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New This Week:
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| As It Is in Heaven Photo by John Lamb |
My take: What happens when the sweet bye and bye suddenly becomes the here and now? Arlene Hutton's 2001 Off-Broadway play examines what happens when miracles apparently become real. "There are probably a hundred ways a sweet little play like As It Is in Heaven could have gone wrong," writes Richard Green at talkinbroadway.com, "yet somehow this delicate but powerful Shaker drama emerges as both simple and free, under the direction of Deanna Jent. Cast and crew skirt every imaginable pitfall along the way". On his Stage Door blog, Steve Allen says this show "will fill you with awe at their devotion to God and community and make you laugh and cry at the touches of humanity that go beyond faith into the trials of everyday life.
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| Born Yesterday Photo by Jerry Naunheim, Jr. |
My take: A boorish bully who knows the price of everything and the value of noting blows into our nation's capital, corrupting everything he touches. No, it's not today's headlines, but rather the 1946 stage hit by Garson Kanin. The Rep's excellent production doesn't make any effort to draw the parallel with the current circus in our nation's capitol because it doen't need to; the quality of the acting, direction, and tech all speak for themselves and the issues addressed in the script are, sadly, timeless. If I have a complaint, it's that Kanin seems to have had a bit too much faith in the average citizen's ability to avoid being bamboozled. But maybe that makes it that much more important to see this play now.
Held Over:
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| Anything Goes Photo by Jill Ritter Lindberg |
My take: Cole Porter's 1934 hit has undergone at least three major revivals (and, to quote Tom Lehrer in a radically different context, "God knows how many between"), each one of which involved significant alternations in the script and score. The New Line production has apparently gone back to the original book (a collaborative effort among Guy Bolton, P. G. Wodehouse (of Jeeves and Wooster fame), Howard LIndsay, and Russel Crouse)—whch is perhaps the most radical thing one can do with this show at this point. It's apparently working; Steve Callahan at KDHX calls it a "triumph" while over at Ladue News, Mark Bretz says the production "blends silly comedy, stylish music and effervescent performances in a winning combination which cleverly utilizes all hands on deck." I guess I need to reserve a ticket.
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| Caught Photo by Peter Wochniak |
My take: As I write in my review for KDHX, this ingenious puzzle box of a play is almost too clever for it's own good but it does raise issues about the contextual nature of Truth in a thought-provoking and entertaining way that doesn't break the fourth wall so much as ignore it. Just remember what the Firesign Theatre said: "Everything you know is wrong!"
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| Menopause the Musical |
My take: This popular ensemble show has been around for a while now, having premiered in 2001 in Orlando, Florida, in a 76-seat theatre that once housed a perfume shop. It's last visit at the Westport Playhouse was ten years ago, and it seems to have lost none of it's comic shine. "Who will enjoy this," asks Ann Lemmons Pollack in a review of the show last year, "beyond women of what they call un age certain? People of both genders around them unless they have no sense of humor. That includes family, friends and co-workers. One of life's cruel jokes is that the menopause hits many households about the same time adolescence does. Here's something to tide us over." Since this is effectively a remounting of that same production, I think I'm on safe ground putting it on the hit list, as I did last January.
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