{"id":433,"date":"2015-05-13T14:11:52","date_gmt":"2015-05-13T18:11:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/playfixer.com\/wordpress\/?p=433"},"modified":"2015-05-13T14:11:52","modified_gmt":"2015-05-13T18:11:52","slug":"on-the-aisle-with-larry-13-may-2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/playfixer.com\/wordpress\/?p=433","title":{"rendered":"“On the AIsle with Larry” 13 May 2015"},"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 AIRLINE HIGHWAY, DISENCHANTED, SOMETHING ROTTEN, THE VISIT, ON THE TWENTIETH CENTURY <\/em><\/strong>and IT SHOULDA BEEN YOU.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Lisa D\u2019Amour\u2019s Airline Highway<\/em><\/strong>, a Steppenwolf import currently at the Samuel J.Friedman Theatre, is something of a throwback which put me in mind of the glory days of Circle Rep. It\u2019s a thoroughly realistic large-cast slice of life play more about its characters than its plot. Think The Hot L Baltimore<\/em>. Think Balm in Gilead<\/em> (which was also a Steppenwolf import, directed by John Malkovich, with a sensational performance by an unknown-to-New York actress named Laurie Metcalfe. Both plays were by the late Lanford Wilson). D\u2019Amour\u2019s play is about the denizens of a seedy motel in New Orleans called The Humming Bird. There\u2019s a seen-better-days hooker (played wonderfully by Julie White); there\u2019s a transvestite with a heart of gold named Sissy Na Na, played with quite a flair by J. Todd Freedman (both actors are nominated for Tony Awards, by the way). What plot there is concerned the funeral of an elderly resident named Miss Ruby, once a madam. She ain\u2019t dead yet (she\u2019s in bad shape up in her room) but has requested that her funeral be held before her imminent demise so she can attend it. Joe Mantello has elicited fantastic performances from his ensemble cast.<\/p>\n

As a Lanford Wilson fan, I was thrilled to see that his legacy is carrying on.<\/p>\n

Disenchanted<\/em><\/strong>, at the Westside Theatre, spoofs heroines from Disney animated films, such as Belle and the Little Mermaid, done by an energetic cast of 5 women. The songs by Dennis T. Giacino (who also wrote the sorta one-joke book) are tuneful and clever. This is a great \u201cGirls Night Out\u201d show. I rolled my eyes more than once, but the ladies in\u00a0 the audience were whooping it up.<\/p>\n

Something Rotten<\/strong><\/em>, at the St. James Theatre, is that rarity these days \u2013 a Broadway musical which is not based on a popular film. It\u2019s about a failing theatre troupe in Elizabethan London who need to come up with a New Idea which will trump their main competition, a guy named Shakespeare. Nick Bottom, the troupe\u2019s leader, goes to a soothsayer, who predicts that the Next Big Thing will be musical comedy, so Nigel and his writer brother, Nigel, come up with a ridiculous musical comedy called \u201cOmelette,\u201d about a Danish prince trying to make eggs (The addled soothsayer, trying to come up with Shakespeare\u2019s next hit so the Bottom brothers can beat him to the punch, scrambles the title, as it were).<\/p>\n

Brian D\u2019Arcy James and John Cariani are hilarious as the Bottoms, and Brad Oscar equally so as the Soothsayer, Thomas Nostradamus (not him \u2013 his nephew). The book, by Karey Kirkpatrick and John O\u2019Farrell and the\u00a0 music and lyrics by Wayne and Carey Kirkpatrick are as funny as The Producers<\/em> or Spamalot<\/em>, loaded with witty references to musicals of the future, such as Cats<\/em>.<\/p>\n

You won\u2019t find a funnier show on Broadway, except for maybe The Book of Mormon<\/em>, and who can get into that?<\/p>\n

The Visit<\/em><\/strong>, at the Lyceum Theatre, is a musicalization by Kander and Ebb of the great play of the same title by Swiss playwright Friedrich Durrenmatt, about the world\u2019s wealthiest woman who returns to her impoverished home town to enact revenge on the man who wronged her as a girl. She offers to give every citizen a million marks if they will kill the guy. Of course, everyone refuses \u2013 and then starts buying things on credit. Chita Rivera, although she\u2019s more than a little creaky by this point, is striking as Claire, the rich woman intent on revenge, and Rogers Rees is touching her lover long ago whom she wants killed.<\/p>\n

I think this is well worth seeing \u2013 but do so soon, because after the Tony Awards I don\u2019t think it will be around much longer. There\u2019s just too much competition, and this is not exactly an \u201caudience-friendly\u201d show.<\/p>\n

The revival of On the Twentieth Century<\/em><\/strong> (book by Comden and Green, music by Cy Coleman), at the American Airlines Theatre is, if anything, even better than the original production. It stars Peter Gallagher as an insolvent Broadway producer named Oscar Jaffe and Kristin Chenoweth as the screen goddess he discovered and bedded years ago, named Lili Garland. who are both on the Twentieth Century Limited on its way from Chicago to New York. If Oscar can get Lily to star in his next Broadway project, a ridiculous epic of Joan of Arc which hasn\u2019t even been written yet, all his woes are over. Problem is, she hates him. She\u2019s travelling with her boy toy and recent co-star, Bruce Granit, played wonderfully by Andy Karl. Gallagher and Chenoweth and simply sensational, as are Scott Ellis\u2019 direction, Warren Carlyle\u2019s choreography and William Ivey Long\u2019s sumptuous costumes.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ll get real bang for your buck with this one. Don\u2019t miss it.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, you could skip It Shoulda Been You<\/em><\/strong> at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre, a contrived, unfunny musical loaded with tired ethnic humor about a wedding. She\u2019s Jewish \u2013 he\u2019s a goy. Both, it turns out, are gay. Oy, vey \u2026<\/p>\n

AIRLINE HIGHWAY. Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, 261 W. 47th<\/sup> St<\/p>\n

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

DISENCHANTED. Westside Theatre. 407 W. 43rd St.<\/p>\n

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

SOMETHING ROTTEN. St. James Theatre, 246 W. 44th<\/sup> St.<\/p>\n

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

THE VISIT. Lyceum Theatre, 149 W. 45th<\/sup> St<\/p>\n

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

ON THE TWENTIETH CENTURY. American Airlines Theatre, 229 W. 42nd<\/sup> St<\/p>\n

TICKETS: www.roundabouttheatre.org<\/a> or 212-719-1300<\/p>\n

IT SHOULDA BEEN YOU. Brooks Atkinson Theatre, 256 W. 47th<\/sup> St.<\/p>\n

TICKETS: www.ticketmaster.com<\/a> or 800-745-3000<\/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 AIRLINE HIGHWAY, DISENCHANTED, SOMETHING ROTTEN, THE VISIT, ON THE TWENTIETH CENTURY and IT SHOULDA BEEN YOU. Lisa D\u2019Amour\u2019s Airline Highway, a Steppenwolf import currently at the […]<\/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\/433"}],"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=433"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/playfixer.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":434,"href":"http:\/\/playfixer.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433\/revisions\/434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/playfixer.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/playfixer.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/playfixer.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}