Loney's Show Notes

March comes in like a Lion
Orlando without Disney: Shakespeare Theatre's Harriett Lake Festival of New Plays/Ambulatory Shakespeare in Boston/Down Mamet-Lane in November/Take 39 Hilarious Steps to the American-Airlines Theatre: No In-Flight-Meals/New Jerusalem: Spinoza on Trial/Iraquis Betrayed by US Authorities/Ernest Hemingway Season: Jazz-Age, Maddening-Truth, The Fifth-Column/Almost an Evening Almost an Evening/Secrets of a Soccer-Mom: Whatever Became of the Little-League!/Smashed-Fruitcakes & Broken-Dreams in Paradise-Park/"The Scottish Play" Moves from BAM To Broadway/Fionna Shaw On the Rocks with Happy-Days/All-African-American Cat on a Hot Tin-Roof/Little-Sheba Makes a Come-Back!/Beth Henley's Crimes on Stage Again!/Expressionism-in-Music: Elmer Rice's Adding-Machine Sings!/Depressive-Mom & Dead-Son Sing in Next To Normal/Seafood Sings in Disney's Little Mermaid!/Gene O'Neill Sings Again in Take Me Along/Dynamic-Digital-Designs Upstage Sunday in the Park with George/Grim Peter Grimes at the Met/Food-Fest in Met's New Hansel & Gretel/Live-Horses in Manon Lescaut, But No Horse-Opera!/Marvelous Walküre at Met as Prelude to Complete RING/Raging-Riots In Liberty City/Black-haired Rapunzel at New Victory!/The Creation Premieres on West 57th Street!/Challenging Panels at CUNY's Martin Segal Theatre-Center! By Glenn Loney.

A New Beginning for the Year 2008
Tom Stoppard Rocks Broadway, Met Opera's War and Peace, More Troops Onstage Than Bush Iraq-Surge, August, Osage County Has Three Sisters, No Chekhov, Trumpery, Charles Darwin and the Other Discoverer of Evolution, Philo Farnsworth vs. General David Sarnoff, Yellow Face is Asian-Blackface, Placido Domingo in Good Voice in Gluck's Tauride, Richard Wagner Onstage in Doris To Darlene, Lonely Lessons from Julia Cho's Piano-Teacher, Raymond Chandler Meets Mother-Goose in City That Cried Wolf, Mark Twain's Is He Dead?Ã¢â‚¬â€Norbert Leo Butz in Skirts, Lincoln-Center Cymbeline a Majestic Pageant, Audience-Flags for Richard III, Wooster-Groupies Miming Manipulated-Videos of Burton's Hamlet, Constant-Couple, Gem of Restoration-Comedy at Pearl, Dashing Devilish Dick Dudgeon at Irish Rep, Nature Theatre of Oklahoma Now in Soho, Summer in Salzburg, The Seafarer Invokes Devil, Shite, and Drink, Kathleen Chalfant as Always-Wrong DECIDER in Hard Heart, Mikhail Baryshnikov in Sam Beckett's Shorts, Crime and Punishment with Multi-Doors, Edward Albee Puts a Front-Story on The Zoo Story, Pan-Asian Joy Luck Club Returns, Eve Best Outstanding in Pinter's Homecoming Revival, Chas. Mee and You on Queens Boulevard, Stagehands' Strike Nearly Steals Grinch's Christmas, Lukas Foss and Griffelkin Live at Manhattan School of Music, Charlie Chaplin's Grandson at BAM, Three Legendary Women Go Through Tan Dun's Gate, Puppet-Fest at Theatre for the New City, Peter Schumann's Bread and Puppeteers Imagine Dante's Inferno in Guantanamo, Schnitzler's La Ronde Adapted by Werner Schwab and Re-Adapted for Elegant Clemento Solo Velez Staging, Sarah Jones Wins Brendan Gill Prize for Bridge and Tunnel, Under the Radar Festival at Public-Theatre.

Rebooting & Getting-Started for the NYC Season 2007-2008
Red-Necks & Trailer-Trash on Parade/Sibling-Squabbles in Horton Foote's Dividing the Estate/Three Dramas of Desperate Irish Lives/Cherry-trees in Russia, Coffee-trees in Guatemala/Sir Ian McKellen's Mad Lear at BAM/Cell-Phones & Plasma TV-Panels for MoliÃ�'Â¨re's Misanthrope!/Roller-skates on Broadway: Xanadu!/Sam Walton's Severed-Head: No Wal-Mart Endorsement for Walmartopia!/Toni Morrison's Beloved Becomes an Opera/Remembering Beverly Sills/LaMaMa Celebrates 46 Off-Broadway Seasons/90th Anniversary for Manhattan School of Music.

The Bayreuth Festival 2007
Katharina Wagner: First Woman To Stage a Richard Wagner Opera in Bayreuth Festspielhaus Since Her Great-Grandmother, Cosima Liszt-Von Buelow-Wagner; Is Die Meistersinger Katharina Wagner's Meisterstueck? Will Katharina Wagner Be the Next Intendant of the Famed Bayreuther Festspiele? Why Is the Bayreuth Festival So Special for Opera-Lovers? Two Wagnerian Song-Contests: Die Meistersinger & Tannhauser, Philippe Arlaud's TannhÃ�'Â¤user Triumphantly Returns: From Storage & From Rome! Second-Time-Round for Tankred Dorst & Ursula Ehler's Ring, Tradition vs. Experimentation or Archiving vs. Renewing: Are Wagner's Operas In Danger? Are They Really Old, Tired, Boring, & Too Long? Bayreuth Fest Facts & Fictions

Britain and Britten in Bregenz Festival 2007
Festival-Time in Austrian-Vorarlberg, Britten & Britain Onstage in Bregenz, Haunting DEATH IN VENICE, All-Seeing Eyes in Bodensee TOSCA, Innovative Bregenz-Festival Technology, AIDA Waiting in the Wings, Other Unusual Austrian Festivals, Celebrating the Genius of Angelika Kauffmann, Joseph Beuys Inspires Cy Twombly & Matthew Barney & Douglas Gordon To Make MYTHOS.

Festival Season in Munich 2007
World-Premiere for Alice in Wonderland! Enchanting Alcina, Resplendent Rosenkavalier, Enormously-Moving Norma, Leaping Le Corsaire, Messy Merry Wives of Windsor, Bernstein's Candide in Concert-Illustrated by Loriot, Cinderella for School-kids!

John NeumeierÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s Hamburg Ballet Festival!
From Bayreuth to Hamburg: Thanks to John Neumeier, The 33rd Annual Hamburger Ballet-Days! A New Vision of the Old Cinderella Fable, The Last Days of Nijinsky, Balanchine's Jewels Sparkle in Hafenstadt-Hamburg, Overseas-Travel-Advisory!

The Constant Wife at the Spoleto Festival. Photo by Shane McCarthy, 2006.

Spoleto/Charleston: Performing-Arts from Both Home & Abroad!
In Memoriam Menotti/Merlin's Magic Island: World-Upside-Down!/Mahagonny: City-of-Nets in Charleston/What Is Hell Like: Faustus, The Last Night/Art-Deco Elegance: Dublin Gate's Constant Wife/Intermezzi & Concerti: From Yiddish Folk-Poetry to Accordion-Minimalism/Will Grey-Panther Audiences Ever Die Out?/Or Are They Infinitely-Renewable?

The Taming of the Shrew at the Oregon Shakespearean Festival. Photo by T Charles Erickson.

A Tale of Two Shakespeare Cities
Tom Stoppard Is On the Razzle in Ashland/Taming the Shrew in the Rogue River Trattoria/Prospero Frees His Slaves in America's First Elizabethan Theatre/Romeo & Juliet in the Generation-Gap!/Saroyan Revisited: Tracy's Tiger/Is This As You Like It?/Thornton Wilder's American-Version of the Original-Version of On the Razzle/Cedar City's Candid Candida/Ken Ludwig's Lend Me a Tenor Sings!/Twelfth-Night Gender-Confusions in Ottoman-Illyria/Coriolanus in the Land of Canyons/Neil Simon Has a Festival in Southern Utah!/Shakespeare Festivals Here & There.

Welcome to Las Vegas sign.

Sin City Revealed
What Stays in Vegas, Cirque du Soleil's KA & O & LOVE, Mel Brooks' THE PRODUCERS, Lloyd Webber's PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, Monty Python's SPAMALOT, Franco Dragone's LE RÊVE, Clint Holmes' JAM, Liberace's Rhinestone-World, New Plays Sundance-Workshopped, American Theatre Critics on the Move & on the Spot, The Road Not Taken: The Shows Not Seen.

''Tune in to Radio Golf!'' to ''L'Italiana in Londra'' and more
Tune-in to Radio Golf!/Frank Langella as Tricky-Dick Nixon/Audra & The Rainmaker at Studio 54/Legal-Blonde in Harvard Law-School/Mark Morris Dancers Illuminate Orfeo/Creationists Inherit the Wind/Abused Children in Coram Boy/Lotte Lenya Lives Again: LoveMusik/When Queens Collide: Elizabeth & Pirate-Queen Grace!/Essential Self-Defense a Knockout!/Harrower's Harrowing Blackbird/Feckin' IRA's: Defender of the Faith/Vanessa & Joan Think Magically!/Jewish Boy Lusts for Orthodox Virgins!/Misbegotten Moon/"The Scottish Play" w/Italian-Puppets/Shock-headed Oliver Twist/Met's Monumental Puccini Triad/Wrong Reasons: Dad a Monk, Mum a Nun!/Pilar Rioja Returns to Repertorio/Mary Poppins Revisited!/Jiulliard, Mannes, & Manhattan School of Music Offer Spring Operas: Figaro, Finta Giardiniera, & L'Italiana in Londra. By Glenn Loney.

Previous articles from Loney's Show Notes

Croyden's Corner

Satyagraha, an Opera by Philip Glass at the Lincoln Center
The Metropolitan Opera should be congratulated for reviving Philip Glass's well known master work "SATYAGRAHA," a minimalist opera depicting the early years of the heroic Indian leader, Mahatma Ghandi. Peter Gelb, the new managing director, is unafraid to produce work that at one time had been considered experimental--out of bounds for the classical repertory of the venerable opera house. But now into his second season, Gelb's desire to present opera as a theatrical experience is justified by this stunning Glass work. The music remains the same; nothing is changed from its original intention. What is changed is the production: the staging by the gifted director Phelim McDermott and set designer Julian Crouch who have used brilliant theatrical elements to produce a thrilling asthetic experience.

La Traviata at the Met Opera
"Croyden's Corner" has been devoted mostly to theater, although Margaret has written about music and dance in the past. She does it not as a conventional critic but as one going to the event for the first time and discussing it only from a theatrical vantage point. So it seems logical that she should now write about opera, for it encompasses everything theatrical--music, singing, dancing, and spoken dialogue. Besides, this is a most interesting time, since Peter Gelb, general manager of the Metropolitan Opera, is undertaking new and remarkable events to bolster this most gorgeous art. For her first Opera column, Margaret has picked one of the most famous and lovable operas in the world to discuss: Verdi's "La Traviata."

Sunday In the Park With George, the musical
By now everyone knows the story of this famous Stephen Sondheim's musical ( for this its third revival) that deals with Georges Seurat's remarkable pointillist painting of "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte." Using the painting as a background (actually the main subject), Sondheim ingeniously attempts to dissect Seurat's egomaniacal obsession with his art, an obsession that leads to the painter's neglect of mother, lover, child, friend--anyone who may distract him from his all consuming, passionate commitment to painting. The most inventive aspect of this production is not so much its story (although that is fascinating too) but the director's (Sam Buntrock) use of modern technology: computerized images, digital projections, clever animations that show the painting coming to life, its beginning, its progress and its glorious end.

"November" by David Mamet
If you love the great Nathan Lane then you will love this show because its another chance to see a superb comedian work. Whatever Lane does, even his appearances in unremarkable plays, he always stands out. He has had a fabulous career judging from his credits that fill almost two pages in the program. Who can forget Nathan Lane in "The Producers" or in the movie "The Birdcage," or his many comic antics in Terrence McNally's plays. An accomplished performer with perfect timing, perfect character traits, perfect movement, (like his hero, Jackie Gleason) even a lift of his eyebrows, or his smirk, or rage, can intrigue the audience no matter how insignificant the play. Plainly he is the whole show. And Margaret Croyden is always happy to see him.

August: Osage County
Margaret asks, What were the critics thinking? They called "August: Osage County" the most exciting new American play Broadway has seen in years. (That from The New York Times.) It has always been impolite to criticize one's colleagues (even if you hate them) or disparage their reviews. But this time, Margaret is breaking the rule and offering her own version of what she saw.

A Hundred Characters for " The 39 Steps"
If you are old enough to remember Alfred Hitchcock's fabulous script, its intricate design, its suspense, and amusing chase between the hero and the spy masters, then you will certainly appreciate this spoof of Hitchcock. Imagine three man and a single woman playing all the roles that encompasses the entire movie from the beginning to the end. And this they do so brilliantly that it is impossible to tell that the actors are playing multiple characters.How does this production, so cleverly directed by Maria Aitken, get this story in shape. She had only four actors who seem as if they are improvising. Within a minute they change from one character to another. Sometimes they run across the stage, existing from the right only to re-enter left, almost instantly. These actors have the agility of clowns as they depict changes of scenery with a variety of body movements. They walk, glide, run, exit, enter. Few props are used: a wooden frame becomes a window, certain body movements by the cast indicate a moving train, or a mountainous climb all this is accomplished by the actors' perfect timing. By Margaret Croydon.

"The Seafarer" -- At last, a Winner!
If you want to see terrific acting on the Broadway stage (which is rare) you must see Conor McPherson's new play, "The Seafarer" at the Booth theater. There, five actors will show you how group acting can make a simple drama compelling. As expected in a McPherson play, the story takes place in a provincial town outside of Dublin where four friends meet to celebrate Christmas, beginning with Christmas Eve morning and ending Christmas Eve night. In Richard's (Jim Norton) run down, shabby house, each man is eager to indulge his ritual--playing poker and drinking. Drinking, the endless talk about it, the search for it, are the principle obsessions of this besotted group. And they will do anything to procure the precious alcohol which unites them in a common bond. By Margaret Croyden.

"Rock 'N' Roll" by Tom Stoppard
In "Rock 'N' Roll," Tom Stoppard, Britain's most erudite and scholarly playwright, has once again tackled political and historical problems on repression and revolution in 20th century Czechoslovakia during the Cold war--a perfect background for arguments about Marxism, socialism, Soviet oppression, and revolution and its effect on human character. By Margaret Croyden.

Cyrano de Kevin Kline
Edmond Rostand's 19th century classic play "Cyrano de Bergerac" has always attracted stars and over the years many have tried their hand at it. In the past Jose Ferrer played it on stage and screen, and even the French leading man Gerard Depardieu stared in the original French version. Margaret Croyden assesses Kevin Kline's stab at the role.

Pygmaleon in the Roundabout
Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw, Directed by David Grindley Margaret Croyden attends Shaw's "Pygmaleon," directed by David Grindley at the Roundabout, and comes out filled with praise for the author. The production, she relates, was enjoyable but not without its flaws.

Robert Wilson and the Comedie Francaise
No international festival would ever be complete without the great Robert Wilson. No matter what his work is, he is sure to be invited, and he is sure to create a stir--and sell out the theater. His version of the 17th century "Fables de la Fontaine," performed in French (with English subtitles) by the famous Comedie Francaise actors, who double in numerous roles, was the Festival's premiere piece. As expected, it did attract full houses and standing ovations.

The Lincoln Center Festival
Attending the Lincoln Center Festival each year is always a pleasure. The productions presented are unavailable on Broadway or any other venue and always begin when the Broadway season closes, so we can enjoy another month of theater going. This year the Festival director, Nigel Redden, concentrated mostly on international productions--a welcome gift. Not many people travel to Japan, China, or Russia to catch the theater, which are countries well represented in this festival. By Margaret Croyden.

Reflections August 1, 2007
Croyden's reflections on the New York Philharmonic, ranging from what makes a composer a "genius," to the future of the organization, to her own experience at the concert.

"Frost-Nixon"
At last we have the best play of the season, the best performances, the best director, and best of all--Frank Langella in the role of Nixon. And what a performance. Actually I hesitated going to see this play. I lived through the Nixon period and was not anxious to have it in front of me again. Furthermore I thought it would be a straight docu-drama with question and answers and that's all. But much to my surprise it turned out to be a most fascinating psychological examination of one of our worst presidents. By Margaret Croyden.

"LoveMusik"
Kurt Weill will forever be remembered for his great score for "Three Penny Opera" and "Mahagonny," for his music from his pre-Hitler days in Germany, and numerous others when he escaped to the USA. "LoveMusik," with a book by Alfred Uhry, is based on his letters and those of his wife, the brilliant chanteuse Lotte Lenya, who, appearing in many Weill productions including the unforgettable "Three Penny Opera," became as famous as her husband. Alfred Uhry traces their 25 year relationship as they fall in love, marry, divorce, marry again, despite their violent arguments and various tempestuous affairs. By Margaret Croyden.

"A Moon For the Misbegotten"
The story deals with O'Neill's unhappy brother, Jim Tyrone, an alcoholic. He owns what looks like broken down property, part of which is the home of Josie and her father. On the surface, Jose is a rough, vulgar, earthy farm worker, but underneath she is a woman dying for love. On the surface, Jim Tyrone is similar but is incapable of achieving love or even accepting his longing for it. By Margareth Croyden.

Previous articles from "Croyden's Corner"

Chez Melinda

Annulla: What If Women Governed the World?
Melinda Guttman revisits Emily Mann's "Annulla," hoping to express how Annulla's language, intricately and artfully edited by Mann contains the enormous intellectual and emotional vocabulary to expand the audience consciousness of the scope of living through the holocaust and its lifelong consequences. By Melinda Given Guttman.

Brandon Judell

Josh Radin.

Joshua Radin: His "Sundrenched World"
Columbia Records has a new star in the making in Joshua Radin. Yes, watching this striking brunet rehearse at Joe's Pub for his set later that night, you can only wish you were the guitar he was strumming. Afterwards, interviewing him in the intimate Manhattan performance spot's lobby, staring into his piercing brown eyes and watching those gentle lips move, you can only wish to be with him or be him, depending on your persuasion. By Brandon Judell.

Other Contributors

Whitney Live; Nick Didkovsky
Not since Yoko Ono took a hammer to a Ming vase, shattering it in hundreds of pieces, in order to avenge the cancer that ravaged her college friend, and cellist, Charlotte Moorman, has the Whitney Museum heard such a configuration of sound. But last month composer, guitarist, and band leader /musician Nicholas Didkovsky jumped on the backs of three of his bands and led them to the Whitney's downstairs cave breaking the silence of visual art. By Ellen W. Lytle.

Eric Bentley receives Lifetime Achievement Award
Eric Bentley received a Robert Chesley Foundation 2007 Gay and Lesbian Playwriting Award for Sustained Achievement on May 7th at the New School in Manhattan. The ceremony was held in conjunction with the annual Publishing Triangle Awards, which honor the best lesbian and gay fiction, non-fiction, and poetry published in 2006. Bentley, born September 14, 1916 in Bolton, Lancashire, England, is renowned for his work as a playwright, translator, editor and teacher. By Koen Machielse.

Humor

No rest for this Chaperone.

Re-running Shows
The period between a hit show closing and its return to Broadway has been shrinking over the last decade. Now it will be easier for theater-goers to get tickets to two of Broadway's hottest musicals. Producers of "The Drowsy Chaperone" and "Jersey Boys" are expected to announce this week that revivals of both shows will be up and running by October. While this is the first time that a play will be revived while the original is still running, it is, in fact, the culmination of a long time trend. By guest columnist Curt Schleier.

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