Seeing the Encores! production of No, No, Nanette a few days ago brought up a little theatre trivia that stumped even the other four theatre bloggers who were there that night as we shared ridiculously expensive foie gras after the show.

According to her bio, Sandy Duncan has been nominated for three Tony Awards (and contrary to urban legend, does not have a glass eye). Can you name the three Tony nods? I’ll provide the answer later (although I know you’ve already Googled it, cheater) but the one we all got was the 1971 revival of The Boyfriend. According to Rob Fisher’s program notes, No, No Nanette was revived in the same year and ran for 861 performances. And in the same year we also saw Noel Coward’s Hay Fever. Sheesh! That’s a lot of roaring 20s for 1971.

Anyways, Ms. Duncan is still in fantastic form at 62 years old, holding her own in several giant production numbers and delivering the show’s title line (several times) with just enough of a wink to the audience to let us know that no one was taking this fluffy re-revival too seriously.

She also navigates what I thought was the show’s funniest bit, one which always makes me laugh AT it when it happens in old movies without the irony. Paraphrased, it goes something like this:
Sue: (Picking up the phone) “Hello, operator, give me the Atlantic City Hotel (half a second pause) Hello Atlantic City Hotel, give me Mrs. Early’s room (half a second pause) Hello, Lucille, it’s Sue. Get here as soon as you can (click).”

And then in one of many moments of inspired comedic timing, Beth Leavel as Lucille Early glides onstage about five minutes later dressed to the nines in sequins and heels saying, “I got here as soon as I could…”

If Ms. Duncan is the personification of perky in this production, then Ms. Leavel is the countess of class. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a number that literally stopped the show, but it happened Sunday night after her rendition of an otherwise kind of forgettable ballad called “The ‘Where-Has-My-Hubby-Gone’ Blues.” She finished the song, arms draped over head, the applause started, she waited a few seconds, and turned upstage. The actresses for the next scene came on, and the applause just kept going and going and going. She finally turned back downstage to acknowledge the accolades without really breaking character or the momentum of the show, and it finally calmed down and the show went on.

Other stand outs include Michael Berresse, whose athletic dancing (and tight-fitting suit vests) more than once brought to my mind the grace and style of Gene Kelly. Rosie O’Donnell resisted playing the maid, Pauline from Peoria, as Rosie from Queens, which was a pleasant surprise. I wasn’t entirely sure whether Charles Kimbrough’s sometimes stammering delivery was intentional, or a struggle to find his lines, but he was blessed with singing the magical “I Want to be Happy” number about a jillion times, which instantly wins him over to the audience every time.

Worth the price of the Cast Album (should there be one) is the overture by Rob Fisher and The Encores! Orchestra, featuring Joseph Thalken and Todd Ellison on dueling pianos, making four hands sound like eight.

I hadn’t seen an Encores! production since the current Chicago revival started its life there, but I did find it distracting that all of the actors carry their scripts with them through the whole show. I guess it’s some sort of union rule since this is technically a “staged reading” but as far as I could tell, not one actor ever looked at his/her script and they became these little black albatrosses that everyone had to figure out what to do with when it came time to dance.

But little black albatrosses aside, No, No Nanette was completely enjoyable, definitely making a lot of people “Be Happy,” and when it transfers to Broadway (I’m just sayin’…) we won’t have to worry about people carrying around little black notebooks but not looking at them.

And incidentally, the title of the post is a lyric from the Act Two opener, Peach on the Beach, and it elicited giggles from various sections of the audience who would agree with the sentiment on many levels.

BTW–1969 Supporting or Featured Actress in a Musical for Canterbury Tales
1971 Actress in a Musical for The Boy Friend
1980 Actress in a Musical for Peter Pan

Nothing like five shows in three days to bring a person out of a blogging slump. Curtains was first, followed by August: Osage County, The 39 Steps, Sunday in the Park with George, and No, No Nanette. Let’s start with Curtains….

With the exception of Jill Paice, who left the show to play Scarlett O’Hara in the West End, Curtains is still sporting its original principal cast members, and they are managing to keep the show very fresh after a little over a year of performances. The show, with music and lyrics by John Kander and Fred Ebb, and a book and additional lyrics by Rupert Holmes, is a murder mystery that takes place behind the scenes of Robin Hood: The Musical as it suffers through its out of town tryouts.

Debra Monk, as the bulldozing producer, Carmen Bernstein, seems to have relaxed into the role a bit–compared to what I hear on the CD–giving the audience the chance to process some of the cheesier jokes rather than beating them over the head with them (”Couch!! Analyst!! Get it?!?!”).

And while much of the Great White Way is a virtual Sea World of shark-jumping celebrity casting, I believe that David Hyde Pierce as Lieutenant Frank Cioffi is a perfect example of a well-known actor who can get the theatre-curious to buy tickets, and then deliver a performance that will have them hooked for life. The character of Cioffi, a police lieutenant with a soft spot for musical theatre, is charming, sensitive, smart, humble, talented and quite funny. From the scuttlebutt I have heard about Mr. Hyde Pierce, it’s a case of absolute typecasting, and his infectious charm and confidence radiates from the stage to fill the house and captivate the audience (and apparently the 2007 Tony voters as well).

The producers of Curtains have announced its final performance, June 29 at 3pm, despite the willingness of it’s original principal cast members to extend their contracts through August. If you haven’t seen the show yet, you’ve got a month and a half to take it in. If for no other reason than to see Mr. Hyde Pierce in this role, I suggest that you do. Go to broadwaybox.com before May 30 to get tickets that are normally $112 for as little as $60.

I was a David Mamet fanatic in high school. I had every play, essay, and acting text he wrote and would often read scenes with my friends from his most obscure works, like The Shawl (how did I not get beat up in high school?).

Later in life, a monologue from his play, Squirrels, was at the forefront of my auditioning repertoire.

As an actor, I was fascinated with the amount of information his scripts didn’t give me, forcing me to fill in the blanks. As a reviewer of Squirrels once noted of Mamet’s unique style, “The words of the script are read to establish the idea of what is happening. Then, they go to work on the sub-text that lies below the written word.”

I’ve recently been wading my way through Ira Nadels just-released biography of Mamet called David Mamet: A Life in the Theatre, and find that even I am not enough of a Mamet-phile to appreciate the minutia of biographical facts which fill its covers—down to the street addresses of Mamet’s various dwellings.

The writing has a very academic feel to it, as though I am reading someone’s doctoral thesis on the playwright. Were I directing a Mamet play, or doing research on him for some other reason, the book would be invaluable. A page turner, it is not.

The book begins, as most biographies do, detailing Mamet’s childhood in East Hyde Park, Chicago, tracing the origins of his strong work ethic, love of language and no-nonsense personality to the upwardly mobile aspirations of his parents, specifically his father, Bernie, a labor lawyer who drilled into Mamet at a young age that he’d better “be good at something,” and who trained him daily to improve his awareness of language.

We follow Mamet through the various phases of his theatre-centered life—ushering at Off-Broadway’s The Fantasticks, dabbling unsuccessfully in acting, and discovering his true talent as a writer, director, acting teacher and eventually moving into screen writing.

What stands out to me as his most important role, which will likely leave the largest footprint on the theatre landscape is his role as teacher—of acting, writing, and directing. He earned the nickname “Teach” amongst his poker-playing buddies in the early 70s, which eventually became the name of one of his characters in his Pulitzer-Prize-winning play, American Buffalo.

Among the most fascinating journeys the book lays out is the organic development of Mamet’s style of writing and acting—sparse and at its extreme almost zombie-like—the rhythm of which is instantly recognizable as his. He began his studies in Sanford Meisner’s Neighborhood Theatre Playhouse, and continued to mold the ideas originated by Stanislavsky and revised by Stella Adler until he had created his own unique style, in which action reins supreme, and the text of the play is merely a framework to express what the characters want.

‘”Good drama,’ he writes, ‘has no stage directions.’ We increase our enjoyment and involvement by the absence of the descriptive. The best productions occur in the mind of the audience; consequently, the best acting is straight up, emotionless, and clipped.”

From his Bambi vs. Godzilla, On the Nature, Purpose and Practice of the Movie Business, Mamet says the three “magic questions” in writing any scene are Who wants what from whom? What happens if they don’t get it? and Why now?

Nadel’s style of writing, like his subject’s, is very down-to-business. There is a wealth of information contained in these nearly three hundred pages. Unlike his subject, however, there is very little humor along the way. I was delighted to find this little anecdote about a third of the way in, which at least made me chuckle on the shuttle from JFK into the City.

“One evening, [David] Mamet left the theatre unhappy with his work…. A woman came up to him and said ‘God Bless you: You are the Savior of the American Theatre. I have been to see your play six times.’ I cheered up and thanked her,’ Mamet writes, and told her ’she had given me hope and that, yes, I, was going to go home and write. I thanked her again.’ ‘Not at all, Mr. Durang,’ she replied.”

Nadel places two Mamet quotes on the page between the dedication and the introduction to the book. One of them, from Mamet’s A Life in the Theatre sums up what the reader is about to get him/herself into:

Robert: How do you want it?
John: Give it to me straight.

That’s exactly what you get in Nadel’s book: just the facts. If you want more than that, pick up a copy of American Buffalo, or Glengary Glenn Ross, or The Duck Variations. Mamet’s life is in there too, and it’s probably a more interesting read.

P.S. You can win a free copy of the book at What’s Good/What Blows but you must enter to win by 3/13/08

Oftentimes when I am among the 30-to-50-year-old, well-appointed, predominantly male audience members at a play, whose journey to their current seat location might have been influenced by a shirtless hunk in a publicity shot or a provocative play title, there is a moment during the show, not unlike the moment when Lucy pulls the football away from Charlie Brown, when I think to myself “Aaaaaargh, I fell for it again!!” as the requisite shirtless (or clotheless) actor has bared the promised goods, the spell is broken, and I realize I have another hour and a half to endure the mediocre acting and sophomoric script.

I’m guessing David Bell has been there too. His latest work, The Play About The Naked Guy, is a hotbed of self-reflective references as it employs the sexy-half-naked-guy-on-the-poster technique to ensnare its audience of predominantly 35-to-50-year-old gay men, and then mocks plays that use this technique as well as the audiences who attend them.

The plot of Naked Guy involves the travails of Dan, Amanda and Harold, three actors who make up the company of The Integrity Players, a tiny theatre company dedicated to celebrating the little known classics in a non-commercial setting. Faced with the possible retraction of their financial backing, the company is forced to decide whether to team up with a successful gay producer, Eddie Russini, and produce an evening of gratuitous, but profitable, gay schlock, or to stick to their principles.

They go for the schlock.

Though it has many of the stock characters one sees in the type of play it both embodies and scoffs, there is a self-awareness in it that allows the actors to comment on the shallowness of the genre while at the same time delivering the shallowness that the genre promises. The skin factor comes in the form of Kit (Dan Amboyer), a popular porn star who is hired to play the title role in Jesus Christ, He’s Hot! Christopher Borg plays the acerbic Russini, who makes Curtains’ Carmen Bernstein look like Mother Teresa and who is usually flanked by ubertwinks T. Scott (Christopher Sloan) and Edonis (Chad Austin).

On the side of Integrity are husband and wife company members Dan (Jason Schuchman) and Amanda (Stacy Mayer), and…err…stradling both sides is closeted company member Harold (Wayne Henry).

On neither side but her own is Amanda’s mother, and the company’s financier, Mrs. Anderson played by Ellen Reilly.

Most of the characters are drawn fairly broadly, and the actors enjoy various degrees of success walking the line between character and caricature.

Most successful in this endeavor is Jason Schuchman, as Dan, battling to stick to the naive mission statement of his theatre company while contemplating the reality of Russini’s statement that “you cannot earn respect and make a profit in the theatre.” Schuchman’s was the only performance I truly believed throughout the entire evening, though it is also the most realistically and sincerely written.

Ellen Reilly and Christopher Borg both play larger-than-life characters, but each in their own way manage to be grounded enough in their roles to find the real person beneath the histrionics.

Reilly gets a laugh with just about every line as she lambastes the success (or lack thereof) of her son-in-law’s utopian philosophy towards theatre making. Though she is sure he has “baffled dozens” with programs like “15 by Brecht,” she is not going to stick around to fiance his Integrity.

Borg chews the scenery from the first time we see him onstage, and though I would have liked to have seen more levels in his performance, he manages to show a soft spot here and there, when his mysterious past is uncovered.

Less successful in overcoming their own stereotypes are Russini’s two henchmenboys, Edonis and T. Scott. A comment is made during the creation of the play within the play that “this isn’t Will and Grace, honey,” and I think that may be what Sloan and Austin have going against them. At times, Sloan seems to be doing a spot-on Jack McFarland, and though Austin’s airheaded shallow delivery is perfect for the role, it seemed to fall flat on an audience to whom the lines and the delivery seem very familiar after so many seasons of W&G. The KISS boots and faux fur probably didn’t help defy the stereotype either.

Amboyer as the title character has the clearest character arc in the play, starting as a complete Narcissus and ending up somewhere closer to Dionysus.

Bell certainly knows his audience, and the inside jokes–both theatrical and homosexual–abound. (”Just so you know, my safe word is ‘Sutton Foster’”) and his script is smarter and funnier than most of the aforementioned homo-magnets. I had a brief Charlie Brown moment after Kit’s first skin-baring scene, but the writing is funny enough, and most of the acting strong enough that I didn’t lament the next hour and a half spent with this zany company of thespians.

The Play About The Naked Guy runs through March 2nd at Emerging Artists at the Baruch Performing Arts Center, 55 Lexington Avenue—access available on East 25th Street between Lexington and 3rd.

One of the best things about seeing theatre in New York is that virtually every night in one of hundreds of nooks and crannies of performance spaces throughout the city there is some derivative of live performance going on. Many will be seen by only a few diehard theatre geeks (and enjoyed by even fewer) and will disappear into obscurity.

I caught one charming performance last night (well technically it was eight performances) on a spur of the moment trip to NYC that was a marvel of theatrical collaboration and creativity, which I hope will have an extended life after its current very limited run. If you have any sense of theatrical adventure you must attend one of its two remaining performances.

The work, called Museum Pieces, is presented as part of the Prospect Theatre Company’s “Dark Nights Series” (on nights that its main production, The Blue Flower is dark) in the renovated church space that is the West End Theatre (West 86th between Broadway and West End).

The evening consists of eight original ten-minute musical theatre pieces (with eights sets of writers/lyricists/composers/directors) based on works of art that, in theory, can be viewed in NYC, although the creators have since discovered that some of the pieces were only here temporarily.

The book writers, lyricists and composers chose their muses in January, and began writing. The directors and cast had two weeks to rehearse, and performances began Saturday, 2/23, with remaining performances on Monday 2/25, and Tuesday 2/26 at 8pm. The first night was sold out, and Sunday night was pretty close to a sell out, so if you want to catch this gem, be sure to reserve your tickets now (a steal at $10).

The cast, ranging from recent NYU grads to seasoned Broadway vets, consists of David Andrew Anderson, Erica Aubrey, Sarah Corey, Alexander Elisa, Alexandra de Suze, Karla Mosley, Doug Shapiro, Tina Stafford, Blake Whyte, and Michael Winther (Mamma Mia, 1776, Damn Yankees).

Read on if you want more details (they are fairly spoiler-free), or just go armed with the general premise as I did.

Fragmentary Head of Queen (c. 1352-1336 B.C.E.)
Music, Book & Lyrics by Carol Hall (Best Little Whorehouse in Texas)
A mysterious statue of an anonymous Egyptian queen longs for affection from one of her most ardent patrons, much to the annoyance of the lonely docent.

The Lovers (Rene Magritte, 1928)
Music & Book by Marisa Michelson, Lyrics & Book by Joshua H. Cohen
A married couple become blank canvases, creating a Far Eastern fantasy together in a desperate attempt to keep from splitting up.

Diptych with Coronation of the Virgin and the Last Judgment (c. 1260-1270)
Music, Book & Lyrics by Drew Fornarola & Marshall Pailet
Sibling rivalry reins when the reading of a father’s will takes a young man on a Quixotic journey of revenge where he learns that “sometimes in life you get the diptych whether you deserve it or not.”

Insurrection! (Our Tools Were Rudimentary, Yet We Pressed On) (Kara Walker, 2000 - Text from Harriet Jacob’s Diary, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, 1861)
Music by Hyeyoung Kim, Book & Lyrics by Michael Cooper
Slaves mount a violent uprising against an oppressive master as the entire cast recreates this powerful tableau.

New York Movie (Edward Hopper, 1939)
Music by Deborah Abramson, Book & Lyrics by Amanda Yesnowitz
A young usherette working at the premiere of The Wizard of Oz, escapes to a fantasy world where she becomes rising movie starlet, Francis Garlic.

Football Players (Les Joueurs de Football) (Henri Rousseau, 1908)
Music, Book & Lyrics by Michael Mitnick
A museum security guard, whose life is literally at a stand still, is granted one wish from the painting he is guarding.

Come Away from Her (After Lewis Carroll) (Kiki Smith, 2003)
Music by Brian Lowdermilk, Book & Lyrics by Kait Kerrigan
Father Time is enraged when the young woman in charge of keeping time moving forward decides to shirk her duties. (I didn’t really “get” this one, but that’s the gist).

We’re doing time in confession
It’s the sacrament of oppression.
We have no need for forgiveness
Because our shit’s none of his business.

So sing the students of St. Cecilla’s Catholic boarding school in my latest capital-letter-rebuffing musical theatre obsession, bare.

The story involves the loves, lusts, fears, secrets and dreams of the senior class of St. Cecillia’s. Jason and Peter are “roommates” in exactly the way their mothers fear. Peter wants to come out, but Jason is resistant. Jason’s sister, Nadia struggles with feelings of being an outcast among her peers as she lashes out at her “pretty” roommate Ivey, who has her own set of personal challenges.

As graduation approaches, and relationships become more and more complicated, most of the main characters are also rehearsing the school’s production of Romeo and Juliet, directed by the saucy Sister Chantelle. Metaphors of star-crossed lovers abound.

bare, formerly known as bare: a pop opera, was created by Jon Hartmere, Jr. (book and lyrics) and Damon Intrabartolo (book and music) and ran at the Hudson Theatre in LA from October 2000 - February 2001. The New York production at the American Theatre of Actors off-Broadway, ran from April 19 - May 27, 2004. Both productions were directed by Kristin Hanggi. (Wikipedia)

I first heard about bare when the full studio recording was being made and was featured on Broadwayworld.com. I didn’t really pay attention to the video at the time, but had I tuned in, I would have been writing this post four months ago because the video features the incredible Matt Doyle (Spring Awakening) and Christopher Johnson singing two of the best songs on the album, Are You There? and Role of a Lifetime.

video of bare: the recording 

The two-CD set can be purchased at barethealbum.com and also comes with a DVD documentary about the history of bare, called Navigate This Maze which documents the making of the album, including interviews with the performers and producers, along with footage from the studio recording sessions. It also celebrates the history of the show, with footage from 2000 to present day including interviews with the creators, producers, and performers from both the Los Angeles and New York City productions. (Broadwayworld.com)

The DVD alone is worth the price of the whole three CD set, and has really enhanced my CD listening pleasure putting the performers’ faces and performances in my head as I listen.

I’ve now listened to the CDs about four times all the way through, and have watched the DVD once. My initial impression of the music was “Hmmmm…that sounds like Rent. Hmmm….that sounds like Rent. Hmmm…..that lyric is from Rent.” Now having gotten past the similarities inherent in the genre, bare has really grown on me, and I find myself humming the tunes at work, and looking forward to my morning run so I can once again delve into the world of St. Cecillia’s. (Though the song that is usually going through my head at work is Nadia’s ode to self pity, Plain Jane Fat Ass, so I’m not usually singing aloud).

Some of the best and most original music in the piece is from the students’ production of Romeo and Juliet. Here’s an audio sample of Audition which showcases the tribal rhythms underlying the tension in the play, as well as the tensions between students in the audition process. And Two Households is a beautiful example of the hymnlike harmonies Intrabartolo uses throughout bare to evoke the ever pervasive influence of the Catholic church in the students’ daily lives.

For your viewing pleasure, here is a song called “911! Emergency” in which Peter, high on what he didn’t know were pot brownies, has a vision of the Black Madonna telling him it’s time to call his mom and come out to her. Not sure which incarnation this is from, or how legal it is or isn’t, but I post it with only the best intentions of encouraging my theatre geek musical theatre loving readers to get to know bare better…

Now is your chance. Stephen Karem’s much lauded play, Speech and Debate, has been extended for another eight weeks, through February 24. Stop whatever you are doing and get tickets now. The show’s first extension, through December 30, sold out very quickly, so don’t miss your chance this time.

The show is playing as part of The Roundabout’s Underground Series, which showcases new playwrights and directors. Full price tickets are $50, but I got mine for $20 at broadwaybox.com. Their current offer is only through December 16, but keep watching their site for updates. You can also get $20 tickets to this or any Roundabout show (if you are 18-35 years old) by joining The Roundabout’s Hiptix program.

Here’s the press release description of the show:
“Even though they go to the same school, misfits Solomon, Diwata and Howie have never met. But when a shocking scandal involving one of their teachers brings them together through an unexpected chain of events, they realize three voices are stronger than one. And since their school has no speech and debate squad, maybe this is their chance to be heard at last – by the school and even the world. Directed by Jason Moore (a Tony® nominee for Avenue Q), the play stars Susan Blackwell ([title of show]), Jason Fuchs (Sea of Tranquility), Gideon Glick (Ernst in the Tony-winning smash Spring Awakening) and Sarah Steele (The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie).”

If you were (or are) a speech and debate geek (or really any kind of geek) in high school, then this show is especially for you.

Click for a collection of glowing reviews, or for Man In Chair’s singular glowing review (also featured on the Roundabout’s multimedia page).

There seems to have been a theme to our New York trip of seeing musical versions of our favorite movies. In the case of Young Frankenstein, our affinity for the original film tainted our enjoyment of it’s musical cousin.

In the case of Meet Me in St. Louis, playing at Papermill Playhouse through December 16, the stage version of this holiday classic merely increased our love for the story, the warmth of its characters, and the score that we know so well.

We began the evening on the exterior of Rob Bissinger’s turn-of-the-century home and after the first scene, the house glided open to reveal the beautiful, finely detailed interior of this St. Louis family’s domicile. At the end of the first act, the entire house slid upstage to allow the full-sized trolley car room to make it’s way across the stage as the cast performed the famous “Trolley Song.”

All of Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane’s beloved film songs are included in the stage version–”The Boy Next Door,” “Meet Me in St. Louis,” “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”–as well as some delightful additions by the duo, including “You’ll Hear A Bell,” a sweet song Mrs. Smith (Donna English) sings about how she felt when she first met her husband-to-be (Gregg Edelman) and “A Touch of the Irish,” the rousing act two opener led by Patti Mariano as Katie.

The cast ranges in credits from recent Carnegie Mellon graduate Patrick Cummins, playing Warren Shefield, to four-time Tony nominee, Gregg Edelman as patriarch Alonso Smith. The rest of the Smith family is played by JB Adams (Grandpa), Roni Caggiano (Agnes), Christian Delcroix (Lon), Brynn O’Malley (Esther), Julia Osborne (Rose) and Sophie Rudin (Tootie).

One of the things I love about the film, which came across even more clearly with live actors, is the sense of nostalgia that comes from watching the comings and goings of a family who cares very deeply for each other, in a time period when things were much simpler. Of course in any time period (and in any good theatre piece) there must be conflict, but here some of the most controversial moments include whether to change dinner time from 6:30 to 5:30, and trying to replace a tuxedo that wasn’t picked up before the tailor closed.

There is a true sense of a cohesive, loving family conveyed in the show as Grandpa offers to be a surrogate date to the Christmas social, as Rose comforts a tearful Tootie with the lullaby-like “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” and as Mr. and Mrs. Smith reminisce amidst a growing family crisis in the tender “Wasn’t It Fun?”

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