First Notice from Backstage.com

Backstage.com is the first to weigh in on the quality of the visit to Bed & Breakfast. Check it out here.

NYTheatre.com also weighs in on the proceedings. Click here to read it.

Look Ma, I'm Dancin'!

...at Carnegie Hall!!!

At long last I have pictures from my appearance last year with Karyn Levitt in "The Age of Romance: From Vienna to Broadway."

My original post is here.

The photos are here.

(All photos by Paul Nickelsberg)

Stills From "The Night Janitor"

The link below takes you to the website of Adam Harvanek, who directed this film. The photographs were taken by Sangwon Jung.

Photo Stills

I'm really looking forward to seeing the finished product.

We have one more sequence to shoot in July. Adam is scouting for rooftop locations with great views of Manhattan.

2008 Tony Winners

2008 American Theatre Wing Tony Awards, June 15, 2008

I did a little Manhattan party-hopping last night, starting at Sarah B's (Adventures in the Endless Pursuit of Entertainment) and ending the celebration with the company of South Pacific at O'Neal's. A neighbor in my building plays in the SP orchestra and extended the invitation to join her.

No, I didn't get to meet Paulo. :-(

Here are the results. Winners are noted with a *.

BEST MUSICAL

Cry-Baby

* In the Heights

Passing Strange

Xanadu

BEST PLAY

* August: Osage County

Rock 'n' Roll

The Seafarer

The 39 Steps

BEST REVIVAL OF A MUSICAL

Grease

Gypsy

* South Pacific

Sunday in the Park With George

BEST REVIVAL OF A PLAY

* Boeing-Boeing

The Homecoming

Les Liaisons Dangereuses

Macbeth

BEST BOOK OF A MUSICAL

Cry-Baby, Mark O’Donnell and Thomas Meehan

In the Heights, Quiara Alegría Hudes

* Passing Strange, Stew

Xanadu, Douglas Carter Beane

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE (MUSIC AND/OR LYRICS) WRITTEN FOR THE THEATER

Cry-Baby, Music & Lyrics: David Javerbaum & Adam Schlesinger

* In the Heights, Music & Lyrics: Lin-Manuel Miranda

The Little Mermaid, Music: Alan Menken; Lyrics: Howard Ashman and Glenn Slater

Passing Strange, Music: Stew and Heidi Rodewald; Lyrics: Stew

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A LEADING ACTOR IN A PLAY

Ben Daniels, Les Liaisons Dangereuses

Laurence Fishburne, Thurgood

* Mark Rylance, Boeing-Boeing

Rufus Sewell, Rock 'n' Roll

Patrick Stewart, Macbeth

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A LEADING ACTRESS IN A PLAY

Eve Best, The Homecoming

* Deanna Dunagan, August: Osage County

Kate Fleetwood, Macbeth

S. Epatha Merkerson, Come Back, Little Sheba

Amy Morton, August: Osage County

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A LEADING ACTOR IN A MUSICAL

Daniel Evans, Sunday in the Park With George

Lin-Manuel Miranda, In the Heights

Stew, Passing Strange

* Paulo Szot, South Pacific

Tom Wopat, A Catered Affair

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A LEADING ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL

Kerry Butler, Xanadu

* Patti LuPone, Gypsy

Kelli O'Hara, South Pacific

Faith Prince, A Catered Affair

Jenna Russell, Sunday in the Park With George

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A FEATURED ACTOR IN A PLAY

Bobby Cannavale, Mauritius

Raul Esparza, The Homecoming

Conleth Hill, The Seafarer

* Jim Norton, The Seafarer

David Pittu, Is He Dead?

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A FEATURED ACTRESS IN A PLAY

Sinead Cusack, Rock 'n' Roll

Mary McCormack, Boeing-Boeing

Laurie Metcalf, November

Martha Plimpton, Top Girls

* Rondi Reed, August: Osage County

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A FEATURED ACTOR IN A MUSICAL

Daniel Breaker, Passing Strange

Danny Burstein, South Pacific

Robin De Jesus, In the Heights

Christopher Fitzgerald, Young Frankenstein

* Boyd Gaines, Gypsy

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A FEATURED ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL

de'Adre Aziza, Passing Strange

* Laura Benanti, Gypsy

Andrea Martin, Young Frankenstein

Olga Merediz, In the Heights

Loretta Ables Sayre, South Pacific

BEST DIRECTION OF A PLAY

Maria Aitken, The 39 Steps

Conor McPherson, The Seaferer

* Anna D. Shapiro, August: Osage County

Matthew Warchus, Boeing-Boeing

BEST DIRECTION OF A MUSICAL

Sam Buntrock, Sunday in the Park With George

Thomas Kail, In the Heights

Arthur Laurents, Gypsy

* Bartlett Sher, South Pacific

BEST CHOREOGRAPHY

Rob Ashford, Cry-Baby

* Andy Blankenbuehler, In the Heights

Christopher Gattelli, South Pacific

Dan Knechtges, Xanadu

BEST ORCHESTRATIONS

Jason Carr, Sunday in the Park With George

* Alex Lacamoire and Bill Sherman, In the Heights

Stew and Heidi Rodewald, Passing Strange

Jonathan Tunick, A Catered Affair

BEST SCENIC DESIGN OF A PLAY

Peter McKintosh, The 39 Steps

Scott Pask, Les Liaisons Dangereuses

* Todd Rosenthal, August: Osage County

Anthony Ward, Macbeth

BEST SCENIC DESIGN OF A MUSICAL

David Farley and Timothy Bird & The Knifedge Creative Network, Sunday in the Park With Geroge

Anna Louizos, In the Heights

Robin Wagner, Young Frankenstein

* Micheal Yeargan, South Pacific

BEST COSTUME DESIGN OF A PLAY

Gregory Gale, Cyrano de Bergerac

Rob Howell, Boeing-Boeing

* Katrina Lindsay, Les Liaisons Dangereuses

Peter McKintosh, The 39 Steps

BEST COSTUME DESIGN OF A MUSICAL

David Farley, Sunday in the Park With George

Martin Pakledinaz, Gypsy

Paul Tazewell, In the Heights

* Catherine Zuber, South Pacific

BEST LIGHTING DESIGN OF A PLAY

* Kevin Adams, The 39 Steps

Howard Harrison, Macbeth

Donald Holder, Les Liaisons Dangereuses

Ann G. Wrightson, August: Osage County

BEST LIGHTING DESIGN OF A MUSICAL

Ken Billington, Sunday in the Park With George

Howell Binkley, In the Heights

* Donald Holder, South Pacific

Natasha Katz, The Little Mermaid

BEST SOUND DESIGN OF A PLAY

Simon Baker, Boeing-Boeing

Adam Cork, Macbeth

Ian Dickson, Rock 'n' Roll

* Mic Pool, The 39 Steps

BEST SOUND DESIGN OF A MUSICAL

Acme Sound Partners, In the Heights

Sebastian Frost, Sunday in the Park With George

* Scott Lehrer, South Pacific

Dan Moses Schreier, Gypsy

SPECIAL TONY AWARD FOR LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT IN THE THEATER

Stephen Sondheim

REGIONAL THEATER TONY AWARD

Chicago Shakespeare Theater

SPECIAL TONY AWARD

Robert Russell Bennett

Another Bit of Self-Promotion

I've just accepted the role of Terrence in Bed & Breakfast, a comedy by Sam Sommer. It's a short run as part of the Fresh Fruit Festival in July.

For tickets, visit Theatermania.com

Our first read-through is set for Thursday of this week.

Say It Ain't So, Pee Wee

I thought his cat had put an end to this nonsense.

Apparently not.

If you must know, click here. Have a drink first.

(BTW, Is he gearing up to replace George Wendt in Hairspray?)

Trapped In The 11th Grade

"reasons to be pretty" presented by MCC Theater at the Lucille Lortel Theatre, May 23, 2008

In his preface for this play, Mr. LaBute discloses that this is the first play he's written that the protagonist is "...one of the few adults I've ever tackled."

Well, according to Mr. LaBute, an adult is:

• Someone who still loves his girlfriend after she reads two pages of insults out loud to the food court at the mall
• Someone who stays friends with the jock bully who lies and cheats on his wife
• Someone who reads 19th Century American literature because he likes it
• Someone who lies to the jock bully's wife when she asks about his affair
• Someone who only summons the courage to beat up the jock bully after he insults the ex-girlfriend
• Someone who doesn't take back said girlfriend when he has the chance

Mr. LaBute presents some of his stock characters, the conflicted male lead (our "adult") and the misogynist bully. He also mixes in four direct address monologues from each of the four characters, Greg (Thomas Sadoski), Steph (Alison Pill), Kent (Pablo Schreiber) and Carly (Piper Perabo). The monologues felt like Mr. LaBute hadn't been able to figure out a more interesting way to provide the exposition of each. In the end, it feels like a repeat of high school. "Greg doesn't think I'm pretty so I'm breaking up with him." And hence, the melodrama begins.

As Greg, Mr. Sadoski apologizes his way through this "adult" role, giving it his best, but never able to raise the level above the script. Inexplicably, this Greg who reads Poe and Hawthorne on his midnight lunch breaks working in a grocery distributor warehouse with Mr. Schreiber's Kent, never went to college. This Kent is a classic LaBute bully, a muscle-headed man-child who still acts like he's the high school football captain dating the head cheerleader. Mr. Schreiber imbues his Kent with every taunt, insult and threat a bully reserves only for his best friend.

As Carly, Kent's wife, Ms. Perabo bemoans the downside of being pretty - warding off unwanted suitors, feeling stalked at every turn. She's not the sharpest knife in the drawer. In one exchange with Greg, she asks about the book he's reading. "It's Poe. It's pretty dark." he says.
She replies, "I know. It's night out." "I meant the book." he explains.

Ms. Pill plays yet another angry young woman. The play opens with an argument between her Steph and Greg following a high school-styled "he-said, she-said" exchange relayed to her by Carly. The language approaches Mametian proportions, the result of which is uncomfortable hysteria rather than exposition or character development. The talented Ms. Pill does her best with the material, but much like Mr. Sadoski, there's only so much she can do.

Director Terry Kinney also works hard with a talented cast, keeping things apace. The scene flow feels clumsy, however, bouncing irregularly through time and tripped up by the various monologues.

David Gallo's warehouse set overpowers the proceedings, distracting from the plot, though David Weiner's lighting does what it can to minimize this.

Mr. LaBute has been relatively prolific over the last several years, producing at least one new play each year. I can't wonder if a bit of focus on quality over quantity might have it merits.

Concept by James Baldwin

"Passing Strange" at the Belasco Theatre, May 17, 2008

(Photo credit: Carol Rosegg)

After an acclaimed run at Joe's Pub at the Public Theatre downtown, this rock cantata by the singly-named Stew has opened on Broadway to good notices. There has been much talk that the show hasn't "found its audience" yet, but based on the full house last Saturday night, somebody's catching on. I did track that the audience demographics were sharply different from that of the cast.

The story is Stew's memoir from high school through early adulthood. Stew, who serves as narrator and chorus in his own tale, frequently plays with audience expectations. Early on, he turns them on end when he interrupts his mother's (Eisa Davis) first appearance to correct the "black version" to his more accurate middle class upbringing in Los Angeles. His younger self, only described as Youth (Daniel Breaker) bristles under his mother's love and desire for him to find his way in the world. She manages to force him into the church choir, but he dashes off to Europe at the first opportunity to experience the world and find his art.

Amsterdam, with the hash/coffee houses comes too easy for him. He's taken under wing by the locals who open the world of love and sex to him. If it's art, doesn't it have to require suffering? So he then moves on to Berlin, "a black hole with taxis." Now living in an artists' commune of sorts, home continues to reach out to him as his mother calls. She wants him home for Christmas. He pulls away again, looking forward to a new kind of holiday with the angst-loving roommates. When he announces he has a new song cycle to present to them for Christmas, they all are going home to their families for the holiday. The message is that family, no matter how crazy they make you, are a part you can't remove from your art.

I found it interesting that Stew adopted Mr. Baldwin's concept of "passing" as the foundation for his show. At first Youth is passing as an angry young teen, rebelling against the mother who loves him unconditionally. In Amsterdam, he's passing as more sophisticated and worldly than he really is. In Berlin, he's passing as the angry, ghetto, black man, repressed by the capitalist white society of the U.S. All along, he's passing as a young man in denial of how important his family, his mother, is to him. Only when she dies, can he realize his wasted effort in all the passing of his life.

As an evening of music, it's a rock concert with all the overpowering amplification you might expect. Sadly, a lot of the story gets lost in the ear-pounding volume. Musically, Stew has found some theatricality, notably in a riff on "Tea for Two" as part of "We Just Had Sex." I also thought it interesting that of all the performers on the stage, including the musicians/backup singers, Stew seemed to exhibit the least visible passion when he sang.

The supporting cast of four, de'Adre Aziza, Colman Domingo, Chad Goodridge and Rebecca Naomi Jones play the various people who came through Stew's life. Ms. Aziza, last seen in Playwrights Horizons' mediocre "Doris to Darlene" shows how the power of good material and a good director can bring out the best in an actor. Director Annie Dorsen has cleverly staged this cantata, creating mood and atmosphere with merely a couple of chairs. She gets remarkable performances from the entire cast, ranging from back-pew trouble makers at church, to Dutch stoners, to German nihilists.

I have described this show as a rock cantata. It's not a traditional musical in any sense of the word, even less so than last season's "Spring Awakening." (Kevin Adams' lighting does bear a resemblance to his Tony-winning turn from SA - suitable for the concert staging.) Story is told as much in song, divided between Stew's narration and the actors' performances. Still, I can easily see next month's Tony Awards honoring this production with Best Musical. (Don't forget Susan Stroman's "Contact" winning the award several years ago with hardly a song sung.) Though I haven't seen "In The Heights" yet, "Passing Strange" is the best new musical I've seen on Broadway this season.

Starwatch: Former Public Theatre director George C. Wolfe in the audience

Three

"Inner Voices: Solo Musicals" presented by Premieres at The Zipper Factory Theater, May 14, 2008

(Photo credit: Andy Criss)

The synopsis from Theatremania.com:

Inner Voices: Solo Musicals features the world premiere of three commissioned works, presented by Premieres.

Tres Ninas, by Ellen Fitzhugh and Michael John LaChiusa, will be directed by Jonathan Butterell, with music direction by Todd Almond. Tony Award Winner Victoria Clark stars. The musical tells the story of a white American woman's affecting and being affected by 'The Other" at three stages of her life.

Alice Unwrapped, by Laura Harrington and Jenny Giering, is directed by Jeremy Dobrish with music direction by Julie McBride. Jennifer Damiano stars. In it, a fifteen year-old girl has big shoes to fill with her dad missing in action, Mom refusing to come out of her bedroom, and a younger sister demanding normalcy - or else.

A Thousand Words Come to Mind, by Michele Lowe and Scott Davenport Richards, is directed by Jack Cummings III, with music direction by Jon DiPinto. Tony Nominee Barbara Walsh stars. When a mother's legendary silence is broken as she lies dying in a hospital room, her daughter embarks on a journey into the power of the unspoken word.

Ms. Clark continues to redefine the term "singing actress," a term first exemplified by the inimitable Barbara Cook. In "Tres Ninas," she's a ten year-old living in federal housing in a small town just south of San Diego in 1952. She and her friends have witnessed a Mexican family smuggled over the border and staying in a cave before pressing on to a new life in the U.S. Dressed in a blue nylon slip and pantyhose, her hair wadded up on top of her head, her young self reminded me just a bit of Lily Tomlin's Edith Ann as she told of sneaking food to the illegal immigrants. Fifteen years later, she's a divorced mother of two girls trying to make ends meet while working for Pacific Telephone. In another ten years, she's a bartender with a drinking problem, describing a drunken sexual encounter with an eighteen year-old migrant worker. The arc of her character depicts the life of woman who loses her way, not realizing how bad it's gotten until it really can't be corrected. Ms. Clark's performance is fearless, never shying away from the confessional and sometimes tawdry nature of her tale. She is in immaculate voice as ever, clear and pure in tone and emotion. It's a masterful appearance.

In "Alice Unwrapped," Ms. Damiano has the toughest job of the evening - - following Ms. Clark. Her Alice, helmeted and clad in foam packing sheets held on with duct tape. The exposition of her father missing in the Middle East and her mother's withdrawal drags on a bit. It's not until Alice has to pick up Ella, her eight year-old sister, from school that it gets interesting. Ms. Damiano manages the teenage existential rant part well enough, but she warms up as she relates the argument and negotiation that goes on in the back of a taxi with Ella during the ride home - literally and emotionally unwrapping herself for her sister's sake. Some of the piece was lost due to the piano volume overbalancing her voice.

Ms. Walsh's dutiful daughter in "A Thousand Words Come to Mind" takes us through the middle stages of role-reversal (a particularly dear and painful phase of life, for those of you who haven't had a taste of it yet) as her mother lies in the hospital, diagnosed with cancer. In a morphine-induced stupor, mother thinks she was the inspiration for a character in "The Human Stain" by Philip Roth after meeting him in a bar one afternoon. After flirting with the clerk at Borders, she buys the book to bring to her mother. Still unmarried, she sees potential in most of the men she meets during her mother's illness, the non-responsive doctor, the bookstore clerk, etc. Totally unconvinced about the Philip Roth story, mother goes on to identify herself in books by John Irving, John Updike and Norman Mailer, so all of those books come to the hospital too. She calls Mr. Roth's agent in an attempt to verify the tale, but is put off by his assistant, "We get calls like this ALL the time." A few days after she dies, she gets a note from Mr. Roth, telling her of a most uncomfortable encounter in a bar with her mother. Ms. Walsh relates the daughter's approaching middle age with a subtle reality, sometimes jaded and yet always hopeful. It's a nicely balanced performance.

All three acts have been directed with simplicity and economy in the bare-bones Zipper Factory. Accompaniment ranged from a single piano to piano and guitar, and piano and bass.

The show runs through May 30. They haven't spent much on marketing, which is quite a shame. These performances shouldn't be missed.

Yes, Yes, Nanette!

"No, No, Nanette" presented by Encores! at City Center, May 11, 2008

You just can't beat a nostalgic show with good tap dancing.

And, Encores! has brought us one of the best. Using the 1971 revival of the 1920's original, this was the show that brought Ruby Keeler back to Broadway after a 42 year absence.

Now in 2008, Encores! brings back Sandy Duncan as Sue Smith, the loving and trusting wife of philanthropist bible-seller, Jimmy Smith (Charles Kimbrough) raising their niece Nanette (Mara Davi). Jimmy's attorney Billy Early (Michael Berresse) is married to Lucille (Beth Leavel), Sue's best friend. Their nephew Tom Trainor (Shonn Wiley) has been dating Nanette. Round it out with Pauline (Rosie O'Donnell) as the wise-cracking maid.

It's all very sweet, isn't it? Actually, it is. I think this could be described as the

Happiest.

Score.

Ever.

Director Walter Bobbie lets the sweetness flow at the helm of this gem. Simple staging allows Randy Skinner's excellent tap and soft shoe choreography shine through (I didn't find some of the other numbers quite so shiny).

Ms. Duncan is in fine form and still kicks to the right with the best of them (to the left, not so much), but she looks great and sets a standard for the rest of the cast.

As her husband Jimmy, Mr. Kimbrough (of "Murphy Brown" fame) stammers and stalls his way through the well-meaning character, often resorting to his signature "I want to be happy" reprise to deflect focus from his "...philandering with those three lovely girls. Especially, the big one."

The girls are Betty from Boston (Jennifer Cody) in a Rosie Perez-inspired turn, Winnie from Washington (Nancy Anderson) all sweetness and light, and Flora from San Francisco (Angel Reda) as "the big one."

Mr. Berresse's Billy dances best (though "Telephone Girlie" went about two phrases too long), while Ms. Leavel literally stopped the show with "The 'Where-Has-My-Hubby-Gone' Blues." I'm pretty sure that was the song which won Helen Gallagher her Tony and Drama Desk awards for the role in 1971.

As Nanette and Tom, Ms. Davi and Mr. Wiley embodied old-school-style good kids in love. Both sang and danced beautifully.

But it is the score that is the star of this show. With songs like "Tea for Two," "I Want to Be Happy," and the aforementioned show-stopper, Encores! was very fortunate to have the ever-talented Rob Fisher as musical director and conductor.

It's been 35 years since the last revival closed. I'd love to see a full-scale revival of this show back on Broadway (not just a transfer like the recent "Apple Tree" and "Wonderful Town").