all about love you have a lot to learn by visiting Baby Jane Dexter.

$25.00 music charge  2 drink minimum  212 206 0440

www.metropolitanroom.com   www.babyjanedexter.com

Tags:   Baby Jane Dexter · Elissa Patterson · Metropolitan Room · Ross PattersonNo Comments.

There are not many consummate artists that can stride out on stage, sit down behind a desk, roll up their sleeves, eyeball the audience and dazzle us with a low key, yet passionate and honest performance that simply touches us deeply.  Lynn Redgrave is such an artist.

In her one woman play, NIGHTINGALE, which she has authored and stars in, Lynn Redgrave is a master of the art of acting.  And writing.  As she starts to tell us the story of her always cold and never happy maternal grandmother, Beatrice Kempson and her daughter Rachel (Lynn Redgrave’s mother) while weaving in parallel stories about herself – it’s as though she has opened the manuscript on her desk to tell us an adult bedtime story.  Comforting us with her wonderful voice and sharing some factual and imagined stories to bring her characters to vivid life with an inflection here, another vocal register used there, a look, a silence.  Telling the tale as sweetly as the nightingale sings.  Giving us all something to ponder about relationships, love, death and understanding.

NIGHTINGALE is a triumph of understatement.  A fascinating look into the life of Lynn Redgrave and her relatives.  Bursting with compassion and humor we begin to understand how women from that era went into loveless marriages, not knowing what to expect on their wedding night, having children, loosing children, discovering jealously and what love really means.

The writing itself is beautiful.  Her choice of words conjures up just the right images.  Her specific descriptive passages enable us to see and feel exactly what she is describing.  And feeling.  There is great structure and a gorgeous rhythm to the piece.  The simple use of “tick” “tock” “tick” “tock” says volumes. 

Referring to her open text makes it feel even more intimate.  Lynn Redgrave shares her insights into life and love with an exiting mix of theatrical tales which highlight the pain and guilt we sometimes feel while getting through life.  Life, with its ups and downs and unexpected turns in the road.  Not only famous people share these experiences.  We all do.  I think that’s what makes this 85 minute memoir so compelling.

Beautifully directed by Joseph Hardy with a picture perfect postcard set by Tobin Ost and evocative lighting by Rui Rita make NIGHTINGALE the very special event performance to see.

Manhattan Theatre Club – New York City Center Stage 1   www.mtc-nyc.org

Tags:   Joseph Hardy · Lynn Redgrave · Manhattan Theatre Club1 Comment

Charles Manson and the Tate-LaBianca murders in the summer of ’69.  Where ’69 meant more than just a year.  Where free love and drugs were rampant.  Where a group of lost people found the charismatic maniacal Manson someone to hook onto to, to be beholden sexually to him alone and where killing others became their norm.

Who would write a musical about this?  Why would they write a musical about this?  Curiosity brought me to the Off – Off Broadway Kraine Theater 85 East 4^th Street to see this wild and interesting take on the time, the murders and the Manson Family.

It hails from Chicago where in the 1990’s it became a cult hit with book, music and lyrics developed through improv by the members of Annoyance Theater (including The Office’s Kate Flannery).  It does have that improvisation spirit underlying the 80 minute production but Manson, the musical offers a lot more.

Whereas Hair, that other hippie musical, professed peace along with sex and drugs – Manson: the musical professes subservience, random killing and entertaining its audience with a sly satiric take on not only Charlie and his family but on their victims and his professional acquaintances as well.

Sharon Tate (Kerstin Porter) is a self possessed egomaniac surrounded by sycophants and hedonistic revelers at 10050 Cielo Drive, the house that Doris Day’s son Terry Melchior lived in with Candice Bergen.  The Terry Melchior that refused Charlie a recording contract.  Moral:  Don’t cross maniacal budding musicians.  The La Bianca’s are a feuding mess of a wop couple (Leal Vona & Cheri Paige Fogleman).  Their slow motion strobe lit stabbings are done, do I dare say, in good taste?

Presented in a documentary format, the narrator (Melissa Ciesla) bookends the show in a serious demeanor.  Her interviews with The Beatles, The Beach Boys and the Monkees are comic highlights.  Manson: the musical is sometimes very funny with its mocking manner, sometimes uncomfortable and always sexual with some out of the blue tap dancing done by fellow Manson follower Tex (Kevin Paul Smith – who is someone to watch) and interesting choreography (Tiffany Herrioett). 

The members of the cast play various roles and double on instruments.  Which include a cello (an excellent Serena Ebony Miller) drums, percussion, guitar, vibes and glockenspiel.   Special mention must be made of the naïve and innocent Linda (Candace Janee) who joins up with the family getting much more than she bargained for.  Nice job.

But the show would not be able to exist without the extraordinary performance of Alexander Dunbar as the barefoot madman Charlie – the “it” man.  He has that extra special “it” that draws you into his world.  He is a charming, challenging sex machine and can change his mood in a heartbeat.  Anything and nothing can set him off.  He is Charlie.  Watch out.  You are going to hear much more about him.  In fact, you should go see him in Manson: the musical which has been nicely put together by director Russell Dobular. 

It would be very intriguing to have this talented group tackle another family.  The Bush Family. 

SUNDAYS at 7pm.  Tickets $18.00 (15.00 for students) 212 352 3101 

www.endtimesproductions.org

Tags:   Alexander DunbarNo Comments.

Midway through the long and meandering second act of Sarah Ruhl’s new play directed by Les Waters and produced by Lincoln Center Theater at the Lyceum, “In the Next Room”, provocatively sub-titled “the Vibrator play” I began to feel irritable, solemn and sleepy.

Could I be experiencing some of the same symptoms that are bringing both women and men to the operating theater of Dr. Givings to be treated for “hysteria” for some physical therapy via “electrical massage” thanks to the newly invented electricity, generating “paroxysms” (orgasms) with his “machine” and “Chattanooga Vibrator” to release the pent up fluids causing our illnesses or was I simply becoming uninterested?

It was the latter.  What starts out as an interesting, titillating and somewhat amusing idea which causes some to be shocked and some to suppress nervous laughter at the sight of the Dr. (a stoic and subdued Michael Cerveris) poking his head beneath the sheets to treat his patients – slowly begins to go awry, developing into a play about the stupidity of men who treat their wives in a demeaning manner, informative material about wet nurses, the artistic temperament and more than a tinge of lesbianism all rolled into an unbalanced play that tries to do too many things at once with dialogue that is both period and modern and thus jarring at times.  Is it to be a farce or something quite serious?

To coin a phrase, it’s pleasurable, but fleeting.  Soon after the initial feeling of well being you discover that something is still wanting.

A delightful Laura Benanti is the naïve and ignored wife of Dr. Givings.  An innocent woman of the Victorian age who hears the noises but does not know what is going on in the next room, her husband’s under lock and key office.  She says whatever pops into her mind and suffers from “foot in mouth” syndrome.  She’s charming and has just given birth to a daughter but as her husband keeps telling her she is “inadequate” for not having enough milk to feed her child.  That’s how it was then.  And unfortunately for many women today abusive husbands have not gone out of style.

Mr. Daldry (a dense Thomas Jay Ryan) has brought his tired and sensitive to light, cold and green curtains wife (an excellent Maria Dizzia) to Dr. Givings.  No sooner has he applied said vibrator to Mrs. Daldry that she is pink of cheek, forgetting about her illness and desirous for more treatments.  Manual treatments by the doctor’s assistant Annie (Wendy Rich Stetson).

The Daldry’s have a black housekeeper, Elizabeth (a mild mannered and wise Quincy Tyler Bernstine) who has just lost her just born son Henry and a little too conveniently has milk to spare for the child of Mrs. Givings.

At the start of Act II we are introduced to the artist Leo Irving (Chandler Williams) a male “hysteric” who has perhaps viewed too many John Barrymore movies.   Treatment commences and his life begins to blossom, only to cause a variety of complications for all involved.  I suddenly lost interest despite the lovely set by Annie Smart, the gorgeous period costumes by David Zimm and the atmospheric Chopinesque music by Jonathan Bell.

The ending is eye opening but completely farfetched.  Is it in the imagination of Mrs. Givings or can we really accept that it actually happens?   I could only wonder how much the transition must have cost and how frosty Mr. Cerveris must feel.

www.lct.org

Tags:   Laura Benanti · Maria Dizzia · Michael Cerveris · Sarah RuhlComments Off on In the Next Room or the vibrator play short circuits

Ann Hampton Callaway

Under the animated direction of the personable and charming conductor Steven Reineke, the New York Pops orchestra celebrated what would have been the one hundredth birthday of the prolific and well loved music master, Johnny Mercer. 

A renowned lyricist and composer from Savannah, Georgia born November 18, 1909 who died at the age of 67.  A poet with a sharp wit and insight into that universal condition called love.  A man who wrote over 1500 songs, most of them hits with an assortment of composers (Harold Arlen, Richard Whiting, Johnny Mandel, Hoagy Carmichael and Henry Mancini et al) who make up the Great American Songbook.  It was a delightful and entertaining evening Friday November 20, 2009 at Carnegie Hall.

Of course, Johnny Mercer was the star of the evening, even making a vocal appearance on a rare recording of a song cut from Daddy Long Legs which sounded terrificBut there were other stars as well.  Ann Hampton Callaway with her silken voice, wonderful control and artistic majesty simply tore the house down with her set which included “That Old Black Magic”, a lustrous “Skylark” and an unforgettable, pull-out-all-the-stops-fantastic “Blues in the Night” which ended the first act.

Making a surprise and very welcomed guest appearance was Michael Feinstein, the ultimate cabaret performer who sang “Something’s Gotta Give” a touching “I Remember You” and a show stopping “I Wanna Be Around/Goody Goody” revenge medley.

Supporting these two major stars were James T. Lane a Broadway performer with enough energy to light up the Issac Stern Auditorium AND the Ronald O. Perelman Stage with his fine singing and dancing abilities, N’Kenge who also lit up the room with her eye popping sparkling gowns, beautiful smile and extraordinary range.  And Camp Broadway Kids.

Camp Broadway Kids.  One hundred youngsters (ages 10-17) from eighty cities across America were invited by the Johnny Mercer Foundation for the weekend to learn about Johnny Mercer, what it takes to be a writer and the Great American Songbook and to sing at Carnegie Hall.  What a wonderful way to keep this music alive. 

During intermission, I struck up a conversation with a couple seated behind me.  It turned out that Susan Lee is a part of this inspired program aptly named “Accentuate the Positive” which instills in these youngsters the love for this endangered species of songwriting.  As they performed you could see the excitement beaming from their faces. 

The New York Pops has a lush, beautiful sound that sent shivers down my spine with their arrangements of “Emily”, “Charade” and “Moon River” and most importantly a program called “Kids in the Balcony” which allows thousands of public schoolchildren to participate in concert and music-making experiences at Carnegie Hall.  Kids from a couple of High Schools cheered from up there when introduced.   It’s a good place to start.  www.newyorkpops.org

Tags:   Ann Hampton Callaway · Camp Broadway Kids · James T. Lane · Michael Feinstein · N'Kenge · NY POPS · Steven ReinekeNo Comments.