On the Town With Aubrey Reuben
Where All the Stars Shine Brightly!
January 25, 2014
01-24-14 Cast
members (L-R) PJ Sosko. Rosie Benton. Erik Lochtefeld at the
opening night party for "Row After Row" at Hurley's
Saloon.
232 West 48th St. Thursday night. 01-23-14
On Broadway, Outside
Mullingar, by John
Patrick Shanley, at the Samuel J. Friedman
Theatre, is an intermissionless, short play,
with a wonderful scenic design by John
Lee Beatty showing
two kitchens in two Irish farmhouses, a bedroom
and outdoor scenes. The play takes place in
farm country in Ireland in recent times. A timid
42-year-old farmer (Brian
F. O'Byrne) and an aggressive, unmarried
neighbor (Debra
Messing), six years younger, are the
subjects of this dull, uninteresting romantic
play. Two elderly characters also populate this
mildly amusing 95-minutes, which seem much
longer.
Off Broadway, Craving
for Travel, by Greg
Edwards & Andy
Sandberg, takes place in two travel agents'
offices. In the two actor play, when one actor
speaks as the travel agent on the telephone, the
other acts as a client. This goes on for 75
interminable minutes. The customers are silly
and irritating, as irritating as the incessant
ringing of the telephones.
Row After Row, by Jessica
Dickey, has three characters, who sit in a
pub, after reenacting a scene from the battle of
Gettysburg in Pennsylvania during
the American Civil War. One of the men and the
woman are, particularly, unpleasant, as they
drink beers and argue. They are not good company
for 90-minutes. The opening night party at
Hurley's Saloon, however, was very pleasant.
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A Meet & Greet was held for AMAS Musical
Theatre's musical The Countess
of Storyville, starring Vivian
Reed and Deborah
Cox. I eagerly await to see it performed at the Peter J. Sharp Theatre
at Playwrights Horizons from February 12 - 15.
The Carnegie Deli held an unveiling of a delicious sandwich for Handle
With Care star Carol
Lawrence. The enormous Brisket of Beef sandwich was superb, and the
other three members of the cast of the delightful comedy and the playwright
joined Carol to taste her now famous sandwich.
Film Society of Lincoln Center is presenting Martin
Scorsese Presents: Masterpieces of Polish Cinema February 5-16. I
attended two press screenings. Mother
Joan of the Angels, by Jerzy
Kawalerowicz, 1961, is an overlong tale of a young priest, sent to a
convent, where the nuns are possessed by the devil. It is a morbid film,
which sadomasochists will enjoy, especially the scenes of flagellation. For
the priest, the gruesome film ends tragically.
The Saragossa Manuscript, by Wojciech
Has, 1965, is another overlong film (182 minutes), about two soldiers
finding an abandoned book in a bombed out inn, which tells the fantastic
tale of one of the soldier's grandfather. We follow his surreal adventures
in Spain, where we see many scenes of skulls, dead hanging bodies and meet
strange people. I haven't the slightest idea what the film is about,
although it is said to be based on one of the greatest works of world
literature. Since I admire Scorsese, I will accept his two film choices that
I attended, but I, truly, can't recommend either one of them.
The Academy Awards nominations were announced
this past week, and the nine best pictures seem intelligent choices. Having
reviewed only four of them, I dropped by to see The
Wolf on Wall Street and August:
Osage County. The first is directed by Martin
Scorsese about the fraudulent
stock broker Jordan
Belfort (played by Leonardo DiCaprio).
Both director and actor as leading actor, plus Jonah
Hill as supporting actor,
received well deserved Oscar nominations. DeCaprio gives a brilliant
performance. The second film, based on the Tony winning play, is a
claustrophobic look at a dysfunctional, unpleasant family, revealing dark
secrets after the funeral of a father. Meryl
Streep as leading actress andJulia
Roberts as supporting actress
received nominations, and they are a delight to watch battling each other,
and the rest of the cast is equally superb.
01-24-14 Cast members (L-R) Sheffield
Chastain. Charlotte Cohn. Carol Lawrence. Jonathan Sale at the unveiling of
the "Handle With Care" Carol Lawrence sandwich at the Carnegie Deli.
854 7th Ave. Thursday morning. 01-23-14
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