Michael Dale - Page 26

Sixty years ago, Joseph Papp packed a truck with a small troupe of actors, some modest props and the firm belief that the plays of William Shakespeare belonged to everyone, and traveled throughout New York City giving free performances.

After producer Fred Hamlin christened Columbus Circle's Majestic Theatre with a spectacular musical extravaganza based on L. Frank Baum's 'The Wonderful Wizard of Oz' (The show had nothing to do with the classic MGM film.), he sought to follow up with another memorable production with a family-friendly setting.

In 1957, Meredith Willson wagered he could get Broadway audiences to cheer for THE MUSIC MAN's serial swindler who cheats nice people out of their hard-earned money and harasses the leading lady on the street and at her workplace while lying his way into her arms. Fortunately for him, the handsome and charming Robert Preston seduced audiences as well as Professor Harold Hill seduced early 20th Century Iowans.

When a classic play from the past is revived, there's always the temptation to point out its relevance to today, or at least to present it through a contemporary lens. In some ways, that's what playwright Lucas Hnath is doing with his entirely new play, A DOLL'S HOUSE, PART 2, where characters from Ibsen's 1879 drama rehash the events that led to the play's famous ending and introduce subsequent events of Hnath's own invention.

As they sit in darkness, the first thing the audience hears is the sound of distant explosions. They come with an erratic frequency, edging frighteningly closer with each blast. But gradually, the sound becomes more rhythmic, adapting a fierce pulse until what we're hearing is a drum set beating out a swing tempo.

Long before websites like Friendster (Remember Friendster?) increased the awareness of how few people it takes for one's social network to spread worldwide, John Guare's smart and funny 1990 entry, SIX DEGREES OF SEPERATION, helped popularize the concept that you can connect any two people in the world by their associations with up to five people placed between them.

No, that's not some forgotten Golden Age musical floating effervescently across the Broadhurst stage, but ANASTASIA sure has the old-fashioned romantic feel of one. The story of a young woman who may or may not be the presumed dead Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia has been told in many forms before - even as a short-lived 1965 Broadway musical called ANYA - but this new stage adaptation by Terrence McNally (book), Stephen Flaherty (music) and Lynn Ahrens (lyrics) is surely a welcome variation.

With two supporting actor Tony Awards under his belt, the versatile and immensely talented Christian Borle finally spent an opening night as a Broadway leading man earlier this season, playing neurotic New Yorker Marvin in a limited run revival of William Finn's FALSETTOES. Now, with the New York premiere of CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY underway, Borle is placed into a position many stars have had to deal with at one time or another; carrying a sagging show upon his shoulders to create the illusion that everything is just swell.

Yes, yes, we all know… Bette Midler is the above the title attraction and her presence is the reason the latest Broadway revival of HELLO, DOLLY! is the season's hottest new ticket. And she delivers. As Dolly Gallagher Levi, one of the most grandly showcased leading characters ever written for the musical stage, Midler glows with the pure joy that comes with the need to entertain as she lands schticky gags, sings with moxie, conveys lovely sincerity and leads the colorful parade proudly strutting across the Shubert stage.

With her throaty elegance, sharp comic bite and aggressively sexual allure, Tallulah Bankhead quickly earned a loyal following when she appeared in her first five Broadway plays in the years between 1918 and 1922. Unfortunately, her performances were often the only positive attraction and each of the quintet closed very quickly.

Passion, as it applies to the need to create and communicate through artistic endeavors, is a word that can be overused. Certainly countless numbers derive immense pleasure from their participation in the arts, and may even feel an uncontrollable need for it. But to continue on despite the risk of losing your freedom, or even being killed for it... that is a display of passion.

From ABIE'S IRISH ROSE to LA CAGE AUX FOLLES and beyond, the conflicts that occur when future in-laws meet for the first time have been a traditional source of comedy for both stage and screen.

When J.T. Rogers' fascinating play about the power and beauty of human interaction and diplomacy, OSLO, premiered Off-Broadway this past July at Lincoln Center's Mitzi Newhouse Theater, it was a week before the national convention where Donald Trump was to be voted in as the Republican party's presidential candidate. While a good deal of the country was surprised to see the celebrity businessman who had never held a political office get so far in the election process, New York playgoers, a predominantly left-leaning bunch, were most likely optimistic, though cautiously so, that his candidacy would collapse during the general election.

"I'm old enough to be your ancestor," the 61-year-old gentleman scoffs to his 28-year-old overnight guest who, after meeting on a dating site called Gaydar, suggests that something of permanence could come between them.

A great difference between the Broadway theatre of today and that of the 1950s, the decade when William Inge emerged as an important American playwright, is that the public couldn't see the kind of edgy, incisive drama on their television sets that live theatre was offering.

The recently completed Off-Broadway run of Penelope Skinner's fictional dramatic comedy LINDA embraced the efforts of a 55-year-old feminist of the cosmetics industry who fought to have her company's products promoted in a way that recognized the beauty of all women rather than exploit their fears of not achieving society's beauty standards.

Noel Coward was 39 years old when he played the lead role of Garry Essendine, a famous actor fearing for the future of his career as he enters middle age, in the premiere production of his rollickingly good comedy, PRESENT LAUGHTER. In order for that scenario to be believable today, you'd have to cast a woman in the role.

"Bursting with joy" isn't exactly a phrase commonly used to describe the exceptional directorial work of Pam MacKinnon. The woman who guided the premiere of Bruce Norris' tensely comic CLYBOURNE PARK and gobsmacked audiences with a freshly destructive vision of Edward Albee's WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? is better known for drawing out dramatic shades than working with whimsy.

All the context you'll need to deal with at the Lyceum's latest offering, Britain's Mischief Theatre import, THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG, is right there in the title. Forgoing pesky details like plot and character development, the two-act evening of visual gags - some worthy of a Mack Sennet silent - pieced together by bits of verbal silliness is one of those endeavors that charges onto the stage as a force of choreographed chaos, bombarding the audience with so many jabs to the funny bone that even if only a third of them strike properly you're in for a sufficient number of laughs.

The town council of Gander, Newfoundland has unanimously voted against an application to clear land adjacent to the community's historic airport for the construction of a Trump Hotel and Casino.