Comic Genius in Central Park

@KenderTheater: The best #ComedyofErrors I have seen is @PublicTheaterNY Shakespeare in the Park.  Hamish Linklater & @jessetyler Ferguson are genius together.  Daniel Sullivan does it once again with Shakespeare's text, turning a relative trifle into a soufflé: A

2012-13 Theater Season Wrap-Up

Overall, 2012-13 was a mediocre theater season with a few standout highlights.   On Broadway it was a fairly dismal year for new plays and new musicals (Matilda being the one major exception), but a decent year for revivals.  As has been the case in many recent years, Off Broadway featured the most promising new plays and the best new musical of the year (in the form of Here Lies Love).

As this theater season draws to a close with tomorrow night's Tony Awards ceremony, I cannot help but note that the future prospects for exciting new work on Broadway look rather limited.  However, there is new life in New York's off-Broadway scene in the form of several of the leading theater groups that have opened new or renovated stages that one hopes will develop and stage the best new work in the future.

It was a largely disappointing year for new musicals on Broadway, with one major, and one minor exception.  The major exception was Matilda, which I found to be be smart, moving and uniquely complex for a family-oriented musical.  It is by far the best Broadway musical of the season, and if it loses the Tony Award for Best Musical to the mess that is Kinky Boots, I will lose faith in the ability of the that award to honor quality over unmitigated, nonsensical drek.  The minor exception was the short-lived Hands On A Hardbody, which was a terrific little musical with a fine score whose inability to find an audience on Broadway is one of the most disturbing symptoms of the undiscerning tastes of today's Broadway audience.

As for outstanding new plays on Broadway this season, I cannot name one.  I did enjoy Christopher Durang's Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike (which I saw during its off-Broadway run), but it is a good rather than outstanding play.  Can challenging new plays that are not by well established playwrights or starring a well known film star make it on Broadway?  The answer increasing seems to be a very disturbing no.

Happily, its was a good year for revivals.  Pippin and Rogers & Hammerstein's Cinderella were both  wonderful contemporary-feeling updates to near classic musicals.  Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, was a stunningly good and perfectly cast revival that made this 1962 Albee work feel like it was written yesterday.  The casting of African-American actors in the main roles added depth and resonance in the terrific revival of Horton Foote's The Trip To Bountiful, which featured a soul-stirring lead performance by Cicley Tyson.

The hope for the future of American theater largely lies in the thriving off-Broadway and non-profit regional houses across the country, which is where one could find the best new play (The Whale at Playwrights Horizons) and best new musical of the season (Here Lies Love at the Public).  Even more promising is the fact many of the leading off Broadway houses have either new or recently refurbished homes that are vibrant, vital and producing exciting works, not the least of which are Signature Theater (that gave us the perfect revival of August Wilson's The Piano Lesson), Playwrights Horizons, the new LCT3 stage and the beautifully restored Public Theater.  I am optimistic that these off Broadway stages, along with a few others including the country's best regional theaters, will be the incubators for the best and most exciting work as we head into next season and beyond.

A Bountiful Trip

I went into the new Broadway revival of Horton Foote's "The Trip To Bountiful" at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre with low expectations.  The reasons for my low expectations were varied - I had previously seen several prior stage iterations of this play, and all of them paled in comparison to the excellent film version of "The Trip To Bountiful" which starred Geraldine Page.  Added to this was my suspicion that casting African-American actors. largely film and tv stars no less, in roles originally written for white characters circa 1953 Texas seemed like a gimmick rather than something that flowed from the work itself.  Nothing about this play made me think it was due for a revival, especially in the form of this production as announced.

I am pleased to report that I overcame my hesitation about seeing this revival, and I was very pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this wonderful and moving production.  First and foremost, using African-American actors for the main characters gives the work a level of depth and gravitas that always seemed to be lacking in prior stage versions of this play I had seen.  With just two noticeable revisions to the play as written (the opening stage scrim that visually sets the play in what appears to be a neighborhood on the wrong side of the tracks in Houston, and a "coloreds only" sign at the bus station counter), there is an added inherent backstory to these characters struggling through the unquestionable racism of early 1950's Houston, Texas, which fits the melancholy mood of the play like a glove.

Then there is the luminous performance anchoring the play courtesy of the legendary Cicely Tyson.  One simply cannot take one's eyes off her during the show, and it is a priceless treat to see her performing on stage.  I will be shocked if she does not win a Tony Award for her memorable performance.  Add to that two especially fine performances by the supremely talented young actress Condola Rashad, and the spot-on Vanessa Williams, and one has the makings of a wonderful production come to life.   Indeed, sitting in the audience of this show one feels a palpable sense of appreciation and involvement among those fortunate enough to see this show.

I could quibble.  Cuba Gooding Jr. is the one cast member not fully up to the task, and that is especially evident in Act 2.  And one or two of Ms. Tyson's acting choices seemed a bit off to me.  But none of these minor flaws take away from the emotionally satisfying and worthwhile journey we take with this show.

I cannot help but wonder what the now deceased Mr. Foote would think of this production.  Before he died I would often find myself in the same audience as Mr. Foote, most notably at the venue that previously housed the Signature Theater.  It was a treat to see him, as he always seemed to be a true lover of theatergoing.  Somehow, I cannot help but feel that somewhere in the rafters of the Sondheim Theater, Mr. Foote is looking down at the stage each night this show is performed, marveling at the outstanding job this fine cast and director Michael Wilson have done with his beautifully written work.

Do yourself a favor, regardless of whatever expectations you might have - go see this show.