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Category Archives: New York
As You Kink It
Because of serendipitous scheduling, I saw Kinky Boots on a matinee and the New York Shakespeare production of As You Like It that night. Kinky Boots is about a guy who gets to say and do some things because he … Continue reading
Posted in Broadway, Chicago theater, drama, improvisation, musicals, New York, off-Broadway, theater, Uncategorized
Tagged Adrian Lester, As You Like It, BAM, Beauty and the Beast, Callum Francis, Cheek by Jowl, Christian Douglas, Cyndi Lauper, Danielle Hope, Harvei Fierstein, Henry V, Horacio Quiroga, Juan Darien Julie Taymor, King Boots, Rebecca Naomi Jones, Shaina Taub, Viola Spolin, William Shakespeare
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“Hyprov”
I remember someone bringing up Whose Line Is It Anyway? to Del Close, the Chicago improvisational theater master. A student said something to Del about the players on the show flying without a net. Del retorted, “They may be flying … Continue reading
Watching a TV series reminds me of a play I saw in 2007
Watched an oddball but extremely affecting British miniseries on Britbox tonight called Don’t Forget the Driver starring Toby Jones (in two roles) and co-written by Jones and Tim Crouch. The plot concerns a bus driver in Bognor Regis who discovers, … Continue reading
Review: “Heart” with Jade Anouka
If you saw Phyllida Lloyd’s series of Shakespeare productions set in a women’s prison you likely remember what an arresting impression Jade Anouka made as Mark Antony and Hotspur. She has returned to New York in a solo piece called … Continue reading
Posted in New York, off-Broadway, theater
Tagged Audible.com, Jade Anouka', Ola Ince, phyllida lloyd
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Telling it Clearly — “Macbeth” vs. “Cyrano”
I’m a story guy. I think the roots of the theater lie in people sharing stories. I’ve written before about a conversation I had in the mid-Seventies with novelist Louis L’Amour that influenced my thinking. He described how Native Americans, … Continue reading
Posted in Broadway, drama, New York, off-Broadway, theater
Tagged BAM, Betrayal, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Cyrano, Daniel Craig, Evelyn Miller, Harold Pinter, Ivo Van Hove, James Mcavoy, Jamie Lloyd, Louls L'Amour, Macbeth, Othello, Ruth Negga, Sam Gold, Shakespeare
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Lee Grant
One of the treats about living where I have (and do) on the upper west side is that, walking my dog, I kept (and keep) running into Lee walking her dog. We always stop and swap stories. One time, I … Continue reading
Posted in movies, New York, television
Tagged Ben Gazzara, Kim Novak, Lee Grant, Middle of the Night, Paddy Chayefsky, Sidney Lumet, Tennessee Williams, The Neon Ceiling
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“Long Day’s Journey Into Night” – sort of
The program that comes with the off-Broadway production at the Minetta Lane Theater says the play on offer is Long Day’s Journey Into Night by Eugene O’Neill. And it’s true that every word spoken on the stage is by O’Neill. … Continue reading
AUTUMN SONATA (2 Bergmans)
Just watched Ingmar Bergman’s Autumn Sonata again (with Ingrid Bergman and Liv Ullmann) for the first time in decades. There are things in it that drive me crazy. The characters explain stuff endlessly in the past tense, and that’s usually … Continue reading
Posted in Chekhov, New York, The Sea Gull, theater, Uncategorized
Tagged Anna Christie, Autumn Sonata, Ingmar Bergman, Ingrid Bergman, Jill Eikenberry, John Lithgow, Liv Ullmann, White Plains
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CULLUD WATTAH and CLYDE’S
My idea was to write a series of plays, each of which would take place in another American city. The stories would be specific to those towns, each arising organically out of the character and history of the location. And … Continue reading
Posted in Broadway, drama, New York, off-Broadway, playwriting, Pulitzer Prize, theater
Tagged All My Sons, Arthur Miller, Clyde's, contaminated water, Crystal Dickinson, Cullud Wattah, Detroit, Dominique Morissea, Edmund Donovan, Enemy of the People, Erika Dickerson-Despenza, Flint, Generl Motors, Henrik Ibsen, Kara Young, Kate Whoriskey, Lynn Nottage, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, pollution, Public Theater, Reading PA, Reza Salazar, Rick Snyder, Roger Ailes, Ron Cephas Jones, Rosebud, Ruined, Skeleton Crew, The Detroit Project, Uzo Aduba, What Playwrights Talk About When They Talk About Writing
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Review: “Morning’s at Seven”
Paul Osborn’s Morning’s at Seven (playing at St. Clement’s) is the most James Thurberish play I know and it isn’t by Thurber. Some people are charmed by Thurber. Some are immune. (Some have no idea who he was.) I am … Continue reading
Posted in New York, off-Broadway, playwriting, theater
Tagged Alma Cuervo, comedy, Dan Lauria, James Thurber, Lindsay Crouse, Morning's at Seven, Paul Osborn, small-town life, Tony Roberts
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Jeffrey Sweet--Making the Scene 