Yellow Face

Photo/Joan Marcus

Fact and fiction don't bother me -- do what you have to do to tell the story -- but why bother going through all the effort if you're going to keep hiding behind a mask? David Henry Hwang's Yellow Face operates right now simply as an intellectual play: Hoon Lee comes on stage, introducing himself as the author, DHH, and then partakes in a compressed and conflated history of "his" (DHH's) rise as preeminent Asian-American theatrical spokesperson that begins with his award for M. Butterfly, travels through his failed farce, Face Value, and ends with his persecution at the hands of [Name Withheld on Advice of Counsel]. Humorous and Sorkin-lite scenes zip us from moment to moment, pausing briefly for HYH's (Francis Jue) fatherly counsel or to reiterate the main plot point: that DHH accidentally cast a white man, Marcus (Noah Bean) as his Asian lead, after protesting Miss Saigon for doing the same thing with Jonathan Pryce. But without David Henry Hwang actually onstage, it's just rhetoric in a sleek, cold framework: Extras without Ricky Gervais, Well without Lisa Kron. The extra dimension of vulnerability isn't there, so while we may think of artistic freedom and our race, we do not feel for it.

[Read on] [Also blogged by: David | Patrick]

Edward The Second

***1/2 (...out of 5)

Red Bull Theater

This unsubtle, yet wholly compelling production of Christopher Marlowe's Edward The Second features pages of production notes ("This play is about...") and an adaptation and direction that highlights/underlines/ALL CAPS the violence, eroticism and gayness. Some snobs and purists might scoff at this execution but for my classic-fearing ass (and for most likely all the other guys who went just because of the hot naked dude in the production photo) the pronounced way in which this tragedy of the royals was presented was welcome and helpful as there was far more clarity and understandability than I'm used to when I drop in on a 400 year old play. Add to that a sexy, top notch cast and an imaginative costume/scenic design that seemed to float around in some gorgeously stylized every-time and you have a production that I was very glad I got to see.

Also blogged in a much more learned fashion by: [Aaron]

Yellowface

Left At Intermish

The Public

If a script requires you to play Jane Krakowski in a non-spoofy, sincere fashion, think long and hard before you accept the role. Actress Kathleen Layng gave it her best shot, but I doubt even Meryl Streep could pull it off with any believability. A long list of other Broadway notables got their own vague impersonations (B.D. Wong, Cameron Mackintosh, Stuart Ostrow) in this play that seemed less of a play and more of a few angry pages torn from playwright David Henry Hwang's private journal. Elaborating on the touchy issue of Caucasians playing Asian roles the actor playing Hwang stood front and center and narrated in a very "this happened and then this happened" kind of way. The central conflict was promising but the execution was thoroughly un-engaging and charmless and my guest and I fled shortly after the tepid applause at the end of Act One.

Also blogged by: [Patrick]

Hansel And Gretel

photo: Ken Howard

The Met's new, 1930's-set production of Hansel And Gretel (imported from the Welsh National Opera) is extraordinarily grim and more than a little perverse: it never strays far from the kitchen. Even the haunted woods of the story are reimagined as a dining room, where Hansel and Gretel dream of being rescued not by a chorus of angels but by chefs. Driving home the theme of hunger with sledgehammer delicacy, the production feels severe and joyless: it even denies us a gingerbread house, instead substituting a single cake on a mechanical trolley. Does the Met really believe that this gruesome production (which also features Mom toying with a suicidal overdose before flushing her pills down the kitchen drain) will become a holiday staple for families? I can't imagine that anyone under the age of twenty will appreciate that the Witch resembles Julia Child (the production's one bit of mischievous levity) and I can't imagine that children will know what to make of Gretel sticking her fingers in batter and painting a Hitler moustache on Hansel. I can't imagine what any reasonable adult is meant to make of it either.

November

Photo/David Hume Kennerly

The one nice thing about blogging theater is that I don't have to wait until the press embargo lifts to warn you all about certain shows, such as this piece of "happy horseshit," the occasionally funny but completely pointless David Mamet comedy, November. Without anything to talk about beyond the basic bashing of the theatrical-stand-in-for-Bush ("Why do they all hate me?" "Because you have fucked up every single thing you've touched."), Mamet relies heavily on an exaggerated circumstance -- President Charles Smith sets out to extort $200M from the National Association of Turkey By-Products Manufacturers by threatening to pardon all the turkeys -- for a plot, and then piles on absurdities through a series of one-sided phone calls that turn away from actual human interaction and into The Nathan Lane Show. Funny, perhaps, but you don't need Joe Mantello or David Mamet for that.

[Read on]

Here We Go Again!

Aaron won our little showdown, coming from behind for a final tally of 265! Way to go, Mr. Riccio.

I'm sure I speak for all three of us when I say how much fun it has been to blog the race in 2007 and how exciting it has been to see a wide variety of theatre this past year.

All three of us are ready to have another go at it and race in 2008. We want to keep the blog essentially as it is - focused on our concise posts about shows and free of advertising - but we think there might be room for some changes. For instance, you'll soon see a box in the sidebar where each of us will spotlight some recommendations. And you might be seeing an irregular feature or two during the year.

We do wonder why we get more email than we get comments. It's a mystery, considering how many thousands of readers come here in a week, Who's reading us nearly every morning in San Diego? I look at the blog stats, and I see you! Hi!

Once again, the rules of the race are as David laid them down this time last year.
It has to be blogged (promptly) to count.
A show can only count once in the calendar year. (Damn. That includes Passing Strange doesn't it!)
Concerts don't count. (But Kiki & Herb do!)

And we're off!