{"id":408,"date":"2014-12-09T17:28:34","date_gmt":"2014-12-09T21:28:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/playfixer.com\/wordpress\/?p=408"},"modified":"2014-12-14T10:07:36","modified_gmt":"2014-12-14T14:07:36","slug":"on-the-aisle-with-larry-9-december-2014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/playfixer.com\/wordpress\/?p=408","title":{"rendered":"“On the AIsle with Larry” 9 December 2014"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cOn the Aisle with Larry\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Lawrence Harbison<\/strong>, The Playfixer, brings you up to date with what\u2019s hot and what\u2019s not in New York. In this column, Larry reports on IT\u2019S ONLY A PLAY, THE COUNTRY HOUSE, LOST LAKE, OUR LADY OF KIBEHO <\/em><\/strong>and PITBULLS.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Terrence McNally\u2019s It\u2019s Only a Play<\/em><\/strong>, at the Schoenfeld Theatre, is the biggest hit play Broadway has seen in many a moon, selling out every performance. The Main Event is the reunification of Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick, with other stars thrown in for good measure, such as Stockard Channing, F. Murray Abraham and Rupert Grint (of the Harry Potter movies). Mine is very much a minority opinion: I hated it. Here\u2019s why.<\/p>\n

McNally\u2019s characters inhabit a Broadway as most \u201ccivilians\u201d imagine it, full of self-obsessed, narcissistic ninnies. All them are caricatures, from the fresh off the bus na\u00eff who\u2019s taking coats to the playwright (Matthew Broderick in Yet Another quivery high-pitched performance, pretty much the same one he\u2019s turned in ever since his Finch in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying<\/em>), to the coke-sniffing leading lady (Stockard Channing, in a too over-the-top performance) to the enfant terrible<\/em> young British stage director (I saw Grint\u2019s understudy), who is flabbergasted that the critics love everything he\u2019s directed, even though he thinks most of it was crap, and as a result he\u2019s had 15 straight hits. He desperately hopes for a flop. He\u2019s been knighted and is soon to be made a peer. Remember, Rupert Grint<\/em> is playing this part. When did this guy start directing, when he was 5? Abraham plays a vicious theatre critic, who For Some Strange Reason has been invited to the opening night party at the townhouse of the producer whose money comes, of course, from her husband (caricatured by an unrecognizable Megan Mullally as a shallow, rich dimwit). Back to Abraham\u2019s character, do you really think that critics are invited to Broadway opening night parties, particularly ones as loathed as Abraham\u2019s character is?<\/p>\n

What little plot there is concerns everyone\u2019s wait for the all-important Brantley review, which will decide their fate. The dialogue is mostly just one-liner after one-liner. Some of these, I admit, are funny, but all too many are just silly. Did I mention the costumes? All the male party guests are in tuxedoes, with the exception of the rumpled director and Broderick, who\u2019s in top hat and tails, looking like he\u2019s glided in from an Astaire\/Rogers musical. Nobody wears tuxes any more, even to opening night parties. As I said, this is a civilian\u2019s fantasy of Broadway, not Broadway as it is. It\u2019s a silly (and I mean that not in a good way) send-up which made me think of Forbidden Broadway<\/em> without the songs.<\/p>\n

Far better was Donald Margulies\u2019 The Country House<\/em>, which has just closed at Manhattan Theatre Club\u2019s Broadway venue, the Friedman Theatre. This also had a theatrical subject. It took place at the Williamstown home of a fading Broadway and film star who\u2019s playing at the Williamstown Theatre Festival. She\u2019s invited a hunky young TV star to stay at her home, and he becomes a source of lust for every female in the play. Also in the mix are Elliott, the brother, who\u2019s a failed actor and now a failed playwright. He\u2019s sort of a combination of Uncle Vanya<\/em> and The Sea Gull\u2019s<\/em> Konstantin. In fact, this is Margulies\u2019 most \u201cChekhovian\u201d play \u2013 not rip off, but homage to the Russian master. It was funny, and poignant, and featured wonderful performances by the likes of Blythe Danner, Daniel Sunjata, David Rasche and Eric Lange. I hope you got a chance to see it.<\/p>\n

Off Broadway, Manhattan Theatre Club has another beautiful production, this one at City Center Stage II, of David Auburn\u2019s touching Lost Lake<\/em><\/strong>, a two-hander which takes place in a run-down cabin on a lake somewhere north of here, rented by woman from New York, who\u2019s brought her two kids and one of their friends there for the summer. It turns out, the owner of the cabin has fallen on hard times (in fact his life has mostly been nothing but hard times, bad decisions and bad luck), who is living in his truck. John Hawkes is sensational as this touching loser, and Tracie Thoms is also touching as she turns out to be not unlike her summer landlord, with bad luck and bad decisions of her own.<\/p>\n

Lost Lake<\/em>: a perfect title for a play about two lost souls.<\/p>\n

Katori Hall\u2019s Our Lady of Kibeho<\/em>, at the Signature center, is a drama based on the true story of three Rwandan girls who claimed to have visions of the Virgin Mary. It\u2019s an astonishing play, beautifully directed by Michael Greif, with a jaw-dropping ending in which the girls reveal Mary\u2019s terrible prophecy about Rwanda. Don\u2019t miss it \u2013 it\u2019s one of the best plays of this season.<\/p>\n

Keith Josef Adkins\u2019 Pitbulls<\/em><\/strong>, at Rattlestick, is a trailer trash play.What makes it unique is that all the characters are black. The central one is the woman who lives in the trailer with her teenaged son, supporting them by making wine and selling it by the roadside. The biggest form of entertainment in the town is big fighting, and everyone\u2019s in on it from the Mayor on down. Problem is, someone\u2019s been killing the dogs. Everyone in the play is great; particularly, Yvette Ganier as Our Heroine. Pitbulls<\/em> marks the debut of a major new playwright and is not to be missed.<\/p>\n

IT\u2019S ONLY A PLAY. Schoenfeld Theatre, 236 W. 45th<\/sup> St.<\/p>\n

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

THE COUNTRY HOUSE. Friedman Theatre. Alas, closed<\/p>\n

LOST LAKE. City Center Stage 1, 131 W. 55th<\/sup> St<\/p>\n

TICKETS: 212-581-1212<\/p>\n

OUR LADY OF KIBEHO. Signature Center, 480 W. 42nd<\/sup> St.<\/p>\n

TICKETS: 212-244-7529<\/p>\n

PITBULLS. Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre, 224 Waverly Pl.<\/p>\n

TICKETS: www.rattlestick.org<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

For discount tickets for groups of ten or more, contact Carol Ostrow Productions & Group Sales. Phone: 212-265-8500. E-Mail: ostrow1776@aol.com<\/a>.<\/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

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 — George F. Will<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIt is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, and comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who actually does strive to do the deeds; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 — Theodore Roosevelt<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cOn the Aisle with Larry\u201d Lawrence Harbison, The Playfixer, brings you up to date with what\u2019s hot and what\u2019s not in New York. In this column, Larry reports on IT\u2019S ONLY A PLAY, THE COUNTRY HOUSE, LOST LAKE, OUR LADY OF KIBEHO and PITBULLS. Terrence McNally\u2019s It\u2019s Only a Play, at the Schoenfeld Theatre, is […]<\/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\/408"}],"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=408"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/playfixer.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":411,"href":"http:\/\/playfixer.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408\/revisions\/411"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/playfixer.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/playfixer.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/playfixer.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}