Blanche: The Life and Times of Tennessee Williams's Greatest Creation (book review)

I reviewed Blanche: The Life and Times of Tennessee Williams's Greatest Creation at Talkin' Broadway:

Blanche: The Life and Times of Tennessee Williams's Greatest Creation, by Nancy Schoenberger, is an odd little book. Saying that it runs some 193 pages of actual content is generous, as that includes a number of white pages, a faux obituary of Blanche DuBois, and four pages of sonnets, created by Schoenberger, that purport to be what Blanche's long-dead young husband might have written (!!!). Trimmed of its repetitions, the book could have made a fairly interesting long essay in The New Yorker or The New York Review of Books.

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 Wendy Caster

Assassins

The Gallery Players production of Assassins is unfortunately not up to its usual standards. I admire the ambition of attempting Assassins, with its non-plot, odd politics, long swaths of spoken scenes, and challenging score. But: Some of the performers didn't sing well enough or act well enough. A few were completely miscast. The band lacked cohesion, and the sound design didn't help it or the performers. The sound effects didn't work: the noises of a bottle-making factory sounded more like someone snoring, and the gunshots were too low and distant to discomfort the audience as they should. Some of the costumes didn't work; in particular, John Wilkes Booth's suit seemed more appropriate for a comedian than a dashing serious actor. The lighting was occasionally murky.

Weirdly enough, however, I would not dissuade you from going. Despite its many flaws, the production was ultimately disturbing in the right way.

Wendy Caster

Some Numerical Thoughts on the Tonys

Entertainment awards are silly and they're also endlessly fascinating. Part of the allure is the fashion, pomp, and party atmosphere. A bigger part, for me, is the speeches--at least, those speeches that show some personality, humor, and emotion. Add exciting numbers from nominated musicals, and a good time is had by most.

However, what drives me the most crazy, personally, about the Tonys comes down to numbers. For example, with four nominees, someone could win with only 31% of the vote, with the other three nominees receiving an average of 23% each. With five nominees, the winner might only have 24% of the vote, with the other four nominees averaging 19% each. (At least the Tonys have nothing as silly as the 10 nominees for best picture, in which the winner could have as little as 20% of the vote, with the other nominees averaging 8.9% each.)

While the examples I have given are extreme, the point still stands that someone can win a "best" award without even getting a majority of the vote.

Then we get to the odd rules set by the Tonys. For example, if a category has nine or more potential nominees, there will be five nominations (barring any ties). But if it has fewer, there will be four nominations. What has that got to do with the quality of the productions or performances? In cases where there are four nominees, is there a lessening in quality for the potential fifth because he/she/it/they had fewer competitors? If another show opened at the last minute, bringing the total to nine in various categories, would that fifth potential nominee suddenly improve?

In the other direction, are there always four or five performances/productions that definitely deserve to be nominated? There have been many times where the fourth nominee definitely came across as filler. And that's not even mentioning painful years such as 1995 when Sunset Boulevard won a slew of awards with only one competitor or none! Does that make Sunset Boulevard's Tonys worth less? I guess it depends on how you feel about Sunset Boulevard. (IMHO, worse shows have won, but not many.)

The final numberical issue is the total number of nominations for a particular show. Yes, Some Like It Hot is an amiable and enjoyable musical, but ads screaming "13 nominations!" suggest the show is brilliant. Four of the noms are design nominations, and, yes, it is a beautifully designed show. But that doesn't make it a great show. Another four are performance nominations. And, yes, it is a beautifully performed show. But that doesn't make it a great show either. It's a nice show. I would have certainly voted for it had it been against Sunset Boulevard! But great, no.

So, the numbers work against the significance of the Tony Award.

I'll still be watching on June 11th.

Wendy Caster

 

Iolanthe

Once again, MasterVoices has provided an evening of charm, joy, and fabulous music. In this case, it was Gilbert and Sullivan's Iolanthe, not one of their best, but still great fun. (There are fairies, there are humans, there are misunderstandings, stuff happens.) 

Ashley Fabian
Photo: Toby Tenenbaum

The cast was amazing: Christine Ebersole (glorious), David Garrison, Santino Fontana (having a grand time in a supremely silly wig and demonstrating a gorgeous legit voice), Jason Daniely, Ashley Fabian (combining excellent comic chops with truly stunning singing), Phillip Boykin (adorable, with a bass that vibrated Carnegie Hall), Shereen Ahmed, Schyler Vargas, Nicole Eve Goldstein, Kaitlyn LeBaron, Emy Zener, and Tiler Peck.  

Christine Ebersole, Shereen Ahmed
Photo: Toby Tenenbaum

And then there are the MasterVoices singers and the MasterVoices Orchestra, doing their usual fine work, led by the incomparable Ted Sperling.

Ted Sperling
Photo: Toby Tenenbaum

And, although this performance was a staged reading, it was given an extra dimension by Tracy Christensen's beautiful and clever costumes. Also, the supertitles were clear, informative, and witty.

Santino Fontana, David Garrison
Photo: Toby Tenenbaum

As always, reviewing MasterVoices is frustrating, because their one-night performances are always gone by the time I write about them, and I can't urge you to go, go, go. However, I can give you a link to their website so that you can catch the next wonderful show: MasterVoices.

Phillip Boykin
Photo: Toby Tenenbaum

Wendy Caster

The Knight of the Burning Pestle

The rollicking, deeply silly, remarkably funny production of the The Knight of the Burning Pestle currently at the Lucille Lortel Theatre, brought to us by Red Bull Theater and Fiasco Theater, has moments so seemingly contemporary that one has to wonder how much of Francis's Beaumont's 400-year-old play remains. The answer is, quite a lot. And it's wonderful.

The cast of The Knight of the Burning Pestle
Photo: Carol Rosegg

Considered to be the first whole play of its sort--that is, a parody (satirical) crossed with a pastiche (loving). While the main object of the parody--chivalric romance--is no longer a popular genre, The Knight also parodies theatre, actors, and audiences, all of which, I am happy to say, are still  with us. While not exactly like any of the following, The Knight shares at least some DNA with, to name a few, Pyramus and Thisbe (the play within the play in A Midsummer Night's Dream), Noises Off, Story Theatre (and story theatre), and various farces.

The Knight of the Burning Pestle presents us with two plays. In the outer play, a grocer complains to a company of actors that his profession is not well-represented in theatre. With the help of a fair of amount of bribery, and the logic/illogic of his wife, the grocer gets the company of actors to agree to add a Knight Errant to their play (The London Merchant). This character is to be performed by the grocer's assistant (who refers to the character as a Grocer Errant). As the original actors try to act their original play, the grocer and his wife object, interject, and correct, making very amusing pains of themselves.

The fabulous cast carries off these shenanigans with great energy and aplomb, and they surely must enjoy getting to play, for example, a horse, an idiot suitor, an aggressively happy man who sings rather than talks, a ghost, a mother who plays favorites, and so on. The cast includes Jessie Austrian, Royer Bockus, Tina Chilip, Paul L. Coffey, Devin E. Haqq, Teresa Avia Lim, Darius Pierce, Ben Steinfeld, Paco Tolson, and Tatiana Wechsler.

The direction, by Noah Brody and Emily Young, is endlessly creative and filled with the love of theatre, seamlessly merging modern and Jacobean tropes. 

Fiasco Theater has committed to practicing sustainability in their shows, and parameters were set to limit waste in all aspects of design. This frugality in no way restrained the creativity of the designers: scenery, Christopher Swader & Justin Swader; costumes, Yvonne Miranda; lighting, Reza Behjat; props, Samantha Shoffner.

By Wendy Caster

Smart

 I review Smart over at Talkin' Broadway: 

Elaine is committed to taking care of her mother, but it's far from easy. Ruth had a stroke, and she frequently has difficulty speaking, occasionally has difficulty moving around, and receives regular "visits" from her long-dead husband. Elaine tries to find caregivers, but Ruth is convinced that they steal from her, so she chases them away.

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