Hamlet is a Tragedy No More...

...for it brings Jude Law to the New York stage. Yes!

---> "Yes you will see Hamlet for the 17th time*, Nathaniel. By royal decree!"

Every year I vow to be done with Shakespeare but the movie stars keep roping me back in. You know my feelings here. To sum up: there are 1000s of brilliant old plays by 100s of great playwrights; we are rarely presented with anything but 37 by 1. Even here in NYC. Yes we occasionally get a revival by someone whose name doesn't rhyme with Schmakeschmeare. But more often than not it's Romeo & Juliet or Twelfth Night and Hamlet above all else.

In fact I just saw Hamlet for the 16th time last year with Michael Stuhlbarg as the Prince of Denmark. (Stuhlbarg is a well regarded stage actor but he's getting his first substantial shot at a movie career as the lead in the next Coen Bros picture, A Serious Man). I have yet to see Anne Hathaway in Twelfth Night in the Park but I shall. I've heard only fine things and she's co-starring with three of Broadway's best: Audra McDonald (somebody cancel Private Practice so she'll be able to do more musicals again, please), Julie White (Shia's mom in Transformers, sigh) and Raúl Esparza, he of the can't-win-a-TONY-even-though-i'm-usually-better-than-my-competition problem.

But back to the man at hand.

Kathleen Turner and Jude Law (TONY nominee) as
incestuous mother & son in Indiscretions (1995)

Starting in September, Jude Law will be working the boards as the troubled Dane. He's already done so to great acclaim across the Atlantic. He'll force me to endure my umpteenth Hamlet. I am so very tired of Prince Hamlet but I have yet to tire of Sir** David Jude Law. And he hasn't been on the Broadway stage since before he was a celebrity, so it'll be an event. Last time he caused quite a ruckus taking a bath for Kathleen Turner live on stage eight times a week, long before he did the same for Matt Damon in The Talented Mr Ripley, igniting his movie stardom.

* I haven't really seen Hamlet 16 times. But it feels like it.
** He isn't knighted yet but you know he will be. Give him another 20 years.

Jane Fonda vs. Geoffrey Rush for the Triple Crown

You know about the Triple Crown of Acting, right? It's when an actor manages to stretch across three mediums and snag all three of the top competitive prizes: Tony (theater), Emmy (television) and Oscar (film).


To date only 15 actors* have accomplished this but the number could jump to 17 soon. Currently the rarified list reads like so...

• Jack Albertson (Tony: 65, Oscar: 69, Emmy: 75)
  
• Anne Bancroft (Tony: 58, Oscar: 63, Emmy: 99)
  
• Ingrid Bergman (Oscar: 45, Tony: 47, Emmy: 60)
  
• Shirley Booth (Tony: 49, Oscar: 53, Emmy: 62)
  
• Melvyn Douglas (Tony: 60, Oscar: 64, Emmy: 68) Did you know that this Hud star was Illeanna Douglas's grandfather? I certainly didn't.
  
• Jeremy Irons (Tony: 84, Oscar: 91, Emmy: 97)
  
• Thomas Mitchell (Oscar: 40, Tony: 53, Emmy: 53)
  
• Rita Moreno (Oscar: 62, Tony: 75, Emmy: 77)
  
• Al Pacino (Tony: 69, Oscar: 93, Emmy: 04)
  
• Vanessa Redgrave (Oscar: 78, Emmy: 81, Tony: 03)
  
• Jason Robards (Tony: 59, Oscar: 77, Emmy: 88)
  
• Paul Scofield (Tony: 62, Oscar: 67, Emmy: 69)
  
• Maggie Smith (Oscar: 70, Tony: 90, Emmy: 03)
  
• Maureen Stapleton (Tony: 51, Emmy: 68, Oscar: 82)
  
• Jessica Tandy (Tony: 78, Emmy: 88, Oscar: 90)
  

<--- Dianne Wiest on Broadway with John Lithgow (four EMMYs, two TONYs... only Oscar eludes him) and Patrick Wilson in All My Sons.

This year I expected to see one of my all time favorite actresses Dianne Wiest fighting for a place on this list. She already has two Oscars (Hannah and Her Sisters and Bullets Over Broadway) and two Emmys (Road to Avonlea and In Treatment) but she did not receive a TONY nomination for All My Sons. I shall console myself with the happy knowledge that she's left boring-ass TV procedurals behind and is returning to fine roles elsewhere. Next up for Wiest: more In Treatment on TV and Rabbit Hole with Nicole Kidman onscreen... for which she could conceivably snag her fourth supporting actress Oscar nomination in 2010.

So, no Dianne. Jane Fonda and Geoffrey Rush did get nominated though and could become Triple Crowners in one month's time. Fonda has two Oscars (Klute and Coming Home) and one Emmy (The Dollmaker) and she's up for the TONY this year for 33 Variations. Geoffrey Rush has one Oscar (Shine) and one Emmy (The Life and Death of Peter Sellers) and Exit the King could bring him the TONY.

The Tony Lead Acting Races

Lead Actress Play

• Hope Davis, God of Carnage
• Jane Fonda, 33 Variations
• Marcia Gay Harden, God of Carnage
• Janet McTeer, Mary Stuart
• Harriet Walter, Mary Stuart

This category is brutal with two squabbling pairs of leading ladies. Although as far as I know neither Hope nor Marcia lose their head in God of Carnage so the battle in Mary Stuart is deadlier. It comes with a body count. Could all this infighting / vote splitting clear the way for Jane Fonda? [p.s. Harden already has the Oscar and if she snags this TONY all she's waiting for is the EMMY. Will she get a nomination for Damages in July?]

Lead Actor Play

• Jeff Daniels, God of Carnage
• Raúl Esparza, Speed-The-Plow
• James Gandolfini, God of Carnage
• Geoffrey Rush, Exit the King
• Thomas Sadoski, reasons to be pretty

It's cause for some despair that Esparza seems like he's never going to win the TONY. And with Pushing Daisies cancelled we'll never know if they planned to bring him back as "Alfredo Aldarisio" and maybe give him a duet with Kristin Chenoweth. He's so clearly one of Broadway's best and versatile too given that he hops between plays and musicals with ease. But TONY voters L-O-V-E movie stars and vote for them when they get a chance. Geoffrey Rush should be able to snag this one and join the triple crowners.

Lead Actress Musical

• Stockard Channing, Pal Joey
• Sutton Foster, Shrek
• Allison Janney, 9 to 5: The Musical
• Alice Ripley, Next to Normal
• Josefina Scaglione, West Side Story

It's a West Wing reunion... the EMMYS on Broadway! But I don't understand the Janney nomination. At all. I find her as endearing as a celebrity as most people but let me put it this way: she makes Renée Zellweger in Chicago look like a born hoofer. I could practically hear Janney counting whenever she had to do the simplest moves onstage. Both of her co-stars sang multiple circles around her and if you ask me, Megan Hilty in the Dolly role would have a right to be pissed that she was passed over so that TONY could get its celebrity fix. But thems the breaks. All awards bodies prefer celebrities to lesser knowns, if they're in direct competition.

Lead Actor Musical

• David Alvarez, Trent Kowalik, and Kiril Kulish (combined) as Billy Elliot
• Gavin Creel, Hair
• Brian d'Arcy James, Shrek
• Constantine Maroulis, Rock of Ages
• J Robert Spencer, Next to Normal

I'm not exactly sure why Gavin Creel (I'm not a fan) is considered lead in Hair while Will Swenson is nominated in "featured" (the story is about Creel but Swenson controls the show and gets more stage time -my review) but I'm not part of the nominating committee. Trivia: We have our first TONY nominated American Idol alum in Constantine Maroulis. Many of the Idol players have been on the boards (an odd twist given that American Idol regularly uses "Broadway" as an insult -- never mind that most Broadway performers can sing circles around Idol contestants) but this is the reality show's first nominee.

The SNUBBED

A lot of film stars were ignored this year including: Kristin Scott Thomas for The Seagull (my interview), Susan Sarandon for Exit the King, Rupert Everett for Blithe Spirit, Daniel Radcliffe's naked identity crisis in Equus (my review), smoking Carla Gugino for Desire Under the Elms and the romantic pairing of Joan Allen and Jeremy Irons in Impressionism.

For a complete list of TONY nominees, click here.

Don't be quiet. What do you think of these nominations and which movie star would you most love to see on stage?

* Notable superstars like Judy Garland, Liza Minnelli, Barbra Streisand and Whoopi Goldberg have all three prizes too but they didn't win them all in competitive categories or for performances.
*

TONY Live Blogging

Why live-blog? It's the only way I might get through it. Because...

8:01 In the very first minutes, we get a performance from The Lion King. Now, I don't have anything against this particular show --other than that it started the horrid wave of Disney thinking all their animated films should become stage musicals and we all see the dark places that's taken the American theater and... OK maybe I do have something against this show. But here's the point. It's like, old. TONY should be celebrating the "now" rather than admitting that the theater is dead. Lie, people, lie. Your livelihoods depend on it.

8:05 Whoopi is hosting.

8:08 Rondi Reed wins Best Featured Actress (i.e. "supporting") for August: Osage County. It's going to sweep. She beat Laurie Metcalf, who America will know as second banana "Jackie" from endless seasons on Roseanne and Martha Plimpton, who is quite a theater fixture in New York but is also beloved by most folks who have a thing for 80s movies and early River Phoenix... i.e. people in their 30s.

8:12 CryBaby. This performance is a disaster --it's all over the place --but my friend, who has a thing for dark haired pale men, just melted into a puddle since the entire troupe of dancing jailbirds seems to have been cast to look just like the lead guy who has been styled to look like Johnny Depp from the 1990 John Waters film. Not that you can be styled to be Johnny Depp. There can be only one.

he's the king

8:22 THE LOVELY LAURA LINNEY! She's only presenting (somehow she defied the gods of awards shows by not being nominated for playing the Marquise de Merteuil in Les Liaisons Dangereuses). But for me her appearance is the first true musical number of the night. "why do birds suddenly appear... any time she is near" The supporting actor award goes to Jim Norton for The Seafarer. Raul Esparza gets snubbed every year. I hate the TONYs. Maybe they'll give him more to do guest starring on Pushing Daisies in the fall. Oh, you know you want his salesman back in the Pie Hole romancing Kristin Chenowith.

8:26 Passing Strange. That number did nothing for me.

8:37 John Lithgow. Usually at some point while looking him I remember that he was briefly threatening to be a regular Oscar fixture. But then it turns out to be just a two-in-a-row deal (World According to Garp and Terms of Endearment) and then he became a TV star and weirdly he still seems to be doing that character from that show about the aliens all the time as himself now. Was it always there? Best Direction of a Musical went to South Pacific (the revival).

8:41 Patti Lupone doing the famous 1st act closing number "Everything's Coming Up Roses" from Gypsy. Is Gypsy to musical actresses what Hamlet is to stage actors? Seems to be. I liked that number well enough but I have seen Gypsy too many times. How do they fill the theater every 3 years when a new revival opens?

8:52 They just shared a bunch of awards that happened off-broadcast. I hate that part. I live in fear that the Oscars will eventually do that. Gives me award-junkie chills.

8:57 A rapped Latino acceptance speech for best score. I think that might be a first for TONY. Very cute. Loved the Sondheim shout out.

Sondheim I made a hat. Where there wasn't a hat. And a Latin one at that!

8:59 South Pacific. Another stage to movie back to stage affair. It's a medley. They start with "There is Nothing Like a Dame" which always cracks me up. Because it's never...butch. Although that was definitely butcher than the last version (that stiff Glenn Close TV version some years back). Now it's the Kelli O'Hara show. I wish I loved her because she keeps getting plum roles. Her voice is gorgeous but as a star... I can never quite bow down. She's just not an "it" girl for me, you know. These things can't be manufactured or rehearsed or willed. They either happen between performer and audience member or they don't. Sigh.

9:02 As we cut to commercial they showed Daniel 'Harry Potter' Radcliffe. Think he's trying to win friends and influence people early to prep for a Lead Actor TONY nomination next summer for Equus? Did that sound cynical? Oh you know they plan these strategies early...

9:08 Whoopi descended from the ceiling dressed as Mary Poppins. "I can watch your children" Hee. Segueway to Kristin Chenowith. [love!] This is Featured Actress in a Musical. And the TONY goes to... Laura Benanti as Gypsy Rose Lee. She's wearing Nicole Kidman's Oscar dress from March 2003 only this time it's glittery and red (see for yourself, pictured left). She is so happy. But take it from me who goes to theater and who has been to a few of her shows. The reputation is earned. By which I mean: her understudies go on... a lot.

9:13 A performance from Grease. Everything (very) old is new again... on Broadway. Zzzz

9:24 I almost fell asleep (still sick. This damn sore throat is not letting up) during commercials but then I got a little e-mail compliment on my work from a writer/director who actually guided one of my favorite actresses to an Oscar nomination. That woke me right up. What a surprise. Boyd Gaines just won (his fourth win! Watch out Audra McDonald) for Gypsy. The show is two for two now acting-wise. Guess Patti's got her next TONY in the bag.

9:27 We're getting a little medley of the musicals that didn't get nominated this year. Hmmm. I thought the punishment was that they didn't get to hawk their show on this show?

9:40 Oooh, clips (and sets!) for the Original Plays. August: Osage County will win. First it wins Best Director.

9:53 Mary Louise Parker. MLP!!! We love her so much. We loved her before Weeds. And now there's even more to love. Best Leading Actor in a Play goes to Mark Rylance in Boeing Boeing. We've heard from multiple sources that that win is deserved and that he's side-splittingly funny in it. If you're asking "who?" just know that he's amazing and totally sexy to me (What? Shut up!) and he's often naked onscreen including in the devastating Intimacy (2001, my review) and Angels & Insects (1995). I didn't understand that acceptance speech at all.

10:00 Deanna Duagan wins best actress. She's the pill-popping mom in August: Osage County. As soon as they decide to make it in a movie, there will be a war among all your favorite actresses 'of a certain age' to get it. That is, if Streep doesn't want it. You know Hollywood always gives Meryl first dibs.

10:04 a number from the new musical In the Heights. Strong number. The show is already a hit and this performance will only sell more tickets.

10:12 Harry Potter and the teacher from The History Boys (both are in Equus) presented Best Play to August: Osage County. Tracy Letts accepts. Takes some (deserved) potshots at both television and Broadway. I love him. He also wrote Bug.

10:15 Before I moved to NYC I was one of those guys who watched the TONY Awards every year and dreamed about seeing things that I never got to see. Before I ever saw a Broadway show I loved Mandy Patinkin wildly. So I was never one of those people who was like "isn't that Inigo Montoya?" So for me it's always a joy to see him... although his beard freaks me out. He is accepting a Lifetime Achievement for Sondheim. Nice proxy speech. And now a number from Sunday in the Park with George. Such a brilliant show and this was a strong production. The music.... ah, so pretty.

10:28 Best Revival goes to South Pacific. Glenn Close presenting was kinda telling/tacky since she played Mitzi on TV.

10:33 Lily Tomlin struts out all seductively and says that that was her tribute to Marisa Tomei. I don't get it. But Marisa (my current movie girlfriend) is shown laughing so all is right with the world. Or maybe I'm happy because Lily is introducing the "out of their minds cast of Xanadu" OMG. Cheyenne Jackson. Swoon. Hollywood is so missing out on him. He could so easily be the first big out gay movie star. So talented, handsome, manly, tall, memorable, everything. Gah! But the real star of Xanadu is of course Kerry Butler who is laugh out loud funny throughout playing Olivia Newton John playing a Greek muse playing "Kira". High-larious. Watching her hobble around during the "Don't Walk Away" number on one skate is so funny. I know the whole thing is silliness but I deeply appreciate silliness and that bit of slapstick generously reminds one of Katharine Hepburn's great screwball moment

I was born on the side of a hill

When I laugh I forget that I feel like hell. I have now lost track of the show because I keep rewinding and rewatching the Xanadu number.

Olivia Newton-John with the cast of Xanadu: Kerry Butler, Cheyenne Jackson
and Tony Roberts (not from the TONY broadcast unfortunately)

10:something Rent anniversary. Wheeee. Anthony Rapp --still so adorable. I used to always end up at the same shows as him Off Broadway. It was uncanny AND... true story: that first crazy screening of Moulin Rouge! that I went to at Ziegfeld in New York? He was also there... just a few people away in line. The original cast is lined up which I think might mean that they're going to sing 525,600 minutes. Yep. Taye Diggs & Idina Menzel met on Rent of course and they're such a handsome married couple. This'll be on YouTube in seconds I'm sure.

10:something LIZA! She needs a big font, don'cha know. The Best Leading Actor Musical goes to Paolo Szot as Emil in South Pacific (pictured, right). I guess I need to see this show. Damn he's handsome. I'm really gaying out with this live-blogging today. Cheyenne, Anthony, Mark, Paolo... but it's the TONYs so what did you expect?

10:something David Hyde Pierce is here to present a trophy to Patti Lupone... I mean to announce the Leading Actress in a Musical. I only saw Jenna Russell in Sunday in the Park and Kerry in Xanadu and both were deserving. She says she's using an old speech and just changing the names. The TONYs are in some ways like an unholy but classier version of the EMMYs: i.e. some people win over and over again. Other people are strangely passed over regularly despite many honors and big careers. She hasn't won in 29 years. Jesus.

i'm just fastforwarding now Oooh, final award. Best Musical goes to In the Heights.

the award for best live-blogging DOES NOT GO TO ME. My apologies. I'm sick and delirious!
Good night.

further reading: complete list of winners * ModFab projects about the fallout from the winnings and losing *
more familiar faces @ the TONYs last night:


Lily Tomlin, Kristin Chenoweth, Glenn Close, Gina Gershon, Laura Linney, Idina Menzel & Taye Diggs, Mark Rylance, Daniel Radcliffe.
*

The TONY Awards

Another year, another TONY Awards. The most memorable part of the evening for me was that it felt like Hugh Jackman was actually hosting even though he turned the gig down this year because there he was during every commercial break... striking curious poses in commercials for the Vegas set musical (?) TV series Viva Laughlin. How does he find the time? I'm assuming his is a recurring guest role rather than a lead... though the commercials lean heavily on his star magnetism.

Anyway, some thoughts on the night

Swoosie Kurtz (yay!), Harvey Fierstein (it aint televisions gayest night of the year w/out Harvey), Audra McDonald (a TONY goddess), Billy Crudup and Christine Ebersole (happy winners)

Wins: Best Musical Spring Awakening won just about everything it was up for except costumes (Grey Gardens) and sets (Mary Poppins) and acting. The nine hour Tom Stoppard trilogy The Coast of Utopia was even stronger in the Best Play categories. What didn't it win? The most deserving acting prizes went to the Beales of Grey Gardens. And I hear that Billy Crudup was sensational in Utopia as a Russian intellectual so good on him.

Most Skeletal: Where has Claire Danes gone? I'm glad her copresenter didn't slice himself open on her protuding bones. Can't find a suitably scary picture but I'm sure you'll see one soon.

Best Dressed: Angela Lansbury looked so classy.

Worst Dressed: Marcia Gay Harden, Christine Ebersole, and Melina whatshername from TV (pictured right with Jane Krakowski whom she is entirely unworthy to touch -- begone Melina!) The latter looked like she had a massive coke can tab hanging around her neck. Ewwww

Best Speeches: Mary Louise Wilson (Grey Gardens) and Julie White (The Little Dog Laughed) gave great acceptance speech. Funny and aware that it's a television show and not all about them. You still have to think about the audience when you're having your moment.

Worst Speech: Christine Ebersole (Grey Gardens) was a deserving winner and I realize she's had the trophy in the bag for the whole theater season but this was the very definition of over rehearsed. I felt like I was in her bathroom staring into her mirror.

Best Performance: Audra McDonald's warm and spirited performance of "Raunchy" did the trick. I wanted to buy tickets to 110 in the Shade immediately. I'm also surprised to say that Fantasia's Color Purple number was surprisingly well acted. Why surprisingly? Well she was pretty terrible as herself in that Lifetime movie --not that I watched the whole thing.

Most Hilariously Appropriate Co-Presenter Pairing: Kevin Spacey with Jane Krakowski. That's a whole heap o' self love & smug right there. (I luv ya Jane! Don't be mad)

The Bad: They dissed Raul Esparza (pictured, left) yet again for the musical actor prize? Awful. He was so good in Company and he so obviously and desperately wanted to win. But the TONY voters are true starf***ers and David Hyde Pierce used to be on TV. It's maddening. When will Raul ever get the trophies he keeps on deserving ?

Best Speech in Worst Circumstances: David Hyde Pierce. It's nice that he's finally out of the closet --though it woulda been nicer while he was on Frasier for all those years --and it's nice that it was a truly sincere and modest nod to the other nominees (particularly Raul) but it still makes me crazy that Raul lost, damnit.

The Ugly: Shunning the utterly brilliant duo Kiki & Herb (pictured, right) for ventriloquism? That is just truly square. Like the Emmys and the Oscars, The TONY voters often have embarrassing blind spots and a lack of sophistication about their own artform.

The Curious: I haven't yet seen Spring Awakening and I've heard people say it's the new Rent. But I gotta tell you: I thought they meant that it was the new Rent in the rock musical way. I didn't realize it was the new Rent in the whole sense. A centerpiece number where horny young boys and girls dance on furniture and sing about masturbation? I've seen this before: VIVA LA VIE BOHEME!

Tony Nominations & Movie Connections

The whatever annual Tony nominations are here. You'll want to go directly to ModFab (always the place for great theater buzz) if you're looking for a complete list. My habit is to briefly comment and throw out movie suggestions... but really: Broadway is closer and closer to the movies (what with all the cross pollination) so I'm not in the mood. I'm just going to talk about the Best Musical Nominees.

Still, if you a) can't afford a ticket --that'd be most of the population or b) don't get to NYC often, you can play along at home by renting the movies these things are based on and then watching the TONY Awards in June.


In the category of "Best Musical" which, despite the presence of a correlative "Best Play" prize is really the grand kahuna. The "Best Picture" if you're thinking Oscar because it's the one with the $$$ should you manage a win. The voters went for

Curtains from the legendary team of Kander & Ebb (you know and love them even if you don't think you know them: They wrote Cabaret and Chicago --two of the bigges Oscar hauling musicals ever)
Grey Gardens pictured above. It's based on the legendary documentary about Jackie O's infamous relatives
Mary Poppins you're already familiar.
Spring Awakening which is an original from Duncan Sheik, former pop star.

The box office is with: Mary Poppins
The critics and the cool kids are behind: Spring Awakenings
I've only seen: Grey Gardens... which was pretty damn good with a great performance by Christine Ebersole which will undoubtedly win the TONY.
Snubbed: Legally Blonde --some say is a pretty shoddy movie to stage transfer but it could still prove a tourist trap. And LoveMusik which had all the buzz on paper since it had a great topic (the love affair between Kurt Weill and Lotte Lenya) and cast (Tony winners Michael Cerveris, last season's Sweeney Todd, and diva extraodinaire Donna Murphy who moviegoers will recognize as Doctor Octopus wife from Spider-Man 2 but really she's an insanely talented woman. Easily among the best performers anywhere.)

"Best Musical Revival" isn't usually as exciting. Broadway shouldn't repeat themselves as often as they do. But it's not all their fault. Audiences, just like at the movies, tend to flock to familiar looking stuff even if the great stuff is elsewhere. *sigh* The voters chose:

The Apple Tree which was another success for Kristin Chenowith who is pure joy on stage. She plays to the back row and she does it with such enthusiasm and comic inspiration that you're always laughing and in love. As my friend Kay remarked the other night while we were applauding Kristin at a concert "She knows she's in a barn" Hee. Kristin is also one of those rare Broadway stars with some general off stage fame as well, CDs, concerts, the talk show circuit and movie work (she was last seen onscreen as Annette Bening's lover in Running With Scissors).
110 in the Shade This is the latest for TONY champion Audra McDonald. She's crazy beloved on Broadway (she's only 36 and she's nearing the record for most TONY winning performances ever)
A Chorus Line Previously adapted into a not-very-good movie in 1985. If you've got a hankering to witness the dancers life I'd watch All That Jazz instead.
Company Broadway sensation Raul Esparza headlines the latest Sondheim revival --this one uses the same technique that Sweeney Todd did last season: the actors play their own instruments.

The box office is with: A Chorus Line
The critics are behind: Company
I've seen: both of those. A Chorus Line deserves its immense fame as a landmark musical. But when it comes to these reworks I Sondheim's genius marital angst musical has a much stronger cast and production and deserves the win. A Chorus Line feels like it's trapped under glass. To me at least. For a show that's all about being a fly on the wall for a gritty look at Broadway babies it needs to feel more contemporary and spontaneous to really work.

And once again, for the complete list with acting nominees and such, head over to Modern Fabulousity. There's several movie faces in the mix but big stars like Kevin Spacey and Julianne Moore were shunned.

Company

Give or take fears about what whimsy-loving Tim Burton is going to do to the horror/comedy/thriller/musical masterpiece that is Sweeney Todd next year, the past few years have been kind to Stephen Sondheim fanatics like myself. We've had his fun cameo in Camp, that awesome day-long 75th birthday celebration at Symphony Space, and last season brought us John Doyle's revelatory rethink of Sweeney Todd. And now... "phone rings, door chimes, here comes Company"

Company, Sondheim's brilliant exploration of marriage and commitment, was a hit in it's original run in 1970 but today it doesn't enjoy the high profile of a Sweeney Todd or an Into the Woods. But, should you find yourself in the New York area, you should see it. Whatever its flaws (and great Sondheim is, I suspect, as difficult to pull off as great Shakespeare --no production ever seems as brilliant as the piece itself) the revival of Company is a treat.

My Broadway honey Raul Esparza, miscast in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang two seasons back, has the lead role of "Bobby" and milks it, some would say drains it dry, for maximum "worship me!" applause. But it's the female supporting players who have those plum TONY nominatable showstoppers like "Getting Married Today" and "The Ladies Who Lunch"

Company opens tonight at the Ethel Barrymore theater on 47th Street here in NYC.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang!

Perhaps you've heard that a Broadway show is more of a tourist trap spectacle than an actual theatrical experience? Or that Broadway is more like Vegas now. Or that Vegas is the new Broadway? These are not false memes even if they don't tell the entire truth of it. Most seasons brings exceptions to any rule about the junk food glitz of Broadway shows as opposed to providing a satisfying theatrical dinner. Shows that are basically spectacle for spectacles sake weren't born in the 80s when Andrew Lloyd Webber took over or when Disney bought up the place in the 90s. Even if it feels like they were. What were things like the Ziegfeld Follies if not for spectacles?



So the good news aboutChitty Chitty Bang Bang is that its spectacle is actually spectacular: The flying car is a wonder. A far more impressive bit of stage f/x magic than Audrey II in Little Shop of Horrors the season prior or Elphaba's very celebrated 'Defying Gravity' number in Wicked. I still prefer my stage effects in a lower key (the giant's voice and shadow in Into the Woods for example: Very impressive/evocative but it didn't take over the whole show) but when your show's whole hook is a flying car, well... you'd better deliver. In other good news Tony nominated Jan Maxwell and Marc Kudisch as the Baroness & Baron are both hilarious (Maxwell is even inspired, I would venture to say). They're comic duet totally energizes the show in the second act. Last night the show desperately needed the boost.

You see, the bad news is that spectacle shows only achieve 100% spectaculaciousness if the audience is at capacity. You need that electric rush that comes from huge hordes of people oohing, aahing, clapping, laughing, or just generally feeling it. Otherwise shows like this read as a little desperate. All that energy expended onstage with no matching volley from the other side? A little painful. Also painful was the miscasting of Raúl Esparza. I didn't believe this going in since I really and truly love Mr. Esparza...who has been a must-see performer for quite a while. But unfortunately it's true. This show needs light and airy or goofy performances and he has too much natural intensity to work within the context of silly comedy that supports spectacle. (Everyone is really supporting the car, you know)



That said... I had a good time. If you like stage spectacles, need a show that little kids will like (the tykes in the audience were buzzing as the crowd emptied out), or are unreasonably fond of the original film, you should consider checking it out. Otherwise... steer clear.

Q & A (actor love)

from Dusty: I love the lists of your favorite movie actors and actresses. In fact, you (nearly) inspired me to compose my own. But I'm curious: If you hadn't limited your lists (actors & actresses) to only film, what other actors may have made the cut? Any TV stars? Any un-filmed Broadway talent?

The actors i most love who don't really touch the big screen are few. Eventually the ones I like seem to cross over. The ones I have trouble putting on lists though are the ones who seem uncategorizable due to their constant medium hopping. Like Sandra Bernhard, Alan Cumming, Sarah Jessica Parker, Harvey Fierstein, Sela Ward, Billy Campbell, Lauren Ambrose, and Mary Louise Parker for example. Love all of those actors but their film work doesn't come close to giving you the whole picture of their career. In most of these cases you have to add television or stage roles or even musical gifts into understanding my cup of love for them (which runneth over).

As for Broadway unfilmed talent? That is tough to say. It's really difficult to know if their stage charisma would transfer. It's a very different thing. I've always been crazy about Norbert Leo Butz & Sherie Rene Scott who are co-starring again on stage in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. I also deeply dig Raul Esparza (currently in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang who is both an immensely talented musical actor and a fine dramatic one in non-musicals. Other Broadway stars that I wish would get a shot at the movies: Kristen Chenowith (her cameo in Bewitched you have to disregard) will get a shot opposite Annette Bening in Running with Scissors. I think Sutton Foster, Kerry Butler, and Audra Macdonald could be utilized in film. Audra is a vocal powerhouse but if all that's going to happen for her on TV is the boring assistant roles on political dramas I stay: Stay on Broadway! And of course my lovely naughty Jane Krakowski... but methinks she no longer needs (;) my push. She's onstage singing and dancing with Ewan MacGregor (Guys and Dolls)? Onscreen gettin' hot and heavy with Evan Rachel Wood (Pretty Persuasion)? She's doing just fine.

from Adam K: Given your love for the Beatty/Wood pairing and 'Splendor in the Grass', do you think Beatty would've been a better choice (chemistry-wise at least) for the Richard Beymer role in West Side Story or not really?

If you're asking me if I would have liked to see Beatty in another movie in 1961 when he was the most clearly beautiful man on Earth the answer is a 'hell yeah'. If you're asking if I'd like to change anything about West Side Story in actuality the answer would probably be no. I mean all movies have imperfections but...no, never mind. I'll keep West Side Story as is. I love it so.

from darkcypherladDo you truly believe that Audrey Hepburn was the best actress for "Breakfast at Tiffany's" or do you agree with Truman Capote that Marilyn Monroe would've been better? (It would've been great to compare two separate versions!)

You answered your own question I think. I'd love to compare the versions and I think Monroe was a much better actress than anyone realized at the time (ftr my favorite Monroe performances are: The Misfits, Bus Stop, and Some Like It Hot.) but I don't really want Breakfast at Tiffany's changed... unless we can digitally remove Mickey Rooney's entire landlord character. That'd be swell.