Oslo

It's official - I just saw the Tony award winning play of the year.  Oslo, a new docu-play by J.T. Rogers being presented at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre at Lincoln Center is a bold, crackling, and humorous new play about the back-channel peace negotiations between the Palestinians and Israelis in the early 1990's told with humor, charm, heart, and brutal honesty.

Jefferson Mays (Terje Rod-Larsen) and Jennifer Ehle (Mona Juul) headline the cast as the brains behind the entire idea and operation - an effort in secret to get the two parties to a secret negotiating table Norway where they could exchange real ideas, thoughts, and feelings - not the tried and failed methods of public posturing sponsored by the Americans and others for years.

The cast of characters is broad - heads of state, secretaries of state, foreign ministers, and negotiators - and even a housekeeper and butler.  Top notch performances were turned in by Michael Arnov (Uri Savir - Israeli) and Anthony Azizi (Ahmed Qurie - Palestinian).  Even a worthy Shimon Peres (Daniel Orestes) graced the stage.

The play sweeps through 3 hours before you know it.  Act I is a clever flashback to the origins of the talks that ends where it started - and sets up Act II - the actual peace negotiations.  At times tense, at others humorous, the play effortlessly glides between the two states often and sometimes unexpectedly.  The play sweeps past the accords, reveals video of the actual signing and hand shaking at the White House among all the parties and goes on to provide you with an abbreviated version of events that occurred post-accord all the way up to today.  Jefferson Mays ends the play on an uncertain yet positive and hopeful note.

Award winning performances, direction, and dialogue all combine to make this sleeper that moved upstairs from the Mitzi Newhouse Theater (off-Broadway) a hit that will inform, entertain, and remind us all just how far we've come and how much work is yet ahead.

The Front Page

The stellar cast in this what's old is new again production far outshines the material itself.  Director Jack O'Brien is forced to fill almost 3 hours (including 2 intermissions) with action.  The problem is, the characters are big, the acting is big, the set is big - the cast is big - but the material just doesn't measure up.

Just look at this cast:  Nathan Lane (Walter Burns), John Slattery (Hiddy Johnson), Jefferson Mays (Bensinger), John Goodman (Sherrif Hartman), Robert Morse (Mr. Pincus), Dann Florek (The Mayor), Holland Taylor (Mrs. Grant), Sherie Rene Scott (Mollie Malloy), Micah Stock (Woodenshoes Eichorn), Dylan Baker (McCue), David Pittu (Schwartz), Christopher McDonald (Murphy) plus about 9 other supporting minor characters!  Just take that cast in. Wowza.

Now as for the material - it's a 3 act play - unfortunately.  Act I should be scrapped.  It's useless and unentertaining and mostly unnecessary background material that could be established in about 15 minutes.  Act II gets off to a good start, bogs down in the middle and goes out with a "BANG".  Act III picks up the action but drags it out in the end to a very un-dramatic ending.  In a nutshell, the material stinks and should be re-writtin/adapted.

Theatrically speaking - the comedy was top notch - the assemblage of such fine actors above are able to pull off the physical and over the top comedy.  Nathan Lane is at the top of the bill.  Unfortunately, he doesn't appear on stage until the end of Act II.  Interestingly, twice when Jefferson Mays entered the stage, he got entrance applause which you could tell was because the audience mistook him for Mr. Lane (as did I).  Everyone recognized John Slattery and he gave a top notch performance - as he was really the lead despite sharing the bill with Mr. Lane.  Too much newsroom chatter and nonsense.  Not enough Holland Taylor and Dylan Baker (with a strange agent).  There was just enough time of the uber-dreamy Micah Stock - but someone has to decide what to do with that accent he puts on.  It's all over the map.

This huge cast must be a big expense - and it's a big theater with tiny seats so hopefully the star power will boost the ticket revenues.  But it's an uphill battle these days.   I saw it on a previews discount and was pleased at the value.  Full price ticket to even this show would be a disappointment unless you're just a star-stalker who just sees anything with someone.

A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder

Brilliantly crafted, cleverly executed, delightful from beginning to end! Finally, an old fashioned original musical has come to Broadway.

The indomitable duo of Jefferson Mays and Bryce Pinkham are pure delight.  Mr. Mays takes on the dating challenge of portraying all 8 members of the aristocratic D'Ysquith family - both male and female - to hilarious delight. (Think Tim Conway on The Carol Burnett Show)   Mr. Pinkham, handsome beyond necessity, charms us with his tall tale and beautifully operatic vocals not to forget his boyish charm and comic talents.

It's a dastardly tale of love and murder  - with each family member's demise a delicious tale of song and dance.  Characters abound.

Music and songs were clever and brilliantly broadway-esque.  Costumes were amazing.  At times I was dizzy and dumbfounded at the sped at which Mr. Mays changed costumes and reappeared on stage as another D'Ysquith.

A small supporting cast hit every mark crisply, cleverly, and with great aplomb.  The set is cleverly designed as a full stage with a curtain within the actual stage - allowing one scene to unfold while the next one was prepared. Part Noises-Off, part The 39 Steps, part Edwin Drood, this new musical hits all the right notes with the perfect cast.  Speed, coordination and queues are of utmost importance.

If I can say this at the first public preview, you have to imagine it will only get better!  Run... Don't Walk over to the Walter Kerr Theatre on W 48th for an evening of sheer delight!

The Best Man

Quite possibly the most star-studded success story ever to grace the Broadway stage.  Gore Vidal's The Best Man has been resurrected once again in an election year where it seems that, as the play testifies to, nothing seems to change.  And what a cast!  The budget for this show must be astronomical - and in this case - worth every penny and more in ticket prices!  Broadway, with more than its fair share of star-vehicle disappointments to grace the stage these past few years - That Championship Season and Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown come to mind - this show, a history lesson unto itself, allows each star to shine individually and collectively ignite the political bonfire known as politics.  

The outstanding cast - James Earl Jones, John Larroquette, Candice Bergen, Eric McCormack, Kerry Butler, Jefferson Mays, Michael McKean, and Angela Lansbury - are firing on all cylinders to make one magical evening in the theatre.  Mr. Jones and Ms. Lansbury bring gravitas to the subject matter.  Mr. Larroquette and Ms. Bergen bring intelligence, wit, and incredible presence to the characters.  Mr. McCormack brings youth and a very believable do-anything, say-anythig attitude.  Ms. Butler, Mr. Mays, and Mr. McKean being high quality character acting back into fashion.  All combined, they electrify the evening culminating in a riveting climax.

The entire theatre is decked out in convention regalia from orchestra to the rear mezzanine.  A box seat is taken over by a Walter Cronkite-like news broadcaster who periodically covers the goings-on in classic old-fashioned style which is also broadcast onto period black and white television sets though out the theatre.  Rotating sets (whose design and form may have been borrowed from Chinglish) are outstanding - kudos to Derek McLane.  Director, Michael Wilson, keeps the action crisp and the momentum always edging forward.

All around a not-to-be-missed evening in the theatre with a once-in-a-lifetime assembled cast entertaining you from the first minute to the very last.  Like any devoted conventioneer - you'll be on your feet, cheering in the aisles for this revival.

Pygmalion

Clair Danes pulls it off in style! She's been on Broadway before, but never like this. She's a tough, street smart gal in England, Eliza Doolittle, turned into a lady before our eyes by Jefferson Mays as Professor of Phonetics, Henry Higgins.

The play, as many of you know, is what the musical My Fair Lady is based on. Sans music - it's still a powerhouse. George Bernard Shaw's words flow like water - ever eloquent, filled with energy and packed with meaning. I've not seen the musical or the play before and I have to report i thought that Henry Higgins, played by the ever affected Jefferson Mays was just a bit to odd for my liking. Having nothing else to compare against, i don't know if it's Jefferson being his usual "odd" self, or perhaps exactly how Shaw envisioned the role.

Roundabout seems to have yet another success story with this one. I doubt it will be a "sell out" smash hit, but it is certainly a treat for those who are hungry for a classic.

Journey's End

At first glance, it may seem that the Belasco Theater forgot to pay the electric bill. But upon closer inspection, you realize that Hugh Dancy, Boyd Gaines, Jefferson Mays, and Stark Sands need absolutely no lighting except for the candles to make them shine on stage.

The intentionally dim stage has been transformed into an underground bunker in Quentin, France during WWI in 1918. It's a tense 3 act play that takes you deep into the topic of what war can do to a person's psyche, how friendships change, and what the words honor, bravery, and loyalty really mean.

Let's just say, this play is going no where happy. The incredible sound system in the theater provides the backdrop of war - guns, shells, and loud, very realistic explosions. No surprises here. I saw the 4th performance of this show in previews and I left in awe. The acting is outstanding and the chemistry is superb.

Run - don't walk - to this one - but when you arrive - Sit. Enjoy. Absorb.

I Am My Own Wife