John Lithgow: Stories by the Heart
Adapted and Performed by John Lithgow
Directed by Daniel Sullivan
Roundabout Theatre Company
January 2, 2018 Production website
💉💉 out of 5.
Here we are at the American Airlines Theatre on 42nd on a cold Tuesday night. The set is a beautiful, rich, paneled library with a large wooden chair center stage and a smaller chair with table on the left side of the stage. Beautiful – but that’s it. Then John Lithgow enters. We are all applause; we are applauding, of course, for a career that has given us one of our best moments on stage, television and the silver screen. He comes out to give us just a bit of intro about her early years and the love he had for story telling as a young boy. He and his siblings were read stories every night and they loved them. It defined them as a family. Continue reading John Lithgow: Stories by the Heart→
The Pariasian Woman
Written by Bill Willimon
Directed by Pam McKinnon
Hudson Theatre
December 27, 2017 Production website
💉💉 out of 5.
Kill Bill does a bit of a political thriller – or so I thought. . . . well, a bit more of Kill Bill would have helped. The Parisian Woman is based 19th-century French farce by Henry Becque. They obviously took this political farce and “updated” it with as many pseudo-Trump references as they could. “Let’s say everything we can about Trump without saying his name.” And clearly this was the response of the audience. From “locker room talk” to “fake news”, the audience giggled with delight every time they could make the connection. Continue reading The Pariasian Woman→
The Children
Written by Lucy Kirkwood
Directed by James Macdonald
Manhattan Theatre Club
Samuel J. Friedman Theatre
December 26, 2017 Production website
💉💉 out of 5.
This is my kind of play – certainly that’s what I thought. I was expecting some combination of a Martin McDonough’s blood and guts kind of a play with a bit of an intellectual warning of the dangers of atomic energy. Some of that happened. The idea is so provocative. What would happen after a nuclear power plant had a problem and poisoned a community? Who would go back into this danger zone to clean up and try to get the plant back on line – – because we certainly cannot do without that electricity and we certainly cannot explore any other more natural ways of making electricity. Who should go back and clean up that plant? Continue reading The Children→
The Government Inspector
Written by Nikolai Gogol
Adapted by Jefrey Hatcher
Directed by Jesse Berger
Red Bull Theater
New World Stages
July 23, 2017 Production website
💉💉 out of 5.
but the work of Michael Urie 💉💉💉💉💉
The Russians are funny people. So often I have taught the Russian classic plays and my students take them with such reverence that nobody sees any reason to laugh. The Government Inspector is all about the laughs and all about making fun of the greed and corruption that dominated the provincial Russian government and perhaps could say a thing or two about the current world of politics – – you think so. (BUT although so tempting to bring “Trumpisms” into the play, they take the high road and trust the audience will make those connections if they want to. Continue reading The Government Inspector→
Present Laughter
Starring Kevin Kline
Written by Noel Coward
Directed by Moritz Von Stuelpnagel
St. James Theatre
June 21, 2017 Production website
💉💉 out of 5.
Kevin Kline is just so good in this – – but there is just so much of this! After seeing 1984 last night I was so eager to see a play that behaved itself and delivered some acting and some story. Present Laughter, I thought – – there’s the remedy.
It was such a beautiful play. A gorgeous set full of theatrical decadence with doors a plenty and plenty of furniture to poise, pontificate, and pursue a dalliance. The language of Noel Coward is so rich and so wonderfully sarcastic. It is so nice to hear a play that has vocabulary that reaches beyond two syllables. Continue reading Present Laughter→
John Lithgow: Stories by the Heart
