{"id":181,"date":"2010-08-20T12:20:34","date_gmt":"2010-08-20T16:20:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/playfixer.com\/wordpress\/?p=181"},"modified":"2010-08-20T12:20:34","modified_gmt":"2010-08-20T16:20:34","slug":"on-the-aisle-with-larry-20-august-2010","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/playfixer.com\/wordpress\/?p=181","title":{"rendered":"“On the Aisle With Larry” 20 August, 2010"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lawrence Harbison<\/em><\/strong>, The Playfixer, brings you up to date with what\u2019s hot and what\u2019s not in New York. This week, Larry tells you about FREUD\u2019S LAST SESSION, SEE ROCK CITY & OTHER DESTINATIONS, FALLING FOR EVE, THE IRISH AND HOW THEY GOT THAT WAY, BACHELORETTE, WOLVES, WITH GLEE, IN GOD\u2019S HAT <\/strong>and THE CAPEMAN.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Mark St. Germain\u2019s Freud\u2019s Last Session<\/em><\/strong>, currently at The Margery S. Deane Little Theatre in the West Side YMCA, imagines a meeting in London between the cancer-ridden Sigmund Freud and the Oxford don C.S. Lewis during the early days of the Blitz. This is a pretext for a debate about religion, during which the arguments pro and con for the existence of God are laid out. This sounds pretty dry, but it\u2019s not. St. Germain knows how to create compelling conflict and his dialogue is often very witty. You won\u2019t come away with your mind changed, but you will enjoy yourself if you go to this. Tyler Marchant\u2019s direction is perfectly, subtly understated, and his two actors, Martin Raynor as Freud and Mark H. Dold as Lewis are terrific.<\/p>\n

The Transport Group\u2019s musical at the Duke Theatre, See Rock City<\/em><\/strong> & Other Destinations <\/em><\/strong>by Adam Matthias (book & lyrics) and Brad Alexander (music), AT THE Duke Theatre, is basically a series of ten-minute plays about people visiting unusual tourist destinations in the U.S. All are ultimately about loneliness.<\/p>\n

When you enter the Duke Theatre you are confronted by an empty space, save for a huge pile of lawn chairs. Just before the show begins, the cast members come out, disassemble the lawn chair mountain and set the chairs up in rows around the periphery of the room. This reinforces the themes of impermanence we are about to experience, but it also addS extra time to the event. It seemed to me an unnecessary contrivance.<\/p>\n

I loved the little playlets, though; and the songs are lovely. The performers are are mighty fine. This one\u2019s definitely worth a visit.<\/p>\n

The York Theatre Co. has on view a charming take on the Garden of Eden story, a new musical called Falling for Eve<\/em><\/strong>. Book writer Joe DiPietro imagines God as both male and female, and in his version only Eve is expelled from Eden for eating that apple. She wanders around the earth for many years before she persuades an angel to let her back into Eden to go fetch Adam.<\/p>\n

The songs by Bret Simons (music) and David Howard (lyrics) are charming, and the performers are delightful. Jose Llana is a wonderfully hunky, rather dim Adam, and Krystal Joy Brown is delicious as Eve.<\/p>\n

You might think, \u201cOh, no, not another anachronistic take on the Bible;\u201d but go \u2013 you\u2019ll have a good time.<\/p>\n

Irish Rep has brought back Frank McCourt\u2019s The Irish and How They Got That Way<\/em><\/strong>, which they have produced twice previously, as a sort of memorial to McCourt, the author of Angela\u2019s Ashes, <\/em>who passed away last year and who was a much beloved New York character, particularly amongst the Irish in our midst.<\/p>\n

McCourt\u2019s script is a documentary which begins in Ireland but winds up in America. It\u2019s the Cliff\u2019s Notes edition of Irish\/American History, made enjoyable by McCourt\u2019s trademark wit and director Charlotte Moore\u2019s charming cast, who sing snippets of scads of songs, from the inevitable \u201cDanny Boy\u201d and \u201cThe Rose of Tralee\u201d to \u201cNo Irish Need Apply\u201d and \u201cWho Put the Overalls in Mrs. Murphy\u2019s Chowder?\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a darlin\u2019 time in the theatre, even if you\u2019ve seen it before.<\/p>\n

Leslye Headland\u2019s Bachelorette<\/em><\/strong> looks to be the biggest hit Second Stage has had with its summer uptown series at the McGinn\/Cazale Theatre. It\u2019s been extended until the end of the month, and it wouldn\u2019t surprise me if it resurfaces later this season in a commercial venue.<\/p>\n

Although there are men in the play, Bachelorette<\/em> is basically a horrifying\/hilarious portrait of 20-something women. We are in a swank hotel room. The Maid of Honor has invited over two of her friends who, it turns out, are not exactly friends of the bride. While we wait for the bride-to-be to show up at the party, these three women let their hair down. All three are terrified that life is passing them by. The play starts out as a bitch-fest, moves quickly into a cat fight, and ends up as potential tragedy \u2013 all in the course of 90 minutes.<\/p>\n

One of my favorite directors, Trip Cullman, has worked his usual seamless directorial magic, and his cast is wonderful \u2013 particularly, Tracee Chimo, Elizabeth Waterston and Celia Keenan-Bolger as three lost girls partying on down a road to nowhere.<\/p>\n

This one\u2019s a don\u2019t-miss.<\/p>\n

Alas, the following have closed:<\/p>\n

Delaney Britt Brewer\u2019s Wolves<\/em><\/strong>, at 59 E. 59 Theatres, was a triptych of plays which also dealt with 20-somethings, a chilly scenes of winter sort of look at alienation and despair amongst the Next Generation, made watchable by excellent actors.<\/p>\n

With Glee<\/em><\/strong> was my favorite of the Off Broadway musicals I\u2019ve seen this summer. It was about a prep school for misfit boys, to which are sent kids to varying degrees too strange to make it anywhere else. One man and one woman played all the adults, but the young men in the cast were the Main Attractions, and all were excellent. John Gregor wrote the whole shebang and man, is he one to watch! Loved the music, loved the actors, loved Igor Goldin\u2019s staging! Sorry you missed this one!<\/p>\n

Richard Taylor\u2019s In God\u2019s Hat<\/em><\/strong> at the Peter Jay Sharp Theatre was a trailer trash gothic sort of play about two brothers, one of whom is a convicted child molester who has just been released from prison. His brother picks him up at the prison gate, and on the way to Wherever they run into a couple of nasty skinheads. The play reminded me of Tracey Lett\u2019s Killer Joe<\/em> \u2013 and I mean that in a good way. The actors were wonderful \u2013 particularly the two guys playing the white supremacist skinheads, Dennis Flanagan and Gary Francis Hope, both of whom seemed like the Real Deal, instead of \u201cjust\u201d actors.<\/p>\n

Finally, I caught the last of the three performances at the Delacorte Theatre of the New York Shakespeare Festival\u2019s staged concert version of Paul Simon\u2019s The Capeman<\/strong>, a Broadway flop of a decade or so ago. Director Diane Paulus stripped away most of Derek Walcott\u2019s ponderous, overly complex book. What remained were Simon\u2019s wonderful songs. Paulus\u2019 staging was terrific, as was Sergio Trujillo\u2019s choreography. I wouldn\u2019t be surprised if this resurfaces somewhere in the near future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n\n\n\n\n
FREUD\u2019S LAST SESSION<\/strong> Margery S. Deane Little Theatre, 10 W. 64th<\/sup> St.<\/p>\n

TICKETS: 212-352-3101<\/p>\n

SEE<\/strong> ROCK CITY<\/strong> \u2026<\/strong>Duke Theatre. Alas, closed<\/p>\n

FALLING FOR EVE. <\/strong>York Theatre Co. Alas, closed<\/p>\n

THE IRISH AND HOW THEY GOT THAT WAY. <\/strong>Irish Repertory Theatre,<\/p>\n

132 W. 22nd<\/sup> St.<\/p>\n

TICKETS: 212-727-2737<\/p>\n

BACHELORETTE.<\/strong> McGinn\/Cazale Theatre. Alas, closed<\/p>\n

WOLVES. <\/strong>59 E. 59 Theatres. Alas, closed <\/strong><\/p>\n

WITH GLEE<\/strong>. Kirk Theatre. Alas, closed<\/p>\n

IN GOD\u2019S HAT<\/strong>. Peter Jay Sharp Theatre. Alas, closed<\/p>\n

THE CAPEMAN<\/strong>. Delacorte Theatre, Central Park. Alas, closed<\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

“It requires a certain largeness of spirit to give generous appreciation to large achievements. A society with\u00a0a crabbed spirit\u00a0and a\u00a0cynical urge to discount and devalue will find that one day, when it needs to draw upon the reservoirs of excellence, the reservoirs have run dry.”
\n<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

—– George F. Will<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lawrence Harbison, The Playfixer, brings you up to date with what\u2019s hot and what\u2019s not in New York. This week, Larry tells you about FREUD\u2019S LAST SESSION, SEE ROCK CITY & OTHER DESTINATIONS, FALLING FOR EVE, THE IRISH AND HOW THEY GOT THAT WAY, BACHELORETTE, WOLVES, WITH GLEE, IN GOD\u2019S HAT and THE CAPEMAN. Mark […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/playfixer.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/playfixer.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/playfixer.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/playfixer.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/playfixer.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=181"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/playfixer.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":183,"href":"http:\/\/playfixer.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181\/revisions\/183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/playfixer.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/playfixer.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/playfixer.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}