On the Town With Aubrey Reuben
Where All the Stars Shine Brightly!
March 29, 2014
03-25-14 Cast
members (L-R) Bobby Steggert. Tyne Daly. Fred Weller (in front)
Grayson Taylor at the opening night party for "Mothers and Sons" at
Sardi's. 244 West 44th St. Monday night. 03-24-14
On
Broadway, a new
production of Les
Miserables, music by Claude-Michel
Schonberg, lyrics by Herbert
Kretzmer, original French
text by Alain
Boubil and Jean-Mac
Natel, has a few changes in
scenic design, but is basically
the same story by Victor
Hugo of
Jean Valjean (Ramin
Karimloo), a former convict
being pursued by the policeman
Javert (Will
Swenson). We follow his
adventures from his release from
prison in 1815 to his death,
sometime after the student riots
in 1832. The three hour show has
splendid music, fine singing and
enough action to hold the
attention of any theatre fan. It
has been one of the most
successful musicals on Broadway.
The current cast, all very
competent, has been directed by Laurence
Connor andJames
Powell.
Three fine actors, Tyne
Daly, Fred Weller and Bobby
Steggert, talk a lot about
gay problems for almost 100
minutes in Terrence
McNally's Mothers
and Sons. Unfortunately,
although all the problems are
intelligently presented, it
feels more like a lecture than a
dramatic play. An embittered
mother visits her dead son's
lover unannounced, who is now,
twenty years later, married to a
young man, who has a six year
old son. She pours out her
resentment. The two men try to
share their point of view. It is
not a pleasant encounter. The
well acted play is directed by Sheryl
Kaller.
Off-Broadway, a revival of Beyond
Therapy, by Christopher
Durang, is one of the
funniest plays of the season.
The cast is superb, under the
direction of Scott
Alan Evans. Liv
Rooth gives
an outstanding performance. The
opening night party took place
in the Theatre Row Lounge with Marsha
Norman, Donna McKechnie and Tony
Sheldon.
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Tales From Red Vienna, by David
Grimm, is a turgid melodrama,
that takes place in 1920, about a
widow (Nina
Arianda) who turns to
prostitution to support herself. A
client (Michael
Esper) pursues her and becomes
her lover. This overlong play of
three acts covers a multitude of
topics, none of which are very
interesting. Fine actors are wasted
in this production.
The esteemed British
actor Michael
Pennington is rarely seen in
New York, so when Theatre for a New Audience presented King
Lear, by William
Shakespeare, in their new theatre Polonsky Shakespeare Center in
Brooklyn, I renewed my passport, obtained a visa, bought travelers cheques
and got a phrase book to speak to the natives. Pennington is a fine actor,
speaks clearly and is a joy to see on stage. From imperious king to tragic
old man, he dominates the large cast in this three hour production, directed
by Arin
Arbus. It was worth the trip.
I attended a
wonderful exhibition of contemporary art Reflections:
Art and Beauty to benefit Robert
Wilson's Watermill Center at Sherle Wagner, 300 East 62nd St. It was an
impressive exhibition.
Film Society of Lincoln Center is presenting press screenings of Art
of the Real April 11-26. The
Second Game, by Corneliu
Porumboiu, Romania, 2014, is a very unusual film. A father and son watch
a soccer match on tape, twenty
five years later, of a game between the two top teams played on December 3,
1988. The father had been the referee, and they comment about the game It
was played in a blinding snow storm. I am a soccer fan. I grew up in
England, but I wonder how an ordinary viewer would enjoy watching the entire
90 minutes of a game played in abysmal conditions.
MoMA is presenting an ongoing An
Auteurist History of Film. Kvarteret
Korpen (Raven's End), by Bo
Widerberg, Sweden, 1963, is a black and white film about the working
class in a poor section of Malmo. A young man writes a novel about his life
there, hoping to have it published, so he can escape to Stockholm and begin
a new life. He lives with a hardworking mother, an unemployed, alcoholic
father, and his girlfriend becomes pregnant. It is an honest, realistic look
at life with very few options for a successful future for many young people
in many cities around the world.
03-26-14 Cast members (L-R) Liv Rooth. Cynthia Darlow at the opening night
party for "Beyond Therapy" at Theatre Row Lounge. 410 West 42nd St. Tuesday
night. 03-25-14
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