On the Town With Aubrey Reuben
Where All the Stars Shine Brightly!
November 16, 2013
11-12-13
Honoree Christopher Durang (L) and Tommy Tune at the Primary Stages
Annual Gala at the Edison Ballroom. 240 West 47th St. Monday night
11-11-13
On Broadway, credit
must by given to the esteemed Shakespearean actor Mark
Rylance for
performing in the title role in Richard
III and as a lady
Olivia in Twelfth
Night. at the Belasco Theatre. It is a remarkable achievement.
He has recreated the production as if presented five hundred years
ago in the time of William
Shakespeare. All the
sumptuous costumes and set design, with audience members seated in
boxes on stage, by Jenny
Tiramani, are as
authentic as possible, as is the music of Claire
van Kampen played
on ancient instruments of that period. All the female roles are
played by men, and one watches the actors being dressed and applying
their makeup on stage a half hour before the plays begin. It is
quite an impressive accomplishment. The audience is transported to
England in the sixteenth century. All the actors are superb, under
the expert direction of Tim
Carroll, but it is two time Tony winner Rylance who steals the
scenes. I suspect two more Tony nominations are in his future.
Off-Broadway, Domesticated,
by Bruce
Norris, is a play about a dysfunctional family. Jeff
Goldblum is a
sexually frustrated politician, who resigns his position, and begins
his downward spiral. Many of the characters shout, yell and whine,
and are thoroughly irritating. It is an overlong, disappointing
play.
Little Miss Sunshine, book by James
Lapine, music and
lyrics by William
Finn, is a mediocre musical about a family car trip from New
Mexico to California, so that their little daughter can compete in a
preteen pageant. The trip is 800 miles, but the 100 minute musical
feels longer.
All That Fall, by Samuel
Beckett, was a radio
play, that is being produced in a stage version, with an excellent
cast, headed by Eileen
Atkins and Michael
Gambon. It is 75 minutes of brilliant acting, as an old lady
(Atkins) goes to the railway station to meet her blind husband (Gambon)
to bring him home. On the way, she encounters various neighbors and
arrives at the station on time to meet the mysteriously, delayed
train. We celebrated the opening, at a party at Amali with Thomas
Meehan, Charles Strouse, Karen Akers and Penny
Fuller among others.
Afterwards, I dropped by the West Bank Cafe for the opening night
party for The Patron
Saint of Sea Monsters, by Marlane
Meyer. I photograhed cast member Rob
Campbell with guests Danny
Mastrogiorgio and Denis
O'Hare.
American Ballet Theatre (ABT) concluded their second week with a
program of three modern ballets. Bach
Partita, music of Bach,
choreography of Twyla
Tharp, is one of the choreographer's better ballets, and was
given a perfect performance by six of the finest dancers of the
company, Polina
Semionova, James Whiteside, Gillian Murphy, Marcelo Gomes, Stella
Abrera and Calvin
Royal III. The
Moor's Pavane, music by Henry
Purcell, choreography by Jose
Limon, features four dancers in a melodramatic dance piece. It
is, basically, slow moving movement, walking rather than dancing,
recreating the tale of the murder of of Desdemona by Othello. The
third ballet Piano
Concerto #1, music ofDmitri
Shostakovich, choreography
by Alexi
Ratmansky, is a fast moving ballet, with the two leading
ballerinas, Christine Shevchenko and Xiomara
Reyes, being lifted, turned, spun, and thrown by the male
dancers. It is exhausting, but thrilling, and the dancers are just
fine.
Lee
Roy Reams gave a
splendid cabaret performance at Studio 54 Below, singing songs from
his forty years of various Broadway musicals and telling anecdotes
about the composers and fellow artists he knew. It was an
entertaining show to a sold out house, with his famous friends like Bebe
Neuwirth, Tony Danza and Arlene
Dahl rewarding him
with a stand up ovation.
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Billy Porter was
honored at The
New York Musical Theatre Festival 10th Season Gala at
the Hudson Theatre. Among the many guests were Lillias
White, Beth Leavel,Hunter Bell and Heidi
Blickenstaff. It was a joyous occasion.
Christopher Durang and Stephen
Sultan were
honored at the Primary
Stages Annual Gala at
the Edison Ballroom. Among the guests were Tommy
Tune, Fyvush Finkel, Elizabeth Wilson and John
Patrick Shanley. It was another joyous occasion.
A fun opening night party was
held for Shea:
Prince of Christmas at
Bourbon Bar & Grille. The attractive cast members,
including Shea,
Lynda DeFuria, Bethel Keith and Chaz
Wolcott, enjoyed exotic drinks like a Hurricane (a
cocktail containing two rums with various juices) and
delicious food.
The Film Society of Lincoln Center is
presenting Making Waves:
New Romanian Cinema November 29-December 3. I
attended some press screenings. The
Prophet, the Gold and
the Transylvanians, by Dan
Pita, Romania, 1979, is
the first part of a trilogy, about two brothers from Romania searching
for their brother in the Far West of the United States. He has become a
famous outlaw. It is a curious film. The photography is fine, but the
story is a little silly. Three
Exercises of Interpretation, by Cristi
Pulu, France, 2013, is a
film in three parts that takes place in Toulouse. In Part One, four
friends sit in the garden of a house, and talk, drink and eat. In Part
Two, four different friends sit in an apartment, and talk, drink and
watch a Thai film on television. In Part 3, all eight characters attend
a seance in a restored warehouse with four other people. The film lasts
157 minutes. For this viewer, it seemed like an eternity. Many of the
actors were unattractive to look at. Some were obnoxious. But the
annoying part was to listen to their inane conversation. It is crime for
a film to be boring, and to waste 157 minutes of a person's precious
time on earth. Child's
Pose, by Calin
Peter Netzer, Romania, 2013, features Luminita
Gheorghiu in a superb
performance as a domineering, middle-aged mother trying to save her
irresponsible son, who has just killed a 14-year-old boy when his
speeding car hit him on a road. It is a provocative film, which shows
how wealthy upper class families with political influence can distort
justice. It is an intelligent, realistic film which leaves a profound
impression on the viewer. Here...I
Mean There, by Laura
Capatana-Julier, Romania, 2012, is a documentary, about two young
girls living with their grandparents because their parents went to work
in Spain to make money ten years ago. Their dysfunctional life as a
family, split apart by the separation, with occasional reunions in
Romania and in Spain. is heartbreaking and sad.Shadow of a Cloud, by Radu
Jude, 2013,is a fascinating short film (30 minutes) about a priest,
visiting a home to give last rites to a dying woman. His hopes to
comfort the family turns into a nightmare.
Generation War, by Phillip
Kadelbach, Germany, 2013, will open at the Film Forum on January 15,
2014. Do not miss this magnificent film. I attended a press screening of
Part 1 (131 minutes) and was given a DVD of Part 2 (148 minutes). Five
young Germans friends celebrate in Berlin in 1941, before the campaign
against Russia during World War II. They are full of optimism that the
war will quickly end and they will be victorious. Two are soldiers (Volker
Bruch and Tom
Schilling), one is a Jew (Ludwig
Trepte) and two girls , a nurse (Miriam
Stein) and an ambitious popular singer (Katharina
Schuttler). As the film progresses, the horrors of war have a
dramatic effect and the friends suffer terribly. The acting, especially
by the five principals, is brilliant. The photography is breathtaking,
above all the battle scenes. The story is absorbing. It will rank as one
of the finest war films ever made. It is an impressive achievement.
MoMA in An
Auteurist History of Film presented Lord
of the Flies, by Peter
Brook, Great Britain, 1963, is a remarkable film. A group of British
schoolboys are stranded on a desert island, when their plane crashes. In
order to survive, they try to establish an orderly life based on their
upbringing and education. As time goes on, their civilized behavior
decays, as they hunt, develop strange beliefs and superstitions, and
turn into savages. It is a powerful film and the acting of the children
is most impressive.
11-13-13 (L-R) Cast member Eileen Atkins.
producer Richard Darbourne at the opening night party for "All That Fall" at
Amali. 115 East 60th St.
Tuesday night 11-12-13
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