Theater Talkback: The Year in Miscellany By CHARLES ISHERWOOD

DECEMBER 15, 2011, 3:04 PM

Theater Talkback: The Year in Miscellany By CHARLES ISHERWOOD

Richard Termine for The New York TimesKatherine Waterston, left, and Dianne Wiest in Chekhov’s “Cherry Orchard” at the Classic Stage Company.

The approach of a new year brings reflections on the old. For writers about culture, this is a fancy way of saying it’s time to compile a list of the finest achievements of the year in the field you cover, preferably keeping the number to an easily digestible 10.

Accordingly my colleague Ben Brantley and I have assembled our lists. I generally prefer to keep my choices in alphabetical order. These lists are ornery things to put together in the first place, and somehow deciding which show is worthy of crowning the list feels artificial and often impossible. To begin with, comparing, say, a new musical with a Shakespeare revival, and then ranking one above the other, is an absurdity. Also I always feel that being No. 10 on someone’s ranked-in-order top 10 list must give little more joy than being left off entirely.

Inevitably there are also worthy achievements that you want to acknowledge but can’t. So as you, readers, begin calculating your own lists – yes, here’s your chance to feel the peculiar pinch of this part of the critic’s job – here are some other reflections, assessments, and fantastical fake awards that I wasn’t able to include in my ranking.

Most unexpected surprise (pleasant) The arrival of not one but two superb Chekhov productions in a single calendar year. I often feel that Chekhov’s plays are even harder to get right than the mighty Shakespeare’s. The magic of Shakespeare is multifarious and sprawling; they’ve got lots of working parts, and at least some of the parts are likely to work. They are symphonic; Chekhov’s plays are more like perfectly put-together string quartets, requiring perfect coordination among players.

I haven’t cared for any of the Classic Stage Company’s three prior forays into the Chekhov canon, finding them all disorderly and out of tune. But Andrei Belgrader’s zesty version of “The Cherry Orchard” won me over entirely with its fluid mixture of pathos and humor. And the production of “Uncle Vanya” from the Sydney Theater Company that, alas, only visited the Kennedy Center, was equally delicate, funny and assured. It’s a great pity that the Lincoln Center Festival, say, couldn’t find it a New York accommodation. Which brings us to…

Sara Krulwich/The New York Times“King Lear,” with Greg Hicks, left, in the title role and Geoffrey Freshwater as Gloucester, at the Park Avenue Armory.

Most unexpected surprise (unpleasant) The Royal Shakespeare Company’s residency at the Park Avenue Armory as part of the Lincoln Center Festival. These productions – of “As You Like It,”“Romeo and Juliet,” “The Winter’s Tale,” “King Lear” and “Julius Caesar” – were by no means inept or wrongheaded or disastrous. But the company’s reputation is such that I expected quite a bit more in the way of commanding or revelatory performances. The whole package, which included the construction of an amazing replica of the company’s Stratford home base inside the armory, turned out to be more exciting than the contents.

(Honorable mention in this category goes to the cancellation of “Funny Girl,” one of the few name-brand Broadway shows — thanks to you-know-who — that has not been seen in a major revival.)

Solo performance of the year It’s a tie! Mike Daisey’s sharp-minded inquisition into the works of Steve Jobs’s mind and the workings of the corporation he led to such renown in recent years was this distinctive monologuist’s finest work yet. It returns for an encore run at the Public Theater on Jan. 31, and all Mac-heads should lend an ear, if they can tear themselves away from their iPhone 4Ss. But favoring Mr. Daisey’s “Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs” over John Hurt’s brutally funny, achingly moving performance in Samuel Beckett’s “Krapp’s Last Tape,” which continues through the weekend at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, is impossible.

Sara Krulwich/The New York TimesReed Birney in “A Small Fire” at Playwrights Horizons.

Hardest-working actor Reed Birney, who appeared in three significant Off Broadway shows during the year and was excellent in all. In “A Small Fire” by Adam Bock he played the husband of a woman stricken by illness; in David West Read’s “Dream of the Burning Boy” he was an English teacher whose star student suddenly dies; and in Adam Rapp’s “Dreams of Flying, Dreams of Falling”he was the quietly suffering husband of Christine Lahti’s rapacious social lioness. Quiet suffering seems to become this terrific actor, but if you recall his performance in Sarah Kane’s “Blasted,” you know he’s capable of much more.

Most fabulous costumes Sorry, “Priscilla Queen of the Desert,” and nice try, “Sister Act,” but the prize goes to the splendidly loony work of an artist known as Machine Dazzle, who created the eye-popping costumes in Taylor Mac’s “Walk Across America for Mother Earth,” from what appeared to be the contents of several dumpsters in the fashion district, and the unsold stock left over from the Ricky’s makeup chain.

Finest company not enough people know about The Red Bull Theater Company, which specializes in the difficult plays of the Jacobean period – and for the most part, not Shakespeare’s. This year they presented a captivating production of “The Witch of Edmonton,” starring Charlayne Woodard, and earlier I caught a terrific staging of Thomas Middleton’s “Women Beware Women.” They regularly host Monday-night readings of plays that attract terrific casts. Next up: Gogol’s “Government Inspector,” featuring Stephen Spinella and Marsha Mason, on Dec. 26.

Richard Termine for The New York TimesThe playwright Young Jean Lee in her one-woman show.

Shape-shifter award Young Jean Lee, the playwright and performer whose next project is always as surprising and often as rewarding as her last. After establishing herself as a playwright to watch with “The Shipment,” a seriocomic play about black identity, and then having the temerity to rewrite “King Lear,” Ms. Lee put herself center stage this year, performing a very funny solo show, “We’re Gonna Die,” including goofy pop songs and personal reflections on life’s many perils, death very much included. In January she tears off in a new direction, with “Young Jean Lee’s Untitled Feminist Show” at the Baryshnikov Arts Center. Expect the – well don’t bother with expectations. They will be confounded.

(Honorable mention in this category goes to the reliably surprising David Greenspan. This year alone he wrote a softly hued and essentially traditional comedy drama, “Go Back to Where You Are,” before resurrecting a forgotten chestnut from 1925, “The Patsy,” in which he played all the roles.)

The what-were-they-thinking award To the producers of “High,” the quick-flop drama by Matthew Lombardo starring Kathleen Turner, inexplicably imported to Broadway after a none-too-impressive staging in Hartford, Conn.

The enough-already award Ingmar Bergman movies on stage. “Autumn Sonata,” “Through a Glass Darkly” and “Cries and Whispers,” all in one year? Those hard-working people who produce the Criterion Collection DVDs have a lot to answer for. I await with fear the 27-hour stage marathon of “Scenes From a Marriage.”

Sara Krulwich/The New York TimesLaura Osnes and Jeremy Jordan in “Bonnie and Clyde.”

The chutzpah award To the indomitable Frank Wildhorn, who continues to brave Broadway despite reliable evidence that neither critics nor audiences (in sufficient numbers) have any great affection for his work. It’s notable for any composer to have two shows open on Broadway in a single year. That Mr. Wildhorn achieved the feat with the ill-received “Wonderland” and “Bonnie and Clyde” beggars belief.

Most promising out of town development The appointment of the director Les Waters to head the Actors Theater of Louisville, which hosts the annual Humana Festival of New American Plays. This festival has been drifting toward obsolescence in recent years, as more and more regional theaters compete for new work from emerging playwrights. Mr. Waters has just the kind of adventurous eye (he was crucial in helping establish Sarah Ruhl as a playwright of consequence) that the theater needs at this juncture.

Most overhyped show Another tie! Between two musicals of vastly different fates, and indeed qualities. “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” managed to turn turmoil and near-calamity into surprisingly robust ticket sales, although the possibility of it recouping its massive investment still seems remote. Meanwhile, the unceasing barrage of advertisements for “The Book of Mormon,” to which you cannot get a ticket for love or money (well, maybe for lots and lots of money) has begun to seem positively sadistic. I’m so tired of the television ads I’ve had to stop watching “The Daily Show” at night. Wake me when it’s over.

OK, I’ve had my fun. Time for you to append your top 10 lists, or your randomly assorted choices for outstanding achievement, good or bad.

---

This post has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: December 15, 2011

An earlier version of this post misstated the opening date of the return engagement as well as the title of the show "The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs." It also misidentified the theater where “Young Jean Lee’s Untitled Feminist Show” will be performed. It will be presented at the Baryshnikov Arts Center, not PS 122. It also misstated the role of the director Les Waters. He is to head the Actors Theater of Louisville, which hosts the annual Humana Festival of New American Plays, not just the festival itself.

December 15, 2011

Without Hype, Playwriting Thrives By CHARLES ISHERWOOD

FOR the second year running I quickly totted up my list of my favorite nights at the theater before noticing, to my happy surprise, that the lineup didn’t include a single revival. This year, perhaps just as remarkably (if less happily), it doesn’t include a single musical either. True, it was hardly a stellar year for either genre.

The ecstatically received “Book of Mormon” practically swallowed the Broadway season whole, critically and promotionally speaking, while the endless debacle that was “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” gobbled up all the attention left over. And although the New York theater continues to be a leader in the recycling business, aside from Brian Bedford’s scintillating revival of “The Importance of Being Earnest” and a frisky and fresh “Cherry Orchard” from the director Andrei Belgrader, the year was mostly devoid of revelatory reimaginings of classics.

The inspiriting truth is that, while most of the media attention and dollars continue go to the overhyped fare that is more branded entertainment than art, American playwriting that strives to tell subtler if less handily marketable truths is in surprisingly strong shape. Here, in alphabetical order, is the proof:

‘BELLEVILLE’ Amy Herzog emerged in just a little over a year as a fully developed playwriting talent. Last year her “After the Revolution” made my list, and this year she wrote two plays of distinction, in intriguingly different styles. “Belleville,” which I saw during its premiere run at Yale Repertory Theater, blends elements of a straight-up psychological thriller into a keenly observed examination of a young couple’s disintegrating marriage.

‘BENGAL TIGER AT THE BAGHDAD ZOO’ Rajiv Joseph’s dark comedy about the chaos consuming the lives of soldiers and one grumpy tiger in the immediate aftermath of the American invasion of Iraq was a challenge for Broadway audiences, even with the beloved comic actor Robin Williams portraying the feline victim. But this richly imagined play, directed with finesse by Moisés Kaufman, depicted with a bold lyricism the murky world of warfare from the perspective of both the soldiers on the ground and the Iraqi citizens.

‘BLOOD AND GIFTS’ J. T. Rogers’s incisive study of the roots of the American involvement in Afghanistan was as dramatically engaging as it was rooted in the complex history of the region. Bartlett Sher’s lucid hand at the helm, and a winning performance by Jefferson Mays as a jaded British operative straight from the pages of a Graham Greene novel, helped turn what might have been a dry history lesson into an evening of theater that entertained even more than it edified.

‘4000 MILES’ The second of Ms. Herzog’s plays to make my list, this delicately drawn comedy-drama featured superlative performances by the veteran Mary Louise Wilson, as an aging lefty grandmother, and the talented newcomer Gabriel Ebert as her grandson. Their genial relationship deepens when he spends a few weeks in her New York apartment after a cross-country bike trip marred by tragedy. The best news: this wise, funny and heartfelt play will return to Lincoln Center Theater in the spring, with the cast intact.

‘JERUSALEM’ Mark Rylance is an actor of such protean gifts that he manages to turn his Tony acceptance speeches into quirky displays of bravura (albeit slightly irritating ones). In the roistering Rooster of Jez Butterworth’s elegiac play about the dimming fortunes of an England in decline — the lone London import on my list — he gave one of the great performances of the year, finding the spiritual beauty in a study in willful dissipation.

‘KIN’ Bathsheba Doran’s ensemble comedy-drama was an evocative exploration of the manner in which each human life touches gently on innumerable others. Sam Gold, who has become a sought-after director for his ability to mine every nuance of feeling in this kind of layered, naturalistic play, was at his finest here, bringing his tender, whispering touch to Ms. Doran’s story of interlocking lives.

‘THE ____________ WITH THE HAT’ Stephen Adly Guirgis’s comedy with the unprintable name was worth every four-letter word. An exhilarating head rush of a play, expertly directed by Anna D. Shapiro, it was enlivened even further by a fiery performance from Bobby Cannavale as an ex-con fighting to stay sober and keep the tenuous lifeline connecting him to his equally troubled ex-girlfriend from snapping.

‘SONS OF THE PROPHET’ In the standout play of the fall season, the playwright Stephen Karam depicted a kaleidoscope of human suffering with both biting humor and boundless compassion. The gifted actor Santino Fontana led a flawless cast, portraying a young man plagued by a mysterious ailment who also has to cope with the sudden death of his father, the failing health of a troublesome uncle, and a needy boss also battling the brutal fates.

‘VENUS IN FUR’ David Ives brought a moribund Broadway genre, the sex comedy, roaring back to life with his sneaky two-hander about a sexually fraught encounter between a desperate but calculating actress and a high-handed playwright-director. Reprising the role that made her a name to watch when the play was first produced Off Broadway, Nina Arianda gives a performance that reaffirms one’s belief in that elusive thing known as star quality.

‘THE WALK ACROSS AMERICA FOR MOTHER EARTH’ The only true downtown entry on my list, this insightful, gently satiric and play by the drag performer and writer Taylor Mac depicted a ragged band of freak-flag-waving activists treading from coast to coast to protest the depredations being visited on the planet. With this fully realized play, Mr. Mack established himself as a dramatist of more expansive gifts than even his most ardent followers might have imagined.

December 15, 2011

From the Past, but Looking Forward By BEN BRANTLEY

THIS was a year for celebrating both the enduring power of traditional theater and the creative stealth bombs that can be planted within it, for putting new and explosive life into classic vessels. “The Book of Mormon,” the year’s biggest hit, is on one level as cheerful and predictable an organic musical as anything Rodgers and Hammerstein might have come up with. But it’s also a sustained act of gleeful subversion. And while plays like “Jerusalem,” “The _______ With the Hat” and “Other Desert Cities” are anything but experimental in form, each seduces its audiences into traveling into places that they hadn’t expected (or thought they wanted) to visit. With one notable exception (the Belarus Free Theater’s galvanizing “Being Harold Pinter”) the shows listed below have the pleasingly familiar surface appearance of the Broadway of decades ago. What lurks in the hearts and minds of the original productions here (the revivals are another matter, but only just) is very much of the 21st century.

‘THE BOOK OF MORMON’ In what was generally a weak year for new musicals this audacious portrait of missionary innocents abroad managed all by itself to generate the energy and excitement to light up a whole season. Impudent, scurrilous, impious it may be. But this collaboration among Trey Parker and Matt Stone (the creators of “South Park”), the composer Robert Lopez and the director Casey Nicholaw is also a starry-eyed, lace-trimmed valentine to the good old-fashioned musical that grandma and grandpa used to fall in love with.

‘JERUSALEM’ Jez Butterworth’s drama about a drug-dealing, middle-aged Pied Piper in a bucolic corner of England, directed by Ian Rickson, was almost Aristotelian in its adherence to symmetries of time and place. But with a brilliant Mark Rylance in the central role, this production soared beyond “real time” into a primal, ageless realm of myths and giants that a spiritually impoverished world hungers to believe in, whether it knows it or not.

‘OTHER DESERT CITIES’ The long-promising American playwright Jon Robin Baitz finally delivered the complete drama his fans had been hoping for: a carefully plotted, hyper-articulate portrait of a raging family that discovers heroism — and a kind of blessed tranquility — in places where you never expected Mr. Baitz to find it. Joe Mantello oversaw the finest ensemble of the year.

‘BEING HAROLD PINTER’ Simply getting to New York (with the aid of the Public Theater and La MaMa) was a cloak-and-dagger adventure for the Belarus Free Theater, which is banned from performing in its own country. The show this troupe presented here in January — an inspired exploration of Pinter’s work as an anatomy of totalitarian oppression and the sadistic will to power behind it — was a searing, profoundly inventive reminder that theater can still be revolutionary, in all senses of that word.

‘THE __________ WITH THE HAT’ The season’s unlikeliest Broadway hit, Stephen Adly Guirgis’s foul-mouthed comedy about love and addiction (and love as addiction) dared to turn the language of 12-step programs inside out, reminding us that what draws people together and tears them apart (and sometimes makes them destroy themselves) is way too complex to be contained by a set of inspirational rules. Anna D. Shapiro oversaw a red-meat cast that seemed stark naked even with their clothes on.

‘THE NORMAL HEART’ A play that everyone expected to register as, at best, a worthy dinosaur — Larry Kramer’s 1985 drama about the early plague years of AIDS in New York — turned out to be a very-much-alive, inexhaustibly angry dragon that still breathed fire.

‘GOOD PEOPLE’ David Lindsay-Abaire’s quiet, seemingly uneventful drama about former sweethearts from South Boston who (briefly) reunite in middle age turned out to be a trenchant assessment of the divisive power of class in this country. And as an obdurate blue-collar gal who kept her secrets to herself, Frances McDormand provided a master class in beneath-the-skin acting in Daniel Sullivan’s deceptively easygoing production.

‘FOLLIES’ Four decades after it first dazzled and baffled Broadway, Stephen Sondheim and James Goldman’s musical about a reunion of former Ziegfeld Follies-style performers returned in a heartfelt production (from the Kennedy Center) that reconfirmed its status as the greatest show-biz eulogy — and benediction — ever written. Eric Schaeffer directed a starry cast to die for that found the emotional transparency in the shadows of spectacle past.

‘THE CHERRY ORCHARD’ A Chekhov tragicomedy that nobody ever seems to get right was done full, revelatory justice in a tiny Off Broadway theater (the Classic Stage Company). Andrei Belgrader’s funny, sad and freshly conceived interpretation opened the walls between Chekhov’s then and our now. Rarely have this play’s endlessly frustrated Russians (played by a cast that included Dianne Wiest and John Turturro) seemed to speak so directly and affectingly to an audience.

‘SWEET AND SAD’ The unspeakable resonated beneath and within the everyday conversational prose of Richard Nelson’s quiet, eloquent drama about a family that reunites in a town in upstate New York on the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. This work’s gentle indirection, given life by a perfectly melded ensemble at the Public Theater, made it the most affecting play to date to deal with the events of Sept. 11, 2001.

THE PRODUCER'S PERSPECTIVE SUMMER READING LIST from Ken Davenport (the producer blogger on GReader)

THE PRODUCER'S PERSPECTIVE SUMMER READING LIST  from Ken Davenport (the producer blogger on GReader)




1. Letters from An Actor by William Redfield



William Redfield's recollections of appearing in the 1964 production of Hamlet starring Richard Burton and directed by Sir John Gielgud.



2. Underfoot in Show Business by Helene Hanff



"Each year, hundreds of stagestruck kids arrive in New York determined to crash the theatre, firmly convinced they're destined to be famous Broadway stars or playwrights. One in a thousand turns out to be Noel Coward. This book is about life among the other 999. By one of them." -Helene Hanff



3. The Whorehouse Papers by Larry L. King



An account by a journeyman dramatist of the production--from phone call to first night--of his first play The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas and the attendant wranglings, clashes, and confusions.



4. The Seesaw Log by William Gibson



A day-by-day candid account of the creativity, conflict, and compromise involved in the making of a smash-hit Broadway show (Seesaw), by the playwright himself.



5. We Bombed in New London by Brian Gari



A day-by-day candid account of the creativity, conflict, and compromise involved in the making of a legendary flop Broadway show (Late Nite Comic) written by the composer-lyricist.



6. Everything Was Possible: The Birth of The Musical Follies by Ted Chapin



Ted Chapin is now Chairman of the American Theatre Wing. But when he was 22 years old, he was just a lowly Production Assistant, running around after Hal Prince, Stephen Sondheim, and Michael Bennett as they created one of the most legendary musicals of all time. This was his journal.



7. A Year With The Producers: One Actor's Exhausting (But Worth It) Journey From Cats to Mel Brooks' Mega-Hit by Jeffry Denman



Jeffry Denman's journey with The Producers from audition to opening night.



8. The Show Business Nobody Knows by Earl Wilson



Earl Wilson chronicled Broadway's Golden Age in The New York Post from 1942 to 1983. This book tells some of his sordid tales.



9. Showstopper by Abigail Pogrebin



A recent release, this mini-book is now-author Abigail Pogrebin's story of getting cast in Merrily We Roll Along at the age of 16.



10. Making It Big: The Diary of a Broadway Musical by Barbara Isenberg



Barbara Isenberg was a fly on the wall during the out-of-town tryout and Broadway birth of the musical Big. From a review by Library Journal: "This book is not for the weak-hearted or those with illusions about Broadway as the home of art; making this musical was more like making war."

DRAMA DESK NOMINATIONS FOR THE 2010-2011 SEASON

The following awards were voted by the nominating committee and will be presented by the Drama Desk at its awards ceremony:



Outstanding Ensemble Performances



This year the nominators chose to bestow special ensemble awards for acting to the casts of two shows. Therefore, individual cast members for these shows were not eligible for acting awards in the competitive categories.



•In Transit

•The Normal Heart

Special Awards



Each year, the Drama Desk votes special awards to recognize excellence and significant contributions to the theater. For 2010-2011, these awards are:





•To A.R. Gurney for his enduring, keenly observed portraits of American life over a prolific four-decade-long career.

•To Reed Birney for his versatile and finely nuanced performances over the past thirty-five years, and for his exceptional work this season in Tigers Be Still, A Small Fire and The Dream of the Burning Boy.

•To The New Group and Artistic Director Scott Elliott for presenting contemporary new voices, and for uncompromisingly raw and powerful productions.

•To The Pearl Theatre Company for notable productions of classic plays and nurturing a stalwart resident company of actors.

•To the creative team of War Horse for thrilling stagecraft: Paule Constable, Marianne Elliott, 59 Productions, Adrian Kohler with Basil Jones for Handspring Puppet Company, Tom Morris, Rae Smith, Christopher Shutt, Toby Sedgwick, Adrian Sutton and John Tams.

The following are the nominations for the competitive categories. Winners will be selected by the voting membership of the Drama Desk:



Note: Eligibility and award category designations for the productions under consideration this season were determined by the Drama Desk board of directors, with recommendations from the nominating committee. Because of the abundance of great work throughout the season, the board also authorized the increase in the number of nominees allowed in select categories. Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, Brief Encounter and The Scottsboro Boys were considered for their productions Off Broadway in the 2009-2010 season. Under Drama Desk rules, only new elements in their transfers to Broadway were eligible this season.



Outstanding Play



•Jon Robin Baitz, Other Desert Cities

•Adam Bock, A Small Fire

•Stephen Adly Guirgis, The Motherf**ker With the Hat

•Samuel D. Hunter, A Bright New Boise

•Rajiv Joseph, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo

•David Lindsay-Abaire, Good People

•Nick Stafford, War Horse



Outstanding Musical



•In Transit

•Priscilla Queen of the Desert: The Musical

•See Rock City & Other Destinations

•Sister Act

•The Book of Mormon

•The Kid



Outstanding Revival of a Play



•Born Yesterday

•The House of Blue Leaves

•The Importance of Being Earnest

•The Merchant of Venice

•The Normal Heart

•Three Sisters



Outstanding Revival of a Musical



•Anything Goes

•Hello Again

•How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying



Outstanding Actor in a Play



•Charles Busch, The Divine Sister

•Bobby Cannavale, The Motherf**ker With the Hat

•Al Pacino, The Merchant of Venice

•Geoffrey Rush, The Diary of a Madman

•Mark Rylance, Jerusalem

•Michael Shannon, Mistakes Were Made

•Paul Sparks, Dusk Rings a Bell



Outstanding Actress in a Play



•Nina Arianda, Born Yesterday

•Stockard Channing, Other Desert Cities

•Frances McDormand, Good People

•Laurie Metcalf, The Other Place

•Michele Pawk, A Small Fire

•Lily Rabe, The Merchant of Venice



Outstanding Actor in a Musical



•Norbert Leo Butz, Catch Me if You Can

•Colin Donnell, Anything Goes

•Daniel Radcliffe, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying

•Andrew Rannells, The Book of Mormon

•Tony Sheldon, Priscilla Queen of the Desert:The Musical

•Christopher Sieber, The Kid



Outstanding Actress in a Musical



•Sutton Foster, Anything Goes

•Beth Leavel, Baby It's You!

•Patina Miller, Sister Act

•Donna Murphy, The People in the Picture

•Sherie Rene Scott, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown



Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play



•Brian Bedford, The Importance of Being Earnest

•Christian Borle, Peter and the Starcatcher

•Boyd Gaines, The Grand Manner

•Logan Marshall-Green, The Hallway Trilogy

•Zachary Quinto, Angels in America

•Tom Riley, Arcadia

•Yul Vazquez, The Motherf**ker With the Hat



Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play



•Lisa Emery, The Collection & A Kind of Alaska

•Edie Falco, The House of Blue Leaves

•Julie Halston, The Divine Sister

•Sarah Nina Hayon, A Bright New Boise

•Celia Keenan-Bolger, Peter and the Starcatcher

•Linda Lavin, Other Desert Cities

•Judith Light, Lombardi



Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical



•Adam Godley, Anything Goes

•John Larroquette, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying

•Brian Stokes Mitchell, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

•Rory O'Malley, The Book of Mormon

•Bob Stillman, Hello Again

•Tom Wopat, Catch Me if You Can



Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical



•Laura Benanti, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

•Kerry Butler, Catch Me if You Can

•Victoria Clark, Sister Act

•Jill Eikenberry, The Kid

•Nikki M. James, The Book of Mormon

•Patti LuPone, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

•Laura Osnes, Anything Goes



Outstanding Director of a Play



•Trip Cullman, A Small Fire

•Joel Grey and George C. Wolfe, The Normal Heart

•Moises Kaufman, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo

•Davis McCallum, A Bright New Boise

•Daniel Sullivan,The Merchant of Venice

•Kirjan Waage and Gwendolyn Warnock, Baby Universe



Outstanding Director of a Musical



•Rob Ashford, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying

•Joe Calarco, In Transit

•Jack Cummings III, Hello Again

•Jack Cummings III, See Rock City & Other Destinations

•Kathleen Marshall, Anything Goes

•Casey Nicholaw and Trey Parker, The Book of Mormon



Outstanding Choreography



•Rob Ashford, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying

•Scott Graham and Steven Hoggett, Beautiful Burnout

•Steven Hoggett, Peter and the Starcatcher

•Kathleen Marshall, Anything Goes

•Casey Nicholaw, The Book of Mormon

•Siudy, Between Worlds



Outstanding Music



•Brad Alexander, See Rock City & Other Destinations

•Alan Menken, Sister Act

•Trey Parker, Robert Lopez and Matt Stone, The Book of Mormon

•Marc Shaiman, Catch Me if You Can

•Mike Stoller and Artie Butler, The People in the Picture

•David Yazbek, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown



Outstanding Lyrics



•Rick Crom, Newsical The Musical - Full Spin Ahead

•Jack Lechner, The Kid

•Adam Mathias, See Rock City & Other Destinations

•Trey Parker, Robert Lopez and Matt Stone, The Book of Mormon

•Glenn Slater, Sister Act

•Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman, Catch Me if You Can



Outstanding Book of a Musical



•Kristen Anderson-Lopez, James-Allen Ford, Russ Kaplan and Sara Wordsworth, In Transit

•Iris Rainer Dart, The People in the Picture

•Stephan Elliott and Allan Scott, Priscilla Queen of the Desert: The Musical

•Adam Mathias, See Rock City & Other Destinations

•Trey Parker, Robert Lopez and Matt Stone, The Book of Mormon

•Michael Zam, The Kid



Outstanding Orchestrations



•Mary-Mitchell Campbell, Hello Again

•Bruce Coughlin, The Burnt Part Boys

•Simon Hale, Jim Abbott and David Yazbek, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

•Larry Hochman and Stephen Oremus, The Book of Mormon

•Marc Shaiman and Larry Blank, Catch Me if You Can

•Lynne Shankel, The Extraordinary Ordinary



Outstanding Music in a Play



•Wayne Barker, Peter and the Starcatcher

•Kathryn Bostic, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo

•Lars Petter Hagen, Baby Universe

•Alan John, The Diary of a Madman

•Tom Kitt, The Winter's Tale

•Dan Moses Schreier,The Merchant of Venice



Outstanding Revue



•Fyvush Finkel Live!

•Newsical The Musical - Full Spin Ahead

•Rain: A Tribute to the Beatles on Broadway



Outstanding Set Design



•Rachel Hauck, Orange, Hat & Grace

•David Korins and Zachary Borovay (projection design), Lombardi

•Derek McLane, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo

•Derek McLane, Anything Goes

•Tony Straiges, Treasure Island

•Mark Wendland, The Merchant of Venice



Outstanding Costume Design



•Tim Chappel and Lizzy Gardiner, Priscilla Queen of the Desert: The Musical

•Desmond Heeley, The Importance of Being Earnest

•Ann Hould-Ward, A Free Man of Color

•Martin Pakledinaz, Anything Goes

•Ann Roth, The Book of Mormon

•Paloma Young, Peter and the Starcatcher



Outstanding Lighting Design



•Jean Kalman, John Gabriel Borkman

•R. Lee Kennedy, See Rock City & Other Destinations

•David Lander, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo

•Laura Mroczkowski, Spy Garbo

•Ben Stanton, The Whipping Man

•David Weiner, A Small Fire



Outstanding Sound Design in a Musical



•Lindsay Jones, The Burnt Part Boys

•Michael Rasbury, Hello Again

•Brian Ronan, Anything Goes

•Brian Ronan, The Book of Mormon

•Jon Weston, In Transit



Outstanding Sound Design in a Play



•Acme Sound Partners, The Merchant of Venice

•Acme Sound Partners and Cricket S. Myers, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo

•Ian Dickinson, John Gabriel Borkman

•Brett Jarvis, Baby Universe

•Bray Poor, Wings

•Eric Shimelonis, The Hallway Trilogy



Outstanding Solo Performance



•Daniel Beaty, Through the Night

•Mike Birbiglia, Mike Birbiglia's My Girlfriend's Boyfriend

•Juliette Jeffers, Batman and Robin in the Boogie Down

•John Leguizamo, Ghetto Klown

•Colin Quinn, Colin Quinn Long Story Short

•Joanna Tope, The Promise



Unique Theatrical Experience



•Being Harold Pinter

•Circus Incognitus

•Gatz

•Play Dead

•Room 17B

•Sleep No More



PRODUCTIONS WITH MULTIPLE NOMINATIONS



12 The Book of Mormon

10 Anything Goes

7 The Merchant of Venice

6 Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo

6 Catch Me if You Can

6 See Rock City & Other Destinations

6 Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

5 Hello Again

5 How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying

5 Peter and the Starcatcher

5 Sister Act

5 The Kid

4 A Small Fire

4 In Transit

4 Priscilla Queen of the Desert: The Musical

3 A Bright New Boise

3 Baby Universe

3 Other Desert Cities

3 The Importance of Being Earnest

3 The Motherf**ker With the Hat

3 The People in the Picture

2 Born Yesterday

2 Good People

2 John Gabriel Borkman

2 Lombardi

2 Newsical The Musical - Full Spin Ahead

2 The Burnt Part Boys

2 The Diary of a Madman

2 The Divine Sister

2 The Hallway Trilogy

2 The House of Blue Leaves

2 The Normal Heart

'The Book of Mormon' Missionary Men With Confidence in Sunshine By BEN BRANTLEY

March 24, 2011


Theater Review
'The Book of Mormon'  Missionary Men With Confidence in Sunshine By BEN BRANTLEY

This is to all the doubters and deniers out there, the ones who say that heaven on Broadway does not exist, that it’s only some myth our ancestors dreamed up. I am here to report that a newborn, old-fashioned, pleasure-giving musical has arrived at the Eugene O’Neill Theater, the kind our grandparents told us left them walking on air if not on water. So hie thee hence, nonbelievers (and believers too), to “The Book of Mormon,” and feast upon its sweetness.



Now you should probably know that this collaboration between the creators of television’s “South Park” (Trey Parker and Matt Stone) and the composer of “Avenue Q” (Robert Lopez) is also blasphemous, scurrilous and more foul-mouthed than David Mamet on a blue streak. But trust me when I tell you that its heart is as pure as that of a Rodgers and Hammerstein show.



That’s right, the same Rodgers and Hammerstein who wrote the beloved “Sound of Music” and “King and I,” two works specifically (and deliciously) referenced here. Like those wholesome, tuneful shows, “The Book of Mormon” is about naïve but plucky educators set down in an unfamiliar world, who find their feet, affirm their values and learn as much as they teach.



Of course different times call for different contexts. So instead of sending a widowed British governess to a royal court in 19th-century Siam or a nun in training to an Austrian chateau, “The Book of Mormon” transports two dewy missionaries from Salt Lake City to 21st-century Uganda.



And rather than dealing with tyrannical, charismatic men with way too many children, our heroes (enjoyably embodied by Josh Gad and Andrew Rannells) must confront a one-eyed, genocidal warlord with an unprintable name. And a defeated, defensive group of villagers, riddled with AIDS, who have a few choice words for the God who let them wind up this way. And local folks like the guy who keeps announcing that he has maggots in his scrotum. That’s enough to test the faith of even the most optimistic gospel spreaders (not to mention songwriters).



Yet in setting these dark elements to sunny melodies, “The Book of Mormon” achieves something like a miracle. It both makes fun of and ardently embraces the all-American art form of the inspirational book musical. No Broadway show has so successfully had it both ways since Mel Brooks adapted his film “The Producers” for the stage a decade ago. Directed by Casey Nicholaw and Mr. Parker, with choreography by Mr. Nicholaw, “The Book of Mormon” has its tasty cake (from an old family recipe) and eats it with sardonic relish.



If you know “South Park,” the 14-year-old animated sitcom about four naturally impious young lads, then you will know that Mr. Parker and Mr. Stone take a schoolboy’s delight in throwing spitballs at things sacred, including most major religions. But you also may have gathered that these men take equal pleasure in the transcendent, cathartic goofiness of song-and-dance numbers. (As students they collaborated on the low-budget film “Cannibal! The Musical,” and their 1999 feature-length film, “South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut,” is one of the best movie musicals of recent years.)



As the composer of “Avenue Q” — which took public-television-style teaching songs out of the kindergarten and put them into post-collegiate urban life — Mr. Lopez helped bring to Broadway young adults who had grown up on “Sesame Street.” And Mr. Nicholaw has demonstrated an affinity for savvy, high-energy musical pastiche with his work on shows like “Spamalot” and “The Drowsy Chaperone.”



Now, as a team, Messrs. Stone, Parker, Lopez and Nicholaw have created the ideal production for both the post-“Avenue Q” kids — the ones who wallow in the show tunes of “Glee” without shame and appear on YouTube lip-syncing to cast albums — and their older, less hip relatives. “The Book of Mormon” is utterly fluent in the language of musical entertainment from vaudeville to anthem-laden poperettas like “Les Misérables” and beyond. And it uses this vocabulary with a mixture of reverence and ridicule in which, I would say, reverence has the upper hand.



Which brings us, inevitably, to the issue of sacrilege. This show makes specific use of the teachings of the Mormon Church and especially of the ecclesiastical history from which the play takes its title. Church founders like Joseph Smith and Brigham Young appear in illustrative sequences, as does Jesus and an angel named Moroni. When delivered in musical-comedy style, these vignettes float into the high altitudes of absurdity.



But a major point of “The Book of Mormon” is that when looked at from a certain angle, all the forms of mythology and ritual that allow us to walk through the shadows of daily life and death are, on some level, absurd; that’s what makes them so valiant and glorious. And by the way, that includes the religion of the musical, which lends ecstatic shape and symmetry to a world that often feels overwhelmingly formless.



All the folks involved in “Mormon” prove themselves worthy, dues-paying members of the church of Broadway. Whether evoking Salt Lake City-style spic-and-span-ness or squalid poverty in a drought-plagued village, Scott Pask’s sets and Ann Roth’s costumes have exactly the right heightened brightness, which stops short of the cartoonish. And as sung and danced, the production numbers have the pep and shimmer of yesteryear’s showstoppers.



Set to eminently hummable melodies, Mr. Nicholaw’s superb choreography (his best to date) manages to evoke the tap orgies of Busby Berkeley, the zoological pageantry of “The Lion King,” the calisthenic boogieing of latter-day Broadway and even Martha Graham-style Americana. These numbers are witty, ridiculous, impeccably executed, genuinely stirring and — contrary to expectation — free of snark or satirical malice.



Nearly all of them are surprising, and I don’t want to give away much. But allow me to single out my personal favorites. “Turn It Off” is a hilarious chorus-line piece about repression, performed by the (all-male Mormon) missionaries and destined to make a star of its lead singer and dancer, Rory O’Malley (whose character is repressed in his own special way). And then — oh, bliss — there’s “Joseph Smith American Moses,” a spirited, innocently obscenity-laden reworking of Jerome Robbins’s “Small House of Uncle Thomas” sequence from “The King and I.”



The book is not quite on the level of the production numbers. (Isn’t that always the way with musicals?) The fractious bromance between Elder Price (Mr. Rannells), a human Ken doll, and Elder Cunningham (Mr. Gad), a portly, hysteria-prone slob, will seem standard issue to anyone who has attended buddy comedy flicks since, oh, the 1980s. Mr. Gad’s character, in the mold of Jack Black and Zach Galifianakis, is a variation on a screen type you can’t get away from these days.



But Mr. Gad remains likable and funny (especially doing Bono in a number called “I Am Africa”), while Mr. Rannells makes brilliant use of his character’s narcissism, which isn’t so far from the impulse that animates musical stage stars. As Nabulungi, the smart, dewy village girl who dreams of Salt Lake City, the sweet but savvy Nikki M. James gives a lovely, funny performance, never winking at her character’s earnestness. And for combining polish, enthusiasm and individuality, the ensemble is the best in a musical since Susan Stroman’s team for “The Producers.”



In a number that perfectly captures the essence of this happily paradoxical show, Mr. Rannells’s character beards the den of the evil warlord (Brian Tyree Henry) and, much like Julie Andrews in “The Sound of Music,” sings radiantly of his faith and hope and determination. The warlord isn’t buying any of it, and the priceless contrast between attitudes here is the difference between the world of musicals and the world of real life.



“The Book of Mormon” thoroughly understands this difference. This makes all the sweeter its celebration of the privilege, for just a couple of hours, of living inside that improbable paradise called a musical comedy.

Best of Decade: Theatre By Peter Marks

Best of Decade: Theatre By Peter Marks
Sunday, December 27, 2009

This was the decade of the Great Real Estate Rush, as virtually every major theater in these parts built itself a new place to put on plays. The construction dust finally settles next fall, with the scheduled reopening of Arena Stage's waterfront campus after an astonishing $125 million facelift. In the aftermath of the building boom, the region has some lovely new playhouses.
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But with the economy limping and the audience pool essentially stagnant, some companies have been adjusting better than others to the pressures created by these spaces. The next few years will reveal what effect the huge focus on bricks and mortar will have had on the ambitions to elevate theater in this town -- and how much of what's to come will be as good as the best of what we've recently seen.

The best

1. "Passion," Kennedy Center Sondheim Celebration (2002). A deeply insightful reconsideration of Stephen Sondheim's psychologically nuanced musical, and a revelatory facet of the most significant theater event at the center this decade.

2. "A Streetcar Named Desire," Kennedy Center (2009). The great Cate, as in Blanchett, was one of the many eye-opening features of Liv Ullmann's devastating, Sydney Theatre Company production.

3. "Measure for Measure," Folger Theatre (2006). A hauntingly beautiful, hypnotically up-to-date handling by Aaron Posner of a difficult play that did not so much fiddle with Shakespeare as illuminate him anew.

4. "Host and Guest," Synetic Theater (2002). Synetic has offered more lyrical evenings, particularly in its series of wordless Shakespeares, but this dance play about honor and savagery in the Caucasus Mountains was the piece that put the company indelibly on the map.

5. "Frozen," Studio Theatre (2006). Under David Muse's direction, a superb ensemble of Washington veterans -- Nancy Robinette, Andrew Long, MaryBeth Wise and later, Kimberly Schraf -- showed in this exploration of the mind of a child killer why talent in this town doesn't require a label marked "imported."

6. "August Wilson's 20th Century," Kennedy Center (2008). A monthlong marathon of the plays of one of the country's most important playwrights, the staged readings of the 10 works could have developed into static acting exercises. Instead, they were positively luminous.

7. "110 in the Shade," Signature Theatre (2003). Eric Schaeffer's effort to find intimate expression for large-scale musicals reached a deeply affecting peak with his treatment of this musical adaptation of "The Rainmaker," by Harvey Schmidt and Tom Jones.

8. "King Lear," Shakespeare Theatre Company (2009). Along with Rebecca Bayla Taichman's "Taming of the Shrew" (2007) and Mary Zimmerman's "Pericles" (2004), Robert Falls's chillingly violent updating of this majestic tragedy exposed audiences to the best kind of modern (and post-modern) Shakespeare, courtesy of the city's premier classical troupe.

9. "Scenes From the Big Picture," Solas Nua (2007). Let's hear it for the small fry. With an energetic cast and the resourceful Des Kennedy as director, the scrappy folks at tiny Solas Nua (Gaelic for "New Light") put together this deeply invigorating excursion into the lives of Belfast's hard-pressed average citizens.
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10. "Next to Normal," Arena Stage (2008). After a so-so reception off-Broadway, this bristling American musical drama about a family coping with mental illness came to Arena for a major retooling, then returned to the Big Apple for an acclaimed Broadway opening.

The worst

Not a production, a trend: The Post-Show Talk Back. There was a time when you saw a play and debated its merits afterward with your friends. Now, you remain in your seat and discuss its meaning with the cast. Yes, interactivity is everything these days, and theaters are increasingly desperate to add extra value to the steep ticket prices. But can't we go back to the days when a drama simply spoke for itself?
Best of the decade: Theater - washingtonpost.com (29 December 2009)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/24/AR2009122400127.html?sid=ST2009122401455
http://snipurl.com/twigo

Fanfare for the New, the Old, the Less Heralded By CHARLES ISHERWOOD

December 20, 2009
Fanfare for the New, the Old, the Less Heralded By CHARLES ISHERWOOD

FOR the New York theater the year just past could be called the year of the underdog. In putting together my annual list of highlights, I noticed that most of them — actually, all of them — were productions that arrived with little or no fanfare and nary a big-name celebrity, yet somehow beat the odds to become the little shows that could.

Not that these memorable productions were audience blockbusters. By "little shows that could" I mean little shows that could win the hearts of dedicated theater audiences not entirely attuned to the TMZ ethos that has begun to rule Broadway. Fewer than half of my favorite shows of the year were seen in that dubious and increasingly star-obsessed promised land. And while the shows produced off Broadway that made my list all had extended runs, none of the Broadway shows could even remotely be called a hit.

The encouraging success of theater underdogs this year seems appropriate during a time when the cratering economy tossed hundreds of thousands into the un- or underemployed list. If I squint for some silver lining, perhaps at least it was possible for starry-eyed aspiring types, the underdog playwrights and actors of tomorrow, to rent an apartment in the vicinity of New York.

The happy mascot for this year would have to be David Cromer's gorgeous revival of Thornton Wilder's OUR TOWN, perhaps the smallest yet the grandest of my favorite shows. Arriving from Chicago with much of the original cast intact, staged at the Barrow Street Theater for just over 100 people a night, this unshowy but perceptive rethinking of an American standard became a bona fide hit. Opening in February to rapturous reviews, it continues to play at Barrow Street to audiences finding themselves in thrilling intimacy with Wilder's bittersweet reflections on the homely grandeur of human existence. In December it became the longest-running production of the play in history.

As such it is probably the only production on my list likely to enter the theater history books. But the season was notable, if perhaps not epoch making, for the strong showing of new plays by women.

The lack of support for such plays has been a simmering cause of debate over the past few years. In the November issue of American Theater magazine, Marsha Norman once again makes the case that "there is some serious resistance to producing the work of women on the American stage."

But I hope it's an encouraging sign that the four best new plays to be produced in New York this year were written by women: Annie Baker's CIRCLE MIRROR TRANSFORMATION, a deliciously subtle comedy set in a rural acting class that explores how lives can evolve in ways that are both barely noticeable and momentous; Melissa James Gibson's THIS, a moving, deeply funny and verbally adroit comedy that manages to find a fresh vibe for a familiar story of marital transgression; Gina Gionfriddo's savage, smart comedy BECKY SHAW, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize; and Sarah Ruhl's IN THE NEXT ROOM, OR THE VIBRATOR PLAY, a wonderfully daring, serious-minded sex comedy about the fundamental lack of understanding between men and women in the post-gaslight era (and, by extension, our own).

In a hopeful sign that Off Broadway may yet see signs of permanent resurgence, "Becky Shaw" extended for six weeks beyond its initial run at the Second Stage Theater, while both "Circle Mirror Transformation" and "This" were held over at Playwrights Horizons. ("This" runs in the mainstage space until Jan. 3 while a brief return engagement of "Circle" plays the theater's Peter Jay Sharp space until Jan. 17.) The fate of "In the Next Room," which was bravely produced on Broadway by Lincoln Center Theater, does not look as happy. Although it will probably be seen by more people than saw any of the other new plays on my list, it is limping along on Broadway, where the only currency of value is celebrity. (It did not help that the Signature Theater chose to open the first installment of "The Orphans' Home Cycle" on the night that "In the Next Room" had scheduled its opening, thus ensuring that the plays would have to vie for news-media attention in the few outlets that regularly cover theater. With colleagues like that, who needs enemies?)

The snowballing power of fame is the most dispiriting news of 2009. The other three Broadway shows on my Top 10 list are Bartlett Sher's transcendent revival of August Wilson's JOE TURNER'S COME AND GONE for Lincoln Center Theater; the superbly acted production of THE NORMAN CONQUESTS, by Alan Ayckbourn, imported from the Old Vic in London; and the resplendent new staging of FINIAN'S RAINBOW, a transfer from the City Center Encores! series. Not even a date-night appearance from no less a celebrity couple than Barack and Michelle Obama could transform "Joe Turner" from a reasonable draw to a hot ticket. Unanimous hosannas couldn't stop "Norman" from entering the books as a flop — in theatrical parlance, a show that does not recoup its investment. "Finian's Rainbow," another critical hit and one of the most gorgeously sung shows in recent memory on Broadway, will be lucky to make it into January.

Still, the year brought some signs of hope that important revivals are no longer the exclusive province of Broadway. In addition to "Our Town" the year occasioned two unforgettable Off Broadway revivals that played to sold-out houses. Remarkably, the same actor, John Douglas Thompson, starred in both.

In the spring he played the title role in the Theater for a New Audience's nigh-perfect OTHELLO, directed with confidence by a newcomer, Arin Arbus, who qualifies as the most gifted new director to emerge this year. In the fall Mr. Thompson returned in a searing production of Eugene O'Neill's EMPEROR JONES at the Irish Repertory Theater. (It continues to run at the SoHo Playhouse.)

Mr. Thompson's is by no means a name that is going to light up a Broadway marquee soon, unless he finds himself starring in a trendy television show or a major movie. (And for his sake, I hope he does.) But his fine work this year will not soon be forgotten by those privileged to see it. There may be no better classical actor working in the New York theater right now.
‘Our Town,’ ‘Becky Shaw’ Among Year’s Best - Review - NYTimes.com (27 December 2009)
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/20/theater/reviews/20isherwood.html?pagewanted=print
http://snipurl.com/tvvmp

Artistic Success, No Name Brand Necessary By BEN BRANTLEY

December 20, 2009
Artistic Success, No Name Brand Necessary By BEN BRANTLEY

THIS was the year that Broadway asked itself the question "What's in a name?" and answered, "Everything." Three above-the-title Adonises — Jude Law (in "Hamlet") and Daniel Craig and Hugh Jackman (in "A Steady Rain") became the season's biggest newsmakers by stepping from screen to stage and drawing around-the-block lines in talky plays, sans songs or elaborate scenery.

It may take guts for established movie stars to expose themselves live, in three dimensions, in unforgiving Manhattan, where everybody's a critic. But the list that follows (in alphabetical order) celebrates a different kind of courage: a willingness to buck the trends of a theater culture more and more dominated by the spirit of corporate group-think that has ruled Hollywood for years.

Most of my favorite shows of 2009 — which include a musical about an African revolutionary, a quiet drama about a gay couple wrestling with religious faith and three marathons of interconnected works — hardly fit into prefabricated commercial molds. (The one that could be said to do so — a revival of "A Streetcar Named Desire" starring Cate Blanchett — took its own unflinching artistic risks.) But each exists coherently in its own universe, on its own terms. And those terms are tough, inventive and seriously ambitious.

BRIEF ENCOUNTER This imported British production, now at St. Ann's Warehouse in Brooklyn, might seem to be yet another example of one of the theater's most pervasive, and least imaginative, trends: turning a well-loved film into a stage show. But Emma Rice's song-spiced adaptation of the 1945 movie — about a pair of middle-class lovers too honorable to commit adultery — is an extraordinarily imaginative (and expressly theatrical) commentary on a cinema classic's appeal, our relationship with the movies and the romantic ambivalence of Noël Coward, who wrote the original screenplay.

THE BROTHER/SISTER PLAYS Tarell Alvin McCraney's trilogy of poetic dramas, seen at the Public Theater, confirmed that its young, closely watched author is that great rarity, an original and authentic playwright. Directed by Tina Landau and Robert O'Hara, these works combined Yoruban mythology, lyric tragedy and a dizzying infatuation with words into a rich portrait of poverty-blighted lives in Louisiana.

THE EMPEROR JONES Ciaran O'Reilly's lucid, lambent production for the Irish Repertory Theater restored dignity and majesty to a Eugene O'Neill play generally regarded as an embarrassing anachronism. And in the title role of an African-American railroad porter turned tin-pot island despot, John Douglas Thompson (previously seen off Broadway as a truly majestic Othello) staked his claim as one of the most compelling classical stage actors of his generation.

FELA! Bill T. Jones's thrilling musical biography of the Nigerian revolutionary and pop star Fela Anikulapo Kuti brought a new and totally hypnotic energy to Broadway. Testimony (along with "The Brother/ Sister Plays") that the Yoruban religion (and whoda thunk it?) is a gold mine for theatrical energy.

MARY STUART Women of power played to the hilt by powerful actresses in the year's great historical potboiler: Phyllida Lloyd's crackling production of Schiller's 1800 tragedy gave Janet McTeer (as Mary, Queen of Scots) and Harriet Walter (as Elizabeth I) the chance to chew the scenery with infectious gusto and theatergoers the chance to see that spin-driven politics were not a recent invention.

NEXT FALL Geoffrey Naufft's gentle, probing examination of the nature of religious faith — as embodied by a gay couple of very different beliefs — demonstrated that the conventional, well-made play can still explore unconventional territory in ways that stir depths of thought and emotion. This Naked Angels production, first staged off Broadway last summer by Sheryl Kaller, is bravely heading for Broadway next year with its original first-rate cast (without one marquee name in the lot).

NEXT TO NORMAL A musical about manic depression? Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey's searing portrait of a bipolar housewife (Alice Ripley, in a Tony-winning tour de force) and her bewildered family, directed by Michael Greif, dared to ask audiences to feel their pain through a pulsing rock 'n' roll score. A triumph of empathetic boldness.

THE NORMAN CONQUESTS A British farce from the 1970s about marital infidelity — spread over three full-length plays, to boot — would hardly seem to be the stuff of a riveting revival. But this London-born production of Alan Ayckbourn's comedies, directed by Matthew Warchus and featuring the year's most fine-tuned ensemble, was as packed with insightful character analysis as it was with impeccably staged pratfalls (both literal and psychological).

THE ORPHANS' HOME CYCLE Horton Foote's nine interrelated plays about one man's lonely life in early-20th-century Texas, are being presented together for the first time by Hartford Stage and the Signature Theater. On the basis of the first six (presented as two evenings at Signature), directed by Michael Wilson, the cycle has the complexity, richness and narrative hold of a juicy 19th-century novel. This fitting tribute to its singular author, who died this year, is far too filled with life to be only a monument.

A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE A Norwegian director and an Australian cast were foolhardy enough to take on what may be the great American play of the 20th century. Liv Ullmann's traveling production of Tennessee Williams's masterpiece, seen at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, dispensed with the usual local New Orleans color to focus with uncompromising intensity on the wounded woman at its center, Blanche DuBois. And in that part Cate Blanchett gave the performance of the year.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: December 27, 2009
An article last Sunday about the year in theater misspelled the given name of the person who wrote the score for the musical "Next to Normal." He is Tom Kitt, not Thom.
‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ Among Year’s Top 10 - Review - NYTimes.com (27 December 2009)
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/20/theater/reviews/20brantley.html?pagewanted=print
http://snipurl.com/tvvm7

Goings On About Town's Best Off Broadway Theatre Shows of 2009 Posted by Shauna Lyon

December 18, 2009
Goings On About Town's Best Off Broadway Theatre Shows of 2009 Posted by Shauna Lyon

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This year, Off Broadway (and Off Off Broadway) theatre yielded myriad pleasures, as well as some pain, from reconceived classics to star-driven spectacles to truly heart-wrenching dramas to elaborately offbeat displays of inventiveness. The bar was set high by several up-and-coming companies, and more than a few lesser-known writers and directors broke out with remarkable work. We culled the favorites of several Goings On About Town contributors; some shows, such as "Our Town," "Telephone," "This Beautiful City," and "Circle Mirror Transformation," got several votes. In no particular order, here are our top twelve.

Ruined

In Lynn Nottage's incandescent Pulitzer Prize-winning drama, a group of physically and spiritually wounded Congolese women survive the ravages of their country's civil war by working at the tough Mama Nadi's brothel. Partly based on interviews with women who endured similar horrors in the Congo, Kate Whoriskey's production (for Manhattan Theatre Club) exhibited truth, compassion, and pathos in paying tribute to those who have suffered—thanks in no small part to the brave, standout performances of Portia, Russell Jones, and Condola Rashad. (Shauna Lyon)

Telephone

The Foundry Theatre staged this feverish, visually searing piece, by the poet Ariana Reines, about Alexander Graham Bell and the distorting effects of the telephone. Birgit Huppuch won an Obie for her role as a mad seamstress who delivers a long, nonsensical, completely unforgettable soliloquy. (Michael Schulman)

This Beautiful City

Basically, whenever the Civilians do something, see it. The documentary-theatre troupe's investigation into Ted Haggard and the underpinnings of faith was shrewd, funny, and humane. Next up: an exploration of the porn industry. (M.S.)

Our Town

The director David Cromer turned Thornton Wilder's chestnut into something breathtakingly new, thanks in part to a bacon-assisted coup de théâtre. The production is still running at the Barrow Street Theatre, although Cromer is no longer starring as the Stage Manager. Go! (M.S.)

Circle Mirror Transformation

An under-enrolled community-center drama class was the ingenious setting for Annie Baker's clever and endearing sophomore outing. Add a stellar cast of New York theatre all-stars—Reed Birney, Heidi Schreck, Deirdre O'Connell, Peter Friedman, and Tracee Chimo—and Sam Gold's virtuosically detailed direction, and what you have is the word-of-mouth hit of the season. In fact, it's already being revived: Playwrights Horizons has brought it back for a virtually unheard of return engagement, through Jan. 17. (Branden Jacobs-Jenkins)

The Lily's Revenge

Taylor Mac's extravaganza—five hours long! a cast of forty!—was about a lovelorn lily (played by Mac) on a quest for self-acceptance (at HERE Arts Center). You don't often see downtown theatre this ambitious, either in size or in spirit. And the flower costumes were fierce. (M.S.)

Machines Machines Machines Machines Machines Machines Machines

The most inventive thing I saw all year (at HERE Arts Center), and one of the giddiest. Quinn Bauriedel, Trey Lyford, and Geoff Sobelle wrote and starred in this clown fantasia, which featured incredible Rube Goldberg-inspired contraptions. Probably the most animated set since "Pee-Wee's Playhouse." (M.S.)

Twelfth Night

Seeing almost anything at the Delacorte on a warm summer night is a pleasure, but Daniel Sullivan's Shakespeare in the Park production, which featured Hamish Linklater, Julie White, and Anne Hathaway (the movie star, not Shakespeare's wife), was one of the best in years—even in the rain. (M.S.)

Beowulf: A Thousand Years of Baggage

In April, Banana Bag & Bodice brought us a staging of the Beowulf legend that featured a propulsive, oompah-inflected score (by Dave Malloy), sets reminiscent of "Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome," and, improbably, fresh insight into Grendel (he's a lovable dope). They also wisely handed out soundtrack CDs to critics, insuring that brilliant tunes like "Heorot," "Hrothgar," and "Beowulf Arrives" would be stuck in their heads for the duration of 2009. "Beowulf" had a limited run, but the company's "A Very Sandwich Christmas" is playing at Abrons Arts Center, through Dec. 19. (Sarah Larson)

Angela's Mixtape

It's lucky for us that Eisa Davis grew up to be an actor and a playwright (and a singer and a dancer) rather than a radical like her aunt Angela; otherwise we wouldn't have been so thoroughly entertained by her play (presented by New Georges at the Ohio in April), a wacky depiction of growing up an innocent around sixties revolutionaries. (Trish Deitch)

CHAUTAUQUA!

There is no theatre company in New York quite like the National Theatre of the United States of America, and there was no other show this past season quite like this one. Modelled on the historical lecture circuit of the late nineteenth century, "CHAUTAUQUA!" (which played at P.S. 122) was part history pageant, part public service, part farce, and part Pirandellian theatrical experiment that earnestly sought to engage its local audiences not just with its past but with its present—a slick, ambitious, rigorous, and big-hearted celebration of all things theatrical and democratic. If you missed it the first time, don't fret: it returns in January as part of the Public's "Under the Radar" festival. (B.J.J.)

The Winter's Tale / The Cherry Orchard

The first year of the Bridge Project, Sam Mendes's globetrotting brainchild, had an extraordinary cast (Simon Russell Beale, Rebecca Hall, Ethan Hawke, Richard Easton) and alternated between Chekhov and Shakespeare at BAM. Both were ravishingly elegant and sad. Mendes's Bridge Project returns to BAM in January with a new cast to perform "As You Like It" and "The Tempest." (M.S.)

Honorable Mention: Willem Dafoe's astute idiot in Richard Foreman's "Idiot Savant," at the Public; and Mamie Gummer's delicately lovelorn Sonya in "Uncle Vanya," at Classic Stage Company.
Goings On About Town’s Best Off Broadway Theatre Shows of 2009: The New Yorker Blog : The New Yorker (26 December 2009)
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/tny/2009/12/goings-on-about-town-best-off-broadway-theatre-shows-of-2009.html
http://snipurl.com/tv52r

The Best Theatre of 2009 Posted by Hilton Als

December 18, 2009
The Best Theatre of 2009 Posted by Hilton Als

When Frank Capra adapted playwright Joseph Kesselring’s 1939 Broadway hit, “Arsenic and Old Lace,” for the screen in 1944, Cary Grant took over the role of Mortimer Brewster, a theatre critic who’s as famous for his views on marriage—he’s very anti—as he is for the cruelty of his reviews. But when the movie begins, Mortimer’s in the process of contradicting his public image; he’s in love with, and marries, a sweet girl he grew up near in Brooklyn. One feels for Mortimer. Love rattles his cool nearly as much as his dotty aunts’ penchant for poisoning lonely old bachelors. Six years after Capra’s movie was produced, the film director and screenwriter Joseph L. Mankiewicz presented his masterwork, “All About Eve.” In it, one meets a variety of theatre folk; among them is the waspish, aptly named theatre critic Addison De Witt. Cold, removed, and glittering like an icicle, De Witt doesn’t restrict his venom to the stage; through various machinations, he ends up controlling the movie’s titular anti-heroine. About himself, Addison says: “My native habitat is the theatre. In it I toil not, neither do I spin. I am a critic and commentator. I am essential to the theatre.”

In actual fact, critics are more interesting to meet in the movies than they are in what we call real life; they rarely think of themselves as central to anything, let alone the life of the theatre: it’s the theatre that feeds us. While Brewster and De Witt are film’s most famous writers, one suspects they’d be still more interesting on the page, which is where most writers belong. (The possible exception is Gore Vidal.) While movies and novels generally characterize theatre critics as angry bottom feeders in a sea of creativity, the theatre critic’s real job is to articulate love and humility and a sense of wonder whenever the curtain rises—no matter how unpromising the enterprise under review turns out to be. While there was precious little to unequivocally love in 2009, there were sensational moments that reminded one of why looking and articulating what one saw onstage remains such a powerful experience, leaving the critic happily vulnerable to all that any number of actors, producers, designers, and directors mean to say. Or should.

1. Isabelle Huppert in Robert Wilson’s “Quartett.” Huppert’s glorious Gallic face, that turned-down mouth that hints at her perpetual disapproval and, if pushed, contempt, was beautifully utilized by Wilson in the late German playwright Heiner Müller’s masterful re-imaging of the Choderlos de Laclos classic “Dangerous Liaisons.” Huppert’s self-control—over her costuming, the rush of words, not to mention body—was without question the theatrical event of the season. For what Huppert managed to do, first through her mere presence, and then by using her laser-like intelligence and hunger to know more about the world and show it, was to remind audiences of theatre’s basic ineffability, and why it’s a tragic medium, akin to jazz: no one performance is or should be the same. And then the moment passes, only to be reclaimed in memory.

2. Alenka Kraigher in Richard Foreman’s “Idiot Savant.” Kraigher, who is also a filmmaker, was born in Slovenia, and she knows perfectly well how faces look on stage and in front of the camera. She’s a postmodern Lillian Gish, capable of melding two genres into one and coming out on the other side with something utterly new. Taking her cue from Foreman—he cramps his stage with obstacles—Kraigher uses her body minimally while throwing shade with a flicker of her eyelids. Kraigher could become a great new star if she can keep working with directors like Foreman, who gets at a performer’s soul by throwing out a character’s psychology.

3. Diane Keaton at the Polo Lounge at the Beverly Hills Hotel. As dinner guests of mutual friends, it was fascinating to watch her bits of pantomime while the waiter took someone else’s order. She talked in one breath about what to eat and who she meant to be, while simultaneously laughing at her ability and inability to commit to either “persona.” A brilliant performance in real time.

4. Pablo Schneider in “Desire Under the Elms.” American men are not supposed to be aware of their sexual power onstage or off; that would make them less “masculine.” But part of what made Marlon Brando so great—and so singular in his effects—was his awareness that, as an actor, he liked being looked at, by men and women alike. Generally, if we like an American male onstage, it’s because he’s playing some version of the stolid, non-verbal, sports-loving Dad we all grew up with, or wish we had. But Schneider broke that mold with his deeply erotic and engaged portrayal of a love-sick, sensitive boy who becomes a man by seeking mother-love from a conniving older woman. He’s as much in love with her rot as he is with the maternal female flesh that crawls out from underneath it.

5. Justin Bond at Joe’s Pub, and at the Henry Street Settlement’s Abrons Arts Center with The Pixie Harlots. Speaking of masculinity! The gender-bending performer told stories about pagan faerie rituals, the new economy, drugs in San Francisco, love, sex, and falling down the stairs in a haunted house, sometimes supported by incomparable “Our” Lady Jay on piano. His heartbreaking rendition of Radiohead’s “Little Fishes,” was all about the power and mystery and ultimate demise of the body, a performance that helped italicize one of the primary reasons we go to the theatre: to watch bodies, and thus truth, unfold as they tell stories.


Read more: http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/tny/2009/12/the-best-theatre-of-2009.html#ixzz0apxpKI76