Cast: Bill Pullman (John) & Julia Stiles (Carol)
Oleanna is definitely not my favorite of Mamet's plays, but it was still an interesting play. The cast of the production at the Mark Taper Theatre is wonderful. I've been a fan of Julia Stiles for years and enjoy Bill Pullman's work, too.
The play has fairly one-sided characters, but I guess that was what Mamet wanted for this story.
If you like the theatre, Oleanna is worth seeing - especially since discount tickets are very easy to find. The theatre is very intimate, so there's not a bad seat in the house.
Grade: B-
Labels: 2009, Bill Pullman, drama, Julia Stiles, play, theatre
Reviewed by Kat at the 1:00 PM show | 1 screams
Cast: Meryl Streep (Sister Aloysius Beauvier), Philip Seymour Hoffman (Father Brendan Flynn), Amy Adams (Sister James), Viola Davis (Mrs. Miller)
For complete info, see IMDb's Doubt page.
I thought the play was great, so when I heard they were making Doubt into a movie, I was a little concerned. Fortunately, the author of the play (John Patrick Shanley) also wrote the screenplay and made sure that they stuck to his original idea. The movie was very well done. Definitely not a happy subject, but if you're in the mood for a drama, I highly recommend this play. It's a great play and they did a good job taking it from stage to screen. The cast is amazing and they used their locations well.
Grade A-
Labels: 2008, Amy Adams, Best Play, drama, Meryl Streep, movie, Philip Seymour Hoffman, play
Reviewed by Kat at the 10:15 PM show | 0 screams
Cast: Jeremy Piven (Bobby Gould), Raul Esparza (Charlie Fox), Elisabeth Moss (Karen)
For complete info, see the official Speed-the-Plow site.
I really enjoyed this David Mamet play. The cast is amazing and the story is very good. There were a couple of things my best friend and I thought either didn't come full circle as we thought they would or happened in a way that didn't make sense, but we enjoyed the show. It seemed that a character could make one small change in their actions to save a lot of trouble, but I can see why the character might not have been thinking perfectly clearly at the time and I still think the play works overall.
There weren't many musicals that interested us this season, but there are a lot of wonderful plays on Broadway. Check out Speed-the-Plow if you have time.
Grade: B+
Labels: 2008, Broadway, comedy, drama, Elisabeth Moss, Jeremy Piven, play, Raul Esparza, revival
Reviewed by Kat at the 2:00 PM show | 0 screams
Cast: John Gallagher, Jr. (Stephen), Kate Blumberg (Ida), Chris Noth (Paul), Dan Bittner (Ben), Olivia Thirlby (Molly), Isiah Whitlock, Jr. (Tom), & Otto Sanchez (Waiter/Frank)
For more info see the Atlantic Theater Company site.
Farragut North, a world premiere play, is a timely play about a political campaign with a wonderful cast.
The characters are interwoven well and Farragut North held my interest throughout the play. I highly recommend catching it before the play leaves (late November). Perhaps it'll get extended, but I wouldn't count on that. If you're in the area, see the play now.
Grade: B+
Labels: 2008, drama, John Gallagher Jr., Off-Broadway, play
Reviewed by Kat at the 8:00 PM show | 0 screams
Cast: Daniel Radcliffe (Alan Strang), Richard Griffiths (Martin Dysart), Kate Mulgrew (Hesther Saloman)
For complete info on the original revival cast, see IBDb's Equus page.
The official Equus on Broadway page is also useful and will surely change as the cast does, assuming the play lasts long enough to have cast changes.
The thing that surprised me most about Equus, since I knew the basic idea behind the play, is that there is a lot of comedy in the show. I expected a play that was very dark and intellectual. I didn't think I'd laugh nearly as much as I did during the show.
The cast is amazing and the way everything is staged is wonderful. I highly recommend seeing Equus on Broadway. The story is sad and serious, so it's definitely not completely light fair, but it's also not as depressing as I had anticipated.
I'm not a fan of Harry Potter, but I definitely think Daniel Radcliffe has a good acting future ahead of him. They did a very good job with portraying the horses. I would be surprised if this play doesn't get a lot of nominations and at least a few Tony awards.
Grade: A-
Labels: 2008, Broadway, Daniel Radcliffe, drama, play, revival
Reviewed by Kat at the 8:00 PM show | 0 screams
Cast: Mark Rylance (Robert), Christine Baranski (Berthe), Greg Germann(Bernard), Paige Davis (Gloria), Rebecca Gayheart (Gabriella), & Missi Pyle (Gretchen)
For more info, see the official Boeing-Boeing site.
After seeing this play, which one best revival of a play, I'm glad it won so many Tony Awards. I'm very happy that Mark Rylance won for best actor and wish Christine Baranski had won a Tony. The cast was amazing, though most of the cast were not in the original revival.
This is a great old-fashioned comedy. I highly recommend it to anyone who just wants to enjoy a night laughing. Boeing-Boeing may be predictable, but it requires no thought to enjoy it, so you can give your brain a night off and just relax and enjoy the show. It's a hilarious show I think anyone can enjoy.
Grade: B+
Labels: Best Revival, Broadway, Christine Baranski, comedy, Mark Rylance, play
Reviewed by Kat at the 7:00 PM show | 0 screams
For details, see the official Tony Awards site.
Is it just me, or was it just crazy to see The Lion King open the Tony Awards this year? If I didn't have such a new DVR, I might have thought that I had started watching the wrong year's awards. I guess those costumes are so expensive that the more they use them the better they feel about the whole thing. Whoopi Goldberg coming out in Sebastian's outfit then was great, though.
I'm a big fan of the clips of great moments in the Tony's and was a bit confused by the clip with The Phantom of the Opera, since I know Michael Crawford was the Phantom in the Tony Awards that year and the guy singing didn't sound like I remembered or look like Michael Crawford that much. When Whoopi turned around and started singing, it all made sense. I'm still not sure I think opening with Circle of Life makes too much sense this year (I liked last year's opening with A Chorus Line, since it was a new revival that year), but I like what they're doing with putting Whoopi in the different shows. It's very entertaining and similar to the concept behind the amazing Oscar openings Billy Crystal has been putting together for years. Clearly, you can't do something like that in live theatre, but the concept is similar and it was very well done.
Kristen Chenoweth's joke about defying gravity would have probably come off horrible if it had been done by anyone else but her. Fortunately, she did a great job. Kristen seems like a very corny person, so she pulled it off well.
The comment about praying cell phones get turned off was nice. I would love to see theatres that somehow block all cell phone use and make doctors who might need to get paged check in to be notified. Perhaps someday... The law about it doesn't seem to completely help the situation on Broadway (and certainly touring productions all over the country where there are not laws to help out are SOL).
Having clips from the plays (complete with some set pieces on stage with Whoopi before showing them) was a nice touch. Plays are often so much shorter running than the musicals, so I understand why they can't all show us scenes from the nominated plays on the Tony Award stage. This year's solution was my favorite so far, by a large margin.
The Mary Poppins & Spamalot bits with Whoopi were very funny, too. They did a good job with this year's hosting segments. I'm sure having someone who can sing is helpful, but many of the past Tony Award hosts could sing very well, so perhaps it just took the right person to figure out what to do between awards. I was very entertained. With TONS of presenters, it's clear on any awards show that a host isn't really necessary, so I like to see them doing something that makes it worth having a host.
Stephen Sondheim getting a lifetime achievement award makes me happier than any other award could. I'm sorry he couldn't be there, but having Mandy Patinkin read his speach was perfect. Sondheim is truly amazing and I'm glad he's being recognized. Seeing how the current technology was used for Sunday in the Park with George in the revival was really great, too. The clips of that and the lead-in to the Tony performance of the revival were extremely well done.
Seeing Whoopi in one of my two favorite musicals (Spring Awakening) was wonderful! Having Anthony Rapp introduce my other favorite musical of all time (Rent) and then having the La Vie Boheme clip (How hard must it have been for the current Mark to follow the intro by Anthony Rapp?) was wonderful, especially since it initially made me think that I had misheard them earlier when they'd said that they had reunited the Original Broadway Cast for the night. Idina Menzel's cute comment about how it changed their lives and looking at her husband Taye Diggs was great. The current and original casts singing together on stage was really great to see. I'm glad that they showed the stars in the audience who were really into it (some of whom were even crying), too. This is going to be one of my favorite Tony Awards highlights of all time. Hopefully, one of these days they'll put some of these on DVD, so I can own them on something better than a video tape (there's no way I could keep them all on my DVR even if I still had the same one).
Patti LuPone's "Shut up, it's been 29 years" to the orchestra was another great Tony Award moment. I honestly thought they'd get more quiet at that point. I mean, she is Patti LuPone. I might not really like her voice, but she's an icon. I actually think her voice was perfect for her role in Gypsy and it was good to see how happy she was about winning again after such a long time and a few nominations in between wins.
I haven't seen In the Heights yet. I was hoping Xanadu would win, since it's definitely one of the most entertaining shows I've ever seen on Broadway. I guess I need to see In the Heights, since it won Best Musical. It must be better than Xanadu, which was a lot of fun.
I truly believe this was the most entertaining Tony Awards in a long time. I was surprised how entertained I was throughout the show. There really wasn't anything where I found myself thinking that they were wasting time or that I fast forwarded through when not watching live.
Grade: A-
Reviewed by Kat at the 8:33 PM show | 0 screams
The Verdi Girls was an amusing play with great performances by all the actors involved. Although the basis for the play (attending a Verdi opera weekend) might not appeal to many of the audience members, there is little concentration on the composer and his works. The story is really about a widow and the friends she and her husband always got together with for the Verdi celebration in Italy every year. Of course, the relationships between the friends and Linda (as well as her belated husband) are very complicated, which makes the play interesting and funny.
Grade: C+
Reviewed by Kat at the 8:00 PM show | 0 screams
For complete info on the production see The Laguna Playhouse The Master of the House site.
When I read the program and saw that this play was as long as most musicals (2 hours, 45 minutes with intermission), I hope that it was interesting and didn't drag too much. Although the opening slide show didn't grab me and made me think that the play might seem longer than 2 1/2 hours, The Master of the House was a very interesting play. It started out very comedic and light and ended up much more of a drama. If you have a chance to catch it while it's at The Laguna Beach Playhouse, I'd recommend it.
Grade: B
Reviewed by Kat at the 8:00 PM show | 0 screams
For complete information on this interesting play, see The Laguna Playhouse's The Ice-Breaker page.
Some of the best plays & musicals I've seen have been with small casts. The cast of two was definitely a good sign before the play started.
When The Ice-Breaker began, I was a bit worried that it could be a very long play. It starts with readings from a diary on the ice (curtain) and I was afraid it would be a long night. Fortunately, the diary got interesting and the part where we were being read to didn't take long.
The script for The Ice-Breaker must have taken forever to memorize. I was so impressed with the banter that Monette Magrath had to memorize, in particular. Sonia, her character, is almost never silent. Sonia actually reminded me a lot of the characters in Gilmore Girls and Monette Magrath looks a bit like Paris, which probably helped with the connection to the fast banter of Gilmore Girls.
I definitely recommend catching The Ice-Breaker at The Laguna Playhouse or other theatres if you miss it here (it's only here for a couple more weeks). It's an interesting play that is very well done. The cast is wonderful and the The Laguna Playhouse did a great job with another play.
Grade: B+
Reviewed by Kat at the 8:00 PM show | 0 screams
For complete info on this production, see The Laguna Playhouse's The Pursuit of Happiness page.
This world premiere, play is the second in a trilogy by Richard Dresser. I hadn't seen the first play, but I'm interested in seeing it at some point. The Pursuit of Happiness is entirely different from the movie with a similar title in theatres now (not only in the fact that it used the coorrect spelling of "happiness").
This play is a dark comedy about a dysfunctional family of three, each dealing with major decisions, mostly centered around the daughter's decision about going to college. The cast is great, it's well written, and the sets are well done. In spite of the fairly dark subject matter, the play is hilarious and I definitely recommend catching The Pursuit of Happiness before it leaves The Laguna Playhouse.
Grade: B+
Reviewed by Kat at the 8:00 PM show | 0 screams
A Marvelous Party really wasn't that marvelous. Perhaps if you're a HUGE fan of Noel Coward, this show is worth seeing. The show is a bunch of skits put together and a couple of them were pretty funny. However, one of them seemed to go on forever and ever and only the last skit was really entertaining (there were even some modern references). Definitely the worst show I've seen at The Laguna Playhouse, but still infinitely better than The Black Rider.
I definitely recommend that you skip this one if you don't have season tickets to The Laguna Playhouse. The next show is sure to be better.
Grade: C-
Reviewed by Kat at the 8:00 PM show | 0 screams
Cast: Cherry Jones (Sister Aloysius), Chris McGarry (Father Flynn), Lisa Joyce (Sister James), Adriane Lenox (Mrs. Muller)
Having seen Doubt with Cherry Jones, there's no doubt in my mind that she deserved her Tony award for the role. I'm so glad we had a chance to see Cherry Jones in this Tony award winning play. I was surprised that Doubt is a one act play and that it was so short. It's a very well done play. I definitely understand why Doubt won the Tony award and think it is well deserved.
This is definitely not a light piece and it makes you think of very upsetting situations that no one really wants to admit exist. The way the different characters handle the situations is very interesting. Doubt makes you think about what you would do if you were faced by such difficult decisions. If you can see Doubt, especially with Cherry Jones, I highly recommend it.
Grade: A-
Reviewed by Kat at the 2:00 PM show | 0 screams
Cast: Marissa Chibas, Judith Delgado, Tanya Perez, Christian Barillas, Matt Gottlieb, & Matt Gottlieb
For complete information, see The Laguna Playhouse Sonia Flew page.
There were a lot less people at Sonia Flew than at Shear Madness (the first show of the series). I'm not sure if that's because it's a drama (my mother-in-law's theory) or because the summer is over. Either way, I hope that more people get to Sonia Flew later in its run. Definitely not an upbeat show. I first cried around the time when I was able to correctly pin down the time frame of the first act (I tend not to read much about shows before we see them). Sonia Flew is a very emotional play that shows the similarities in different times of war. The first act takes place in the post-9/11 America and the second in 1960's Cuba as Fidel Castro was rising in power. Although not depicted in the present day of Sonia Flew, the horrors of World War II were also tied in to the story by the grandfather in Act I.
Everyone in this talented cast plays a different part in the two acts. Finding people who could successfully play a fairly modern American family and a 1960's Cuban family and their friends must be difficult, but The Laguna Playhouse did a wonderful job. Sonia Flew is a fabulous play and I highly recommend getting to The Laguna Playhouse to see it by October 15th. If the show we saw on a Friday night was any indication, tickets are still available, but hopefully word will spread. Catch Sonia Flew while you can!
Grade: A
Reviewed by Kat at the 8:00 PM show | 0 screams
Cast: Laurence Fishburne (Troy Maxson), Angela Bassett (Rose), Orlando Jones (Gabriel), Wendell Pierce (Jim Bono), Kadeem Hardison (Lyons), Bryan Clark (Cory), Victoria Matthews (Raynell)
For complete info on this production, see Pasadena Playhouse's Fences site.
Fences by August Wilson is one of my favorite plays and it was great to finally get to see a production of it. The fact that we got to see this amazing cast perform this play was icing on the cake. Fences is playing at the Pasadena Playhouse through October 1, 2006. It's a pretty short run and from what I understand most performances are sold out, but if you can manage to get a ticket to it, I highly recommend this performance.
Fences is a wonderful play by August Wilson about a former ballplayer for the Negro Leagues who is a very bitter older man working to hold on to his family and pride. There's a reason it won the Tony for Best Play in 1987 and it's just as meaningful now.
Grade: A
Reviewed by Kat at the 2:00 PM show | 0 screams
Cast: Robin Long (Barbara DeMarco), Brett Ryback (Mikey Thomas), Joe Sampson (Tony Whitcomb), Kevin Symons (Eddie Lawrence), Chris Tarjan (Nick Rossetti & Director), Tracey Adams (Mrs. Shubert), Ed Arnold (Reporter's voice)
Shear Madness is pure fun and wonderful entertainment! I highly recommend it, so if you're in or around any of the cities where it's playing now (Check out the Shear Madness site to see if it gets close to you), I highly recommend it!
Most audience participation shows are completely entertaining, since the cast is almost always amazingly fast on their feet and really good at what they do. Shear Madness has a wonderful cast and was more up-to-date than any show I've ever seen. The additional writers of this show must never rest. They mentioned some things that hit the news only a couple days before we saw the show.
I also like that they make the show take place in the city the performance is taking place. They added a lot of local Orange County places and facts that definitely took a lot of time to research. Very impressive. There were so many jokes flying that I'm sure many people in the audience missed at least one of them.
Shear Madness is a hilarious comedy/mystery that allows the audience to work together to figure out the mystery.
Grade: A
Labels: 2006, comedy, interactive, play
Reviewed by Kat at the 7:30 PM show | 1 screams
An interesting one-act play. The cast is great and parts of the play are very interesting. As long as Blue Door is at South Coast Rep, I'd recommend checking it out, since the cast is great and without them, I'm not sure the story would be as interesting. Two men playing 4 characters in a one act play
Much to my husband's disappointment, there was no blue door on stage. The stage had a few windows from time to time, but the blue door was only symbolized by lights. Lewis learns all about the history of his family from his ancestors and brother, all played by Larry Gilliard, Jr. amazingly well. Lewis goes through a journey of learning about his past and the horrible things that happened to his ancestors so he can come to terms with what it means to him to be a black man in his life.
Grade: C+
Reviewed by Kat at the 7:45 PM show | 0 screams
Cast: Len Cariou (Joe Keller), Laurie Metcalf (Kate Keller), Neil Patrick Harris (Chris Keller), Amy Sloan (Ann Deever), Chris Payne Gilbert (George Deever), Morgan Rusler (Dr. Jim Bayliss), Robin Riker (Sue Bayliss), Liam Christopher O'Brien (Frank Lubey), Megan Austin Oberle (Lydia Lubey), & Sterling Beaumon (Bert)
I had never seen Arthur Miller's All My Sons before and was excited to see it with such a wonderful cast. All My Sons instantly shot to the top of my list of favorite plays. Proof is still my favorite, but All My Sons is right behind it. Arthur Miller was an amazing playwrite and I'm so glad that the Geffen Playhouse put on this production of All My Sons.
Although I was expecting the moment at the end of the third act, it still caught me by surprise a bit when it happened. Something about waiting for a moment throughout the whole play seems to do that to me. I didn't know much about the story going into the play, since seeing the cast and a play by Arthur Miller was all I needed to know to buy the ticket.
I highly recommend this production in LA. It's playing at the Geffen Playhouse until May 21st, so there's still time to catch it if you're in the LA area. If not, I recommend that you see it if there is a production nearby in the future. So far, All My Sons is my favorite of the plays I've seen by Arthur Miller. It's a very well written and powerful play about what one man does to do what he thinks is necessary to provide for his family during the war. Years later, everything is uncovered as his son is about to marry his partner's daughter. The way the truth is revealed and how everyone handles it makes the play interesting.
The fact that our country is again at war makes All My Sons very timely in spite of the fact that it was written about 60 years ago. If you can get to see the production at the Geffen Playhouse, you won't be disappointed.
Grade: A-
Labels: 2006, Best Revival, drama, Neil Patrick Harris, play, war
Reviewed by Kat at the 2:00 PM show | 0 screams
Cast: Nylda Ria John Mark (Stage Manager), Jovoni Lewis (Mrs. Gibbs), Jamie Elvey (Mrs. Webb), and many other taltented performers
I've seen Our Town a few times and this production was very different from any other that I'd seen. The additional music was nice, though the choir robes were very distracting from the show. In the time of Our Town, the choir would wear (as they have in every other production) their normal clothes to practice. Heck, even in modern choirs I don't know of any that practice in their choir robes.
I had never seen act three done without any make-up to make those in the cemetary look as they're dead or with them all wearing the same clothes (choir robes again). I definitely have to say that the choir robes thing and lack of a real "stage manager" directing things and narrating things made the show feel very disconnected and less powerful. I'll definitely have to find a more traditional version of it to show my husband how the play is normally done. He seemed a bit confused as to how this choir lady fit in and I explained the way it's normally done...
The acting was great and the introductions to each act with characters telling the audience not to use those mobile phones (which haven't been invented yet), etc. were wonderful. I think everyone did a great job. Nylda Ria John Mark was particularly impressive as the stage manager, even though that role was drastically changed.
Although I definitely prefer a more traditional staging of Our Town, it's always interesting to see new interpretations of classics.
Grade: C+
Labels: 2006, Best Revival, drama, play
Reviewed by Kat at the 8:00 PM show | 0 screams
Man from Nebraska is a play about a man (Ken) who discovers that he no longer believes in God and needs to cope with what this means for his every day life. Somehow, in examining this, his pastor suggests he take a trip and he ends up in London for an extended vacation of sorts. The beginning moves a little slowly, but even those scenes were sometimes funny partly due to the lack of dialogue.
The cast is really great. Susan Dalian was particularly good as the bartender (Tamyra) in London.
I was surprised that they got the permission to use an instrumental version of Disney's "A Whole New World" in one of the scenes. They tend to be very selective in the use of their music.
For those of you who are General Hospital fans, you'd appreciate seeing Julian Stone (Jerry Jacks) live.
Grade: B-
Labels: 2006, drama, Kathy Baker, play
Reviewed by Kat at the 2:00 PM show | 0 screams