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Writing for CurtainUp NYC Weather
Side Man At It's Third Home
By Elyse Sommer
Sideman' is proving itself as the exception to the rule that new plays can't have healthy and lengthy lives in the mainstream of New York theater. It moved from it's brief Off-Broadway run at the tiny CSC to the Roundabout. Though well received, the subscription season allowed only a limited extension. Continuing on its lucky streak, however, the show has found another home, the intimately sized Golden (252 W. 45th St.) where it officially re-opened on Sunday, November 8th. With the exception of Robert Sella, who's emceeing at Cabaret until Allan Cumming returns, the cast is intact, as are the design elements. To replace Sella, there's Christian Slater whose familiarity to movie goers should draw in enough people to get the show off to a healthy third life.
The show's move to the Golden gave me a chance to see it after an eight-months interim and with two new to me actors -- Slater as Clifford, the narrator, and Wendy Makkena in the role of his mother. I'm not going to re-review it since everything I said in my initial review remains true, as do Les Gutman's comments on the Roundabout production. (see links). Mr. Slater, like Mr. Sella, plays Clifford the narrator with warmth and restraint. Ms. Makkena gives as rich a reading to the difficult role of Terry as her predecessor did. The five musicians and Angelica Torn remain a terrific ensemble. I suspect that even if some of them had to leave for other commitments, the play's basic strength and wonderfully balanced humor and pathos, would carry the day.
This re-visit to a play I loved when I first saw it, not only gave me a chance to see the effect of the two new-to-me actors on the productions but to make note to any shifts in emphasis from last season to now -- the kind of role and script honing that give live theater its excitement.
Some changes which have been wrought seem designed to build up Side Man's comic elements. When at one point Terry (Ms. Makkena) interrupts Clifford as he's addressing the audience with "who are you talking to?" it breaks the flow of the narration device. True, it also got a big laugh, so you can see how this may have grown from an improvisational bit to a decision to take it to its new Broadway home.
The play's most memorable scene -- when three of the musicians listen to a tape of the late great trumpeter Clifford Brown (for whom Clifford the narrator is named) -- loses some of its power by the insertion of some prompts from Al (Joseph Lyle Taylor). This delays but does not strengthen the stunning moment when Gene (Frank Wood) loses himself completely in the sound of the trumpet. That's not to say that it's not still a memorable high point of a memorable and filled with high points play. It's simply an unnecessary bit of tinkering with a scene that was perfect to begin with. Perhaps, as the play settles into its new home, these concessions to Broadway audience expectations will be dropped for this is after all live theater and not a movie that's frozen once it's in the can..
All things considered, Side Man remains what it was: an extraordinarily moving slice of a particular way of life and a particular group of flesh and blood people. I urge all of you who haven't yet seen this play to do so. I would also add that because nothing can ever take the place of that thrill of discovering a play before it's gotten the official stamp of approval, don't forget to dip your toes into the untested waters of new and unknown Off and Off-Off-Broadway productions. This kind of adventurous theater going may just lead to the additional thrill of seeing your discovery play to a packed and enthusiastic new audience -- very much the case when I saw Side Man at the Golden.
For our review of Side Man at the CSC go here
For Les Gutman's Second Thoughts on the Roundabout production go here
For our interview with playwright Warren Leight go here
