The Coast of Utopia - Part 1 - Voyage

Well I've been looking forward to The Coast of Utopia since I started to hear rumblings of its coming to Lincoln Center during this time last year. The show opened in London in 2002 and I know a whole host of people who must be so excited it's finally here. (Probably the same people who can't wait until 2008 for Billy Elliott) I tell you, after seeing Voyage, part 1 of the three-part series, I was not disappointed! Tom Stoppard has embarked upon a momentous story - and it comes through so very well on stage.


The buzz about the show is about how big of an undertaking it is. This triology will be performed at Lincoln Center over the next six months and will feature 44 actors, playing 70 roles, and covering three decades of Russian life, history, art, culture, and ideals. The cast includes such great names as Billy Crudup (Pillowman, anyone?), Richard Easton, Jennifer Ehle (A&E's Pride and Prejudice), Josh Hamilton, David Harbour (Who's Afraid of VA Woolf?), Jason Butler Harner, Ethan Hawke, Amy Irving, Brían F. O’Byrne, and Martha Plimpton. There are even "marathon" performances in which the actors perform all three parts in one day - 9 hours of theatre! I must say I was a little intimidated - but I think it could be an exhilerating experience.

It's such a hard story to explain in terms of plot (all of those Russian names), so I think I'll borrow from the website a bit: "The first part of the trilogy, Voyage, is Stoppard’s nod to Chekhov set at the grand Russian countryside estate of the Bakunin family. Four eligible sisters are under the sway of their charismatic brother, Michael (Hawke), who interferes in their lives, while fervently seeking a greater purpose in his own. As his political and philosophical journey unfolds, Bakunin’s compatriots will include Vissarion Belinsky (Crudup), George Herwegh, Karl Marx, Nicholas Ogarev, Nicholas Stankevich, Ivan Turgenev and, of particular note, the visionary leader Alexander Herzen (O'Byrne)." So as you can see, Voyage is mostly about Michael's journey and largely focuses around his family and their estate. It's invigorating to listen to the dialogue about Russian idealism and literature as it's battered back and forth between the actors. For the three hours I sat watching the show - I was literally enthralled by what I was seeing. I immediately bought the Lincoln Center Theater Review and can't get enough of the information I found inside.

Now all I can say is....the second part, Shipwreck, can't come soon enough....Stay tuned!

Recently an interesting article came out in NY Magazine about the show. Check this out: http://www.newyorkmetro.com/arts/theater/features/23475/

Public - New Work Now!

Every year the Public Theater produces a series of readings of new works (mostly in progress) called New Works Now, and they open this event to the public for free. What could be better?

(Picture from Public Theater)

Things We Want - by Jonathan Marc Sherman
This silly, amusing, play about three brothers was fun to watch but ultimately left me without much substance to ponder. The reading was directed well by Ethan Hawke and acted especially well by Josh Hamilton (Coast of Utopia), Stephen Lynch (The Wedding Singer), and Peter Dinklage (Elf, Station Agent) - three oddly-paired actors who actually played brothers pretty convincingly. The play takes place in two parts - the first Act is set on the day when Charlie, the youngest brother, comes home from dropping out of Culinary School. He finds his two older brothers at home in their apartment. Stuy is the middle brother, and his life is a waste as he spends all of his days in a haze of alcoholism and on their couch. Teddy is the oldest and seemingly has his head on his shoulders as he has built a career with his guru, Dr. Miracle. Charlie has just been broken up with by his girlfriend, Zelda, and is pining over his loss. Stuy calls over an acquaintance from the apartment building, Stella and she and Charlie seem to hit it off.

Act II opens a year later and now Teddy is the brother on the couch suffering from Alcoholism (after having his career ruined by the phony Dr. Miracle) and Stuy has his act together - arriving home with his one-year sober chip from AA. Charlie and Stella have been dating throughout the year and are celebrating their first anniversary. In another twist of events, as Charlie and Stuy are off buying groceries for the big annniversary dinner - Teddy seduces Stella (or is it the other way around?) and the two run off together. Charlie comes home, finds himself surprisingly not depressed and realizes that life is just a series of hurdles and jumps that he must get through.

The play is a windy road with many twists and turns - and an odd quick piece of dialogue when Charlie and Stella meet that reveals that the brother's parents both died committing suicide out of their apartment window (the same window, both times...). This comes back in the end several times with the brothers trying to get through the hardest parts one day at a time. I think the playwright has a bit of tightening up to do - the play could be cut down in dialogue and increased in substance, and I think no intermission is necessary. I could see it running off-broadway somewhere like Second Stage or Cherry Lane...but not much bigger than that.

Machiavelli

Today I ushered for Machiavelli at the ArcLight theater which is located in the basement of an old church on the Upper West Side. Right away, walking down the stairs to enter the theater the religious art and environment seemed to influence the play I was about to see. I try to always notice the theater that I'm in and remember and special features - this one was indeed a space in which to take notice.

As for the show, it's a comedy about Nicolo Machiavelli - the man we all think of mostly for penning those famous words - "the end justifies the means." The play's author, Richard Vetere tries to alter the audiences perception of Machiavelli as a cruel man - although this is not written as a historical account. In his play, which Vetere describes as a comedy (and moments are pretty comical), he focuses mostly on Machiaveli's family life - rather than political situation or writings. Through a series of unfoldings and the ruling of Florence by several different princes, we learn that Machiavelli is quick to change his political loyalties (as one Prince after the other dies) in order to spare his family and himself. His quick wit gets him out of many tough situations.

The actors did a nice job - especially Machiavelli (James Wetzel) and his wife, Marietta (Liza Vann) and the narration in rhyme delivered by Alfonso (Lex Woutas) to introduce the play, break for intermission and ultimately conclude the series of events was quite lovely - even though I read some reviews that said otherwise.

Well, this show again satisfied my thirst for a bit of history - no matter that some of the events were fabricated. It's always interesting to see what a writer's imagination can produce in terms of a historical figure - especially Machiavelli.

Blue Door

The newest play from Tanya Barfield, at Playwrights Horizons (upstairs) is Blue Door.....the story of an African American mathematics professor struggling with his own inner demons and a sleepless night in which his ancestors visit him during his insomnia. The play features only two actors - one playing Lewis, the professor (Reg E Cathey) and the other (Andre Holland) conveys several of Lewis' ancestors - from the times of slavery to the present.

The show wraps up pretty nicely while conveying its main theme - Lewis finally realizes that he cannot separate his past and history from his present day self. All of the experiences his ancestors went through helped to shape the man he has become - no matter how assimilated into white society he may have become. There are some pretty touching moments - and a fantastic debut performance from Holland, who I read just recently graduated from NYU. Cathey seems mostly comfortable in his role but struggles to bring true emotion to some of the heavier scenes. The set is minimal, and the direction pretty basic, but overall it was a nice play with good perspective from the playwright.

Birth and After Birth

Someone recently asked me what my top five off-broadway theaters are, and the Atlantic certainly is on that list. (FYI the others are - in no order - The Public, Playwright's Horizons, NYTW, and Second Stage). Even when shows aren't great at Atlantic, they're still pretty good by comparison. For example, Spring Awakening (!!!) was the last show I saw there and other shows last season - Celebration and the Room and Lt. of Inishmore were all fantastic.

So the first show of their season is called Birth and After Birth, an abstract construct of a play by the Tina Howe. It begins on the morning of Nicky's fourth birthday. Nicky is the son, played by a large, grown man. The show is mainly about the interaction between Nicky and his parents - hardly the model parents for any child. Two of their friends, anthropologists fresh from travelling the world stop by for the birthday party and the show gets stranger and stranger. Several of the characters stop the action to interject their personal monologues. As a whole, it seems as if the playwright is trying to comment on contemporary parenting - but with the abstract dialogue and misleading direction - the play falls a bit flat.

Nonetheless, there were funny moments, especially from Nicky (played by Jordan Gelber) and the visiting Anthopologist wife (Kate Blumberg). I do expect that the next production at the Atlantic will be much more satisfying. ...stay tuned.

Nixon's Nixon

I've become a bit of a history-junkie over the past year or so (Foreign Service, what?) so this play, all about the end of Nixon's administration, was really appealing.

Two actors play Nixon and Kissinger(Gerry Bamman and Steve Mellor), and the entire play focuses on a conversation between the two on the night that Nixon resigns from the presidency. The stage is set in a conservative room in the White House where we see Nixon animatedly acting as if he's conducting the classical music he's listening to. There's a knock on the door and in walks Henry Kissinger. The two begin to talk animatedly and re-live their times in the administration. They act out conversations between Brezhnev and Mao and it's truly hilarious to watch the actor playing Kissinger pretend to be both of these great men, while still playing Kissinger. Both of these actors have great chemistry and work well off of one another.

The show brings up some great points - especially focusing on the power struggle as Nixon resigns. Kissinger is trying to fight to stay on in the next administration and history tells us that he does stay - but the way this show is written it keeps the audience guessing. We know neither of these men are truly innocent - they've both committed crimes of dishonesty in the administration and are trying anything to hold on - when we know Nixon only falls tremendously from the position he held.

Great show - glad it's being re-staged as it's so well written and very well-acted.