THE PHILADELPHIA JUNTO.: Theatre

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Monday, 26 October 2015

At the National Theatre

'THREE DAYS IN THE COUNTRY'

By R.J. Chellel
PJ Theatre Critic
[WC News Service]
LONDON

Three Days In the Country, 'a version' of the Turgenov play by Patrick Marber who also directed. Cast included John Simm (outstanding as Rakitin), Mark Gatiss (as the melancholic, sarcastic doctor, Shpigelsky), John Light (with a big beard and oddly macho as the landowner, Arkady), Amanda Drew (as his bored and sexually frustrated wife), Royce Pierreson (the heart-throb student, Belyaev), Lily Sacofsky (the seventeen year-old Vera), and Nigel Betts (the foolish, fat, rich neighbour, Bolshintsov.) Also Debra Gillett, Gawn Grainger and Cherrelle Skeete.

I try to keep a record of the plays I've seen, usually writing down my impressions in a sort of review -- as kind of aide memoire. As I've been to nearly sixty plays this year alone, this amounts to quite a few pages, even if I don't get around to reviewing every production.
I tend to avoid the big West End theatres. But I do go to the National Theatre fairly often. There are three auditoriums there: the two huge ones (the Lyttelton and the Olivier), and the smaller studio theatre, now called the Dorfman in honour of the big cheese of the TravelEx money-changing company who has donated zillions to the NT.

Obviously producers at the National have enormous (state-subsidised) budgets to work with, sums fringe companies can only dream about. Whether the money necessarily buys quality is an interesting question.

Wednesday, 14 October 2015

Theatre Review: Valhalla at Theatre503

VALHALLA
By Paul Murphy|Directed by Jo McInnes|To 24 October at Theatre503, 503 Battersea Road, London SW11

As violence sweeps the city, an exhausted couple seek refuge in an isolated Nordic research centre. They are on the brink of discovering the cure for a devastating global disease when cracks in their marriage start to appear. Suddenly they find themselves forced to choose between conflicting allegiances to love and science. Conceived against the backdrop of a bewitching volcanic landscape, this extraordinary play questions the ethics of medical research, genetics and the endurance of human love.

NORSE-IATING

By R.J. CHELLEL, PJ Theatre Critic

LONDON [WC News Service]- After attending VaIhalla at Theatre503 the other night, I read that wretched play on the way home, and it's as bad on the page as it was on the stage.

I remembered those flashed-up Icelandic titles at the beginning of each act. I looked them up, and they, all four of them, relate to Norse mythology. So, for example, Nastrond (sorry, I don't know how to do diacriticals on the computer) at the start of Act III means 'Corpse Shore', the place in the afterlife where Nithoggr lives and chews on the bodies of those guilty of murder, adultery and oath-breaking -- which Norsemen considered the worse possible crime.

Two questions arise: (1) how is anyone in the audience (apart from the odd Viking) supposed to know this? And (2) what has it got to do with the play? The melange of mythology, magic and science never made much sense to me.

Tuesday, 18 June 2013

Theatre

This Lady was only Fair

By VICTORIA ORDIN

[Special to Writers Clearinghouse News Service]

Santa Barbara, California

Let me preface this mixed review of My Fair Lady by saying I loved being at the Granada watching my (and Dad’s) favorite musical on Father’s Day and that my dinner at Maggie’s was typically sublime. I have not felt such affection for a restaurant in all my years in Santa Barbara. For more on Maggie’s, see my On Maggie\’s and my Non-Helicopter Parents.

The show, however, was on several levels a disappointment, first and foremost because something was wrong with the sound and Jonathan Pryce’s singing and speech were both garbled. Gregory Jbara (Pickering) was all but unintelligible and it pains me to say this of such a great star, but his voice is gone. I mean totally gone.

Sunday, 4 January 2009

Joey Makes it Big! Headlines on Broadway!

Pal Joey Morphs to Bud Joey

New York
By Richard Carreño
I've never seen original stage production of Pal Joey. Nor, have I seen the 1957 film with Rita Hayworth (top billing, by the way), Frank Sinatra, and Kim Novak. (It's now in my Netflix queue). But I do have the vinyl soundtrack of the cinema production, and I so I know what the lyrics of the original are all about. The Roundabout Theatre Company's revival, er 'rivisal,' of Pal Joey at Studio 54, which I saw yesterday, is not exactly about the same thing.

Joey Evans, everyone's lovable pal with, at plumb, a heart of fool's gold (an alchemist's dream) is now, in today's parlance, everyone's favourite 'bud.' Forget, stud.

Things change. And, yes, it makes sense to transition Joey from a 30s ChiTown sharpie into a newer version -- say, a 60s Vegas entertainment hustler, something on the order of Joey Bishop, or Sammy Davis, Jr. You know, one of those lesser lights in the Rat Pack, emphasis on rat. (New book by Richard Greenberg).

Still, some of the changes in the current offering are seemingly needless. I know I'm a bit deaf (a real hazard if you're supposed to be reviewing musicals), but for the life of me I can't remember the less-than-memorable Matthew Risch as Joey (no Gene Kelly of the original, nor Sinatra, he) singing The Lady is a Tramp. (Please, tell me it ain't true). Tramp, of course, in a louche finger-snapping version, became one of Sinatra's signature tunes.

Zip also got updated. Reminds me of when some genius told Cole Porter that he should change the lyrics in Anything Goes (?) from 'the Louvre Museum' to 'the Field Museum' because middle-America wouldn't get it. At least, Bewitched stays in!

Incidentally, Stockard Channing is no knockout in this production, as well. Her pipes are adequate. But her delivery is limited. Belting out a tune -- ah, for the days of Ethel Merman! -- is not part of her range. Also, Stockard, what's up with the the Locust Valley lockjaw? George Plimpton in drag, maybe? (Stockard, remember your name is only a vowel away from 'Stockyard'). At least her, voice hasn't devolved into a Katherine Hepburn cackle. Yet.

Is this the Joey that flowed from the Master's pen? Obviously not. Would O'Hara be outraged, Of course. (But, then again, he was pretty much outraged by everything that contradicted his first draft of craft).

Incidentally, among my collection of the Pal Joey stories is a 1999 Prion edition (£4.99). This part of the London publishers' 'Film Ink' series. 'For copyright reasons,' we're told, this edition, with a new introduction by the late, great Matthew Bruccoli, (and its edition of BUtterfield 8, as well) are not available in the United States. Huh? I'd love someone to explain why O'Hara's works in their purist forms -- some of them, at least -- are tied in copyright knots, while 'rivisals' like the new Joey get a pass. Of course, this being America, I suppose it's about money. But whose pocket is getting lined?

Also, I have five extra copies of this production's Playbill. If you want one, let me know. They're free -- except I'll need $1.50 in postage and handling. Query me for details.

(This article originally appeared on the website of the John O'Hara Society via http://www.oharasociety.blogspot.com/. Richard Carreño is the Society's Corresponding Secretary).

BROADSTREETREVIEW.COM INDEX

Articles by Richard Carreño
Diego Rivera's ghost in Detroit October 15 2013 The city of Detroit may be broke, but the Detroit Institute of Arts owns $2 billion worth of art works. Its most valued pieces, by the Communist Diego Rivera, portray heroic workers triumphing over stoic managers. In the best capitalist tradition, Rivera’s frescoes are now being held hostage by a pair of union-busting Republican politicians.

Dissecting West’s ‘Death of General Wolfe’ August 06 2013 Benjamin West’s Death of General Wolfe was once a hallowed symbol of British imperialism. Now it’s been hijacked by Canadians, whose supply of national icons is otherwise limited. National Gallery of Canada. 380 Sussex Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. www.gallery.ca/en.

Pittsburgh’s culture quest July 24 2012 The Mellons and the steel mills are gone, but Pittsburgh today boasts first-class museums, music, theaters and universities. The trouble is, they’re all in the wrong part of town.

Discovered: La Salle’s unsung art museum November 14 2011 An obscure museum in a North Philadelphia basement houses world-class treasures by masters like Tintoretto, Edouard Vuillard, Rembrandt Peale, Georges Rouault and Joseph Epstein. Most remarkable of all, admission is free. La Salle University Art Museum. Olney Hall, 1900 W. Olney Ave., lower level. (215) 951-1000 or www.lasalle.edu/museum.

Matisse and Barnes: A tale of two museums October 04 2011 Henri Matisse was one of the three great revolutionary artists (with Picaso and Duchamp) of the early 20th Century; Albert Barnes was a brilliant collector of revolutionary art. They made a great team until Barnes’s insufferable personality drove Matisse away, with consequences that still reverberate today.

‘Picasso and the Paris Avant-Garde’ at the Art Museum February 23 2010 Curator Michael Taylor has unveiled, for the first time in recent memory, the astonishing range, depth, and quality of the Art Museum’s Picasso holdings. But his show falls a few bricks short of an Anne d'Harnoncourt blockbuster. “Picasso and the Avant-Garde in Paris.” Through May 2, 2010 at Philadelphia Museum of Art, Benjamin Franklin Parkway at 26th St. (215) 763-8100 or http://www.philamuseum.org/.

Antiquity, looters and the Penn Museum November 10 2009 Who are the best stewards of ancient artifacts— enlightened Western curators whose museums stole the loot long ago, or dictators of Third World lands where the treasures were originally found? James Cuno of the Chicago Art Institute (who believes the former) confronts the Penn Museum (which favors the latter). "Iraq’s Ancient Past: Rediscovering Ur’s Royal Cemetery." Through Spring 2010 at University of Pennsylvania Museum, 3260 South St. (215) 898-4000 or www.penn.museum/sites/iraq.

‘American Stories' at the Met in New York October 18 2009 “American Stories,” currently at the Met in New York, reveals an indebtedness to Philadelphia's artistic patrimony. Almost the whole show could have been assembled from Philadelphia holdings or works by Philadelphia artists. So why is the Art Museum so modest about its contributions? “American Stories: Paintings of Everyday Life, 1765-1915.” Through January 24, 2009 at Metropolitan Museum of Art, Fifth Avenue and 82nd St., New York. 212-535-7710 or http://www.metmuseum.org/. Art

Museum’s admission hike June 29 2009 The Art Museum recently raised its admission fees, a fund-raising model that is strictly 20th-Century. Then it hired as its new director Timothy Rub, a successful advocate of the 21st-Century model: free admission. Does the Art Museum’s left hand know what its right hand is doing?

Venice: Nice place to visit, but…. March 31 2009 There’s no place like Venice to jump-start your romantic gene. But before you move there, remember: The plumbing stinks. And try schlepping groceries, or hauling a suitcase, or finding a doctor or a decent restaurant or a neighbor who’s under 50.

Newspapers and the Internet March 03 2009 In the Internet age, what will happen to fact-based journalism as daily newspapers fold? Contrary to what you hear from print journalists, the quality of coverage could improve. Which would you prefer: The Inquirer, or a Philadelphia edition of the New York Times?

Vidocq: Philadelphia's Sherlock Holmes December 20 2008 Sherlock Holmes, Charlie Chan and Sam Spade are all legendary but fictitious private eyes. But Edgar Allan Poe and Victor Hugo were inspired by a real Philadelphia gumshoe of literary dimensions, as I discovered behind the door of the Vidocq Society in Center City. The Black Tower. By Louis Bayard. William Morrow, 352 pages; $24.95. http://www.louisbayard.com/

Sarah Palin and the ‘C’ word September 13 2008 Thanks to Sarah Palin, the 800-pound gorilla is out of the cage. The 'C' word— class— is the one word in the American lexicon that's even better hidden in polite public discourse than race. And it has little to do with money.

Alfred J. Munnings at Brandywine Museum July 29 2008 A remarkable new show at the Brandywine River museum is a tribute to the great sporting artist Alfred J. Munnings and also to the private collectors of Chester County who’ve accumulated his works without fanfare.“Alfred J. Munnings From Regional Collections.” Through Sept. 1, 2008 at Brandywine River Museum, off U.S. 1, Chadds Ford, Pa. (610) 388-2700 or http://www.brandywinemuseum.org./

The horror of globalization February 16 2008 What is a German discount food chain doing in Philadelphia, pampering its customers and employees alike and otherwise violating cherished local customs? Don’t these foreigners know what we Americans did to the Hessians the last time we got really angry?

George Stubbs paintings at Penn April 17 2007 The English painter George Stubbs is largely forgotten outside racing stables, geezer men’s clubs and faux clubby steakhouses. But he transformed the way artists depicted horses and sporting scenes. Equus Unbound: Fairman Rogers and the Age of the Horse. Through June 15, 2007, at Kamen Gallery, U. of Pennsylvania’s Van-Pelt-Dietrich Library Center, 3420 Walnut St., first floor. Free and open to the public; photo ID required. (800) 390-1829.

Christie’s and ‘The Gross Clinic’ January 03 2007 As a leading art auction house, Christie’s well understands the role of a dummy bidder in jacking up the price of a work. In Jefferson University's recent sale of The Gross Clinic, Christie’s consultants apparently found an unwitting dummy in the Wal-Mart heiress Alice Walton. Has Philadelphia’s art community learned anything from this $68 million lesson?

What price admission to the Barnes? August 12 2006 Hefty admisssion increases are the new order of the day at New York's Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum. Derek Gillman, new chief of the Barnes Foundation, may be tempted to follow suit. Here's one hard-nosed reason why he shouldn't.

Celebrating ....