{"id":192,"date":"2010-10-04T14:08:09","date_gmt":"2010-10-04T18:08:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/playfixer.com\/wordpress\/?p=192"},"modified":"2010-10-04T14:08:09","modified_gmt":"2010-10-04T18:08:09","slug":"on-the-aisle-with-larry-4-october-2010","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/playfixer.com\/wordpress\/?p=192","title":{"rendered":"“On the Aisle with Larry” 4 October 2010"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lawrence Harbison<\/em><\/strong>, <\/em>The Playfixer<\/em><\/strong>, brings you up to date with what\u2019s hot and what\u2019s not in New York. This week, Larry tells you about BRIEF ENCOUNTER, ORLANDO, ALPHABETICAL ORDER, ME, MYSELF & I, THROUGH THE NIGHT, TRANS-EURO EXPRESS <\/strong>and A BRIGHT NEW BOISE.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Brief Encounter, <\/em><\/strong>director Emma Rice\u2019s adaptation of the classic David Lean film (screenplay by N\u00f6el Coward) has come to Broadway\u2019s Studio 54 by way of Brooklyn\u2019s St. Ann\u2019s Warehouse, where it captivated audiences and critics alike last season. Ms. Rice\u2019s production is exhilarating and ineffably beautiful, and will prove to be one of the highlights of this already promising season.<\/p>\n

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the film, it\u2019s the story of two star-crossed lovers who meet at a train station. Laura is on her way home after a day of shopping. Alec is on his way home after a day at hospital, where he is a doctor. They are clearly Meant For Each Other; but, alas, each is married. They commence a tender love affair before realizing that, inevitably, it must end.<\/p>\n

Ms. Rice has joined the ranks of the world\u2019s great directors with her wittily inventive staging of this story, which involves two other romances \u2013 between the bossy woman who runs the tea room at the train station and a porter, and her assistant and a candy vendor. Into this mix Ms. Rice weaves songs by Coward, goofily sung by her cast, who accompany themselves on various musical instruments. Her actors are just plain wonderful. Hannah Yelland (Laura)and Tristan Sturrock (Alec) will break your heart.<\/p>\n

Brief Encounter<\/em> is one of the greatest evenings I have ever spent in the theatre.<\/p>\n

Sarah Ruhl hit the Big Time with plays such as The Clean House, Dead Man\u2019s Cell Phone <\/em>and In the Next Room, or The Vibrator Play, <\/em>so it\u2019s no surprise that her older plays are now of interest to Off Broadway theatre companies. Last season, Irondale gave us her Passion Play<\/em> (written several years ago) and this season CSC is presenting Orland<\/em>o<\/strong>, currently on view, a dramatization of Virginia Woolf\u2019s novel about a young man who travels through time, starting out as a man in Elizabethan England and winding up as a woman in the 20th<\/sup> Century. I think Woolf was making a point about gender identity throughout history, but I think there\u2019s a lot of allegory in there about her own conflicting sexuality.<\/p>\n

Much of the play is narrated, story-theatre style, which would be stultifying were it not for the extremely inventive staging by Rebecca Taichman and the wonderful performances by her cast. Francesca Faridany is endearing in the eponymous role, and David Greenspan steals the show in various supporting roles, one of which is Gloriana herself.<\/p>\n

This one isn\u2019t a drop-everything-must-see, but it\u2019s fascinating from a theatrical standpoint, if that floats your boat.<\/p>\n

Michael Frayn\u2019s Alphabetical Order<\/em><\/strong> won the Evening Standard Award for Best New Comedy 35 years ago but is only just now receiving it\u2019s New York premiere, in a charming staging by the Keen Co, at the Clurman Theatre, directed by Keen\u2019s Artistic Director Carl Forsman.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s set in the morgue of a provincial newspaper. In pre-Internet days, a newspaper morgue was where clippings which might be needed by reporters in order to research their stories were kept. This one looks like the Collyer brothers are in charge. Into this mess comes a young woman, recently hired by the harried librarian to try and turn chaos into some semblance of order. Which she does.<\/p>\n

Frayn\u2019s cast of characters are hilarious portraits of various newspaper types, all wonderfully played by Forsman\u2019s cast.\u00a0 This one\u2019s a don\u2019t-miss.<\/p>\n

Edward Albee\u2019s Me, Myself & I<\/em><\/strong>, at Playwrights Horizons, almost seems at times to be a parody of an Edward Albee play. It\u2019s about a woman who has two grown sons, identical twins. One\u2019s name is OTTO; the other\u2019s name is otto. One loves her; the other doesn\u2019t. Which is which? Who cares<\/em>?<\/p>\n

Emily Mann, the director, has taken the heat for this terrible evening in the theatre because Albee apparently is, officially, the \u201cGreatest Living American Playwright\u201d so he\u2019s hands-off. Balderdash. Nobody could direct this play and make it anything less than silly, repetitive drivel.<\/p>\n

Through the Night<\/em><\/strong>, at the Union Square Theatre, is written and performed by Daniel Beaty, who in the grand tradition of the best one-actor plays doesn\u2019t stick to just one character. He plays fathers, mothers, young and grown children. What emerges is an inspirational portrait of how far black men have come, and the next steps they need to take.<\/p>\n

Beaty is a fantastic chameleon, with a world class baritone singing voice.\u00a0 This show will be of particular appeal to black folks; but I\u2019m a white dude and it moved me.<\/p>\n

Gary Duggan\u2019s Trans-Euro Express<\/em><\/strong>, at the Irish Arts Center, is a buddy film of a play about two mates \u2013 one an office drone and one a singer-song\/writer — who go on a trip across Europe, ostensibly to make a video of one man\u2019s new song. They have various adventures, some of them romantic, and wind up parting.<\/p>\n

The writing is standard-issue for this sort of play; but the direction by Chris Henry is very inventive, and the actors are terrific.<\/p>\n

Finally, I caught one of the last performances of Samuel D. Hunter\u2019s A Bright New Boise<\/em><\/strong> <\/strong><\/em>at the Wild Project. It was set in the lunch room of an arts and crafts store in Boise, Idaho, and focused on a man\u2019s attempt to reconnect with the son he has never known and in general to start over with his life. Hunter is a terrifically-talented playwright, and Davis McCallum\u2019s production was absolutely wonderful. This one deserves to resurface somewhere else but it probably won\u2019t, alas.<\/p>\n

BRIEF ENCOUNTER. <\/strong>Roundabout at Studio 54, 254 W. 54th<\/sup> St.<\/p>\n

Tickets: 212-719-1300 <\/strong><\/p>\n

ORLANDO<\/strong>. <\/strong>CSC, 136 E. 13th<\/sup> St.<\/p>\n

Tickets: 212-677-4210<\/p>\n

ALPHABETICAL ORDER. <\/strong>Harold Clurman Theatre, 410 W. 42nd<\/sup> St.<\/p>\n

Tickets: www.ticketcentral.com<\/a> or 212-279-4200<\/p>\n

ME, MYSELF & I. <\/strong>Playwrights Horizons, 416 W. 42nd<\/sup> St.<\/p>\n

Tickets: www.ticketcentral.com<\/a> or 212-279-4200<\/p>\n

THROUGH THE NIGHT. <\/strong>Union Square Theatre, 100 E. 17th<\/sup> St.<\/p>\n

Tickets: 800-982-2787<\/p>\n

TRANS-EURO EXPRESS. <\/strong>Irish Arts Center. Alas, closed<\/p>\n

A BRIGHT NEW BOISE<\/strong>. The Wild Project. Alas, closed<\/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 BRIEF ENCOUNTER, ORLANDO, ALPHABETICAL ORDER, ME, MYSELF & I, THROUGH THE NIGHT, TRANS-EURO EXPRESS and A BRIGHT NEW BOISE. Brief Encounter, director Emma Rice\u2019s adaptation of the classic David Lean film […]<\/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\/192"}],"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=192"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/playfixer.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":194,"href":"http:\/\/playfixer.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192\/revisions\/194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/playfixer.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/playfixer.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/playfixer.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}