Lawrence Harbison, The Playfixer, brings you up to
date with what’s hot and what’s not in New York. In this column, Larry reports
on HONEYMOON IN VEGAS, WINNERS, FILM CHINOIS, THE ROAD TO DAMASCUS and A MONTH
IN THE COUNTRY.
Honeymoon in Vegas, at the Nederlander
Theatre, is an old fashioned musical comedy of the sort once regularly directed
by the likes of George Abbott. In this case, retro is a good thing. The show is
great fun; pure, Broadway entertainment that’s been sorely missed. Not that I
don’t enjoy all the “serious” shows I see night after night – I do. It’s just
nice to have a break from all the alienation and despair once in a while.
It’s based on the movie which starred Nicholas Cage and
Sarah Jessica Parker as a Brooklyn couple who come to Las Vegas to get married.
The owner of their hotel, a rather shady character, takes one look at the bride
to be and decides he’s gotta have her because she reminds him of his deceased
wife. He snookers the groom in a poker game and basically wins her for a
weekend, during which he tries to persuade her to marry him instead. Will she,
or won’t she?
Rob McLure and Brynn O’Malley are charming as the couple,
Jack and Betsy, although you have to suspend your disbelief that a total babe
like Brynn is marrying a schmo like McLure. Tony Danza, as Tommy, the hotel
owner, sings well, tap dances, plays the ukulele and completely steals the
show. Also terrific are Nancy Opel as Jack’s dead mother, who nevertheless pops
up from time to time to try and stop him from getting married, as no woman
could possibly be good better than Mom, and David Josefsburg as a lounge lizard
singer and the head of the parachuting “Flying Elvises.”
Jason Robert Brown’s songs are just plain wonderful. This
gifted composer has finally found his groove.
Even with sheaves of great reviews, Honeymoon in
Vegas is struggling at the box office. If it can hang on, it just
might have a shot at the Tony Award. After all, remember what happened with A
Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder?
Winners, a comedy by Maggie Bofill at Ensemble
Studio Theatre, turns the traditional dysfunctional family play on its ear.
Dad’s been unemployed for a year and Mom, now the breadwinner, is having an
affair with her boss. Their teenaged son Tommy has been fired from his after
school job at the Gap for smoking weed. Dad goes over there to talk to the
boss, who turns out to be an old friend, and winds up being hired to replace
Tommy. The most interesting character, though, is daughter Gabby, part science
geek, part performance artists and part superhero fanatic. Together, she and
Tommy devise a hilarious production wherein they bring this troubled family
together again. Pam Berlin’s direction is appropriately whacky, and there are
fine performances – particularly from David Gelles and Arielle Goldman as the
two kids.
Winners is a winner.
Damon Chua’s Film Chinois, at the Samuel
Beckett Theatre, is a murky tale of deception and skullduggery in 1947 Beijing.
Seemingly everyone is a spy of some sort. It gets more and more confusing as it
plays out, and winds up being a real head-scratcher; but the production by Pan
Asian Rep is one of the best I have seen in quite a while and the performances
are all first rate.
Film Chinois, while not a must-see, ain’t bad.
Tom Dulack’s The Road to Damascus, at 59
E 59, is a must-see. It’s set in the not too distant future.
There has been a terrorist attack in New York, and the U.S. government thinks
the Syrians (who are now post-Assad) are behind it so they plan to bomb
Damascus to rubble. Set against them is the first African Pope, who has decided
to fly to Damascus to present the destruction as a human shield. Also involved
are a female journalist from “Al Arabya” TV and a State Department official
(with whom she is having an affair), who is sent to the Vatican to try and talk
the Pope out of going to Damascus. There, he learns the truth about the
terrorist bombing.
The Road to Damascus is a gripping geo-political
thriller which will have you on the edge of your seat. It’s been superbly directed
by Michael Parva and features a cast of terrific actors. My faves were Mel
Johnson, Jr. as the Pope and Larisa Polonsky as the Chechnyan Muslim TV
reporter.
Finally, there’s a new production of Turgenev’s A
Month in the Country at Classic Stage Co., featuring TV stars Peter
Dinklage (“Game of Thrones”) and Taylor Schilling (“Orange is the New Black”).
It’s been mostly slammed by the press, faulting director Erica Schmidt’s
production which many found languid. Well, folks, her direction isn’t outstanding
but it’s OK. The problem is the play. It’s a proto-Chekhovian comedy set in a
country house with none of the social context which makes Chekhov’s plays
endure. Of the actors, Taylor Schilling comes off best. I hope she does theatre
again, in a better play.
HONEYMOON IN VEGAS. Nederlander Theatre, 208 W. 41st St.
TICKETS: www.ticketmaster.com or
866-870-2717
WINNERS. Ensemble Studio Theatre, 549 W. 52nd St.
TICKETS: 212-247-4982
FILM CHINOIS. Beckett Theatre, 410 W. 42nd St.
TICKETS: www.telecharge.com or
212-239-6200
THE ROAD TO DAMASCUS. 59 E 59 Theatres, 59 E. 59th St.
TICKETS: www.ticketcentral.com of
212-279-4200
A MONTH IN THE COUNTRY. Classic Stage Co., 136 E. 13th St.
TICKETS: 212-352-3101
For discount tickets for groups of ten or more, contact
Carol Ostrow Productions & Group Sales. Phone: 212-265-8500. E-Mail:ostrow1776@aol.com.
“It requires a certain largeness of spirit to give
generous appreciation to large achievements. A society with a crabbed
spirit and a cynical urge to discount and devalue will find that one
day, when it needs to draw upon the reservoirs of excellence, the reservoirs
have run dry.”
— George F. Will
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points
out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done
them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose
face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs,
and comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and
shortcoming; but who actually does strive to do the deeds; who knows the great
enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at
the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who at the
worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place
shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor
defeat.”
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