Things better left unsaid

June 26, 2009

THEATER REVIEW | 'TWELFTH NIGHT'
I Love You, You’re Perfect. You’re a Girl?
By CHARLES ISHERWOOD

“Most wonderful.” The exclamation of joyous surprise that bursts from the lips of Countess Olivia at the climax of “Twelfth Night,” when she discovers that her new husband appears to have divided himself in two, seems an apt reaction to the scintillating new production of Shakespeare’s romantic comedy that opened Thursday night at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park.

“Twelfth Night” is a perennial favorite, and with its multifaceted plot mixing sweetness, sadness and silliness it is also about as surefire as Shakespeare plays get. If the romances are dreary, the comedy may still crackle. And vice versa. But this polished staging, expertly directed by Daniel Sullivan, is the most consistently pleasurable the city has seen in at least a decade. And it is certainly one of the most accomplished Shakespeare in the Park productions the Public Theater has fielded in some time. Incidentally — or perhaps not — the varied talents of its all-American lead cast help restore faith in the city’s ability to cast Shakespeare in depth.

All together now: most wonderful!

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April 16, 2009
THEATER REVIEW | 'NEXT TO NORMAL'
Fragmented Psyches, Uncomfortable Emotions: Sing Out!
By BEN BRANTLEY

No show on Broadway right now makes as direct a grab for the heart — or wrings it as thoroughly — as “Next to Normal” does. This brave, breathtaking musical, which opened Wednesday night at the Booth Theater, focuses squarely on the pain that cripples the members of a suburban family, and never for a minute does it let you escape the anguish at the core of their lives.

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March 20, 2009
THEATER REVIEW | 'WEST SIDE STORY'
Our Gangs
By BEN BRANTLEY

Even when they’re flashing switchblades and kicking people in the ribs, the teenage hoodlums who maraud through Arthur Laurents’s startlingly sweet new revival of “West Side Story” seem like really nice kids. When a pure-voiced boy soprano (Nicholas Barasch) shows up to perform the musical’s banner anthem, the aching “Somewhere,” it feels like the manifestation of some inner angel who always lurks beneath the surface of the angry adolescents onstage.

Youth has always been the engine of this epochal musical from 1957, created by one of the most talented teams in showbiz history: Mr. Laurents (book), Leonard Bernstein (score), Stephen Sondheim (lyrics) and Jerome Robbins (director and choreographer). But usually it’s the scary, adrenaline-stoked energy of youth that sets the tone and rhythms of the show.

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Review: 'Sunshine Cleaning' agreeably tidy
By Tom Charity
Special to CNN

(CNN) -- More timely now than when it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2008, "Sunshine Cleaning," an agreeable, midrange independent film, makes light work of heavy burdens.

Sisters Rose (Amy Adams) and Norah (Emily Blunt) struggle with menial jobs and periods of unemployment. Together, they're also coping with the nasty emotional residue of their mom's long-ago suicide -- a trauma that is likely responsible for their current troubles. Self-esteem isn't a strong suit for either of them.

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The lady's great, the play's fair
May 12, 2008
Richard Ouzounian
Theatre Critic

My Fair Lady

2.5* (out of 4)

By Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe. Until May 31 at the Toronto Centre for the Arts, 5040 Yonge St. 416-872-1111

The lady's really loverly, but nothing else around her is of quite the same spectacular calibre.

That's the verdict on the production of My Fair Lady that opened at the Toronto Centre for the Arts on Friday as part of Dancap Productions' season.

The classic Lerner-Loewe musical, based on George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion, is still one of the near-perfect works of the form.

Phonetics professor Henry Higgins bets a friend that – purely through proper speech and manners – he can turn "a crushed cabbage leaf" of a flower seller into "a consort fit for a king."

It's a definite treat to see it again and an equal delight that the classy main hall of the Toronto Centre for the Arts is back in business once more, being used for the purpose for which it was created.

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THEATER REVIEW | 'GYPSY'
Curtain Up! It’s Patti’s Turn
By BEN BRANTLEY

Watch out, New York. Patti LuPone has found her focus. And when Ms. LuPone is truly focused, she’s a laser, she incinerates. Especially when she’s playing someone as dangerously obsessed as Momma Rose in the wallop-packing revival of the musical “Gypsy,” which opened on Thursday night at the St. James Theater.

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I saw the Aaron Sorkin play The Farnsworth Invention with Hank Azaria and Jimmi Simpson at the Music Box Theatre on December 25^th, 2007 (evening). Although, I was given to understand that the overall reviews for the play had been mixed, I hadn't had the chance to read the New York Times review on the production prior to traveling, so I'm not certain how the NYT critics saw the show.

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Twain Today A Multi-media narration with Norbert Leo Butz.

It’s Not Life on the Mississippi, Jean-François Honey

December 10, 2007
THEATER REVIEW | 'IS HE DEAD?'
It's Not Life on the Mississippi, Jean-François Honey
By BEN BRANTLEY

What might have been a wheeze turns out to be a giggle.

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From Variety:

http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117933460.html?categoryid=1265&cs=1

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The latest in NYT about the Pirate Queen:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/22/theater/22robe.html

( A Royal Behemoth Stumbles to Broadway )

And the various wire-services are carrying the following reviews:

(From Bloomberg): http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601088&sid=apArAq90WCU4&refer=muse#

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