One of my favorite musicals and most unexpected theatrical surprises last year was the world premiere of David Yazbek & Itamar Moses' "The Band's Visit" at off-Broadway's Atlantic Theater. I found this story of an Egyptian police band's mistaken visit to a small town in Isreal to be a sweet, subtle & beautifully rendered show that I feared would lose its welcome intimacy when I heard it would be remounted on Broadway. But after re-visiting the show at the Barrymore Theater I am happy to report that the show's charms and subtlety have safely made the transfer to a larger house on Broadway. While I preferred the original casting at the Atlantic of a few of the supporting roles, and the simplicity of the show's plot loses a bit of luster on repeated viewing, I am happy this show has found a home on Broadway to enable its charms to be experienced by larger crowds that seem to be taking to this fine production that is helmed by the enormously talented directed, David Cromer.
Director Julie Taymor bears the largest responsibility for the misbegotten and lifeless revival of David Henry Hwang's fine play "M Butterfly." Many of her directorial choices mystify me, and her mounting of the Chinese opera and dance scenes are downright painful. But the blame is not entirely hers, as Hwang's rewrites detract from the play's central themes and Clive Owen's performance is lackluster at best. However, if you have never seen the play staged before, it may be worth seeing for the play's inherent compelling nature combined with Jin Ha's interesting take on the Song Liling character. This revival is a poor successor to the stunning original Broadway production (grounded by a career making performance by BD Wong as Song Lilling), and I could not help but wonder what a director better suited to this material would have brought to this work.
Duncan MacMillan's play "People, Places & Things" which explores an actress' substance addiction issues is well worth seeing at St Ann's Warehouse both for the inventive staging and incredible performance of the lead character played by Denise Gough. This National Theatre import can be difficult to watch at times, as it effectively portrays the disorientation experienced by its lead character who is suffering from addiction and withdrawal problems. The discomfort is intentional and effective at immersing the viewer into the world of its main character. Ms. Gough's performance is especially compelling because she is able to maintain the viewer's interest and sympathy while engaging in awful behavior- a difficult thing for any actor to pull off.
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