Laughing Wild

Introducing Charles Edwards

Click here for my latest Fresh Face feature, a profile of the endlessly delightful Charles Edwards, who's making his Broadway debut having followed The 39 Steps from its smash West End run to the American Airlines Theatre. He's the source of what's easily my Favorite Quote of 2008 thus far, in regard to the lovely accomodations he and his cast have at the theatre:

"We're each in dressing rooms that would normally hold perhaps three or four people, so we lounge around in a decadent way and wear dressing gowns and enjoy our luxury. It's the perfect way to unwind!"

I want to learn what lounging around in a decadent way entails and being doing it immediately. My dressing gown is being pressed as we speak.

For the record - I had a wonderful time at the Steps. Very inventive and silly fun from start to finish - easily recommendable to lots of people.

More to come...

Peace -

/jt

Introducing Jeremy Bobb

Click here for my latest Fresh Face feature, a delightful and mildly vulgar chat with Jeremy Bobb of Is He Dead? He's a riot as Phelim O'Shaugnessey, one of the students of Jean-Francois Millet (Norbert Leo Butz) who conspire to fake the artist's death and disguise him as his widowed sister, to drive up the value of his work and make them all rich. Hilarity ensues.

I'll put up more detailed thoughts later this week, but this is seriously one of the finest productions of a comedy I've ever seen on Broadway. The play is a bit slight, and, though it's billed as a new Mark Twain play, it's clear it's been adapted within an inch of its life by David Ives - that being said, his adaptation is so good & in the Twain spirit that any quibbles are quite forgivable, I'd say. It's one of the most delightful 2 hours of laughter I've had (and been in need of). I think I can recommend it to just about anyone interested in a frothy and fun comedy.

More to come...back in NY, and at the office, tomorrow a.m. All of you still on vacation best be living it up!

Peace -

/jt

On the 'Tube: A "Follies" Christmas

Some intrepid YouTube hunting from my friend Eric yielded quite a holiday treat for those you obsessed with Follies as I am. Someone has posted home video footage of a dress rehearsal (with audio, no less) of the original Broadway Cast at the Winter Garden Theatre. As Eric exclaimed, "Easily the YouTube jackpot, and on Christmas, no less!" Indeed!

Click here for Part 1 - includes the overture, "Beautiful Girls", "Waiting for the Girls Upstairs"

Click here for Part 2 - "I'm Still Here", "Rain on the Roof" and parts of the rest of Act 1

Click here for Part 3 - Moments from the "Loveland" sequence

Theatre queen bliss, no doubt.

Merry Christmas & Happy Everything to y'all!

Peace -

/jt

On Stage: The First Preview of "November"

Took a slightly last-minute trip this Thursday to the first preview of November, David Mamet's new political comedy at the Barrymore. I'll keep this a little briefer than usual, as it will undoubtedly be touched up in the next few weeks (it opens January 15th). In short, it's a first-class production all-around of a play that has some hugely funny moments while, in the end, is disappointingly slight.

The plot details are wisely few from the official show's site, which I'll respect - it much more fun going in knowing little more than the basics. The evening unfolds during a 24-hour period in the Oval Office of President Charles H.P. Smith (Nathan Lane), who's term is ending disastrously. He's tanking in the polls, and is all but certain to be defeated, for reasons he can't quite fathom. (His right-hand man Archer, played by Dylan Baker, explains: "Everybody hates you. You fuck up everything you touch.") A rather convoluted scheme unfolds involving the pardoning of Thanksgiving turkeys, some American Indians, and Smith's speechwriter, Clarice (Laurie Metcalf), a lesbian who's just adopted a baby with her partner.

As a production, it's just about as good as it gets. Gorgeous Oval Office set by Scott Pask. Very brisk direction by Joe Mantello (where was this energy at The Ritz?). And the cast is at the top of their game, led by Nathan being brilliant. For some reason, I'd rather forgotten what a marvelous comic actor the man is, perhaps b/c he's been such a critical punching bag of late. He's got the plum role here, and runs with it, arguing with his wife about war in Iran one moment, lamenting about not having a Presidential library the next, and (in a running gag I found hilarious) constantly threatening to send anyone who disagrees with him to Bulgaria via the "Piggy Plane", where they'll be hooded and never seen again.

Act 1 was simply fantastic, mainly comprised of Lane and Baker's hilarious back-and-forth (their timing is REALLY inspired). Baker is a little more reined in from his mannerisms that were on full display in Mauritius, and benefits massively as a result. It's Act 2 where things went off the rails for me (and where my details will stop, for now.) I have a feeling the play was wanting to 'add up' to more than it did. (Slight spoiler) - it takes a bit of a turn in Act 2 away from the wickedly funny political nastiness of Act 1. The 'softer tone' is awkward. (Spoiler End)

Not helping matters is that Laurie Metcalf, game as she is, has a massively thankless role. The fact she infuses the character with as much color and 'notes' to her as she does is a testament to how terrific she is as an actress. Two other actors, Ethan Phillips and Michael Nichols, play a rep from a Turkey company and an American Indian, respectively, and don't have a ton to do (especially Nichols), but do it well enough.

Caveats aside, it was in terrific shape for a first preview - ran a bask 1 hour and 50 minutes, with intermission. I imagine it'll tighten even further, and with some touching up in Act 2, could find its way a little clearer. The end of the play also needs a bit more of a pop than it has now, another thing which will come in time. As it stands now, it's a fiendishly funny satire on our times (the war on terror gets plenty of skewering, as does the color-coded alert system: "Just raise the Panic Level!" "We already have. They don't care anymore") boasting some Grade-A performances.

There's nothing necessarily wrong with a fizzy Election Year tonic like this - one would just hope it'd add up to something a bit more in the bigger picture, especially coming from such a notable playwright. Nonetheless, November is a very nifty and welcome addition to what's becoming "The Season of the Play" on Broadway. I'll be curious to revisit it later in previews and see how it's improved.

PS - Take a trip to the show's web site. It's very well-done and REALLY funny, especially the 'Top 10 Reasons to Re-Elect President Smith', as well as The President's Blog. It's an excellent taste of the humor in the play.

November is playing at The Barrymore Theatre, 243 W. 47th St. (b/t Broadway and 8th Ave). Tickets run $99.50 - $46.50. Running time is approximately 1 hour and 50 minutes, with one intermission.

On Screen: Why So Serious?

I don't think I can express how obsessed I am with The Dark Knight, Christopher Nolan's next Batman venture. In the interest of full disclose, I can't say I was crazy about Heath Ledger initially being cast as The Joker. If this is the direction they're going in, though, I will be 1,000% THRILLED to be proven wrong.

Honestly - how f'n awesomely creepy and disturbing is this?

I've also been kinda obsessed with the viral marketing they've done for the film. Check out this site often - it seems to get updated sporadically with new random Joker-y demands for people to do.

So f'n awesome.

Peace -

/jt

Introducing Noah Bean

Click here for my latest Fresh Face moment, a profile of Noah Bean, co-star of the multi-Golden Globe nominated Damages and currently appearing in David Henry Hwang's Yellow Face at the Public.

He was easily one of the easiest people to talk to among those I've had an opportunity to interview. That, and he has the most delightful name ever. Try saying it out loud to appreciate it's syllabic perfection. Very thoughtful & well-spoken guy (and anyone who'd bet on Glenn Close kicking zombie ass is four stars in my book.) I really like how this one came out (and I intrinsically hate everything I write, at least initially.)

I have to say that I wasn't enamored with the play when I saw its second preview, though the actors were all terrific...from talking to Noah, apparently a lot has changed since then. Perhaps I'll give it another go.

Anyway, enjoy. More, as always, to come...

Peace -

/jt

On Screen: "The Happening" Teaser

ComingSoon.net got the exclusive of the poster for M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening next summer. I don't know a whole lot about this project, which I like - though Lady In the Water left me a really bad taste in my mouth. The tone of this make me think we're going back toward Signs / Unbreakable Night, which would be awesome - there's no doubt he's a brilliant filmmaker...I think Lady got away from him b/c he did too much of it himself (the trap when people direct something they write.)

Anyway, check it out & visit ComingSoon's page for a bigger, more detailed look... Pretty neat, huh? Those abandoned cars creep me out...

/jt

On the 'pod: Radiohead / "In Rainbows"

My college roommate Ben Graef turned me on to Radiohead during my days at the 'Po, and I've been on the hook ever since. The first piece of theirs I was exposed to was this music video (bless you, glorious YouTube!), for their song "Just", from their brilliant '95 album, The Bends. If you've never seen it, watch it now. For my money, it's a perfect music video, in the way it embraces the kick-ass song (and the fiercest guitar solo in music, I think) and creates such a quietly disturbing story around it. If you end up mildly obsessed with it like I am, check out the slightly re-tooled 'narrative cut', without the scenes of Radiohead rocking out in the room above the street. It plays a touch more like a short film, and is no less great.

Adding to their general awesomeness, the band won't say what the man tells the crowd at the end of the story (for the obvious reason that if they told you, you'd have to lie on the ground, too.) There's a nifty little Wikipedia page all about the song, though, with theories and whatnot. Though I personally think trying to 'figure it out' misses the point entirely - but I'll let you be the judge. Just don't blame me if you end up lying in the road tomorrow.

Anyway - today's New York Times has a really fantastic Arts feature about the band and their latest venture, releasing their new CD In Rainbows on the Internet first and allowing people who download it to pay what they want for it. Needless to say, there are plenty of people thrilled and plenty of people pissed off by this pretty audacious move. I, as you can imagine, think it's fantastic, and the millions of people who've downloaded it echo my sentiment. Will it be an industry standard? Doubtful - but it's still pretty awesome that they did it, and the fact that there's been such a terrific response indicates to me a rather unmistakable show of support for the band from their fan base, both in general and toward the quality of this CD.

Regarding the CD itself - I don't remember the last thing I've listened to as often as this one. Easily a few tracks daily, often finding new little snippets of melody or lyrical moments that I love. One of the many things I love about the band is how adaptable the songs can be to who you are - I realize the generality of that statement, as most music would want to achieve that) - but they do it SO well that it's rather mind blowing. People are terming this one of their more 'accessible' CDs, which isn't a wrong thing to say, though the terminology isn't my favorite. My personal top tracks are the opening "15 Step" and "The Bodysnatchers", which have distinct, definite rock pulses to them that make them a blast to walk to / work out to, and the gorgeously haunting piano and beat of "Videotape" that closes the CD.

I'm also partial to "All I Need", especially after reading in the Times article their idea behind creating it: "For “All I Need,” Mr. Greenwood said, he wanted to recapture the white noise generated by a band playing loudly in a room, when “all this chaos kicks up.” That sound never materializes in the more analytical confines of a studio. His solution was to have a string section, and his own overdubbed violas, sustaining every note of the scale, blanketing the frequencies."

Again, I'm being deliberately vague because I'd much rather you take the dive in, give them a download (you can certainly afford it) and come to your own conclusions about what, if anything, is going on 'behind' the songs. Musically, however, it's a little slice of genius that I can't get enough of. Click here for the In Rainbows page and bask in some quality Radiohead gold. If you end up wanting more (as I hope you do), check out Grant Gee's insanely cool documentary Meeting People Is Easy, which uses a whole bunch of mediums to chronicle a Radiohead world tour.

The official synopsis of the film is this:

"If you have been rejected many times in your life, then one more rejection isn't going to make much difference. If you're rejected, don't automatically assume it's your fault. The other person may have several reasons for not doing what you are asking her to do: none of it may have anything to do with you. Perhaps the person is busy or not feeling well or genuinely not interested in spending time with you. Rejections are part of everyday life. Don't let them bother you. Keep reaching out to others. When you begin to receive positive responses then you are on the right track. It's all a matter of numbers. Count the positive responses and forget about the rejections."

Clearly, not your typical DVD experience (nor should it be, nor would you want it to be, really, right?) - all the better for you to use the holidays as a reason to get it for the cool person you know who'll appreciate it.

Am off to go lie in the road a bit, perhaps. Just don't ask why.

Peace -

/jt

On Stage: "Oh, the Humanity and other exclamantions"

I'm hard-pressed to think of a contemporary playwright, save for perhaps Adam Rapp, who outright bothers as many people as Will Eno can. His last work, the Pulitzer finalist Thom Pain (based on nothing) produced positively vitriolic back-and-forth on the 'net message boards, which were most inflamed by Charles Isherwood's rave-and-a-half for the production (which may very well haunt him forever.)

For the record - I'm in the camp that adored Thom Pain - it really crept up on me and blew me away. My favorite pull-quote that came from the raves the play received was the one coining Eno "a Samuel Beckett for the Jon Stewart generation" - his work is eminently theatrical, full of its own language, rhythms and landscape, and possessing a wry sensibility that could only exist here and now. Eno is back in action with Oh, the Humanity and other exclamations, an evening of five one-acts playing a limited engagement at The Flea. Succinctly (and adequately) described as "five short plays about people like you, facing lives like yours. About life, in a word", Oh, the Humanity landed another rave from Isherwood. And at yesterday afternoon's matinee, held me rapt for its hour-long running time and left me ultimately quite delighted (and curiously uplifted.)

Oh, the Humanity wryly and winningly takes the aforementioned 'real people' in their real situations and gives voice to their musings on the existential and metaphysical in wonderfully crafted and often very funny scenes and monologues (so don't let the words 'existential' and 'metaphysical' scare you away!) Of the five, all expertly performed by Brian Hutchinson and Marisa Tomei, my favorites were the two monologues - Hutchinson's opener "Behold the Coach, in a Blazer, Uninsured", about a sports coach who's talk to the press about his team's losing season turns into a reflection on his own unfortunate past year, and Tomei's "Enter the Spokeswoman, Gently", featuring an airline spokeswoman doing the best she can to calm families grieving a plane that went down - and having to deviate from her carefully prepared company statement to do so.

Eno is an Albee Foundation Fellow, among other exciting credits, and it's easy to see why - his distinct use of language echoes his predecessors like Albee, and yet, he gives it his own spin entirely. The characters who populate Eno's world struggle to vocalize the emotions and feelings that we all have, and yet so rarely have the opportunity/courage to say. Hutchinson's Coach can't help but blur the line between his team's failures and his own shortcomings. Tomei's Spokeswoman, in between offering the bereaved families free round-trip tickets and assuring them that, in the wake of the disaster, the airline's company picnic has been canceled, does the best she can to find her own distinct words of comfort. Both performers find a perfect balance of humor and pathos.

The other plays are nothing to balk at, either. "Ladies and Gentlemen, the Rain" is a bleakly funny portrait of two people trying to describe themselves for a video dating service; "The Bully Composition" is a nifty little coup de theatre about two photographers taking a picture of the audience; and the titular play, "Oh, the Humanity", tells of a couple struggling to get their car started on the way to an undetermined function at church. The performances are quite strong throughout (though I do agree with Isherwood that Tomei pushed the loneliness slightly too hard in "The Rain"). Hutchinson especially is brilliant and distinct throughout his many different roles. Jim Simpson's terrific direction fluidly creates Eno's world that mixes the everyday and the surreal, without ever getting in the way of the message and letting the playwrights words speak for itself.

The final play, it should be noted, will probably give those turned off by Thom Pain the most consternation, as it's the one that veers hardest into the meta-theatricality which (among other Eno elements) bothered so many people. Yet its final words - and their simplicity - not only felt entirely earned to me, but got to me in a way that only theatre can. We may all be struggling to find the right thing to say and the means to say it in our increasingly uncertain world. It's heartening we have Will Eno to throw us some lines when we're speechless and help us not only to survive life's bleaker moments, but to remember how brutal and beautiful it can truly be as a whole.

Oh, the Humanity and other exclamations is playing at The Flea, 41 White Street, through December 22nd. Running time is approximately 1 hour and 10 minutes, with no intermission. Tickets run $55 weekdays & weekend matinees, $60 Friday and Saturday evenings.

Blog It Like It's Hot.

After a bit of a hiatus, the blog is BACK, with a fresh look and a bit of re-focusing. I'm cleaning up the archives a bit, and turning this into a bit more of a theatre and entertainment-based musings and rants. Because that's just what the world needs - another Theatre Blog.

Anyway - re-bookmark and plan to make the Laughing part of your daily surfing again, as the blog is back, with 45% more snark than before (which exceeds your daily FDA recommended dosage!)

Peace -

/jt