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A CurtainUp Review
You Don't Have to Be Shut out of Live Theater During the Stagehands' Strike
By Elyse Sommer
On Saturday November 10th Curtainup's trusty co-critic, Simon Saltzman ended up tending to his garden instead of going to a scheduled press performance of The Seafarer, and scads of out-of-town and suburbanites were disappointed to discover that the shows they had planned to see were shut down by the Stagehands' strike. But lucky me! Having caught the wonderful Rock 'n' Roll in the knick of time, my schedule from the 10th through the 16th turned out to be non-strike-struck.
First up was an outstanding and inventive production of Richard III at Classic Stage on East 13th Street. It stars Michael Cumpsty who, like so many actors who appear regularly in big Broadway productions, can also be seen in wonderful plays like this by theater goers willing to go a bit off the Great White Way path. and for less money. The show is now officially open so here's the link to my review.
The rest of my week includes just one Broadway show, Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein which, lucky me again, is one of the few shows not affected by the strike. I'm likely to feel even luckier to have scheduled three Off-Broadway plays: Edward Albee's Peter and Jerry at Second Stage, —( double review posted )—, a new production of Bob Clyman's Secret Order at 59E59th Street (where you can also still catch Crime and Punishment, a three-man version of Dostoyevsky's famous novel that Curtainup's Paulanne Simmons raved about—review) which I saw and very much liked in an earlier permutation at Ensemble Studio Theaters and which now stars Larry Pine, another actor seen often both On and Off Broadway ( Rave Review Now Posted; and a new play, The Piano Teacher, starring the invaluable Elizabeth Franz, at the Vineyard Theater on Union Square.
Comes the weekend, alas and alack, not so lucky me. Unless an agreement is reached I'll have to wait to see two Broadway plays for which I have high hopes, The Farnsworth Invention and August: Osage County.
The above mentioned Off-Broadway shows are just a sampling of worthy alternatives disappointed Broadway theater goers might want to consider:
The Fantasticks—that amazingly long running little musical that never kept tourists from heading downtown to Greenwich Village and which last year made a well-received comeback further uptown.
The Glorious Ones . This little musical, currently at Lincoln Center's Mitzi Newhouse Theater is very much in the spirit of The Fantasticks. The staging is sophisticated enough to please Broadway show devotees. The creative team and its star, Marc Kudisch, are true Broadway babies. Shakespeare's Cymbeline, at Lincoln Center's Vivian Beaumont, is one of the Broadway shows not affected by the strike
The Altar Boyz. This is one of Off-Broadway's super musical hits that has played long enough to require constantly changing casts. The multiplex New World Stages where this is playing also offers Die Mommie Die a campy show written by and starring Charles Busch (lately a well-regarded) Broadway playwright) back in drag and in a very Broadway-like production. Another show in this complex that's been running since July is My First Time, that Jenny Sandman recommended as a fun and rewarding experience about the rocky road to sexual awakening. Jenny, Curtainup's most devoted downtown theater devotee also recently recommended Bad Jazz though this one like the Flea's Bingo With Indians—but a caveat: these last two shows are a giant remove from what's usually popular with more conventional theater goers, and are definitely NOT family fare.
Another downtown hit that's been extended several times is Gone Missing a trendy little show created from interviews with New Yorkers who've lost various and sundry objects and, yes, people. When I went to see it this past summer, I noted that good reviews had attracted lots of uptown types along with the more usual downtown theater goers.
Since, at least for the present, a lot of the big Broadway hits are shuttered, an enjoyable and clever next best thing is the latest Forbidden Broadway spoof of the season's crop (of mostly musicals), Forbidden Broadway: Rude Awakening. The name is inspired by the shuttered musical Spring Awakening. Note: The strike has prompted the producers to this week add shows on nights usually dark: Tuesday, Nov. 13and Wednesday, Nov. 14 at 8:15 PM
If you like Rod Serling type dramas with a world affairs edge, consider seeing The Receptionist which stars Jayne Houdyshell, who in recent years has become something of a Broadway and Off-Broadway treasure. Another politically relevant play, beautifully produced and well acted is The Overwhelming.
Naturally, like you and everyone else I'm crossing every finger I can cross for this strike to end. But in the meantime, there's plenty of live theater available. For more information about Off-Broadway and the still available Broadway shows, see our Broadway and Off-Broadway pages.
Try onlineseats.com for great seats to
Wicked
Jersey Boys
The Little Mermaid
Lion King
Shrek The Musical
The Playbill Broadway YearBook
Leonard Maltin's 2007 Movie Guide
Wicked
Jersey Boys
The Little Mermaid
Lion King
Shrek The Musical
The Playbill Broadway YearBook
Leonard Maltin's 2007 Movie Guide