{"id":198,"date":"2010-11-04T15:18:48","date_gmt":"2010-11-04T19:18:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/playfixer.com\/wordpress\/?p=198"},"modified":"2010-11-04T15:20:18","modified_gmt":"2010-11-04T19:20:18","slug":"on-the-aisle-with-larry-4-november-2010","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/playfixer.com\/wordpress\/?p=198","title":{"rendered":"“On the Aisle with Larry” 4 November 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 LOMBARDI<\/strong>, LA B\u00caTE, RAIN, SWAN LAKE, WINGS, THE LANGUAGE ARCHIVE, POWER BALLADZ, BANISHED CHILDREN OF EVE, IN TRANSIT, DRAMATIS PERSONAE,, OFFICE HOURS <\/strong>AND WISH I HAD A SYLVIA PLATH.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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

Plays about sports are a real rarity. It has been my perception over the years that the only thing that theatre people care less about than sports is religion. Plays which take religion seriously are even more of a rarity than plays about sports. I could go on and on about why this is, and why it\u2019s a shame; but suffice it to say that we actually have a play about sports running on Broadway right now, Eric Simonson\u2019s fascinating Lombardi <\/em><\/strong>at Circle in the Square.<\/p>\n

Lombardi <\/em>takes place in 1965, as the Green Bay Packers prepare for the upcoming season. A young reporter for Look Magazine has been assigned to write a profile of their legendary coach, Vince Lombardi. Over the course of a week, the reporter gets to know Lombardi, his wife Marie, and several players, as he tries to get to the heart of what makes Lombardi, and his team, so successful. Although the play which emerges does make you understand this great sports figure, it is not a hagiographic portrait. Though it is often quite inspirational, what we get is Lombardi, warts and all.<\/p>\n

Thomas Kail has done a brilliant job of directing, and his cast is first rate. Dan Lauria is sensational in the title role. You almost feel he\u2019s channeling Coach Lombardi. But he is matched by the delicate performance of Judith Light as Marie Lombardi, who provides much of the humor and much of the insight into what made this great sports figure successful.<\/p>\n

Although Lombardi<\/em> is primarily for football fans, it can also be enjoyed by those of you who don\u2019t know a touchdown from a home run. I loved it, and I highly recommend it.<\/p>\n

I also recommend the revival of David Hirson\u2019s La B\u00eate<\/em><\/strong>, an import from London at the Music Box Theatre. When this play was first staged on Broadway almost 20 years ago, it was one of the most notorious flops of the Rich Years. Many people who saw it thought it was absolutely brilliant (myself included); but a pan from the NY Times\u2019 Frank Rich caused it to die the death. As I recall, Rich thought the play was merely an exercise in cleverness for cleverness\u2019 sake. Well, I\u2019ll give him this: the writing certainly is clever.<\/p>\n

Can you imagine, a play set in France in the 17th<\/sup> Century, written completely in rhymed couplets, sending up the theatre and the culture of Moli\u00e8re\u2019s era, yet somehow managing to reflect our own?<\/p>\n

A famous playwright named Elomire (an anagram of \u201cMoli\u00e8re\u201d) survives with his company on the patronage of a princess (in the original version, the patron was male) who wants to force on him another playwright and actor who she thinks is a genius, a pompous, self-congratulating bore named Valere. When we first meet this jackass, he wanders into a room occupied by Elomire and one of his actors and proceeds to hijack their conversation with a monologue that lasts at least a half hour. The reactions of David Hyde Pierce and Stephen Ouimette are priceless as they try to get a word in edgewise, to no avail, and this monologue as delivered by the great British actor Mark Rylance is one of the most incredible feats of acting I have ever witnessed.<\/p>\n

The play tends to sag in the second act, when Princess Conti makes her appearance; but overall this is a brilliantly theatrical evening in the theatre, superbly directed by Matthew Warchus. I found La B\u00eate <\/em>great fun, and heartily recommend it.<\/p>\n

Rain<\/em><\/strong>, at the Neil Simon Theatre, is also a lot of fun \u2013 if you\u2019re a Beatles fan but not too much of a purist to enjoy a simulation of the Beatles in concert. The musicians who portray the Fab Four during various stages of their magical mystery tour are simply put, amazing. They sound exactly<\/em> like the four lads from Liverpool. It\u2019s a trip down memory lane. For those of you who would like to take such a trip and relive those golden days of musical yesteryear, go over to the Neil Simon Theatre and get back to where you once belonged.<\/p>\n

Another great British director, Matthew Bourne, has brought his famous production of Swan<\/em><\/strong> Lake <\/em><\/strong>to City Center. The first time around, Bourne\u2019s completely original take on the Swan Lake scenario was highly controversial, what with the swans all danced by men and what with his conception of this animal in general as a predatory thug of a bird. Here, the gaggle of swans reminded me of the gangs in West Side Story, <\/em>or of Malcolm McDowell and the boys in A Clockwork Orange.<\/em> This version of Swan<\/em> Lake<\/em> is not as controversial as it once was, but it\u2019s just as brilliant. It\u2019s a don\u2019t-miss.<\/p>\n

Second Stage has revived Arthur Kopit\u2019s Wings<\/em><\/strong>, starring Jan Maxwell as Emily Stilson, a former wing-walker who has a stroke and then who struggles to recover, and directed by John Doyle.<\/p>\n

The problem with this play is that most of it is an interior monologue spoken by Mrs. Stilson as she struggles to fight back against the debilitating effects of her \u201caccident.\u201d In other words, it\u2019s rather static. The problem with this production is that the aviation metaphor doesn\u2019t work if the play is set in the present. The heyday of stunt flying and wing walking was the 1920s and 1930s. Thirty years ago, when the play was first done on Broadway with a stunning performance by British actress Constance Cummings, Mrs. Stilson could have been a stunt aviatrix in her 60s or 70s. In other words, in order for the play to make sense it has to take place 30 years ago, and Emily Stilson has to be an old lady. In this production, Jan Maxwell looks mid-50s. She would have been walking on the wings of a Curtis Jenny in about 1980. I don\u2019t think so! Ms. Maxwell has shown she is a gifted comic actress in previous roles, but she just doesn\u2019t have the vocal range to play this demanding role.<\/p>\n

I would say you could skip this production and not feel you\u2019ve missed anything.<\/p>\n

Julia Cho\u2019s The Language Archive<\/em><\/strong>, produced by the Roundabout at their Laura Pels Theatre Off Broadway, is a wonderful comedy about a philologist obsessed with dying languages, yet who at the same time has no clue as to how to communicate with the women in his life.<\/p>\n

Mark Brokaw\u2019s production is witty and a lot of fun, and his cast is uniformly first rate.<\/p>\n

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

Irish Rep has another winner in Ciar\u00e1n O\u2019Reilly\u2019s brilliant production of Kelly Younger\u2019s Banished Children of Eve,<\/em><\/strong> a dramatization of the novel by Peter Quinn about the Civil War draft riots in New York. The central characters are impoverished actors, but the songwriter Stephen Foster, equally impoverished and drinking himself to death, is also part of the mix, my one quibble with the play, as he\u2019s not integrated very well into the plot.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t usually write about the set design, but I have to say that Charlie Corcoran\u2019s whirling modular set is the best use of Irish Rep\u2019s rather awkward space I have ever seen.<\/p>\n

The whole thing has a very Gangs of New York<\/em> feel to it. I don\u2019t mean that as a criticism though. This is a wonderful evening in the theatre and should go straight to the top of your must-see list.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m finally getting around to shows that have closed, unfortunately.<\/p>\n

Power Balladz<\/em><\/strong>, at the Midtown Theatre, was\u00a0 a tribute to the 1980\u2019s power ballad. It was\u00a0 more of a revue than a musical. But it was extremely well-performed. If going back to the 1960s to see Rain<\/em> is going back to far for you, if your musical era is the 1980\u2019s, then this is the show would have been for you. It helps if you already know the songs, as most of the lyrics were unintelligible. I enjoyed it, though, even though I was not very familiar with the music.<\/p>\n

In Transit, <\/em><\/strong>at Primary Stages was a series of vignettes about various New Yorkers coming and going. The songs were all sung a capella<\/em>. I\u2019m afraid this one didn\u2019t make much of an impression on me, largely because I thought the music rather dull. If you missed this one don\u2019t fret \u2013 you didn\u2019t miss much.<\/p>\n

Dramatis Personae, <\/em><\/strong>by Gonzalo Rodriguez Risco, at the Cherry Lane Studio, was about three writers, apparently all Americans. We are in some unspecified foreign country. What the Americans are doing there is never explained. There\u2019s a hostage situation going on across the street. Had the three writers been hostages, this play might have been a lot more dramatically interesting; but as it was, it was not bad and featured excellent performances.<\/p>\n

A. R. Gurney\u2019s Office Hours<\/em><\/strong>, at the Flea, was about college professors who teach a Great Books of the Western Canon course at an unspecified university. They are under pressure from students, parents and administrators, who don\u2019t see the usefulness, the \u201crelevance,\u201d of studying Dead White Males like Plato, Dante and Shakespeare. Gurney\u2019s play was a delight, though I wasn\u2019t wild about Jim Simpson\u2019s direction which, I felt, lacked pace.<\/p>\n

Finally, Wish I Had a Sylvia Plath<\/em><\/strong>, written and performed by Elizabeth Gray, at 59 E 59, was a one women play more or less about You Know Who — poet, suicide and icon of feminism. Ms. Gray was mighty fine; but this was definitely a show for women who like to celebrate Plath\u2019s victimization, who believe that men are The Enemy. If you\u2019re a guy who has had to, perhaps more than once, deal with a crazy woman in your life, it would have been a tough sit.<\/p>\n

LOMBARDI. <\/strong>Circle in the Square, 235 W. 50th<\/sup> St.<\/p>\n

TICKETS: www.telecharge.com<\/a> or 212-239-6200<\/p>\n

LA B\u00caTE. <\/strong>Music Box Theatre, 239 W. 45th<\/sup> St.<\/p>\n

TICKETS: www.telecharge.com<\/a> or 212-239-6200<\/p>\n

RAIN. <\/strong>Neil Simon Theatre, 250 W. 52nd<\/sup> St.<\/p>\n

TICKETS: www.ticketmaster.com<\/a> or 212-307-4100<\/p>\n

SWAN<\/strong> LAKE<\/strong>. <\/strong>City Center, 131 W. 55th<\/sup> St.<\/p>\n

TICKETS: www.nyccitycenter.org<\/a> or 212-581-1212<\/p>\n

WINGS. <\/strong>Second Stage, 305 W. 43rd<\/sup> St.<\/p>\n

TICKETS: 212-246-4422<\/p>\n

THE LANGUAGE ARCHIVE. <\/strong>Laura Pels Theatre, 111 W. 46th<\/sup> St.<\/p>\n

TICKETS: 212-719-1300<\/p>\n

BANISHED CHILDREN OF EVE. <\/strong>Irish Repertory Theatre, 132 W. 22nd<\/sup> St.<\/p>\n

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

ALAS, CLOSED:<\/p>\n

IN TRANSIT<\/strong><\/p>\n

DRAMATIS PERSONAE<\/strong><\/p>\n

OFFICE HOURS<\/strong><\/p>\n

WISH I HAD A SYLVIA PLATH<\/strong><\/p>\n

POWER BALLADZ<\/strong><\/p>\n

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

\u201c<\/strong>Who is<\/em> <\/strong>this guy?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

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

For over thirty years Lawrence Harbison<\/strong> was in charge of new play acquisition for Samuel French, Inc., during which time his work on behalf of playwrights resulted in the first publication of such subsequent luminaries as Jane Martin, Don Nigro, Tina Howe, Theresa Rebeck, Jos\u00e9 Rivera, William Mastrosimone, Charles Fuller, and Ken Ludwig, among many others; and the acquisition of musicals such as Smoke of the Mountain, A\u2026My Name Is Alice, Little Shop of Horrors <\/em>and Three Guys Naked from the Waist Down. <\/em> <\/em>He is a now a free-lance editor, primarily for Smith and Kraus, Inc., for whom he edits annual anthologies of best plays by new playwrights and women playwrights, best ten-minute plays and best monologues and scenes for men and for women. For many years he wrote a weekly column on his adventures in the theater for two Manhattan Newspapers, the Chelsea Clinton News and The Westsider. His new column, \u201cOn the Aisle with Larry,\u201d<\/strong> is a weekly feature at www.smithandkraus.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He works with individual playwrights to help them develop their plays (see his website, www.playfixer.com<\/a><\/strong>). He has also served as literary manager or literary consultant for several theatres, such as Urban Stages and American Jewish Theatre. He is a member of both the Outer Critics Circle and the Drama Desk. He has served many times over the years as a judge and commentator for various national play contests and lectures regularly at colleges and universities. He holds a B.A. from Kenyon College and an M.A. from the University of Michigan.<\/p>\n

He is currently working on a book, Masters of the Contemporary American Drama<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\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.”<\/strong><\/p>\n

—– George F. Will<\/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 LOMBARDI, LA B\u00caTE, RAIN, SWAN LAKE, WINGS, THE LANGUAGE ARCHIVE, POWER BALLADZ, BANISHED CHILDREN OF EVE, IN TRANSIT, DRAMATIS PERSONAE,, OFFICE HOURS AND WISH I HAD A SYLVIA PLATH. Plays about […]<\/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\/198"}],"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=198"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/playfixer.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":200,"href":"http:\/\/playfixer.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198\/revisions\/200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/playfixer.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/playfixer.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/playfixer.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}